"It smells like you tried to do laundry in your dishwasher four months ago."

We had our last CILT counselor chapel this morning. It's always special when we get to do this but today it was extra special for two reasons.

Reason #1: Josiah, one of our CILTs, played guitar for all of the songs! I don't think a CILT has ever had this opportunity before, but after having him play at our song fest Wednesday morning we had to have him do this. He did a fantastic job.

Reason #2: We did the GPS skit that the kids of Session 1 made up for their stay over weekend chapel. We liked it so much that we wanted to use it again for all of River Village to see.

The skit centers around one of my favorite verses Jeremiah 29:11 "I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out-- plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for." 

God works like the GPS, he has a plan for our lives and shows us the next right step we need to take in order to get there. But it's our decision as to whether or not we want to listen to those directions. We can turn it off and go our own way instead. But if we get lost and stuck we can turn the GPS back on aka start listening to God and he'll show us how to get back on the path.

This morning the CILTs changed the lyrics of 1, 000 Years for their graduation song while we did our final one on one conversations. This morning is just sad. While we had sympathy for the other two groups of CILTs that left this summer, now we're filled with empathy because this is the end for us too. I hate when CILTs is over.

They practiced the song a ton of times for us, even pretending they were on stage and recorded it so we can get a copy of it to listen to all year long when we miss the CILTs.

One of my favorite traditions of the last Friday is the CILT girl photo shoot before lunch. They were slowly gathering to get started so Smoon and I took the opportunity to have our own photo shoot.

So much love for this kid. I'm lucky to call her one of my best friends.

Smoon is so good at capturing me at my best-- Sarah Wright the Explorer and Max lover.

 Then it was time for pictures of all the girls together. We got a letter today from a CILT named Mackenzie about something called a heart print that I think applies so well to CILTs.

Whatever our hands touch we leave fingerprints, on the walls, one the dishes and books. There is no escape. As we touch we leave our identity.

God, wherever I got today help me to leave heartprints. Heartprints of compassion, understanding and love. Heartprints of kindness and genuine concern.

May my heart touch a lonely neighbor or a run away daughter or an anxious mother or perhaps an aged grandfather. Lord, send me out today to leave heartprints and if someone today says, "You touched me,"

May that person sense your love through me and forever be left with a heartprint. 

Then Mackenzie wrote in her letter, "Heartprints come from a heart that is pure, sweet, loving and oozing with God's love. Heartprints are left when God uses you to make an impact on someone else's life." Tecumseh is full of people who are busy making heartprints without even realizing it. The girls have made a permanent heartprint on my life.

Right after rest hour all of River Village headed up to lake time. This being the last day of CILTs, we were all ready to play despite the blazing heat. I got to do the Saturn check-in right next to Alli Kenney. I loved getting to see CILTs with their campers and so many kids that I know.

I got to wave to girls like Hadley and Mia in the shallow end as they collected clay from beneath the sand.

Everyone was having fun even though we were dripping with as much sweat as we were lake water.

Everyone went back down to River for pop stop and then our village wide Capture the Flag. The CILT counselors job is always to be on water patrol and keep dancing in the middle of no man's land. Dancing is one of our strengths.

We were beyond pumped to get Macknezie's  care package this afternoon. She made each of us a letter with the story of the heartprints written on it, the sweetest letter and then we all got our own jar of compliments, challenges and bible verses. One of the coolest care packages I've ever gotten.

Tonight we flashed back to the 80's.

It was one last great party and night of fun with these kids we've grown so close to. I think the world of Gianna, Katie and Allison. They are each so genuine, positive and motivated. They are girls that lead by example and are always willing to help those around them.

It's girls like Maggie, Sam and Val that help make the culture of Team CILT so positive and fun. These three are always up for anything and consistently have a smile on their faces. I love that they became such fast friends and know that they'll keep being part of one another's lives when they go back home.

I love that Irene makes it a priority to get close to the CILT girls like Hillary. I love my counselor friends Molly and Jackie and know I'm lucky to get to be around them all summer and soak up some of their enthusiasm.

Oh Team CILT. What a crew. I love these folks in all their dress up glory but really just love them all the time. We've had one heck of a run together the past six weeks with our kids.

I've loved rocking the Longhouse with JZ and Smooncat. I'm so thankful Maddie and Rain got to come back and that it was greater than I expected to be their counselor again for the third time.

I love that Maddy J wanted to rock the 80's prom dress with me. I love Gracie more than she loves her flaming hot cheetos at this point and can't imagine her not wandering around the Longhouse at night with a bag of the cheetos in her hand.

Maxy wanted to get all dressed up for dinner with us too. He looks good in the 80's don't you think?

I love dancing on chairs during dinner, singing the words to songs we know so loud and being silly together.

I love copy catting Alex's dance moves and how he's just so great. He has been such an invaluable piece of Team CILT this summer and we would have struck out without him.

Trading Post time was full of step and drama clinic performances, chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches, pictures with friends and a soccer game in Main Field.

Camp is so alive on Friday nights. With Diggy and Smoony, my friend Sar, people coming to visit, hundreds of kids running around and Max hanging out in my fanny pack, everybody is living the dream together.

Kate proudly held our CILT flag all the way out to Closing  Campfire tonight.

I got to run into Pathfinder girls I love on the way and walk in this clump of really fun CILTs. We sing cheers and wave at Bobby's camera so we'll be on the DVD and then counselors race to get the best benches.

We did our CILT cheer up on stage for the last time of the summer.

Then it was time for the CILTs to graduate. We called them up one by one to get their diplomas and then they sang the graduation song they had worked on all morning.

Session 3- A Thousand Years

Weeks go fast
Summer begins to pass
Thirteen days
How can we leave when we all want to stay

But none of us stand along
All of our doubts
Suddenly go away somehow
Now we're closer

We have been waiting for this all year
The end of CILT Session 3 is drawing near
We are home again
With our 40 new best friends

Can't stand still
Hiking was such a thrill
We were so brave
Even when we reached level 3 sweat stains

Farret the bromance grew
Raiona's cousin
YOCO, CILT hunts, Tommy and Bruce
Zork likes milk

We have been waiting for this all year
The end of CILT Session 3 is drawing near
We are home again
With our 40 new best friends

Through it all our campers were so life-changing
We're so much closer and 
We will love them for a thousand years
We will love them for a thousand more

We'll take home all of the things we've learned
Leadership, to be third and
To love God for a thousand years
He'll love us for forever more

When we go home we will still have each other
Time has brought our hearts to camp
We've loved camp for a thousand years
We'll love CILTs for a thousand more

Maxy loved the all star line up of performances at campfire tonight. Not only were the hip hop, country line dance, show choir and martial arts clinics awesome, but we also got to watch Come to Marry the Princess with Jordan and Eric, the Hough's Making Eggs Skit, Squeegee hunt with Joel, Tom and William and Mike's One Voice song with Maddie, JZ and Becca. Max just soaked in every second of it all. He really loves camp.

The counselors got a really insightful email from Marisa, one of the Session 2 CILTs today. She wrote to us all about a program called North Star that she helps with by working with a group of 7th and 8th grade inner city girls. She told us about all the ways she has incorporated what she learned in CILTs into this summer math class and I was blown away. She's got the kids writing love tanks, working as a team, cheering one another on, staying positive even if they make a mistake, making up cheers on the spot and actually having fun while they do school work.

At the end she wrote, "On this last day of CILTs you may be feeling sad, but I hope you think of how many people you have impacted this summer so far. I am just one example. There were 121 leaders from all over America who will go on to impact other people. In devotions one night I said how I truly believe that one person can change the world because we each have a ripple effect. You guys have changed 121 teenagers lives in only six weeks. If each CILT changed 10 people's lives that is 1,210 additional people you have impacted. And I know that these CILTs will impact more than 10 people. The number will keep rising. While you teaching the CILTs may be over, the results and impact of CILTs is not and it never will be."