It is especially unfortunate because I have been having nightmares with increasing frequency. I’ve been at the ranch just over a week now, and I have had a nightmare almost every night. Even if its only one nightmare a night, it wakens me. This throws off the quality and quantity of sleep I get. After nearly a week of sub-par sleep, this phenomenon has become much more than just an annoyance. My nightmares have become part of my waking life in that they now help dictate the course of my waking life. With mild sleep deprivation (which is where I’m at now), I’m drowsy when sitting, overly emotional, and easily annoyed. This is not where I want to be.

So, if all of you could pray for me to not have such nightmares any more, or to learn how to handle them, that would be wonderful. I am a firm believer in spiritual warfare; there’s no reason that these nightmares should appear now, as nothing traumatic has happened to cause me have them. It seems to have solely been brought on by my residence at the Ranch, which is nothing new at all for me.

So if you could combat what I’m getting with some of your own, I would be deeply appreciative. I’m going to try to go to bed early tonight, and we get to sleep in tomorrow. I’m excited about the possibilities of at least getting enough sleep (the extra few hours should make up for the fits and starts, I hope). If that sleep is quality (i.e. nightmare-free), I will be praising God and thanking you all for your prayer help.

I love you all, and hope you are doing well at whatever endeavour your summer has found you in.

I was absurdly happy;  it felt like a dream. And this is what camp is like all the time, in different ways. It makes me hate how serious I am during the year.

I’m not like I am at the ranch back in the real world. This isn’t because I try to be different; I’m not trying to have a split personality, or hide anything from anyone. But the freedom of spirit afforded by the ranch does not translate to the real world very well.

Or maybe it does, and I just let the vagaries of the world drag down my spirit in the real world. I throw them off at the Ranch, because I say that’s what I want to do. So maybe I should look harder into throwing off the trappings of this world, that so easily entangle (as Hebrews would say).

I feel like a spring uncoiling; I feel like a shell is breaking. I have so much to process; I have so much to break through. I hope that I don’t just go back to how I was when I leave. I’m going to have to work on keeping this that I have here while I am there.

The first of many revealations, I hope.

So I was sitting on a log that had a pretty substantial branch sticking out. I attempted to stand, but caught my foot in this branch, which threw me off balance. When I tried to support myself with my other foot, it slid off the mossy log, sending me sprawling backwards. I landed on (what else?) rocks.

Results: scraped hand, bruised back, injured dignity.

We continued on, as I was not about to be stalled or finished by a few rocks. About an hour later, we were at an activity when I felt a piece of something enter my eye (it may have fallen from a tree…but we don’t know). I immediately said “ah! my eye!” I then rubbed my right eye. BAD IDEA.

I pushed that piece of whatever up into my eye. There it lodged for an hour and forty-five minutes. During this time, I: fell out of the activity, got talked to by our wilderness aid responder, had a makeshift eyepatch administered (bandana and medical tape around my head, making me look astonishingly like a pirate or a helicopter crash victim), left the scene, and eventually had the rock/bark work its way out.

I entered camp after our training activities with a bandaged hand, a bandaged head, and semi-hobbling. I had just climbed down a creekbed (!) with water in it (!!) and small waterfalls (!!!) with no depth perception (!!!!).

I’m all in one piece though. It’s cool. The eye is only a little swollen, and the hand will heal. The bruise is not on my spinal column.

So, that’s why Johnny Cash and I are like THIS today (does hand motion of crossing fingers). I just hope I don’t end up in prison like he…

Except that I will still be posting bi-weekly about what’s happening at camp. It won’t be about my writing credits; it’ll be about what’s happening in my life. This is a subtle shift. But it’s what’s going to happen.

I will, however, be posting weekly on Once Found Letters, the project I co-author with the illustrious Andrew Stephens. We discuss our spiritual questions and ideas; he by posting a letter on Sunday, I by posting on Wednesday.

I will be at New Life Ranch, being the Summer Leadership Assistant.

I don’t know what that means either. But it’s going to be awesome.

This year, though, everything’s going to be great. Thanks to the wonders of WordPress, I’m able to write posts and then stack them for future posting. I’m going to post something for every day I’m gone and stack them to hit once a day. My site will be more consistent than it is now without me even being at the helm. Who’s excited? I’m excited.

Good day.

I also included a twenty-page paper on what has influenced my writing style the most. I ended up choosing being read to as a child, being homeschooled (which provided lots of time to read), Animorphs, Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, being a social outcast, being in illogical relationships, The Disappointment Artist: Essays, and Love is a Mixtape, among other things.

I was proud of the paper too. I felt good all around. 121 pages of good.