Week 1 of Discovery Camp

  So this first week of camp I worked with our Discovery campers who are from ages 7-9. This was a treat! Most of my girls had not been to a camp (other than day camp) before, so they was so excited to be there! I was supposed to have 8 girls, but one didn't show up.  I made name tags for the girls bunks and also made a matching bracelet for each one; they LOVED them!  When they arrived I also had them color a flower that was attached to a Popsicle stick to be used for our daily clean ups. They arrived between 9:00 and 10:00 Tuesday morning and stayed until 4:00 Friday afternoon.  The first day we played some name games to get to know each other, experienced a fire drill in our cabin, and set some expectations for what we were and were not going to allow happen in our cabin.  The girls chose to be good listeners, to have good behavior, and to be good participators.  This came in handy when we had some problems.  I could sit them down and ask them to tell me our expectations and then ask how we were doing on those and what we could do to do them better.  For the most part the girls followed those expectations pretty well and I even heard a few of them from time to time say to the other girls, "guys, we need to do better with our expectations right now."
  So after all of that we went over to have a time of chapel and then to lunch.  They were so energized and excited to sing some silly songs and watch some skits. (I even had to do a skit every day, and if you know me....that's not typical!)  After chapel we had lunch and then an orientation at the waterfront and some free time.  Throughout the week when I asked the girls what their favorite activity was so far, almost all of them said it was swimming!  They could build sand castles, swim in the shallow area, go down the slide, jump on the water tramp, and even be pulled behind the speed-boat on the "Triton" (our 6 person tube thing that looks like 2 rocket ships side by side and the straddle them).  Then we had some "prime time" (a time block for a specific activity that each cabin does together) and this time they went to the arts and crafts room and painted small cardboard like pots that they later put dirt and some seeds in to go along with our gardening type theme. After prime time we had dinner and at dinner Melissa, my friend who usually runs the arts and crafts room told me a funny story.  There were 2 cabins in there at the same time and she asked the first cabin what they knew so far about their counselor and they said, "she says if we kill a bug or do a good job on something we can pick a prize from the prize box," then she asked my girls what they knew about me and they said, "she makes us do chores!" Oh dear! I guess I was a little too excited about my creative idea to have flowers in pots for the chore "chart"! :) But they wanted to have the cleanest cabin and win the trophy each day for it, and we did...so I guess it worked?! After dinner we had a Bible Study and an evening activity and then we took showers and got ready for bed.  The first night stormed, and most of the girls would scream at every crash or flash! I thought we were going to be doomed for getting a good nights sleep, but they were all sleeping within 20 minutes after lights out.
  During Bible study Wednesday night, the girls started asking questions about the Trinity and how God and Jesus can be the same person and I said that God was 3 people: father, son, and holy spirit, but still 1 person and one of the girls said, "so like 3-in-1 shampoo."  And I sort of chuckled and then said she was exactly right.  I thought it was cute, and that's the way a child's mind works if they can associate a new thing with something else that they know then they can remember it better.  She had brought 3-in-1 shampoo and she wanted to show it to me when she was about to get in the shower that morning.  There was one little girl that seemed to continue to have problems.  She was from Urban Family Ministries and she started out the week very clingy to me.  Every time she bumped her toe or elbow she thought she wasn't able to do anything.  I think she was trying to get as much attention as she could, which she probably doesn't get a whole lot at home.  We have a 1-2-3 policy at Grace for behavior problems: The first time it could be chance, the second time there is a pattern (find it), and the third time there is a problem (change something).  Friday afternoon after the campers left we had a meeting to discuss things that went well and not well and more than one person said they thought they gave out too many 1's and after thinking about it, I probably did with this girl too.  I finally got a core staff involved Thursday night and every time we had a behavior problem after that...but I probably could have saved a few "gray hairs" if I would have gotten them involved earlier.  But all in all it was a great first week!
  Starting on Sunday I move over to Leadership Island to work with the Quest group.  They are 16-17 year olds who come for a week of training, and then they can come back 1 week during the summer as a CIT (counselor in training).  The curriculum that they go through is the same that I went through for Cornerstone and also that we did during staff training, so I'm really excited to work with them!  The only part I'm not AS excited about is that Leadership Island is exactly what it sounds: an island.  All that it includes is a fire pit, a few canvas tents, a pavilion with some picnic tables, and a couple (I don't even want to say this word) porta johns!  Yes, that means NO running water, NO showers, NO lights, and NO fans to stay cool!  It's going to be an interesting week, but a really good experience I think! :)  Well, my parents, Jason and I headed up to Ludington for the night and I think it's time to take a little nap to try to catch up on some sleep!  The summer weather is finally here (knock on wood), enjoy! :)