They're Home!

Sunday, June 10, 2007 Posted In Edit This 0 Comments »
As I waited in the empty parking lot, I began to imagine what kind of stories the girls would have about camp. I wondered what kind of things they had done. I wondered how they liked having a church service this morning specifically designed for girls their age. Did they make new friends from across the state? Did Maggie remember to put on sunscreen? Did Gracy brush her hair, or just try to sneak it into a ponytail? I was imagining the vans pulling out an giggling girls bouncing out.

As the vans pulled in the lot, girls slowly got out. The activity filled, sleepless weekend followed by an hour and a half on the road resulted in sleepy girls. Both Maggie & Gracy were short and snippy.

We located their items and packed them in the car all while Maggie was on the verge of having a breakdown & Gracy wandered around almost sleeping carrying her loaded backpack. She kept forgetting to put it in the car.

Turns out that the girls had a bit of a run-in with another girl at camp. According to the leaders, this other girl is "an instigator". According to the girls, "she's totally mean and is always doing mean things to us". So, their tent got messed up, there was a situation with glow sticks that I don't quite understand, and a few other instances. Maggie is pretty sure she doesn't want to go to camp ever again - especially if she is going to be there. Gracy is a little more adventurous and is willing to give camp one more try.

I used the situation to talk to the girls about loving others even when they don't love us. We talked about praying for our enemies and how hard that really is. We also talked about focusing on the positive, and not letting someone else ruin our day - even when that's hard to do, too.

After her nap, I think Maggie was willing to reconsider her decision to never go back to camp. She was even able to smile about a couple of things they did over the weekend.

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