Girls Retreat

You all pray for me today when you get a minute.  I'm leaving this afternoon with my daughter and a passle of other mostly junior high girls on a church sponsored girls retreat.  I'm actually looking forward to it but it can be stressful being 'in charge' of a group of girls. Mostly, because you never know what types of backgrounds many of the girls will bring, what type of lives they come from and I worry that I won't be prepared with the 'right' answer when I need it.

I know, I know, I don't need to be perfect but I always worry that I'll say something to a young girl that will cause her to carry something into adulthood that I didn't mean to give her.  At the junior high level, many girls and boys are so self-conscious that almost anything you say can be taken the 'wrong' way.  When I taught that age, I often felt that I was walking on eggshells! 

Please just say a little prayer that I'll have the right words to say when I need them, that everyone will be kind too one another, that the group of girls will form a tight bond that will outlast the two day retreat and that the sponsors get a few hours of sleep!  I'm looking forward to spending girl time with the sponsors and the girls from my church.  We, so often, don't get to just really gab and visit.  Did I say I'm riding the bus?  After surviving all the camps from last summer, I can do anything! 

The weather is supposed to be nice, the company will be great so just say a little prayer today that everything goes as planned!

Thanks!

Sweet Home!

Well, I made it! I survived four days at kid's camp.  Sure wasn't as bad as I had imagined.  I truly thought it would be the worst four days I would ever spend.  Yes, it was hot.  It felt like it was over 100 degrees each day.  Yes, I did sign up to sponsor the canoeing.  Met new people, had a great view and got to sunscreen over twenty kids each day.  Plus, I got to tell stories about fishing and boating on the lake I grew up on.  Yes, we had campers get really homesick.  Helped them through it so they conquered it and now feel like they are well on their way to being a big kid!

I had a few first times too.  Take one of our showers for example.  I had never taken a shower with a garden hose.  Turns out, it kind of feels like a shower pic.  You know the ones that massage your back?  Well, one of the showers had no head, just a metal pipe that stuck out of the wall.  Actually felt pretty good and really rinsed the soap out of your hair!

Another plus, I really prayed.  Most of the time, I was mentally praying for someone or something.  Example, when I was showering with the garden hose, I was also praying that when I closed my eyes to wash out the soap from my hair that a snake would not come up the uncovered drain.  I also prayed and prayed that I would not have to eat macaroni and cheese (not my favorite food!), the cooks thought they had run out when I got up to get my plate! They found the extra pan just as I was walking away! God sometimes works in big ways and little ways!

It was really a joy to see campers grow in their faith while at camp.  It was also a joy to see campers come to know Christ at camp.  It was a joy to get away from the cell phone(very little service), tv, newspaper and all the other stuff that grabs my attention. It was a joy to have my daughter come up to me, hug me and say 'I'm glad you're here'. 

Kid's camp.  Something I'll never forget!