This week I am spending my time at Diabetes Camp in Noblesville. I am playing lunch lady because I am in charge of the allergy diets. I have 16 kiddos who are on some type of special diet. That means I am cooking up everything from Vegetarian meals to Gluten free + Dairy free + Soy free. So needless to say it at times can be complicated. It had been fun though! I have learned so much! I haven't had to work this closely for an extended period of time with diabetic patients. Doing clinical work means that we see patients for a short period of time (3 to 5 days) in the hospital. So hanging out with a bunch more of kids for 7 days has been fun.

My scheduled consisted of cooking/preparing food for 3 meals a day + 2 snacks each day. I ended up preparing food for about 13 kids throughout the week. I spent my mornings making breakfast and then getting the lunch and snack items ready. I would get a few hours off before lunch to do work things, wonder around camp or go for a run. Then I would make lunch and finalize the evening snack. Then I would have another couple of hours off to do something fun. Then back to the kitchen for dinner preparation. I would then normally hang out around the camp in the evening, watching the camp game, going to campfire and then evening snack was at 9pm each evening.

Camp has always held a special place in my heart. I love spending time at camp during the summer. I even had the opportunity to work in a kitchen at Camp Lakeview for a whole summer. I feel quite comfortable in a camp kitchen. This week at Diabetes Camp was great. I felt like I was able to make a positive difference and able to help this kids with allergies have a "normal" week. I also was able to learn lots more about Type 1 Diabetes in the process. It is amazing how much fun you can have when you decide to enjoy yourself, work hard and make friends. I am thankful to have this opportunity and be able to serve these kiddos and staff for a week.

Hanging out watch the camp activity for the evening.

Thank you to my co-workers Kara and Kim and for all their helping preparing for this week at camp. They both helped so much with inventorying food items, making food labels and creating a chart to help organize the meal preparation process. Thank you to the two Tracys, who were in the kitchen, with me for the week. It was so much fun getting to know them and work with them each day. Also one last thank you, to my other co-worker Kristin, for letting me go to this camp for a week and leave her alone at the hospital. It is tough to be short one person, but I am so thankful to be able to have this experience!

The Gluten Free Prep area in the kitchen.

Great week being able to work with some great people!