Where in the world have I been?

The good news is, I HAVE been at camp!  Just to catch up, Labor Day weekend and the 50th Anniversary of Camp Walter Scott was fantastic - despite the rain.  We were able to introduce our kids to the beauty of sleeping in a hogan...in the rain.  Our younger son balks a bit at new things and I think the rain dampened his spirit, so to speak.  Anyway, I attempted to encourage him by telling him about sleeping in the same hogan while I was pregnant with him.  This led to an interesting conversation later, in which he informed Matt Chapman that he had "slept here while he was pregnant with Mommy" but it worked and he loved sleeping out in the hogan!

Rekindle also sponsored one of the fall work weekends and it seemed like a great deal got accomplished!  I say seemed because I personally spent most of my time looking up at the ceiling of the showerhouse I was painting.  Well, that or rinsing out my older son's clothes after he sat on the freshly painted bench.  :)  Did I mention it was HIM who told me to paint it?  But I digress...

Camp Walter Scott is gearing up for a new season - even better than last year (I can just feel these things!).  There are some wonderful things in store, with great directors and counselors.  However, it doesn't matter unless YOU are there.  Yes, I mean YOU.  I promise, there is something for everyone!  Too young for a regular week at camp?  Try Family Camp!  Not sure about going on your own?  Invite a friend or even a grandparent!  (We are sending our oldest to Grandparents and Me this year - so exciting!)  Finished with high school?  Make Post-High the best camp yet!  Too expensive?  Talk to your church about scholarships OR design a t-shirt for a chance to WIN a scholarship!  http://www.cciwdisciples.org/images/files/camps/Camp_T_Shirt_Design_Contest.pdf

If you're in the mood to register, get out there.  Here are the forms you need:  http://www.cciwdisciples.org/camps/summer-camp-programs

Still need more inspiration?  Check out this video:

Brian and I have just returned home from a week at camp.  If I am being completely honest, I had some reservations about going this year.  I felt that I should stay home, get some things accomplished and just spend more time with the boys. 

God knew better.

I have been at camp many, many times over the past 18 years.  I have had some amazing experiences and met awesome people of God.  Yet, I feel this year was certainly one of the best.  Over the course of the week, I heard a camper talk about how camp helped her determine her path in ministry, I heard fears of returning to a life outside of the love of camp and I was touched by girls who said the Friday night dinner and dance was better than their high school proms.  

On Friday night, I was blown away by the generousity and thoughtfulness of the campers.  The camp council talked with the camp and the decision was made to give their offering to Rekindle.  That night, approximately $100 was collected from these high school (some soon to be college) students.  

They are the spark.

 

I wanted to start by sharing my favorite camp memory.  After three days, I realized I simply couldn't pick one.  The entire experience of camp is a string of memories, in which no single great one stands above the others. 

I thought it might make it easier to choose a favorite memory from my years as a camper and one from my years as a counselor.  My mind rapidly raced through talent shows, mimes, endless communions, amazing people I've met and more specifc memroies...passing notes along a clothesline during FOB, the "Amy" song, a delicious banana cream pie in my face, virtually everything about counseling with the amazing Erin, Jessica's trailblazing efforts and others.  Still, I couldn't decide. 

Of course, camp holds other types of memories.  Some that are not as funny or that I do not look back on as fondly.  However, camp is the place that taught me about forgiveness and redemption.  For every moment of sadness or pain associated with this place and these people, there has been another moment of unspeakable love and joy.  And camp has shown me that it is wonderful to live in that place of love and joy.

I hope the pictures above can stand as a testimony to the many wonderful events and people I think of when I think of Camp Walter Scott.  However, I know my memories are not even a drop in the ocean of experiences that camp has seen.  I don't feel this post will be complete until it is filled with more memories - YOUR memories - filling the comments. 

Would you share and remember here?

It almost didn't happen. 

To be honest, I don't know exactly how I ended up at Camp Walter Scott.  I don't recall a moment of deciding to go to church camp, or a pull towards it, but there must have been something.  In previous years I had gone to Girl Scout camp, participated in summer dance camp, attended church and Sunday School, but I had never shown an interest in going to church camp.  And then, I found myself there - both literally and figuratively.

God knew better than I did.  He knew that I needed camp.  I needed the people I met there and the love I found, but mostly I needed to remember there was a place where I belong.  What I didn't know when I arrived at camp for the first time was that it would be something I clung to throughout every experience thrown at me the following year. 

I cannot imagine my life without this place, these memories, these people.  When scanning for the perfect image for this post, I knew I found it when my chest filled with the overwhelming emotions that camp has brought to me over the past 18 years. 

It seems to me there has never been a place that has felt so much and been so much to so many people.

It almost didn't happen for me.  And, if it hadn't happened, I wouldn't be where I am right now.  Trying to make sure the experience of Camp Walter Scott happens for others.