SERVE 09 - Ottawa - Day 1 - High Ropes

Greetings to all you who are interested in our Special Needs SERVE Project for 2009. It is 11 pm and I'm placing the first of many entries in so you will know a bit more about what has happened during this week.

Our week actually began yesterday. Several Mentors arrived in the Ottawa area a day early due to a long travel time. I picked up Stacy from the airport at 11:15 am yesterday, as well as Melissa and Elysha from the train station at 4:15 pm. They ended up at Harold and Bea's for the evening.

After going home and having some dinner, it was back to the church to wait for Ethan and Andrew, and Annette who arrived by car. Annette also stayed at Harold and Bea's (great cheesecake BTW Bea). The two boys came to stay with our family.

Today the other Mentors arrived in the morning. We have a total of 20 Mentors this year, with 15 Participants. A great group. We once again went high roping for the day as a team building exercises. It's always fun to watch others overcome their fears, and today was no different. Some of our Mentors really liked being high in the trees, others...well, not so much. But, all succeeded today, and that was the main point. Overcoming our fears today helps us to overcome our fears of this coming week too. If we can get through the difficult times on the course, we can get through the difficult times of this week.

Below are some pictures of the day, with corresponding comments as well from me. Enjoy.

Some began their time here with unpacking. It seems like Rachel took many things from home, including a shelving unit....what is she planning on putting on that thing?

Once again, Anne is heading up the kitchen area. She does such a GREAT job. The food is always top notch here. Annet (yes, we have two Annet's here, slightly different spelling of the first name, exact for the second...yet the don't seem to be related.....strange) oh, sorry, a bit of a tangent there.....ah, yes,

Annet will be helping out in the kitchen this year as co coordinator. I'll get a picture of her later.

We have our two GREAT nurses back again this year. Brenda and Mary-Jane. THANKS for helping out again.

There was lots to do in the morning. Last minute craft details to be done. Everyone pitched in.

Then it was time for lunch. Buns, meat and cheese (with some forgetting to peal of the plastic wrapping around the cheese first, but I won't mention any names here). Good sustenance for the afternoon ahead.

Shellie returned to us again to be our main Speaker for the week. She moved to Winnipeg shortly after last year's event.....I'm still not sure if that had something to do with all the pestering she got from us or not : ) . We are very glad to have such a capable person with us this week. I missed you Shellie. : ) Over lunch, we seemed to separate into our age ranges, and our genders. This group of the more MATURE seemed to be having a great time, and at least they weren't gender specific. Then it was into the vans for the 45 minute drive to La Fleche Adventures. Once we arrived, we had to wait a bit, and some just simply posed for pictures.

Here's Rey, our Spiritual Life Coordinator getting pumped for the afternoons climb.

Once he received his harness, well, I think his attitude changed a bit. : )

Just like in the army, we all had to line up. They look pretty good in formation don't you think. ?

As usual, someone couldn't resist taking a picture from the other side of the fence. It was told to us that they didn't want to leave anyone's behind, or was that anyone behind....hmmmmm

After a grueling 10 minute walk into the woods, we arrive at our training site. Everyone is instructed on how to stay safe on the courses.

Then it's up into the trees. Here Rachel shows us how it's done.

Tim and Julia make quick work of the more difficult sections.

Brenda and Eric came along too. It looks like Brenda is getting a chin whooping from the cable on the course.

Megan coming down one of the many zip lines on the course.

Tamara seems to be having fun, don't you think. No kids hanging from your legs today. : )

Eric making the zip lines look easy.

Annette the second, as I like to call her. She was in the final set of the climbers. I was last. I don't think she liked my "hurry up and get moving" comments. She did very well on the course though, just so you know. : )

Your's Truly having a good time jumping on the course. Rey, who was right in front of me, didn't always like the way the course moved with me AND him on them at the same time.

Carrissa was in our pack as well, but she managed to move much faster than us. She seemed like a natural on the courses.

Silene is short, but she reached long and high to make sure she stayed on the more difficult parts of the course.

Eric and Brenda out for a leisurely stroll in the trees.

Here you get an idea of the different heights we had to negotiate.

Two of us in the trees....

Tamara is playing peek a boo with the camera. You can tell she has two little ones at home. : ) She looks very happy here.....

I'm wondering what her facial expression in now ? ! : )

SOME of the group decided to stay close to the ground today. They took pictures, heckled us from the ground and tried to give us pointers on how to do things better....keeners.

Annette looks awfully lonely up there..... : (

What can I say.....I think that says it all !

This was one of the extreme zip lines. Gives you an idea of how high and how small we looked. The people on the ground looked small to us.

Andrew did very well on the course...and LOVED it I might add.

Ethan looking up....it's a LONG way down.

Chris, my son, showing off with no hands.

Kyle, my nephew, had loads of fun on the course.

Some of us were witness to a person breaking her leg on the last zip line of the course. Thankfully there were no injuries in our gruop. There was, however, a small misshap with Joanna. Seems her zip line wheels fell off the cable as she was preparing for her last zip line of the day....and well, she got VERY stuck.

But, two knights in orange armour came to her rescue. I think she was a bit embarrassed, and is REALLY mad at me now for putting this on the blog, but hey, they give me such good material.

After the course was over, we made it back to the church for a delicious meal and wonderful dessert. During the week we will be blessed with MANY volunteers that will be helping in the kitchen. Here Marg and Christine are helping out, while Anne and Annet share a cute little story together.... : )

Here is what we had for supper. It was GOOD!!!!!!!

Dessert was even BETTER! Chocolate cup with custart and cherries and whipped topping. I confess, I had two of them....

It seems that Fontana didn't realize that the food was actually HOT....she recovered thankfully. : )

After supper, we took some showers at homes (the church doesn't have any) and then it was time for some Mentor orientation. Some of us are getting REALLY relaxed if you ask me.

After that it was time to get our sleeping arrangements set up. Shellie and Tamara are sharing space this week....I don't think they'll be getting much sleep...talk, talk, talk, talk.......

I don't think Rey will be getting much sleep either, but that's for different reasons. Seems his mattress is a bit out of commission here.

So that's it for day one. Tomorrow it's more orientation time, and then our Paroticipants arrive. Please pray for our Mentors as they meet their Participants and for the Participants as they come. Some feel a bit homesick the first night they are here.

Until this morning then...... Blessings and good night.