TGIM

Monday!!! HURRAY!!!!

At camp we celebrate the arrival of Monday for it announces the beginning of a whole new week of fun. We open camp on Monday all summer long… we are now conditioned to see Monday as a day of very special beginnings. It certainly plays that role today for this is the beginning of a really amazing week at camp.

The girls are REALLY EXCITED about everything. They were even excited about the sermon yesterday by David Speakman who spoke on joy. The girls were struck by David’s use of Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber lyrics to illustrate his points. Funny to hear them chatting after the sermon! You can listen to the sermon online if you are interested. Quality!

A few points that rise in my thinking of this session:

• The weather is shockingly good. The high temperature forecast today is 78 degrees. There is a light breeze coming out of the North West, the sky has a slight haze of cloud cover that will burn off soon. It is the best weather of the summer… hands down. An amazing blessing after a summer of rain (Asheville reports that rainfall at this point is two feet over the historical average, and we got more rain than Asheville here). The counselors love it!
• The campers are shockingly sweet. This is a comment made by the Nurses, the visiting Doctor, the Kitchen Staff, The Maintenance Staff, and the Counselors. The girls always say please and thank you and are quick to respond to a request. They are wonderful.
• The campers are shockingly entertaining… they say the funniest things ALL THE TIME. Classes, mealtime, cabin time… all are flavored by amusing moments. It keeps us laughing and is a delight!
• The camp is very healthy… this has been a very healthy summer and continues to be so. No little “bugs” have impacted the campers or counselors at this session. A huge blessing!

At Breakfast Club today I finished my little pitch on “Physical” growth by talking about how we look. This culture puts a huge emphasis on physical perfection and this pressure is most acutely felt by adolescent girls. I encouraged the girls to always remember that God made them just the way they are. To not focus on a “negative” physical trait that they might have (for we all have things we might not like about the way we look) but rather to focus on the fact that God made us exactly right. To be thankful for the bodies that we have and the way we look… never to say something hurtful about the way another person looks nor hang out with people who do. The girls are young, but not too young for such a message.

The food today will be a huge hit… Chicken Tenders for lunch and Home Made Pizza for dinner. Our pizza is famous… the flour comes from Italy, the tomatoes from the organic farm just 1 mile from camp, the olive oil from Spain, Buffalo Mozzarella and Parmesan Cheese from Italy. LOVE IT… We will make about 350 pizza’s that will be gobbled down with great delight, they really are wonderful.

EP will also be a hit… the Overnight Extravaganza! We build campfires all around the lake and assign cabin groups to each fire location. The cabins play games that are led by the counselors and roast s’mores. At 8:15 we gather at the pagent court with crazy creek chairs and picnic blankets spread out for a starlight movie! We set up our big 25 foot screen and watch a great movie outside. The oldest girls will get to sleep out at our hilltop campsite (most choosing to sleep in hammocks but some preferring the platform tents) but the majority of camp will sleep on the floors of their cabins. I don’t know why, but the girls get really excited about the option of sleeping on the floor… who knew?

Don’t worry about us… camp is great!

Write a hand written letter today, a three day delivery window will have that letter arriving on Banquet Day (you will pick them up the next day). The girls treasure your words… what a great opportunity!

Thanks Again,

Jimboy

THE JOKE: a family of skunks lived in the woods… Mama and Papa skunk and twin skunk babies. The babies were always getting in trouble and sometimes would get lost. Their names were “IN” and “OUT”. One day mama skunk was distressed to have lost “IN” and could not find him anywhere. “OUT” said that he could find “IN” with no problem at all and sure enough came back with “IN” after just a couple minutes. Mama skunk was impressed and asked how “OUT” could find “IN” so quickly all the time. “OUT” replied smugly: “BECAUSE IN-STINKS”!