Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Royal Family Kids Camp 2011

To say I was blessed at camp would be an understatement. I was left amazed at the goodness of our Creator!

The phrase of the week: "God REALLY loves the children!"

As we welcomed the kids into camp I was amzed by how beautiful there were. I knew that every child getting off that bus had a past that was definately not a 'fairytale',and yet they were whole, beautiful, and excited children.
Throughout the week I was continually awestruck by the resiliancy of these children. Each and every one simply desired to be loved and more suprisingly, TO love. They were all so full of love, all open to new things.
One of my favorite memoires is definately the day that I got to be Bible Bear. Bible Bear is a very large costume, styrofoam head and all. This happy grizzly delivers mail the the campers each day. Each child comes up to retrieve their mail and give Bible Bear a big hug. Sometimes Bible Bear even gets a kiss on the cheek! For the new campers it was quite a suprise. For the veterans it was a meeting up of old pals, hahahahahaha. It was awesome. I think it was about 130 degrees in that bear costume though... I came out completely drenched.

Throughout the five days I was blessed by the kids in so many wyas. It was my priviledge to interview some of them and ask them about their dreams and goals. One wanted to be a Doctor, another a pilot, one of the girls just wanted to meet Justin Beiber, hahaha. I think the most touching request was one young boy who simpy wanted to make friends, especially at school. By the end of the week he was part of a mighty trio we dubbed, 'The Three Amigos". God is good!

The cooks did a fantastic job. Boy, did those kids eat. Interestingly enough the salad bar was a huge hit. I found out that many kids find sunflower seeds simply scrumptous.

The kids went rock wall climbing, kayaking, and practically wore out the slip-n-slide. We became addicted to 4-square and watched the rise of a hula-hooping star. I'm still singing the songs that were repeated over and over againi all through the day and week. The message in them is so very important for the survival of these kids.
Yep, lots of warm fuzzies! ;)

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight". Proverbs 3:5-6

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Prayer request

Hello Everybody!
I have a prayer request.
Tomorrow, I will be joining two families from our church, The Parkmans and the Bales, and heading to Royal Family Kids Camp. RFKC is a camp for children that are in the 'system'. I believe the majority are from foster care homes. RFKC is a national organization with local chapters. The Parkmans have been involved for several years and the last two years our church has sponsored kids to attend the camp. There should be 32 kids attending the camp. All under the age of 12. The mission is to share Christ's love with these kids.
Please pray for:
(1) The salvation of these children
(2) Unity of the staff
(3) Guidance for the counselors
(4) Big angels to cover the whole camp and everyone involved.
The kids will be with us starting on Thursday around 11am til mid afternoon on the following Monday. The days will start at 7:30 and lights out is at 10. Long days :)
There are two times during the day that we ask specifically for prayer. 10:30-11:45 is bible story time. Pray for receptive ears.
Then bedtime. From 9-10 pm. I'm told that this is a time that the enemy really takes advantage of to stir-up unrest and cause problems with the kids.
I'm extremely excited about this experience. I'm looking forward to meeting every single one of these children and being given the opportunity to love on them. The mission is simple but accomplishing it is a bit tricky. We want these kids to meet Jesus Christ. However we do not have complete freedom in what we can say or do with them.
So, I'm excited. I'm getting ready for a week of little sleep, lots of games, sunburn I'm sure, and probably giving my heart away again and again.
God bless ya'll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Testing, testing

testing, testing, 1 ,2 3..... testing testing....


Provando, provando, 1, 2, 3, provando.......