AHHH... Sunday

Sunday.

The Day of rest.

We Sleep Late, enjoy a long cup of coffee, read the paper, take a walk in the park.

That is what you are probably doing today, I am a little jealous. When you have 495 sleepover guests it is different. In Reality, Sundays are never like that in my life… more like rush from bedroom to bedroom waking up children to get a bowl of cereal, dressed, then rush out the door only to be ten minutes late for Sunday School (bad move when you are the teacher). Return home to dirty dishes on the table and dirty laundry needing to be cleaned for school on Monday. Why did we have these children anyhow? Just kidding!

No matter what your Sunday routine is, it is always different from the rest of the week. The Lord commanded it to be that way. A day of rest; we all recognize the benefit of obeying Him on that one. Camp does too… Sundays are pretty awesome at camp, I love them.

Starts with Stumblers— the running club my father started in the 80’s. Three miles run together as a community (OK, not so many run the entire distance but we do get it done with a combination of running and strolling). It is an optional 8:00 activity, I am going to go out and take pictures while I run to give you a little idea of the moment. The Reveile Bugle blows at 9:00, some of the girls will sleep in but not many. This is a very popular club (you get a shirt if you do it at least 3 of the 4 Sundays).

Breakfast cereal buffet, cabin clean up, Honor Council meeting with Libby and me, Sunday School, Church, Lunch, long rest hour, Free Activities in the afternoon, Picnic dinner, Opening Vespers EP.

Margaret and I will welcome Tentalows 1 and 2 to our house for dinner tonight. We do this with most of the camp (All tentalows and bungalows) at some point in camp. The girls come up to our house for a little visit, tour, and treat. We live right behind the Fine Arts Center, so a visit is as easy as walking up the hill. Our house is a child’s Dream House… certainly my dream house. This is the house Dr. Sevier lived in for the first few years of camp (later built a house on the lake… that was a good idea), it is also the house that I grew up in. The girls can see everything, they are extended members of our family for the summer… and they seem to delight in finding the “hidden” piles of dirty laundry and piles of toys. The Cabins will have a different “Special” activity hosted by me… Main Camp gives enough time to be gracious (another reason I love it).

Team Fires last night saw the Even Team elect Juliette Fry as Captain and Anna Zodin as Lieutenant. The Odds elected Caroline Lowery as Captain and Meredith Douglas as Lieutenant. Team spirit will hit a peak on Challenge Day later on this week… stay tuned!

It has been a great first week. I don’t think we have ever had such an easy first week of camp (Often the first week is kind of stressful). These girls love camp and it lifts the spirit of the entire community. The surprise EP’s this week helped set the tone with the “old timers” who thought they had everything figured out… there is a nice “anticipation” of how we are going to surpass expectations every day. It is keeping us on our toes. I am looking forward to the upcoming “first middle” week of camp, the “creme filling” in the middle of the cookie (so to speak). These are the weeks of bonding, of growth, of routine, of surprise. We willl work hard to get camp running smoothing with a regular schedule, forming the foundation of big surprises in the weeks to come. These are the days of summer that I dream of in the cold of January. I can’t wait!

Have a wonderful day, thanks for reading.

Jimboy