Do you remember your church camp days?

Macayla and Kate became good friends...


Macayla and her cousin, Josiah


Macayla, Kate, and Terra

This past week, I took our oldest daughter Macayla to church camp. It was her first time going. I wasn't sure if we would be able to work it in this summer, because our June has been pretty full. So far this summer, she had already participated in a cooking class camp and a basketball camp. She had fun with both of those, but as busy as she has been, I wanted to take her to the camp that would benefit her the most...church camp.

I grew up in Indiana, so I had never been to camp cyokamo before. Matt printed off a map for me before I left. Getting to Pittsburg...no problem. Getting to camp cyokamo...big problem. Let's just say I made a "couple" wrong turns and had to call Matt a "couple" of times. As we were driving, Macayla says to me, "Oh great, we are lost!" I come back with, "I am NOT lost...I just don't know where I am going!" HUH? Does that even make sense? I kinda shook my head after I said that, knowing full well that when you don't know where you are going, yeah, you're kinda lost. And the more "lost" I got, the more frustrated I became as I chomped away on as many twizzlers as I could. It all turned out ok tho'...we made it just in time for supper.

I hadn't pre-registered Macayla so I had to do that first thing. I had told her that our friends Allie and Lauren would be at camp, and maybe Britain and Hannah would as well, so as we got out of the suv, that's who she was looking for. No success. I put Macayla in the line for supper with her cousin, Josiah and went on to register. I just figured she would be alright.

I got all the paperwork done and as soon as I walked into the mess hall, out of 190 or so campers, the first person I see is Macayla. I could tell she had been crying. I asked her what was wrong and she tearfully said, "I don't know what to do and I don't know where to go." She clung to me and at that moment I thought to myself, "What have I gotten her into?" And on top of that, I had to break the news to her that her friend Lauren had just left that morning to go home...she had already been to camp.

So, after hugging Macayla and telling her, "It will be okay", she came back in with me so I could eat supper. I told her that after she gets plugged into a team, she would meet other kids and make friends. The more we talked, the better she seemed. And I knew that would happen for her. Macayla is very outgoing and has a great personality, and is not shy about meeting new people. It wasn't very long at all before she met some friends. In fact, she ended up enjoying camp so much that she didn't want to leave and she told me she wants to go back next year.

Do you remember your church camp days? I went some as a kid, but I went as a sponsor as a college student more than I did as a camper. And I loved it! There was just something about it. That's why I was so excited to be able to share this first time camp experience with my daughter. I think it is something she will remember for a very long time.

We both kinda felt "lost" at first. And I may not have a great sense of direction on the road sometimes, but I'm sure glad to know "where I am going".


P.S. Allie and Regina, I was bummed that your kids weren't there! :(