CHAMPS report!

Champs was great! We left for Kingston early Wednesday morning. We stayed at a Catholic church. And i thought that we would be probably sleeping in a basement on a cement floor or something, but it wasn't at all. It was VERY nice. I had my own little room, with two beds and a desk and a sink. There were 3 nice showers and we had full use of the kitchen and dining room, and there was a little sitting room. It was excellent. SO that was the first awesome blessing.

The first night the youngest boy that we took with us, Erick who is 7, got sick. He was throwing up so I took him and put him on the extra bed in my room. He ended up sleeping there that night so that I could just watch out for him. Then he basically just hung out with me the whole trip. We had 13 kids with us. There was me and two other teachers and a parent. Ms Medeley had three of her boys with us so she volunteered to do our cooking and cleaning. We could've actually used two or three other helpers, but we made it!

I think my highlight was taking care of Erick. He was still so young that I had to make sure that he bathed and dressed properly. So I was basically like his mommy for the whole time. It was fun. By the end of the trip he knew that wherever we went he always had to hold onto my hand. Now that we're back at school he still loves to hold my hand and comes and talks to me lots. He actually wants to come stay with me for a holiday but I told him he needs to stay with his mommy now! Today he started to cry when he had to go after school....aww...he's so cute! I love him!

My job for the trip was to look after the welfare of the children. I was constantly counting heads and making sure that everyone was there, adn they were! Everyone was safe! We had to take the city bus to and from the stadium because the bus driver that we had arranged with just didn't work out. I don't know exactly all that happened. So we carried around a big water jug on the public transportation, but it all worked out! We were quite close to the stadium! I also had to make sure everyone had showers and went to bed on time. Making them go to bed was always a struggle! We actually had to discipline some of the boys because they would NOT turn off their lights and stay in their room. They had to clean floors on their hands and knees! It's all i could think of!

The kids did well in their events. We never did qualify for the semi finals but from looking at their times most of them were in the better half of all of the runners. SO that's good. I'll put some pictures of the meet on my dropshots. www.dropshots.com/krissisatjamaica2

The national stadium where it was held was very nice! I was quite impressed. THey have had international comptetitions at that stadium so it was a real great experience for the kids! The kids weren't used to the gun, or the blocks, so that made them nervous, but they made it through. Two of the girls, Argyanna and Kascitta came up to me after their race and told me that their knees knocked when the gun went off!

As leaders we learned alot. We saw where we needed to make improvements for next year. There was alot we have to do differently, but now we know. It was a good experience for the kids and for us leaders!

Thanks for your prayers! Let me know if there's something else i missed that you have a question about!
Blessings, Kristen