Tag Archives: camp

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My Major Award

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A little over two weeks ago I received a daisy nomination from my co-worker Ally for being a resource in endo and the care I have given to patients in the past by following up with them on the floor after procedures. That same day Kelly (she volunteers at Kesem Wash U with me as Nurse Needles) says to me, well I guess you didn’t get the Mission in Motion award. I looked at her very confused and she said I nominated you months ago for your involvement with Camp Kesem and I guess it’s all over with. Three days later Ally texted me to tell me I had won the award. I said oh please go to tell Kelly as I was off and I knew Kelly was working. Later on that afternoon Ally texted me to say Jodi wanted to know if I was working Monday so I said I better make sure my hair is in place for photos.

Monday came and nothing happened so I thought well I will make sure my hair looks good for Tuesday. On Tuesday the Chief Nursing Officer and two others showed up with a gorgeous Poinsettia and read to me what Kelly had said and that I had won this award. This is one of the highest honors a nurse can receive which honors employees who exemplify these values through their exceptional service and dedication to patients and their families both at work and in the community. Sadly, I do not have a copy of what she had written and of course it was months ago so she doesn’t exactly remember. However, it had to do with all the camps that I volunteer at and how much the kids love me. So the CNO then says to me, “you have your award right.” I was like no, so the charge nurse runs over to the managers office who it out sick and it is not there. I crack up laughing and say of course this always happens to me. I shared with them the story of it raining two inches the night before I was to visit Death Valley and the flood washed out roads and I didn’t get to see everything I had planned on seeing. So they assured me they would find it and give it to me.

At the end of the shift Sarah was checking her email and received a weird email so I said let me see if I received one too. Imagine my horror when I discovered the previous Friday was the brick ceremony and I received a brick with my name on it and was not there for it. I walked downstairs and found the brick and took photos. I then came back upstairs and was an emotional wreck. I also learned there was a luncheon that I also missed out on. The next day at work I emailed the CNO and the president of the hospital to let them know how upset I was that I missed that and that no one had told me about this. I heard back from the CNO a couple days later and then the president of the hospital called me personally a week later. When I looked at my caller ID and it said his name, my first thought OMG I’m in trouble. Then I said calm down and answered the phone. He was extremely apologetic and told me my award was sitting on the CNO’s desk. He offered to mail it to me but I said I am working tomorrow I can stop by and pick it up. He said that was fine and I said I would have to work up the nerve because administration is scary.

I told my co-workers all I wanted was a picture of me holding the brick. Clare and I had went down the next morning and discovered the bricks are not cemented in so taking it out would be very easy. I decided we should do this on a Monday when everyone is working including Kelly as I wanted her to share this joy with me.

Ally made a poster on Friday and on Monday she said she was hanging it up in the break room so it wouldn’t get messed up. I was like no one knows who Nurse Red is and she said “that’s ok, we will tell them.” I woke up at 4am as I was very excited and around 11:30 Kelly who was working in the room with me asked if it was ok for if she stepped out for five minutes to take care of something. I said sure but asked her what she was up to. She replied nothing and I said you are acting suspicious. As I was walking past the break room I noticed it smelled wonderful and thought anesthesia must have bought us food. Both rooms finished with morning cases at the same time so I said great let’s go do the brick. When they told me no let’s go to the break room first I became very suspicious. The food was for me and I had a cake and everything. The sneaky snakes I work with got together with the girls that get our patients ready and send home and planned a pot luck. Kelly had ordered pretzels which is why she needed to step out.

Dr. Cockerell joined us for lunch and went down to the bricks. The garden area where the bricks are located is just outside the cafeteria. So Ally is holding the sign she made and as we walked through the cafeteria and is yelling congratulations to our Mission in Motion winner. I like a little attention but this was over the top. I turned bright red but did indeed survive. We went outside and Dr. Cockerell took the brick out and handed it to me. It was so much fun.

No fear of destruction of property. And my favorite CRNA Matt is photo bombing us!
An awesome moment
Matt took the photo for us. I was so excited he could join us!
Ally who made the poster!
Matt, Clare and I
Me returning the brick as if nothing ever happened.

Somehow Nurse Needles did not see us leave so I demanded a photo with her because without her this would have never happened. As we walked back through the cafeteria rest assured Ally was still yelling congratulations to our award winner. I ignored the impulse to hide in the corner.

Nurse Needles and Nurse Red

I have the most amazing co-workers! They knew how devastated that I was for missing the actual award ceremony and created something one thousand times better! I actually love Camp Kesem and all of the kids. I do not do what I do for awards or recognition. I actually do this for the kids. If they do not have a nurse, camp cannot happen. It is also a great excuse to act as a kid as I participate in song circles, scream sing and do the hand motions. It is a nice throw back to when my kids were young and my church put on Kid Stuf. Yes, I would go without them because I enjoyed it so much. I had a really rough time after camp was over this year because someone I thought was a friend had lied to me about everything. I fully believe God inspired Nurse Needles to nominate me to remind me of why I do these camps in the first place.

Mole Moral ~ Good things come to those who wait.

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Do you wanna buy a duck?

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Summer camps are finally over and I’m exhausted and need to consider my age before I attempt to do this much next year. It ended with my favorite in Maine. Every year when my plane lands in Bangor I feel like I’m back home. I just love it up there.

I brought about one hundred ducks with me to camp. I asked Melody to loan me a pillow so I would have room in my suitcase for all of them. This year we gave medicine to campers in the cafeteria. Normally they come to the nurses cabin but due to circumstances beyond our control I did not feel this was a safe option. Anyway at breakfast the first day I brought them with me. Icy and Swiftie asked for one. I said not yet but if you two want to set them on up on the table for me that would be great. That had a lot of fun arranging them for me.

All the kids picked one out and eventually Bambi asked if he could have one. He’s one of the guy counselors who has been there for three years. He’s the one whom all the kids love and pick on non stop. So needless to say most of the counselors have one too. This idea came from Dr. Pickles who brought them to JMU camp and they were a huge hit.

Bambi

At some point during the week Bambi realized how easy it is to pick on me and get me all worked up. I’m pretty sure I told him he was exactly like my husband. He came over when kids were not around and told me that I called him the hard R word. I said absolutely not, my girls banned me from using that word a long time ago. Nurse Pooh (from Texas camp this summer who I recruited to do this one with me) joins in and they attempt to punk me. I said wrong answer I called you gay. That shut him up because he has been dating Moose (the awesome girl who has ran camp the past three years) for probably that long. I said and by the way in my generation gay means stupid. For crying out loud don’t mess with Nurse Red. He teased and tormented me until I threatened to take his duck back.

The night before the talent show Swiftie asked if she could use the rest of the ducks for the talent show. I said yes of course. She is the sweetest and most kind hearted kid I have ever met. She even wrote me a warm and fuzzy and said she enjoyed watching me make friendship bracelets. So the talent show comes and she brings Bambi, Yoshi and Icy up on stage with her. I can’t really hear what they are saying but the next thing I know Swiftie and Icy are throwing ducks at Bambi and Yoshi. Yoshi is another incredible male counselor. He is currently working on his masters in something that is so foreign to me (obviously not medical) that I couldn’t even say what it was. He is planning to get his PhD. He is actually part of a different Kesem but has come to Maine for three years to help fill guy counselor spots. He is wearing his Yoshi costume which is so cute. Anyway the next thing I know everyone is throwing ducks around. The audience is throwing them at the four of them and they are throwing them back. It was controlled chaos and since no one was hurt and nothing was broken it didn’t happen.

Yoshi in his Yoshi costume which the kids love!!

Paper plate awards are one of my favorite part of camp. Everyone gets one and the ones for the kids are usually spot on. As usual so was mine.

I cracked up laughing and will remember it forever.

Some of the camps do this thing that goes

Do you want to buy a duck?

A what?

A duck.

Does it quack?

Yes.

This gets repeated down the line like telephone. I can’t remember exactly how it ends but the kids love it. I find it to be totally obnoxious but if they enjoy it, then I willingly participate.

I’m glad the summer is over. It was a hard one for me but out of difficulty growth occurs. I’m not sure I needed this but maybe in the future it will become clear.

Mole Moral ~ When kindness shows up, great things happen.

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Camp Kesem at JMU

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After what it took to get to camp, I had a feeling it was going to be special and boy it didn’t disappoint!

James Madison University campus was really cool.

I instantly liked all the college kids on admin team and all of the counselors. Reflecting a week later it was just like my very first camp with Washington University.

One of the counselors, Joker was a nurse. He had just taken the MCAT to go to medical school. He shared a lot with me. He didn’t do well in high school but pulled it together in college. He did extremely well and decided he could indeed be a doctor. He then shared he wanted to be a surgeon. I said the exact same thing to him I said to Beaker at that first camp. Nope you are way too nice to be a surgeon. All surgeons are assholes. He smiled and then I told him the story of Beaker. One of the little girls flushed a small bottle of body wash down the toilet. Beaker ran in stuck his hand down into the hole and pulled it out. I told Beaker he’d be a great OB/GYN. I made Joker a friendship bracelet with a note that said put this somewhere that when med school is hard and you want to quit to remember Nurse Red believes in you and you got this. Whether he listened to me or not, I know he will succeed.

I have never sat in on cabin chat. It happens at end of every night and the kids talk about highlights of the day and answer questions. I could attend if I wanted but I felt the kids wouldn’t want some old grandma there. The way this camp did meds, I and Dr. pickles delivered night meds. So I heard some answers to questions. The kids were asked to describe Kesem in one word. Here are some of the answers

Amazing

Powerful

Safe

Magic

Love

Inspiring

Home

Magical

The last evening we delivered meds to the fifteen and up during their cabin chat. I was listening to all they had to say and then I asked if I could say something. They were all like yes. So I said I have multiple people ask me why I volunteer for camp and why I don’t get paid. And because of all that they shared, I finally know the answer. Without nurses, camp cannot happen. These camps need to happen I see how much they mean to all of you. It’s an honor and a privilege to be able to be a nurse for these kids. So it was time for group hug. One of the counselors said Nurse Red get over here and then they all started chanting Nurse Red just like my very first year.

The parallel between my first camp and this one renewed and strengthened my love of Camp Kesem. I think this may be why everything that went wrong to get there was an attempt to get me to say nope and go home. My first two camps this summer were hard. Actually to the point I considered next summer only doing Wash U and Maine. However I have added James Madison to my must do camp list and if I have to bribe one of the docs to take vacation the week of this camp, I will.

Mole Moral ~ Great things happen when one shoves their fear of not knowing where they are going, what exactly is going to happen and not having every detailed planned.

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Nurse Red meets Schleprock

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Ten years ago Brian and I were celebrating our twenty-fifth anniversary and every crazy thing that could happen did. I’ll put the link to that blog at the end if anyone is interested in reading it. He gave me the nickname Schleprock which is a character on the Pebbles and BamBam show which was a spin off of the Flintstones. Schleprock always had a black cloud over his head and things always went wrong for him.

So today I left for Camp Kesem James Madison University in Virginia. I am pretty excited for this camp as it is smaller with almost fifty kids and I’ve never been to Virginia. The college is about a three hour drive from DC. I scheduled myself to fly into Reagan airport, take their metro link to the Mega Bus station and take the bus to campus and walk a half a mile to the hotel that is located on the edge of campus. I had a three hour lay over between the flight and the bus just in case I got on the metro going the wrong direction.

So I left the house at 3:30 this morning as my flight was scheduled to leave at 5:40. Just as I sat down on the bus to take me from the parking lot to the airport I received a text from Southwest saying my flight had been cancelled and they were working on rebooking. If I didn’t absolutely love Kesem and every single person I had ever met to date I would have said cancel and refund my money. However about thirty minutes later I was put on a direct flight with an hour to get to bus station that was ten minute by train. Oh and the flight didn’t leave until 8:40. So at 6:30 I decided I don’t care if I get sick and die, I’m laying on the floor and sleeping. I slept for about an hour.

No sooner than everyone boarded when the captain came on saying there was something wrong with the electrical system for the fueling cars and we needed fuel so we would be delayed. My first thought, “ what is it with me and fuel.” It took an hour to finally get fuel and take off so I knew there would be no way I would make it to the bus. I decided I would rent a car and drive the three hours to the hotel.

I land and there are no cars available at the airport. So I get on Apple Maps to see if I can take the metro over to Dulles airport to rent a car there. I go through Priceline and no cars are available. I’m now on the verge of tears but decide to change pick up time to 3pm. Yes Avis has cars available. I don’t even really pay attention to the price. I book the thing and then attempt public transportation. I do not see the metro stop anywhere on the outside of baggage claim. I realize I’m in terminal 2 so when I look to see how to get to terminal 1 the metro connection is over there. I walk forever but finally reach it. I know I look as confused as all get out because a nice worker asked me where I was going. Then told me I don’t even need a ticket I can use a tap to pay credit card. I finally get up to the train deck. The train comes and I get on it and think I really hope this is going in the right direction. Yes it was, finally a win.

It is now time to change from the blue line to silver. Just as I get on the escalator it stops moving. Half way down over the loud speaker I hear “There is an emergency in the train station. Please evacuate the station immediately.” I say out loud is this for real? Is this really happening? I look around and no one seems to care so I think F it and hop on the silver line. I made it to Dulles no problem and head to the rental car place via the shuttle.

As I am standing in line I look at my email and find this.

When my flight got cancelled I figured it was because the orginal plane was going to crash or something. I see this and I’m like it all makes sense now and the rest of the day will be uneventful. Little did I know what was heading my way.

After I checked into the hotel I walked around campus until Goose called and asked if I would mind dropping rental car off tonight and not deal with it in the morning. When she told me I didn’t need to be picked up until nine tomorrow morning I said “I love you people!” I was fine with dropping it off now. I told them I would have to stop and fill the car up. I just so happened to see a Buc-ee’s on the way and stopped there to also get dill pickle potato sticks. I’m not sure what happened but somehow I had to drive six miles to turn around on the highway. This would make me twenty minutes late which really upset me. Goose and Waves didn’t seem to mind but once again I found myself on the verge of tears. I see a rainbow to my left and I think this is all over.

The airport is tiny and closed but luckily they had a key return box and I dropped the key in it. I chat with the two of them back to my hotel. I instantly like them and know it’s going to be a great week. As I get on the elevator I realize I don’t have my phone. I go to my room and dump all my stuff out and no phone. I don’t know if I left it in the rental or Goose’s car. I am in full panic mode as I don’t know anyone’s number. I go to the front desk crying and the girl dials Emily’s number for me. I have her look to see if she can find Kesem’s hotline number and I know they could locate Goose for me. Emily finds the number and gives it to me. I ask the girl if there is a phone in my room. I go back upstairs to use it but do not have my room key. I go back downstairs she gives me a new key. I come back up and the phone won’t dial out. So I go back downstairs and she calls the Kesem number. No option for hotline so I remember I still have the emails from the girls so I call Emily back to hack into my email. Because we share locations she tells me the phone is in the girls car and they are running errands. I’m just glad it’s not in the rental.

So she goes to sign into my email which has two factor authentication. Luckily her phone number is a choice so she gets in and finds Waves number. I call and tell what happened. They are so sweet they swing back by hotel and give me my phone. So I tell Goose I am convinced Satan has been blocking me all day because something magical is going to happen. Will I see the hand of God? Maybe or maybe not. But if you have read The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom you will know what I mean when I say I could meet one of my five or even better be one of theirs.

I know in my heart this will be an amazing week. I’ve said it a million times there is just something about these college kids that give so much of their time to Kesem and the kids. It’s such an honor to be a part of it.

Mole Moral ~ The best way to survive being a Schleprock is knowing how to navigate crazy situations.

https://lifewithmoles.net/2015/10/24/my-new-nickname/

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The Flip Side 1 and 2

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The theme for Big Stuf this year is the flip side. Basically how you see yourself versus how others (God) sees you. The question was asked what are you known for? This has changed over the years.

When I was young I was known for having divorced parents and ruined for life. My parents divorced in 1972 when it was not cool or normal at all. I spent a good portion of my life proving everyone who said that wrong. My goal was to become a nurse, get a masters degree and rock life. Somehow I met this guy named Brian at the beginning of nursing school and ended up married with three kids and a bachelors degree instead. He will receive a jewel in his crown in Heaven for dealing with me for the past forty years. We will be married thirty-five years this October which made our girls unusual because their parents are still married.

Also in my younger years I was known for having a big chest. Back in 1978, the only person with breast implants was Dolly Parton and no one had a big chest. I was teased horribly throughout middle school. My dad had brought me a T-shirt back from his trip to Colorado which said Colorado on it. I was called Colorado mountains. Mount St Helens erupted during this time so I was called Mount St. Rachel’s. After my junior year in high school I had a breast reduction and to this day I cannot understand why anyone would want implants.

About eight years ago my boss introduced me to the new social worker for our floor. She said “this is Rachel and she’s high energy”. I looked at her as if she was insane and asked do you really think that? She was like yes for sure. I did finally embrace that description. It was surely evident two weeks ago at my first Kesem camp of the summer. The camp site had horrible hills and was totally spread out. I averaged about ten miles a day. The other nurse who was half of my age was dying by the second day. She had to lay down as her feet were killing her. I found myself running up and down the hills twice as much as the younger kids. I must agree with high energy.

Jesus can flip your story as evidenced by Mary Magdalene. She was known as being possessed by seven demons. I actually thought she was a prostitute. She became one of Jesus close followers and the first to see him after he came back from the dead. Of course she didn’t recognize him and thought he was the gardener. I could see myself thinking that as well. The name Magdalene was thought to mean tower of faith. Something I had never heard.

Mole Moral ~ How God sees us is one thousand times better than we see ourselves.

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What’s in a name?

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As I finish up the week with Camp Kesem at Notre Dame, I feel compelled to share Peter Pants story. Peter Pants is on the admin team. The admin team consists of anywhere from 5-10 college students who are in charge of running camp. They do things like set up for activities, actually make the camp schedule, round everyone up when it’s time to change activities and so on.

The first day someone asked Peter Pants what her name meant. Apparently when she was in grade school she had an accident and was called this. I didn’t ask how long because it broke my heart. Why are human beings so mean to each other?

I’ve thought about this a lot this summer. If everyone would treat each other the way they do at camp, the world would be a much better place. No one here cares what your sexual orientation is, what gender you identify as, if you are a male and let the girls French braid your hair, if you let the little kids put make up on and paint your nails. The outside world is so judgmental and ridiculous.

I’ve written about empowerment in the past. One of my favorite activities is the step in, step out. Step in if you have ever been bullied was so powerful. Every single person including yours truly stepped in. When they said step in if you ever lost a parent, it hit me really hard. I had fifty-four years with my dad, some of the kids that stepped in were under ten. It was even mentioned how hard it is to go to school activities where everyone’s dad is there except for yours because he’s dead. Empowerment is hard when you realize how much these kids are dealing with. Kudos to Camp Kesem for giving kids a week with each other!

Mole Moral ~ One should think long and hard before they say mean things. Words do indeed hurt people and can last a lifetime.

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A week in Wisconsin with Camp Kesem

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Nurse Red finished yet another amazing week with incredible college kids. I guess I’m going to write about this every camp because it is truly mind blowing.

So I had no idea when I signed up that Wisconsin has the biggest chapter in the country. They have three weeks of camp with about 80 campers each week. They also have at least forty counselors. The college has around thirty four thousand undergrads. So a good size pool to pull from as the camp needs that many to run smoothly.

Camp Kesem has strict ratios as well. I think it’s 2 counselors to every seven kids. They also strictly enforce the rule of three. This means no camper is alone with a counselor or no camper is alone with another camper. There must be at least one counselor per group of three. This is strictly enforced at all the camps I have been a nurse for. One camp that I have observed and would never volunteer for is terrible about keeping an eye on the kids and following the rule of three.

Urba and Brick were the camp coordinators. Both did an excellent job. I must say the organization at this camp was top notch. From pre made name tags to pre selected teams for color wars, to all the tie dye t-shirts being in bags and labeled with camper names before we even started the project. And if that wasn’t mind blowing, the shirts that we wore for check in needed to be washed to wear for check out. I went to put my name on the tag and it was already there. I told Urba today with her leadership skills, organization and personality she should be president. She informed me she’s too young and has no interest in politics. I forgot to mention she’s extremely smart as well.

I loved Minnow as she was the other nurse. She did adults for less than a year and then switched to pediatrics. I say bless her as dealing with parents of sick kids is extremely challenging. It just so happened her floor gets all the GI patients. So the kids that couldn’t poop this week were in great hands.

Because this chapter does three weeks many of the kids do all three weeks. This says so much about their hearts as it is an exhausting but rewarding week. They give up doing their paid job. I just can’t put this into words.

The camp advisors can make or break a camp. They are usually graduated but not always. Our advisors this camp were Sprout and Stiles. Ok Sprout still in college but I really thought he was 28 with the way he carried himself. Stiles is 28 and a high school math teacher. I would have loved to have him as a teacher even if his goal is to teach calculus. They were calm and very professional. If they were stressed over anything that happened they hid it well. If I’m lucky, I’ll work with them again in a Kesem of the future.

Mole Moral ~ If we treated each other every day the way we treat each other at camp the world would be a wonderful place. The socially awkward were just as included as the popular kids.

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Big Stuf Homecoming Wrap Up

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I did not write as much this camp because I couldn’t stop talking to my roommate Kristin. The one who is just barely older than Emily. I had a great week with her and hoping she not only comes next year but stays with me. She was a great help with removing splinters, cleaning scrapes and applying bandaids. She said but “I’m not a nurse.” I informed her she’s a mom and can handle 90% of the kids issues.

I missed session five which is almost always the accept Jesus into your heart night. We had thirty kids stand up for the first time to accept Jesus. There was more talk about the prodigal son so by missing it I thought I was safe. Wrong answer! It continued through the last two sessions. I did not take notes for seven because after the fire alarm and evacuating the building for almost an hour, my mind was not there. Plus the speaker was so engaging I decided to give full attention.

Meredith is the first girl speaker I ever remember and she started off a little slow but had the audience fully engaged rather quickly. On a side note last year my church implemented a rule that students hand over phones to leaders before session starts and get them back after small group. No one seemed to even complain about it this year.

House Rules of God

1. We have a good Father who meets us exactly where we are. In the story he meets the younger brother right in the mess he is in and accepts him the way he is. He also met the older brother where he was on the straight and narrow path. Home is the place we come and stay when it is safe to be real. So many people don’t even have a place where they feel safe to be their real self.

2. In God’s house we must address our obsession with self. The average American touches their phone two thousand six hundred and seventy times a day. Mine is probably five thousand. The world is curated to feed self. Just think of social media which this obsession is not working. America has dropped out of the top twenty for happy people. It’s almost impossible to be happy or content with what is fed to us on social media. Everyone looks perfect, only posts perfection and happy stories and seem to have everything they want. It’s all false and destructive. God loves us how he made us, not how we compare to everyone else.

3. We need to see one another as brother and sister and label each other this way. Labels matter and I’m going to be real it can be quite fun to label those that are not like me. It makes me feel better about myself but what does it do for the one who is labeled. I should know better as I was teased horribly in middle school. Brother and sister not dork and dork junior. God gives us all a label and it’s quite simple. Child of God.

4. We see ourself as son or daughter. That’s our label.

This was by far the best camp since my very first. Maybe because they had a song that matched the theme. I recommend listening to Homecoming by Bethel music. It is a great song and the entire theme of camp went along with this. My first camp was Broadcast and it also had a song. I just felt this year was intentional from start to finish and once again the best week of the year.

Mole Moral 30 kids accepted Christ plus 27 were baptized in the ocean equals an amazing week.

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The Prodigal Son

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This mornings session talked about the story of the prodigal son. The kid who asked for his inheritance early then left home squandered it away and ended up cleaning pig pens. Upon his return home to ask his dad for a job he was welcomed with open arms and a big party thrown for him. The older son who stayed and worked the farm and did not spend his money was mad and refused to join the welcome home party. Basically no matter what we do or how far we wander God welcomes us back with open arms.

This story always sends me back to a certain Christmas Eve. If I had to guess the year I’d say it was 2015. This would be the last year my mom and dad celebrated Christmas Eve together as they had done every year since I could remember. Looking back on it my dad purposefully picked a fight with my mom and threw this story in her face. It got so bad my mom left and I retreated into myself. After this my dad would come in the afternoon and my mom in the evening up until 2019, the last time I saw my dad alive.

So I veered off course, no surprise there. The question was raised which son are you. The speaker admitted he was the wild one and high school left him with regrets. I am the one that stays behind that does it all right and then gets annoyed that the rule breakers are in the same spot as me. However if I’m really honest my life has been a lot easier than the crazy folks. My favorite line from this morning, sin comes prepackaged with consequences you often don’t see coming and sometimes it’s years later. As for me way too afraid of those consequences so pretty much stayed the straight arrow course. If you don’t believe me, ask my husband. He’s called me square and lamo all our life. He will never admit this to me but it’s the way he really wants it.

I’m hanging with a kid tonight and missing session. She feels bad and I said nah I know what tonight is about so no need to feel bad. This is what I’m here for and it keeps me needed.

Mole Moral ~ The straight and narrow path may be a tad boring but it sure is a thousand times easier than the crooked wide path.

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Big Stuf

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I just finished session three and haven’t written a thing until now. This years theme is Homecoming. The first night was name three words that come to your mind when you think about your home. Mine were safe, comfy and crazy in that order. Interesting choice but could also add loud and noisy although now that the birds are out of the nest it’s not as loud. But I also thought of the kids in the room whose adjectives would be more like lonely, stiff, harsh, stressful, unfeeling and then I stopped myself because life is so freaking hard for kids these days.

Ever since my first camp in 2008 when the theme was Broadcast, I have said I wish every teenager could attend this camp just once in their life. Tonight I was reminded of why I feel this way and felt all over again what makes me say this. I went to camp originally because Kayla was so shy and barely talked. The song How He Loves was new and was written for a best friend that was killed in a car accident

Between Big Stuf and that song I was hit by a ton of bricks and smacked upside the head by God. Prior to this week, I had never FELT love. I knew people loved me but I never felt it. I remember getting home from camp and telling Brian this and him telling me that was the stupidest thing he ever heard and I was wrong people loved me. I remember thinking in my head actually you are the one who is stupid. You don’t even know what feelings are much less how to express them.

So tonight when the band sang it, they sang the original version “and Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart beats violently inside my chest when I think about the way he loves us.” When David Crowder recorded it he changed it to “when Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss.” I always preferred the sloppy wet version. The song is about how messy life really gets and yet God is there unchanged. It actually fits in perfect with the theme this week.

Mole moral~ I’ll say it loud for the people in the back, I wish everyone could attend this camp just one time in their life.