We have a camper!

Sadie has been going to Mountaintop Youth Camp since she was a baby. When she was 6 weeks old I started working as the nurse at Jr. Boy's Week, with Steven either speaking or counseling. But this year she turned 8 and was old enough to go stay in a cabin - a big deal!

I decided to ask the director of the week if they had the nurse spot filled.....and needless to say I got the job! My best friend from home, Julie, was also coming up to counsel (she had Sadie in her cabin) so it was a fun week to be there together with her girls and my crew. We have a lot of memories of camp together - she brought me to Jr. Teen Week when I was 13, the first of many fun weeks for me at Mountaintop. 

Sadie was thrilled to have a different agenda than Jr. Boys, which included crafts every day! Right up her alley.

The boys did little to no crafts - but thanks to a fabulous Kid's Club worker (one of the staff girls who's job is to do fun stuff with the worker's kids who aren't campers) they got to do exploration hikes, bible stories, cookie making, and swimming. Especially the day Julie's boys came up they had a blast. 

Eli absolutely loves Mountaintop - and I love it for him. He goes an entire week without looking at a screen and he is sooooo happy. He is outside 90% of his waking hours and pretty filthy the whole time. The last night I was reading to the boy's before bed and trying to talk myself out of it but I finally gave in and made them shower - they smelled awful.

David had his moments, as always, but he loves camp, too. And the "titty-tat", as Mary Jo loved to say. He pretty much followed Eli around all day and as long as they were together I was ok with that. He loved that freedom!

Mary Jo did what Mary Jo does everywhere - took care of her babies. Here she is in the hall of the staff cabin, where we stayed, and the campers came if they needed me. It was bedtime, I guess, for her babies.

She even shared her babies with napping staffers during their naps, in case they needed one. :)

She enjoyed the pool, although her motto at camp was "I only walk downhill," so coming up the mountain from the pool, carrying her and our towels, was a workout in and of itself (it's completely uphill, on the side of the mountain). 

She also loved the "driver," (golf cart) as she called it, even when it wasn't moving. 

She has some little plastic keys and tried her best to get those keys into the keyhole!

I was able to have some sweet time in the Word every day and once I looked down and realized she had tucked a baby in my arm. Sweet girl. 

Camp work is hard work.

It was very fun to watch Sadie as a camper. Thankfully I saw different clothes on her every day (a change from Jr. Boys!) and most of the time she was very happy. 

 

The last couple of days she had some tears, mostly just exhaustion, which she proved on the 1 hour drive home by falling asleep almost immediately. Camp is a wonderful place. Such a sweet time to spend with other believers, sharing the gospel with over 100 little girls, and watching them have fun. As the nurse I have had to learn some tricks. Working in the NICU the job is very different - my patients are usually very sick and they don't really need verbal compassion (their parents do, mind you). Every year the first few campers that come in with complaints like "My arm hurts" or "my toe feels funny" I just kind of look at them like "Ok....what do you want me to do about that?"  But after a while I've learned to show compassion and just treat them like I would my kids if they came in from outside with a complaint (probably treat them nicer than I'd treat mine). After careful observation I have found these things to be true. 

1. "My tummy hurts" = "I'm homesick"

2. Bandaids make kids feel better almost 100% of the time. 

3. Give them a bandaid, a vitamin, an ice pack, SOMETHING, so they feel their trip to the nurse's station was worthwhile. 

4. Having a toddler at your feet is a great distraction, for little girls especially.

Praise the Lord for Mountaintop, and the work He is doing up there. I'm so grateful for the weeks that I get to be involved in this ministry.