A great big welcome to all of our Mini 2 families! Hopefully, by now you have found a picture of your camper already having a big booming time with her cabinmates. There is a lot that goes on in our photo galleries, and I encourage you to “tag” your camper when you find her.
We had another beautiful day today, although it was a little bit humid for the mountains in the early afternoon. It was fun to see all of the new excited campers and their families for our Mini 2 opening. It didn’t take long to settle into cabins before everyone lined up for the walk to our Woodland Chapel for Worship Service. Pineview, our oldest girls, led the service today, and the theme drew upon last week’s service on unconditional love. I certainly don’t want to hijack the real message which was that God is the only source for perfect unconditional love…and that we can only work to live in His image…but I was struck especially today by campers speaking not only about their own humanness…one spoke about a grudge that she had held since third grade until she realized the part she played in it herself. It’s pretty darn cool that campers are safe to talk about their own vulnerabilities in this setting but also reflect in front of their peers about what part God plays in all of this. It’s amazing what we can learn from fifteen year-olds when we take time to listen. 🙂
Sunday lunch is a tradition that “the family” can count on. Heaping mounds of hot fried chicken, wild rice, steamed fresh broccoli, and hot yeast rolls with plenty of butter and honey. For those whose palates are still maturing, we have a white rice option, some cheese sauce to hide the fact that broccoli is green, and even baked chicken for those of us who really should stay away from our feathered friend’s fried counterpart. And then there is hand-scooped Bryers ice cream to fill in the cracks…cause life’s too short to waste it on the “cheap” stuff. Yummm!
Our four-weekers loaded a convoy of buses and vans for the short trek up Cedar Mountain for afternoon of really fun games and a cookout. It was a western theme, and “round-up.” There was tennis, and an obstacle course, games on the field…followed by a tasty cookout of burgers, dogs, pasta salad, chips and brownies.
The Mini 2 girls had camp all to themselves! They picked up all of their shopping goodies that had been pre-ordered…t-shirts and camp uniform shorts and ties, water bottles and crazy creeks. There was time for everyone at the swim lake…the Streak was open as well as the Tarzan Swing and diving dock. The highlight of the afternoon was probably the Slip n Slide. A sheet of plastic sheeting on the hill by the soccer field with a little water and some No More Tears shampoo results in shrieks and squeals that confirm all the fun that is going on.
So…after all of the activity…we drove back down the hill in time to reunite as a community and convene at campfire for songs, stories, and skits…a perfect way to end the week for some and start a camp session that will yield memories for a lifetime for others. Tomorrow, it’s back to activities and another great day in the Heavenly World.
Just walked in the front door from my drive all the way back to PA from Mini-Camp drop off this morning. Couldn’t wait to get home to do my nightly ritual for the next 2 weeks: checking out the Blog and photos from the day at Illahee. Y’all had everything humming today at dropoff, and it looks like the girls all had a great day in the Heavenly. Camp looks gorgeous.
Thanks to the whole staff for the love and care you put into each activity and give to each camper. Amelia’s counselors were so warm and welcoming, as they have been every year.
Finally, thanks so much for taking the time and care to get these blogs written and all these photos up every day….it means so much to see how much fun the girls are having!
Andre