Post Camp Low

Camp Theme: ROOTS


Well, we returned from English Camp on Saturday evening. Our month-long journey through camps has come to an end. On Sunday we had a big worship service and celebration with some of our camp students, as well as a farewell to our American campaign group. Today has been a fairly quiet and very gloomy, rainy, cool day spent at home. It's SO good to be back in my own kitchen, bed, and home, but it's much quieter than camp, and a little sad. I miss spending every day around so many people who are so excited about their day and all that it might hold. I miss spending so much time with two other families who were there and their children. Jakub loved having playmates every day and would often wake up from a nap, hear them playing outside, and immediately start laughing and saying "up! up!" so he could get out of bed and go play. It was so uplifting to talk so much about God and the Bible every day with the Czech teens and our friends around us. I pray now that they had/have open hearts, that God will keep working in their lives, and that they will try to see and hear Him. We had many visit us for worship yesterday. I hope some of them will return very soon! We always expect a low in the work in August as many travel and spend time with family before school starts again September 1st. Then, after school starts, we will truly see those who want to spend more time with us and who are more open to what we teach and do here in Olomouc. I pray for great numbers this fall as our activities begin again. I pray for a growing church community with more believers. The hope in it all is exciting!

I would also appreciate prayers for our Moms and Kids English program, which will start again in September. I'll soon begin preparing the lesson plans for this fall. I'll be leading the program this time, instead of Sarah K., as we prepare for many of the transitions to come with their leaving to return to the states this winter. It's going to be a bittersweet fall and we could all use prayers as we adjust to a new phase in our lives and ministries.

Ok, on to some camp pictures!

I have no idea if this works, but here is a link to my teammates camp file on Facebook (if you don't have FB I'm not sure if you will be able to see it, but try and let me know!) :

A little background info. - our theme was "Roots" this year. Each day had a main theme: Our Origins, Roots (seeds beginning to grow), Courage (to grow, change, develop), Nurture, Commitment (to keep growing, to change as it's needed, to help others grow), Bearing Fruit, and Creation. You'll likely see some of these themes in the pictures as you see the games, skits, etc.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.663068384027.2145790.54604774&type=1

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.663076642477.2145794.54604774&type=1

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.663080180387.2145795.54604774&type=1

And here's a link to our camp dance- something we do every year for the kids with a song that ties together with our theme. You can't see me in it because this year I helped make it with Christie and our interns and we helped lead it each time. I had a lot of fun with it!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=265024856847354&comments

A few more:

This is the English class I helped teach with Madison and Sarah. Madison is in the green shirt by Sarah and is one of our two summer interns. She has been here to work with us for 3 summers now and has become one of my very close friends. Letting go of her every summer gets harder and harder...

Our class was a beginner-level English class, and though they were really shy, they were a great group. We even made up a song about our class and the students in it and sang it in the talent show together. I was proud of them for singing in front of the camp!





Helping with the girl part of the song we sang before every meal to thank God for our day, our friends, and our food. It was a lot of fun!





Our team decided to perform as a team for the first time in our talent show we host at the end of every camp. This event is a highlight of camp because the kids, who came to camp usually shy and not knowing many people, have courage at the end of the week to share a part of themselves with the camp group. Everyone is so supportive and happy to see others having fun and expressing themselves and it's a great way to witness how a bond has formed over the week. Well, our team decided to have a little fun and show our sillier side for once... we performed the "Evolution of Dance" in a shortened version. I hope to have the video of it up soon. :)






Jakub and his Daddy hanging out and watching the group play sports together. You can see he's wearing a jacket in July. Out of both camps and the past few weeks of July I think we only had two days that reached in the upper 70's with some sun. The rest of our time away was spent in the 50's and 60's with rain and clouds. It was very cold at times, especially in the evenings. We had an amazing time anyway, though, and it rarely rained when we needed to be outside for our planned activities. We thanked God for that!






Me and Jakub on a cold day walking around to the different activity stations and watching the teens perform various acts of courage. :) We had them do trust falls, climbing and height-related activities, taste tests, and games while they were blind folded. (By the way, I recently chopped my hair off very short and I LOVE it. I've never had it this short, but it's so much fun and easier to maintain. The back is even shaved a little at the bottom, which is interesting to touch) :)
Proof that 30 is creeping around the corner: neck wrinkles. When did those happen? This photo shocked me at first. I'm ok with it now. :) I'm not posting the one that shows a mad streak of grey across the front...






Me, Jakub, Sarah, and her boys watching the camp groups drop "hopefully well protected" eggs out of the second story window. This activity went with our theme of nurture. They had to care for the eggs by building protective covers, wraps, parachutes, etc. around them in hopes that after dropping them to the ground the egg would survive. A few made it, I think...








Here is a "family" picture of all of us with our boys (the ones I mentioned from the two other families that were with us at camp). Sarah and Corey are there with Evan and Thompson, and on the other side of me is Jamie with Luke. Her and her husband are currently working in Ceske Budejovice, another city in CZ. They came to help us with camp and it was amazing to have them around and to spend time with their sweet family. We have known them since college and have been growing closer and closer over the years. Here I think we were singing "row your boat." Awww.... good times with adorable boys.





The rest here are of our sweet boys together. Evan, Thompson, and Jakub. These boys have so much fun together and especially were spoiled to have each other to play with every day while away at camp. I cherish these times together knowing these will be changing soon. Jakub is going to miss his "cousins" very much. So will I.




They love on each other well!