Yah! Woho! Yeehaw! YIP! WOO! yey!

Hey guys! It's Dotto here! I saw Jordan beat me to the punch and put a post up here! Well let me start off by saying that I am insanely excited to meet all of you guys! I'm already here at camp and the other day I was setting up a little tea station in my room, and I put 4 mugs out and than I got really excited because I pictured me hanging out in my room during Kaleo and you guys comming in to visit me (well it's just the girls in my little day dream visiting me, but boys your important too!) and have some tea and than have some super cool God talks, or even just stupid funny talks and than drinking tea and bonding and I just got really excited and impatient for you guys to come!
Ahhh and I read a post of someone who's a Mountain Biker? I'm a wanna be Mountain Biker in Training! So guys if you have your bikes, bring them there's some sweet trails around here! Ohh and bring your helmets too! Saftey First! heheeh
Has anyone heard about our mascot? You should be excited to meet him too, he's about 6 feet tall (is that right Chris?) and he's a Playmobile Man! hahah talk to Chris Downey for the full story, but I'm pretty sure he's gunna be our Mascot for the year!
So I am definitely praying tons for you guys as you head into your summers and wind everything up at home in preparation for moving to camp! I really hope that every day your able to get into the word and fall more and more in love with our awesome creator! He's gunna do amazing things with you this year as I'm sure he is doing even now! Hey here's an idea, add me to your face book, I'd love to get to know you more before the summer, search for Melissa and Dotto and you should find me or just leave me your link here on the post and I'll add you. Jordan has face book too and he just loves it;)
Be Massivly Blessed guys!
~Dotto~

First time for a firstie.

Well hello all! While I have a little bit of time after I cleaned and vacuumed my office, I thought I would post a little thingy about myself - kind of a "this is me in a nutshell".

Well as you already know, I am working at Camp Qwanoes this summer as their photographer. This is my second year in doing so - as well it is only the second year for the position. As well, you know I have done Kaleo before, back in the day in 2003/04. Yes the first year of Kaleo :) Oh the times we had...

*cough* Ok, back on track. I'm from the land called Alberta, more specifically the area of Sylvan Lake. I grew up on a farm (yes we have cattle, no we don't have chickens). But lately I have lived in the land of "liquid sunshine" - British Columbia, more specifically the lower mainland. I've done 2 years working on my BA in Youth Work at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford.

Well there's not much more general to divulge. I pray you all have an amazing summer and I look forward to meeting you and going on crazy adventures :) It's going to be a wild year!

Before I go, I thought since I photograph a lot of camp I would post up some pics of what some of the landscape looks like.

~*Michelles weekend*~

Yummm ice cream!...i just love that pic i had to put it up... again.. well i just wanted to say hello to all my kaleo peeps lol ... i just got off work and was reading all the new bloggs .. along with some ice cream .. because looking at the pics of me and Sheri made me want ice cream really bad... yumm.. cookies and cream! anywho... it made me so excited!

So i had a grand adventure this weekend... i was camping with some of my friends.. it was a grand time .. well it rained the hole time .. but that normal for Port McNeil.. we got kinda board of playing card so we decided to go and get lost or find something cool .. so we found some random logging road and we were on our way .. we spotted a beautiful water fall(/ not one at the some time lol) ... we climbed up the side of it and there was an amazing view... i would have posted a pic of it .. but non of us had a camera... anywho... trying to get back down i got socked because i fell LOL (I've got a purple bruise on my lag now) ... we drove up the road some more .. a lot more.. and found a cliff and we were like hay lets clime up their .. so we found a way .. not a safe way but were all alive lol .. then chilled on the top for a bit then started to head back then we found a baby bear in the ditch .. it was kinda dead.. well not kinda it was dead.. and that made me sad.. because it was soo small .. well for a bear ...
but guys it was soo beautiful! AND GUESS WHAT..... God made it just for us! ... u probably already know that but ya..
oh man i think i ate to much ice cream lol .. what am i saying .. you can never eat to much ice cream... well i should go to bed
Night Night sweet dreams!
kisses
Michelle

Kaleo Acceptance Packages On Their Way!

Please don't bite the mailman this week! Your postie is bringing you a whole pile of information about Kaleo that you won't want to miss.

What to expect, what to bring, what we are going to do - it's all there for you to read. Please read it! There are things you need to know so you can be ready on September 12 for an amazing adventure of learning, leadership, spiritual construction and - okay - some fun too. Let me know if your package doesn't show up in the next week or so, or if you have any questions. See you here soon!

"Plans to prosper you..."

What a God we serve. A little tale for your reading pleasure. So I have been working at a studio in Halifax called Copernicus and it's been going really well because I'm very speedy at a certain aspect of animation and they've been moving me around a lot to utilize me as best they can... anyways, those kinds of positions dried up for me and I was put in a position that takes a while to get into the groove of. I wasn't able to get up to speed and hadn't been making enough money to survive.

About the time I had been rolling thoughts around my head, another studio in Halifax called Collideascope emailed me about a position. I was going away on a retreat with my youth group and I had made a commitment to pray about what I should do about this decision. I had a meeting with my boss the following week and pretty much resigned because of the lack of payment with hope and expectation to be able to jump into the other position. Turns out my current boss had arranged the other studio to give me a job and had massaged the whole thing the whole time! I was so worried about it and felt like I was playing both studios but turns out the studio I was leaving totally took care of me! And it was funny because I was fretting about it earlier that morning and the guy I sit next to, who knows I'm a Christian tried to calm me and eventually just said I need to have faith and pointed to where I usually keep my bible on my desk... what a testament!!

So now I'm sitting in my new desk at my new job and it's awesome! Except there's a life-sized cardboard cutout of Chewbacca staring at me and keeps catching me out of the corner of my eye... creepin' me out.... Anyways, moral of the story is, God takes SUCH good care of us. We whine and complain because we don't get what we think we need but when it really counts he takes care of us in every aspect of what we really NEED! "...plans for a hope and a future!"

Hopefully that'll brighten a day or two! I'll post some pictures of my work, it's really neat looking in here... I just need to bring a camera to work... more to follow!

love Mark

Hey everyone, im super stoked about meeting everyone and can't wait for kaleo it'll be a blast.

so, my name is Dan i'm 18 i love soccer, football, music, most other sports, i play guitar and sing. i'm involved in my church quite a bit i led the worship team, i'm a junior high leader for sunday school and youth group. so, i found out about kaleo through my youth pastor melissa holland, and after muc thought about going or not here i am. and praise god for that.

so i grew up in the church and in a christian home and became a christian at sunday school when i was around 5ish. i was then baptized when i was 8 and then started some what realizing what a being a christian meant. i then went on many mission tours and youth retreats and really started living a christian life. in the summer of my grade 10 year i was a leader at a local christian summer camp which really started to open my eyes to what it really meant to be a christian. but when i came home most of that was washed away. in grade 11 i went through some struggles and am happy to say that my friends and fellow christian brought me through those now i am working in the mall nearby my house and try as hard as possible to have a regular relationship with god and im super pumped about the encouraging enviorment that will be kaleo! and for my future im really not sure what my future holds im not totally sure what i want to do later in life i just know what ever it is god is with me and it will all work out.

I am super pumped to meet you all and have a blast for a year. i'm looking forward to hearing from you guys and anxious for the year to come!

SHERI AND MICHELLE!

so me and Sheri tried to post these pic but they did not work on her silly computer
so here you go!... I (Michelle) am the one with the wavy and the other is beautiful Sheri! love ya doll!
well hope you like them.. have a good rest of your day ..unless you look at this before you go to bed then Sweet Dreams!
hugs and kisses
~*Michelle*~

Coast to coast

Hey everybody! I just got the link for this last night and I was on it for quite a while! I'm amazed how you guys are already talking to each other AND how many know each other!

Anyways, my name is Mark Freeman, I just got accepted like 2 weeks ago. I heard about Kaleo through my youth pastor, Melissa Holland after she and many others in my church had been prodding me to look into getting involved in the ministry somehow. So I checked it out and Lord willing, here I am! Praise God!

Okay, a little about me... I'm 21, I'm working as an animator in Halifax, NS and have been for about a year now. Super involved with my church in youth group, teaching Sunday school and a College and Career group I facilitate at. All of which I love and feel like I'm living a double life with my job and my love for these kids! I love soccer a LOT! I snowboard, draw, play sax and a little guitar, videogames, movies and music... I'll leave it there.

Alright, my autobiography with Jesus! I became a Christian when my brother told me about it when I was like 4 or 6 or something? Anyways, I grew up in a really solid Christian home and was always just in it which was rad! I was baptized when I was 8 and just lived at the church, helping out in whatever capacity they'd let me. Probably around high school I really started to take in what it is I was doing and that I was doing it for myself and not just because it was the way I was raised. And then probably when I was 19, it started to get hard and I couldn't just ride the train of "well, this is how it's always been". I had to actually figure out why I believe and why I hold onto my Savior which has been hard because I've really been stretched but it's been amazing for the same fact.

So I guess I'm still in a huge growth transition and am just excited for where the Lord is going to bring me. I'm STOKED about Kaleo in that sense too. I'm not really sure what God wants me to be doing for the rest of my days. I already have a career and yet here I am coming back (on my knees as much as possible) to see where I should go next and I believe that God will really open up some doors through Kaleo and the experience I'm going to have!

I'm REALLY excited about meeting all you wonderful people and just growing close and learning more about our loving Savior together! Shoot, this is going to be sweet!

love Mark

Got a Couple of People to Introduce to You...

Each year, we select a couple of people (usually past Kaleo students) and ask them to pray and consider coming back to Kaleo for a year to be our Interns. They come alongside you as students to encourage and listen and occasionally scold you, and basically walk through the Kaleo experience as those who have been there before. So we are VERY pleased to introduce this year's Kaleo Interns to you, because you will come to love these two obviously crazy people:

Jordan Nielsen was a Kaleo One student and is famous for a video that I won't show you because you might follow his example. He is currently Camp Photographer at Qwanoes and is marvelous at it. He told me yesterday that he is incredibly excited about the prospect of getting to know the guys of Kaleo Five.

Melissa Dotto was also a Kaleo One student, back when the girls lived in our 1912 Guest House and wrestled bears on their way to class. She has been a nanny, a bike camp director and virtual youth pastor since then, and will tell you all year how much she absolutely loves the opportunity to pour into the Kaleo girls of 2007/08.

I think you will hear more from these two soon. So our team is complete! Amanda, Jordan, Melissa and myself can't wait for you to get here, though we still have a huge summer ahead of us. Your prayers will be mucho appreciated!

And good news: the Kaleo Acceptance Packages will be sent out soon, possibly by the end of this week! We have loads of things to tell you, and we hope you will enjoy looking it through and getting a better idea of what to expect. And of course you can always call or email us.

my little town need some prayer

I have a prayer request
A friend of mine lost her brother this weekend do to a biking accident, he was only 21 and a non christian. If you all could pray for his family, pray that they will seek refuge in god arms and get throw this hard time.
Thanks!
hugs and kisses
Michelle

Babies!!!!!!!!!

I've become an auntie once more! her name is saraquin christine leggatt. and i will love her for the rest of my life, i will be her cool aunte that she goes to about boys and everything else!!!
it was so cool becuase i got to have a little bonding time with her, her and i we chatted hung out, and a little heart to heart. We talked about life and boys and God while i held her and she slept. It was one of the coolest and best days of my life. It was crazy though becuase its not like she is even my daughter!! but just looking at her made me almost cry of happiness!
now latley i've seen myself becoming less devoted to my devotions at times and not really recognising God around me, but the moment i saw quin God was all i saw in her! the purity, peacfulness, and her intricate body and the whole idea of a person having a baby and how it all works and its just crazy!!! And now i think anytime i see her it will remind me again how great God is and how he makes each one of us perfect just like her! well i hope that made sence!!! sometimes i don't...

The Best Gift of All... Michelle

Sup guys!!! Check it, I got the best gift ever yesterday for my B-day!! It was my sister Michelle!! Such a surprise she drove 4 hours to see me!! So we thought that we would blog and tell you what the twins are sup to this weekend!!! ( dis Michelle here now) so after i watched Sheri work for like a trillion hours... k more like 1 hr but what ev... so we raced home... then went helped with youth witch was a blast! we played kick ball for like a million hrs then got board so a mass game of capture the Frisbee ( girls against boys) The ladies totly rocked!.. then it was on 2 a game of bull dog!... then it was time to take some cute little kiddies home for some funny video making and loads of laughs it was time for home ... we watched 2 movies and talking till 3:30 in the morn it was finely time for bed after such a long exciting day. So after a sleepless night it was time for another long day Sheri got up and cleaned the kitchen because we destroyed it... i got up at like 12 lol ... we had a lades tea to go to slash a kinda lame tea but we made it rock as much a we could but not much could have bin dun to save this snooze fest but like right after that there was a mass surprise party for Daddykins ... he has only bin surprised 1 other time in his whole life! ( or something like that ) ...but any who now we are chillin on the couch watchin lidzy mcguire
p.s Sheri had to clean up puke tonight ... HA HA SUCKA
well that was the past 2 days to sum it all up i surprised the crap out of Sheri and we had a ball had some laughs not much sleep and loads of junk! ya for coffee ice cram! speaking of .. i am going to go get some right now... SO we totly cant wait till we get to Sheri fun times like these with you all! kaleo is going to be a blast and us 2 ladys r soooooooooooOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!
kisses and good night!
Peace out homes!