10.30.07
Posted in Kozarchuk.com at 11:51 am by Dominique
Well, things have gotten into something of a routine around here. There’s work, school, Bible Study, House night (it’s a show on TV and we get together with others), Kid Nation night (it’s also a show on TV and we get together with others) and the occasional working weekend for Dan.
We have groups from all areas of life and teach kids that are from very affluent families to families that work hard to make a living. It is in serving these people that we hope to make an impact into their lives and deposit a nugget of truth to their thinking. Continue to pray as we are in contact with so many people. First that they would be connected to others that will help them find the truth. Second, for school kids to catch a vision of summer and want to come to summer camp where they can be mentored and discipled. Finally, for the retreat groups that we serve, that they would be renewed and ready to tackle the issues of life that come their way.
Our girls are doing well. Mikayla gets braces tomorrow! She is at an age where it’s exciting to get them, so I won’t tell her that eventually it’s not cool. Alycia is jealous, even though she hasn’t even lost one of her baby teeth yet! School continues to go well. They have gone to 6 birthday parties between the three of them in only 2 months! We want to have kids over on the weekends to build relationships for our girls, but it can sometimes be crazy busy! It’s a work in progress.
Camp is chugging along. We are in need of a few more staff, especially in the kitchen/dining room, so pray that the right people would come along side. We also need staff in resource and maintenance. Even though our staff is short, we do work well together, which is a blessing.
Well, that’s enough for now. Till next time.
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09.15.07
Posted in Kozarchuk.com at 7:23 am by Dominique
Brr…it’s cold. I don’t think there should be “chances of snow” in September.
Anyway, things here are good! The girls started school and things are going well there. I was a bit nervous considering our past school situation, but things are on the up. Alycia had a bit of a hard time for the first few days and cried at school a bit, but I had to remind myself that she’s never been to school before, since we homeschooled kindergarten. Last week was better and by Wednesday there were no more times where she came home and said “I cried today.” The other two are having a blast as well and Kaitlyn went to her first birthday party. I stayed at the party and helped out the mom and got to know some of the kids in her class. It was good times.
Work is going well too. We’re starting into school groups, which means teaching classes and hosting. Dan has really liked the transition. I have enjoyed being both in the office and teaching classes. I must say, the day the girls went to school, you couldn’t hold me down cause I was so excited! It is nice to have more straightforward hours. It gives us flexability to have a life!
We are attending a church in Riverton (the town the girls go to school) and are looking forward to housegroups starting up there and meeting friends outside of camp. While we love the people in camp, it’s nice to branch off too.
I haven’t done any pranks in a few days…Any suggestions??
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08.25.07
Posted in Kozarchuk.com at 9:15 am by Dominique
So I have been known to tag team with the food services manager at Camp Cedarwood to do some pranking. The great thing is, she move the Camp Arnes just before we did! We have recently taken up the role of camp pranksers once again…
She found out that our camp director does not like spiders. Well, we couldn’t let that go unnoticed now could we? So we put 300 little plastic spiders all over his office. Including files and folder and his junk drawer. He will be finding spiders for the next 6 months. He came to my office the next day to say that a memo needed to go out that we would be fumigating in the office – there was an apparent infestation of spiders. He did go to the food services managers office and TP it and put a picture of a large spider and an isane picture of his face there.
After that, I noticed that one of the staff was not doing a good job of keeping her mailbox clean. I left a sticky saying “Clean up or else”. She said “yea, whatever”. I promptly took out all her stuff and hid it and left another sticky saying “You should have cleaned up your box!” She evenually found it. Oh, and I noosed her bear leaving a ransom note…
But the best was last night. One of the counsellors was the nurse last week (he’s in med school) and he really thought a lot of the golf cart he was allowed to drive because he was the nurse. So last night we moved it (we had to push it because he had the keys). It went to a muddy area, where we set up a flashlight to shine on it and TP’d it, etc. He freaked out!! When he couldn’t find it, he thought the director was going to kill him because he had misplaced the golf cart. One of the pranksers broke down later and told him where it was…
Now I have to figure out who needs ambesol on their toothbrush…
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08.05.07
Posted in Kozarchuk.com at 4:43 pm by Dominique
So things have just gotten into routine, when I got hit (but in a good way), with another learning curve. I am going to be ‘Registrar’. Basically, I’m dealing with all the summer camp registrations, payments and a whack of other stuff that comes with it. I’m really excited to have an office job again, and this seems like a perfect fit for me!
There are times when the job is slow and at those points I will be helping out on resource, teaching classes and doing things like that. I’m really pumped that I get a bit of both worlds.
Dan has been bike master for 4 weeks now and can do some pretty sweet jumps. He’s also drummed up a storm.
Kaitlyn just got back from camp and she had a blast. It was neat to see her making new friends and being confident. She is quite shy, so it was neat to see. Mikayla gets to go this week and she can’t wait. I do have to teach my children about the benefits of changing their clothes once and a while. Kaitlyn wore the same pants all week. EEW!
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07.18.07
Posted in Kozarchuk.com at 9:53 am by Dominique
Hey All,
Long time, no post! Sorry ‘bout that. Things have been psycho insane around here since the end of June. Let me tell you about it…
Staff training for summer started on the last week of June. The basically packed two weeks worth of stuff into one really full week, leaving us a little more than tired. We had Sat. evening to Sunday evening off (of which we had to go to Winnipeg to do shopping. Anyone who has kids knows this is not a fun, relaxing event). It was a good time, but so many new people. The summer staff here is bigger than at Cedarwood, and not all of them stay for the whole summer. Some are only here for a week! This makes it difficult to get to know people.
And then there was the first week of camp. Crazy, crazy week! There were scheduling issues, there was basic disorganization, there was madness! But the interesting thing was, the campers had tons of fun! We saw many kids make a decision for Christ, as well as many wanting to walk closer with God. That makes everything worth it! Dan was working on bikes a lot last week. He is pretty frustrated with them. It’s too bad you can’t shoot a bike when it becomes lame! I think Dan would have been a master shot by now. I was lifeguarding for most of the week. It was alright, but being at the pool for 3 – 4 hrs. can really start to make your eyes hurt! I think I like waterfront better, but I want to help where ever! Both Dan and I were helping with music of some kind last week, which was fun. The kids got to do a bunch of swimming, wagon rides, jumping in a bouncer and stuff like that. I think they’re having fun.
This week is much more organized. There is more of a rhythm of contentment and general understanding of what is going on. Dan is still at bikes (he’ll be there all summer). My week is quite different. Our worship leader is gone for a week and so I’m filling in for her. It has been quite stretching, but also very rewarding and fun. It’s neat to see new campers learn songs about God and hear kids humming as they go from place to place. Even if they don’t truly embrace what they are singing now, those words are powerful and can help them someday! My lifeguarding is almost none this week, which is a nice break too.
So we move on….more summer to come!
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06.26.07
Posted in Kozarchuk.com at 7:59 am by Dominique
This past weekend a group called Camp Indigo came out to use Camp Arnes. They are cancer kids that are in remission or are undergoing treatment, as well as their siblings. We were responsible to counsel them and it was supposed to be a summer camp like experience. It was totally exhausting, but a lot of fun too!
Dan was teaching high ropes and climbing wall and I was doing arts and crafts. When I heard they had put me on arts and crafts, I had to do a big gulp ‘cause I really don’t like crafts. I’d much rather be running in the mud. But they needed me there, so I did it. It wasn’t too bad. The kids seemed to like it. I have a funny story about the A&C storage though. I was cleaning it out and putting new supplies into it when I hear “scritch, scritch†I thought it was a mouse. A few minutes later a squirrel pops it’s head out of the roof part! I tried to talk sweet to it, but it really didn’t look like it was warming up to me too much. A few minutes later it pops it’s head out at me again and starts yelling at me as only squirrels can. I began to get concerned that this was a psycho squirrel that was going to attack me! A few seconds later I found out it was a mama, and she was carrying her baby squirrelettes out of the area. I put my hoodie on my head ‘cause now I’m thinking she’s going to jump on my head and leave me for dead in arts and crafts, where I really don’t like to be in the first place! All was good after though, and I think maintenance has made the family vacate the area.
I also did lifeguarding for the weekend and let the music. The music was definitely a challenge as they didn’t want too many spiritual songs, and that’s pretty much all that I know. Nobody here knows the Cedarwood wacky songs, especially the way they do them there (I really miss that part of Cedarwood!). I think it went good, I certainly learned some new songs, but I think I like doing worship better.
The campers were exhausted by the time Sunday afternoon came around. But I’ve heard that when the bus got home to their parents, they couldn’t stop talking about what a good time they had. I’m praying that they will take a hold of something that they read on a poster (we have a lot of scripture posters), or something they heard in the music etc. will impact their lives and give them our one true Hope!
So now we gear up for summer camp. I’m really excited to see what God has in store for that!
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06.15.07
Posted in Kozarchuk.com at 5:26 pm by Dominique
I have a few minutes and thought I would write about the bugs here at Camp Arnes. I think this is what the Egyptians experienced when they were hit by the plague. We came home a few days after we had moved in hear the sound of a loud humming coming from near our house. I was trying to figure out what the heck it was when Dan says “hum, look up.” I look up to see a black cloud of bugs. Serious grossness. Acutally, I didn’t know serious grossness until the next morning when they had decended to our front deck and door. We went outside to go to work and the flies started swarming. EWE! The good thing is they don’t bite, but man, they are everywhere. I like to freak out the campers that come, because they look like really large mosquitoes. I tell them they better listen or the killer bugs will sense their defiance and attack in swarms. A few more squemish kids believe me. Most just ask their teachers “is that true?”
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06.12.07
Posted in Kozarchuk.com at 8:37 pm by Dominique
So if you came to our site while it was down and saw a weird page, sorry about that! Our domain expired while we were on holidays, but all is good now.
Well, we’ve been here a week and what a busy week it was. We moved out of Cedarwood and into our new home all on Sunday. Monday we unpacked most everything and we were pretty tired. They allowed us to have Tuesday off as well so we could get more things done around the house. The kids were very excited to be here, but it was hard as well because they wanted to help, but could only do so in a limited amount. Wednesday became our first day at work. The kids were given a schedule while Dan and I were at work. This seemed to go pretty well. There is soooo much to learn. We are teaching skills to the groups and each class has its own amount of information to teach the students. They tell us it becomes easy after a while, but right now, there is alot of facts for my poor little brain. I have learned to teach fire and bannock pretty good. I like that class. We get to eat bannock every time it gets taught. Yum. Archery is not too hard as well. Dan has been busy with high ropes course and the climbing wall as well. He has also tried archery and a few other classes as well. I have also done a few stints at the pool lifeguarding. It’s kinda hard to lifeguard in the pool – tough on your eyes I mean. I haven’t had anyone drown yet, so I think that’s good. The girls have had fun in the pool too. We haven’t had a chance to try the horses yet, but gotta save something for later!!
So for the summer it looks like Dan will be in charge of the bikes and will be drumming and I will be lifeguarding and playing keyboard for the worship band. We are getting really excited. A BIG prayer need though, is staff for the summer. It is at an alltime low right now and there are only a few weeks left till it starts. We know that this is God’s summer camp, so we’re trying not to get stressed out by this fact.
It has been really hard to try to get to our e-mail and posting on our blog. We’re working on getting some kinda internet in our house, but everything takes time. Hopefully soon. I will try to get pictures up soon.
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05.31.07
Posted in Kozarchuk.com at 7:27 am by Dominique
We set sail for Edmonton close to three weeks ago now. (Set sail is a literal term!) When driving to our destination, we hit a windstorm where we were stopping in Saskatoon. Our little tent trailer was sandwiched between a ton of big RV’s and the wind was incredible. It’s God’s grace that we didn’t get blown away. The kids thought it was pretty cool that the trailer was shaking, but I can’t say I did. But I live to tell about it, so all is good!
When we got to Edmonton, we set up camp in a very pretty spot about 15 minutes to the mall. We were right beside a playground. This was good in the way that the kids could just step out of the trailer and be on a playground. It was bad because lots of other kids used the playground as well! (Of course, our kids are quiet, they would never yell, (yea right!) but other people’s kids don’t seem to follow the same rules!)
We hit the mall and the kids were awestruck. They couldn’t get over how big it was. We went to all the attractions, some of them more than once (I don’t think I need to see a theme park for a while now!) I tried shopping, but that place is just too big. I would think, “oh, I need to get to Suzy Shier. Oh, it’s on the other side of the mall. Oh, that takes about 1/2 hour to get there. Hum, it’s not worth it!!”
So we hung out there for just over a week and Dan and I were feeling pretty malled out by then. The kids thought it wasn’t long enough, but I don’t think anything would be long enough for them!! Then we thought we would go down to Calgary and take the kids to see the mountains. As we were getting gas for the car I went in to pay and was talking to the lady inside. She told me that there was about 3 inches of snow that fell in Calgary and it was still snowing! Now I like adventure, and I really like the mountains, but I HATE snow in May. Not to mention it wouldn’t be very fun towing a trailer in snow or camping while the pretty white flakes fall on us!
So we went home about a week early. This was good ’cause it’s given us a chance to do a few things before moving that we wouldn’t have had a chance to do. So, we had a good holiday, but like any good holiday, it feels good to be home too. We are looking forward to getting into routine and starting in our new job.
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05.12.07
Posted in Kozarchuk.com at 7:16 am by Dominique
Well, we officially are done at Cedarwood as of yesterday. I am writing literally between the computer and a wall of boxes. We start off on our journeys today for holiday time. The kids are excited and well, dang it, so are we! We all slept in our camper trailer last night because our beds are disassembled. Even the cat seems pumped. He brought me a live mouse the other day. I was outside and he dropped it at my feet and whoa, that mouse is alive. Once the cat realized it wasn’t dead it took off after the mouse and it was history!
Anyway, I’ll give a full report of our holidays and pictures in a few weeks, but today I wanted to put up our new mailing address. It is:
Dan and Dominique Kozarchuk
Box 177
Arnes, MB
R0C 0C0
Now you can write lovely letters to us.
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