Barnabas Tidbits!

I have returned to the real world...not that I necessarily want to be here, but here I am. I have to say, my week at Camp Barnabas was AMAZING. I will be honest, I had forgotten how physically demanding the position of Cabin Mom is, but I LOVED every moment of it.

I am amazed at the amount of KINDNESS at camp. Everywhere you look, people are loving on each other, helping each other, and just plain encouraging each other.

My favorite part was going to the pool. At camp, there is a teenager assigned to each child, and they are required to stay within arms reach of each other AT ALL TIMES. And, while I was skeptical at first when I went last year, it REALLY works.

So, at the pool, there are the "normal" swimming activities, except the teenagers let the kids get them wet, soak them, drag them down the slides repeatedly...it was incredible to watch. And of course, I got to play a part in it too.

One of our campers, Ronni, stole my heart from the beginning. She's 7 years old, with Down's Syndrome, and is CUTE. She can be a handful at times, but can also be sweet the next moment. So, at the pool there is an area where you can pull a rope and let water pour straight down. Ronni would take my hand, put me under the water, get me soaked, and then fix my hair like we were in a beauty parlor. Then she would dunk me in the water to smooth the hair out and do it all over again. We did it at least 100 times the first day, and I'm not even kidding. She would even hold my nose at times so that water wouldn't go up my nose. It was my favorite part of the day. She didn't do it all the time with me, but just about every day I was dragged over and we did it. I just smiled. And it made the camp DVD, which REALLY meant a lot to me. My favorite part of my camp experience caught on DVD. Awesome stuff.

Also, one night at Wrap up, Ronnie came over and crawled into my lap and fell asleep. To be honest, I can't remember the last time a kid fell asleep in my arms. I was torn between laughing and crying the entire time. It was AMAZING.

I was constantly reminded that God knows what we need before we need it. I didn't know I would experience what I did through Ronni (and there will be more stories in the days to come, I guarantee it!) but each and every moment was a GIFT.

I've already told Laura I want to go again next year during the same week. :-)

I gotta run at the moment, but stay tuned for more Barnabas Tidbits!

:-)
LATER!