Kids being kids.

This video is about Camp Barnabas. Its kind of long but it really gets the point across about what Camp Barnabas does for children with disabilities. At this camp the kids are told that they can do anything they set their mind to and the staff go out of their way to make sure that every kid's wish is fulfilled. There are kids that only get to go swimming when they come to camp so they get to spend a majority of their time in the pool. There are some kids that have never gotten to go into a tree house or go onto a playground because they are in a wheel chair. At camp they have a tree house and playground equipment that is wheelchair accessible. Children with disabilities are able to live with no limitations for an entire week.

Don't Be a Debbie Downer

For one of our assignments for Comp, we are supposed to explain why we are interested in what we are blogging about. For me, I first became interested in people with special needs and disabilities when I was a sophomore in high school. At my church I have two kiddos with down syndrome, Katie and Daniel. They are two of my best friends and every summer we basically live at the pool. I also decided to volunteer with a few people from my youth group at a camp specifically made for kids and adults with disabilities. It is called Camp Barnabas. Through my experiences at camp I have grown more knowledgeable about many disabilities and how no disability can be limiting if you have the right heart about it.

Katie & Daniel 2009 ^

Both times I went to camp I got campers with severe disabilities. Jill was my first camper. She was 25 but only had the mental age of a 12 year old and had Down syndrome. She was physically able to do everything but was emotionally unstable. Getting to help her have fun at camp was a great time. The second summer I went I got a little boy named Mark. He was around 12 years old but was only 4 mentally. He was blind and had a prostatic eye (which he liked to pop out), had autism, cerebral paisley, mental retardation and many food allergies. We spent endless hours on the swings but overall it was a great week. Both weeks were rough and hot but I couldn't help but fall in love with both of my campers.

Cabin #4 Summer 2008

When you spend time with these special people it can be hard but at the same time very much enjoyable. People with disabilities help you focus on the great things you have in life rather than being a Debbie downer. Life is way to short to worry about the small things, enjoy it while you can.

Bethany and Mark Camp 2008

Starting Over

Since I am such an indecisive person, I am changing what my blog is going to be about this semester. It was going to be about food, but I saw that going no where. I do a lot of work with adults and children with special needs and it seemed to be like a better topic. There are a lot of different disabilities and developmental problems that affect our society and many people don't even know what is going on. Over the semester I will be going into detail about different disabilities and how they can effect people.

New Blog

For Comp 112 we are starting a blog and I have never done one. So this should be interesting. I chose to do my blog over food. I seem to eat a lot and I like trying new things so I will be "blogging" about new foods, food that is healthy and some that isn't. So here we go.