"Irving, Silly Willy and Bo the Hobo are SO glad you're back!"

It felt like we had just fallen asleep when we had to wake up. But as one of my girls later told me, "My high of the day was waking up surrounded by all my friends because it meant that this all wasn't just a dream," so it wasn't that bad. We got ready for another day of camp and headed over through the rain to breakfast.

 

Baked oatmeal was everyone's wish, which luckily came true. I was amazed at how many kids decided to make some pretty spectacular ketchup art on their plates to showcase their love for camp and one another.

Six kids got to come compete in the frozen t-shirt game. Camp's freezer must be something special because these shirts turned into rocks over night compared to the shirts we had frozen for an entire week for Wyld Life Club. They threw them, whipped them, Emily sat on hers and Katherine even tried to breathe hot air onto hers, and pulled them until they could finally put them on. The boys dominated the competition this time around.

 

KJ and Sam played guitar while Arielle and Jamie sang to lead us in our songfest chapel. I miss singing these songs together every morning and that sense of being surrounded by people who are there for a common purpose. We sang favorites like Our God, The Stand/Give Me Faith, The Desert Song and Oh How He Loves Us.

 

Arielle shared about how the thing she wondered about and questioned when she was 16 was the thing she still wonders about now. What is God asking of her? What does he want her to offer with her life?

We each wrote down something we think we can bring to Christ, whether it's a tangible thing, a spiritual gift, time or some part of our life, and brought it to the cross.

We often reference the verse that says, "Since you are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses through off the sin that so easily entangles and run the race with perseverance." I love the image that our camp friends, the family we've found here, are surrounding us and giving us the courage and strength to follow the path we really want to. We might not have that support back at home but hopefully we know that our friends are going to encourage us and care about us no matter how far apart we may be.

It might look like we're awkwardly falling all over the place in these next pictures... which I suppose is true... but we're also playing Norweigen Nose Dive so we're falling awkwardly in a very specific way.

 

Then it was time for RFAJWD part 2. Arielle gave the first set of instructions and just as the kids were starting to find their partners...

WE HAD A GLOW STICK DANCE PARTY! Have you ever been a part of something like this at 10am on a Sunday morning? It was a workout and a sweaty, hot, stinky mess but so much fun.

The surprises continued with a Skittles race,

a Session 3 flash mob to Dynamite,

and a cereal sort. (This is the game we also played at Wyld Life on Friday night but this time around it was a bit soupier in the bowls to make the clean-up easier at the end.)

During resident staff training counselors used to be part of something called Tecumseh Showtime. Each group would have to create a skit that combined Tecumseh, a movie and a famous person. We decided to showcase the CILT's theatrical talents and try the same thing. The performances were each pretty great.

Session 1 had to mix in The Notebook and Vince.

Session 2 had the new James Bond movie and Joel.

Session 3 had Saw and Llama.

Session 1is full of such big personalities--kids who love camp, love one another and love their kids. Even though they were the smallest group this weekend you couldn't help but notice their enthusiasm.

Session 2 was only missing Elisa and Kacy this weekend, a near complete turnout. These kids have such a close bond and I love that so many of them have stayed in touch.

Session 3 loves to always have a good time together, even if they have to dance in the rain. They can always make me laugh or want to join in on whatever scheme for fun they've come up with. I love their spirit.

We ate lunch together and then the worst thing happened. People started to leave.

These kids are some of my favorite people in the world and this program is one of the coolest things I've ever gotten to be part of. They get to have one CILT reunion but I know that I'm lucky because I get to keep doing this year after year. It never gets old, not even a little bit. I want to keep having time to sit down and talk one on one with girls like Emma Servies about what's going on in her life.

I'm so blessed to get to develop such close friendships because of camp--without it I never would have known Arielle, Maggie, Olivia, Ellie, Maddy, Emily, Tera, Katherine, Kristin or Jamie. These people are such a big part of my life because of this place and the connections we first made here.

 

 

When we were leaving Katherine said, "I just don't know what people who don't have camp look forward to. Camp is what I think about all the time and camp people are the ones I talk to most of the time." This place is so special and it changes you for the better. You can't help but want to hold onto something that amazing.

 

This weekend was one of the best. From getting to start it all with Wyld Life Club with Maggie to getting surprised by Ellie, from dance party upon dance party upon dance party to one-on-one conversations, from weird outfits to an army of neon hats and FBC sweatshirts, from devotions in Whitetail to chapel in Kampen it's been one for the history books. I don't want to forget a bit of it.