Trout Creek Bible Camp

Kari was at Trout Creek Bible Camp last week for 5 nights. Yes, 5 nights! She was nervous, but I may have been more nervous because while she was having fun, I was here worrying that she wasn't. I have been working on her for the past two years, trying to get her to be willing to give camp a try. She put up a strong resistance, but my persistence paid off. She finally gave in and then got excited about it.



with Sarah, her buddy from church



This is part of her cabin group. Cabin assignment time was a bit stressful because she had a couple different friends there, and they were in different groups, and she had to make a quick choice and didn't want to hurt any feelings. It turned out great, but that bit of drama sure didn't help with the nerves!

 

After the cabin assignments had been made, each group went outside and circled up on the grass. I snapped this photo, and then we left her there. I have to admit that I did dissolve into tears after saying good-bye (Kari didn't see me cry), but I got a hug from a fellow mom friend (not a first time camper-parent) and was ok. It was such a strange feeling, knowing we weren't going to see her all week.

We did get to "see" her in photos the camp posted on their FB page, and that was great. I stalked their page multiple times a day, scanning the photos for glimpses of Kari. Nothing on the first day (I didn't sleep much that first night), but we saw this one on the second day.

She was in the background and blurry, but she was smiling! Ah, relief!

We spied her in the background of lots of photos during the week and saw this one towards the end of the week. The kids decided the "Where's Kari?" game was pretty fun.

 



She had agreed to write to us one time and followed through on her word, but we didn't get it until Thursday. Loved this letter!

 

I wrote to her every day and so did Aubrey. This one was my favorite of Aubrey's.

Translation: "Dear Kari, the cats threw up in the bathroom. How many times did you kiss the moose?"

 

Kari told us when she got back that she had to kiss the moose eight times! If a camper receives three letters or one package in a day, they have to kiss the moose head mounted on the wall. Kari got a lot of mail thanks to grandparents, friends, and family (the kids wanted to send their own letters, so we used a lot of stamps that week). She received nine letters one day, so she had to kiss the moose three times that day. :) She admitted that she did get a little homesick at times, mostly at night or whenever there was downtime, and said that the letters really helped a lot.

 

We all went to pick her up Saturday morning and got there early so the kids could play on the big swings for a while before pick-up time. It was a joyful reunion. Kari was so happy! She had an amazing time and absolutely loved camp, but she was happy to see us and glad to be coming home, too. Her favorite parts were BMX biking, driving go-carts, climbing the rock wall, and the snack shack. :) Ice cream every day! The kids were all talking over each other the whole drive home, asking questions about Kari time and telling her about their week at home. They were pretty sweet together all day long. My heart was full and all felt right with my world once again. They started bickering and fighting again like normal on Sunday, but Saturday sure was great! ;-)