How to describe my summer? Words seem too settled and decided to say how I feel about it in. Pictures, however, seem even less suited to the purpose, for you don't know these people like I do. Suffice it to say - Summer 2022 was like no other. Life-long friendships were forged. Bodies and souls were toughened on the battlefield. Names were written in the Book of Life. Worth it? Oh, ever so!
This was a scene that played out three times a day - we would race to sit here first, to win points, before going in to eat.
Which was sometimes a fancy occasion!
The joy on this kid's face in this picture is a joy to all who know him.
Braceleting is a deliberate cabin leader's device - great ice-breaker, friendship-maker, and dilution while talking about serious subjects.
The tuck line is also a great place to chat with the kids.
We had some of the best lovers of Christ to work with this summer - great friends old and new.
Camp was a two-month training in looking right past bodies to see souls. All week you strain to see a child's soul through their eyes, words, actions, demeanor. With 40+ new names to learn and sometimes unexpected bodies to assign them to each week, you can't afford to see a kid's exterior for even an instant. You must focus on their soul.
You can't always keep your hair neat, either. As staff we learned that our bodies were just tools, our faces just windows, our hands just avenues for the love we were there to show. We looked at our fellow staff and saw only the soul staring out from the war-torn flesh. We forgot how to be distracted by appearances.
I brought three of my boys up as campers. I loved watching them get out of their comfort zones.
After all the campers went home at the end of the last week, we spent some time together as staff - got stranded across the bay in our canoes during a thunderstorm, danced on the highway in the pouring rain, played some rolicking games and music, and spelunked the Jackhead caves. You can see what a tight group we were.
I'll make an honourable mention of a few non-camp things:
Two of my kids Graduated at our place on June 19. More pictures here.
And my sweet nephew gets very well-Auntied. Here he is, "cooling off" during Field Day.