CEF Camp 2009 Week 2

Week 2...what can I say? It should be fairly the same as week 1, but it is always so different! Different kids, different staff, totally different camp! I got home Friday evening and spent Saturday catching up on email, snail mail, orders and anything and everything else I had on my list and then headed back Sunday afternoon.

Much to my dismay I woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat and cold. I was hoping this wouldn't happen until a week later as I knew I had another week of camp plus a week of VBS after that. So I downed just about any kind of pill that would keep my rose from running, suppress my cough, allow me to breath and keep me standing and still able to think. Just don't ask me how much I took of everything, because you honestly wouldn't want to know. Monday and Tuesday I was taking stuff every time I went upstairs to my room.

But I can really praise the Lord because I did make it through the week. I was able to do everything I needed to do, teach each morning, take photos during the day, do memory verse work with the kids, sing during singtime, etc. Wednesday morning I started losing my voice and by Thursday I was squeaking, but I tried (I'm not sure I succeeded, but I did try) saving my voice for Bible lesson and sing time. Do you know how difficult that is? Even when we said I Timothy 4:4-5; I lip synced the words. Perhaps a little deceitful?? But I didn't want to set a bad example for the kids by NOT saying it. :)

This week I again taught 1st-3rd grade and could have taken several of those kids home with me. One of the little girls, Gabbie, was just so cute with her little pigtails and a little homesick during the week. I tried spending some time with her and one of our take-your-mind-off-missing-mom-conversations was about switching siblings. You see, she had brothers and I have sisters, so we decided to make a switch, except we couldn't quite come to a conclusion on which ONES to switch. And then on Friday, Gabbie gave me hug before she left and said, "I think I want to keep ALL my brothers." So adorable!

And then another one of our get-your-mind-off-being-homesick-conversations was that I thought Gabbie was just tooo sweet! Every day I gave away a piece of candy in Bible class and I told Gabbie that she was just soooo sweet that she didn't need any more candy. So she continued to tell me all week that she was sweet, but that she wasn't too sweet yet! Too cute!

This week proved to be much hotter than week 1, but we were so thankful for cooler weather Thursday and Friday. There were several staff members (including Brian and Sharon) who unfortunately caught what I had, but we all did manage to make it through the week. I know there were several who were just exhausted after the week was over.

It was amazing to see God work in the lives of several kids this week. There were 3 kids in my Bible class who trusted Christ as Savior this week and so neat to see. That's always exciting and gives us as staff encouragement during the week.

I have to admit I missed my sister, Jena this week (just a little!) to take photos! Thankfully Bethanne (another one of the teachers) was able to take pics for me during the week (and a few others as well), but I did miss not being able to shove a camera into Jena's hand several times a day. I honestly considered not doing a slideshow this week (getting a couple more naps in and getting to bed earlier), but knew the kids would miss it. It's always such fun to hear their response on Friday to the pics that come up on the screen! I wouldn't want to miss that for the world!

By the end of the week I had over 700 photos and can only get in about 150 in the slideshow, so it's always a challenge trying to select which ones to put in. Here's a few and there's more here.

I love sing time! Camp is becoming technologically updated - sing time is now on powerpoint! lol!! One of these years my Bible lesson will be on powerpoint as well!! :) My computer and projector already make the journey to camp each year anyway!

Some people just had names....

...and others were dressed quite well!

This week we saved just over 200 people, therefore memorized that many verses! Great work by the kids!

I'm sitting at the little kids table with my computer and camera during evening snack time. I had such a fun time watching Luke and one of the campers talk about all kinds of things. And of course I started snapping pics. In this one Luke was talking about the snakes over at the treehouse and that snakes don't shiver (see him shivering??)! Too adorable!!

Nehemiah - such a sweetie!!

Jed had been sticking paper people on my back all week, so with the help of a couple of my campers from Bible class, we were able to get one stuck to his back for about 15 minutes before he knew it! :)

My Bible class of 19 kids!

Janet is so sweet!