Hurray!!!

Libby is being discharged from the hospital this morning… once the paperwork is completed she will be back at camp! Praise the Lord!!! THANK YOU for your prayers and kind words!!!! She is REALLY looking forward to getting in her own bed, loving her dogs, eating camp food, and getting back to Bible class. Ambitious plans, but she is a very determined woman and typically does everything she decides to do.

It is Challenge Day today, a wonderful tradition that ALWAYS happens ten days into camp. Ten days is the “sweet spot” of the camp experience: when the campers fully adjust to camp life and the real “meat” of the camp experience begins.

Till this point we are all adjusting to life at camp. We adjust to the people. the schedule, the food, the weather, our beds… it takes time to settle into the hundreds of details that comprise a life lived in a new place. We have found that it takes about ten days to fully adjust (a fact that my Great Grandfather noted from the very first year). For this reason, Main Camp is special.

Main Camp allows us to naturally adjust to camp and then have two solid weeks of “normal camp life” before the closing week madness. The middle weeks are the best weeks of the summer: full of deep growth opportunities and character building moments. Now is when the girls breath out a deep sigh and settle into the languid pace of camp life. There is LOTS going on, but the activity is all geared to building friendships and growth in the four fold way . The jokes are funnier, the conversations deeper, and the lessons of camp much more poignant. This is when the tears begin (Saturday’s 5 year celebration will have a lot of them) and the love builds. We appreciate the good things of life and are thankful. The very definition of a “Sweet Spirit”.

Today is hot (highs in the mid 80’s), humid (around 80%), and sunny (not a cloud in the sky). ZERO percent chance of rain. We are drinking lots of water and the misting stations are running all out. The girls will be worn out by lunch and take a good nap (don’t expect many letters to be written today!).

Tonight’s EP is Council Fire. We will gather around the old fire pit and speak of “important things”, tap members of the temporary honor council, and give award patches to those who have passed levels in their classes. It is a nice quiet end to a nice busy day.

The movie last night (National Treasure) was a huge hit. The new HD movie system was stunning and the weather was perfect. We sipped Izzies as the fireflies rose in the grass around us and the stars came out in a glorious clear night sky. The Crescent moon was spectacular. It was perhaps my favorite moment of the summer… everyone gathered in groups around the pagent court taking in the glory of the post card setting as the movie gradually pulled them into rapt attention. Cheers and laughter erupting throughout the movie… wonderful.

Life is good. Abundant indeed.

Jimboy