Camp

What happens before lunch....
https://vimeo.com/70668520

I think I edited this post 3 or 4 times now! LOL! But seriously I keep thinking of more I want to say! In regard to the above video, I feel I should say that after bible mania, the cabin groups have about 15 minutes to trickle into the meeting hall so we can go over KP duties, cabin inspection results, announcements, and pray for the meal. this is when the music is on and the kids get to kind of cut loose without much structure. Sometimes they sit along the edge of the stage and do acapella We Will Rock You, sometimes it is the crazy dances, sometimes it is just hanging out giggling while enjoying the tunes. This is not a glimpse of the majority of our day, just a tiny window.(They also did the Interlude and Harlem Shake. Good clean fun. Teach kids to have that kind of fun and they won't crave the sinful kinds of fun.)
SO. MUCH. FUN.
And great lessons from the scriptures. The theme was Heroes. We studied Noah, Josiah, David and Jonathan, Joseph, and how they do the unexpected and help people.
Camp days are pretty much morning blast with action songs, breakfast, cleaning of cabins, bible class, sport playtime, bible mania drills, lunch, afternoon activities (swim, blob, zipline, canteen, cabin time, archery/bb's, crafts), supper, experience the bible story, evening worship time, canteen, and cabin time with bible review. Evening worship is always beautiful singing and a great bible lesson. It is busy, busy, busy, and the teen counselors work hard, keeping the kids with them at all times and taking care of them all day and night for the week. We had some excellent counselors. But this year there was lots of rain and the kids didn't get to do all their activities, so we had a night swim and a late movie night. Those were HUGE hits.
These kids and counselors bonded and made lifelong friends and lifelong impressions.

My youngest will be old enough to go next year and that makes me want to cry. She is so ready to go, though. I think about the impressions all these activities make on the kids ...from camp, to youth rallies, to mission trips, to bake and serve, to LTC, to T3, to VBS, and I see them all WANT to do these things over all the other options in their lives. It is wonderful to learn and serve and grow up this way.

It was a great week, very hot and humid, pretty messy and sweaty, and very active. All my muscles ache after coaching kickball all week, running back and forth where needed, helping in crafts, and helping run the zipline Thursday.  I find it very amusing that my coaching helpers thought I was "athletic" after seeing how well I could outrun the bumblebee every day! I hope I get to do kickball again, but I kind of want to try bible lesson. Due to time constraints I can't do both, though.

I am going to miss the late night mom talks in our cabin, and the silly songs....  little rabbit in the woods,  purple soup,  boom chicka boom, coconut, baby shark, Give me a "J" (with Quinn of course), and the conductor of the stroganoff!

No worries though. The kids do not cease to bring up camp and sing camp songs ALL YEAR LONG. It is just that awesome. They wait for this with more anticipation than Christmas or birthdays.