I spent last week at Camp CUMCITO, as I do for a week every summer - a camp for homeless and poor inner city kids in the Ozarks. I direct Tot Lot (4-6 year olds) and this year I had 30 kids! (And 22 staff.) Needless to say it was a crazy week, but a great one, I wouldn't trade it. Lexi went with me as a camper and was an absolute angel, despite being the ONLY white child there - that has never happened before! But I'm convinced kids are color blind at this age.
A cool story for you. Each day after naps, the kids have a "tea party" before they swim. It consists of a paper cup of Koolaid and a couple of (store bought) cookies - not too thrilling. :) On Friday, the kids made cookies in crafts, and we had a special tea party. The boys and girls were separated, and the boys heard a story about being "warriors, super heroes for Jesus" about the kind of men God wants them to be. After the story they each got super capes (they took them home too) and FLEW to the pool! It was so neat to see their big grins and capes flying in the wind behind them.
The girls had a special tea party inside, with pretty pink sheets spread out on the floor, "girly" napkins, and a china tea cup at each girl's place. Sherris Bury (some of you might know her from Westbrooke) read them a story about how valuable and precious they are. Then she made a show of taking the paper cups, pretending to drink out of them and then crumpling them up and throwing them away. She then asked them, "Are we throwaway girls?" The girls all yelled, "NOOOOOOOOOO! Sherris asked, "What are we like?" Lexi shot up to her knees and pointed to her tea cup and said, "We're like THESE cups!" Sherris told her she was right and asked how we were like these cups, and Lexi said, "We're PRECIOUS, and we're BREAKABLE, and we're SHINY, and we have a silver ring around the top!" I wasn't there but I cry every time I tell the story ... that one will stick with me forever.
Unfortunately I did not have time to take one single picture! Hopefully my new camp friends will send me some, and I'll be able to put some on here. It was an amazing week, one which I could not have survived in my own strength, and I am so humbled and grateful to my Heavenly Father upon Whom I depended entirely. Praise His name!
3 comments:
Oh! To have been a fly on the wall of that room. That was a great illustration and I'm glad they all got it!I would have loved to have heard Lexi say it with her fluxuations and Lexi language!!!Thanks for sharing.
Love you,
GG
Glad you had a good week at camp. My week was great too. I didn't make it out of the kitchen much, but I did get to chapel each night and it was so good!! I totally agree about not doing this with my own strength. I don't work that hard (or that long) any other time.
Sandy S
Hey Sandy - let's get together for that lunch/coffee that we've been talking about forever, now that camp is over! Email me - aclayton15@sbcglobal.net.
Post a Comment