Laughter at Camp!

One of my favorite things about camp is how much we laugh. If you've been to my house, you know that my living room has the "live, laugh, love" theme. Laughter is one of my favorite things, this side of heaven. In fact, when I think of someone, I hear their laugh. I have said it before, and will say it again, everyone laughs differently. I truly believe there is laughter in Heaven.

So, out at camp, there were so many moments where we would laugh at something a camper did, or said. And, often we would try to conceal our laughter as to not encourage a campers mis-behavior.

For example, Ronni was often defiant when asked to get in bed at bedtime, or walk to an activity, or whatever random thing we wanted her to do when she really didn't want to do it. Her response? "Shut. Up." She didn't say it all the time, but when she said it, it really was funny. Now, it loses A LOT in just typing it out, as you had to hear her, but suffice to say, I can still hear it in my head. It was cute. I imagine in school they're working to break that phrase just as we tried to, but honestly our laughter kinda lost the punch of the "No Ronni." It's such a good thing it was camp!

Another funny thing to me was what Lilly would often say after you said, "I love you." She would reply with, "Why?" I would just smile. In fact, now that I think about it, Lilly said, "why" a lot.

Another moment that made me laugh was on day #4 when I sat down during J.E.F.F. and Demi came over and just sat right down in my lap. Now, Demi is sort of a heavy-set camper, so it bruised up my legs when she did it, but it brought laughter to my soul because one of God's kids wanted to be in my lap!

When we were at the cooking activity, Ronni was cuddling with me, and at the same time, Lilly came up and wanted in my lap at the same time. I laughed. There wasn't enough room, so they had to share me! It was cute and funny!

One of my favorite moments was watching Kim with Lilly. Kim was AWESOME with Lilly and would often make comments that went over Lilly's head, but made me laugh out loud. At one point she had been carrying Lilly piggy-back and set her down and said something like, "These kids need to learn how to ride piggy-bag, I'm getting the choker hold when they do that!"

Ronni was homesick a lot, and would say something about wanting her Mommy and Daddy. On about the first day, she said she wanted to go home. I told her there were 5 days left. She seemed okay with that and moved on. A little while later she said it to her Charis, her CIA. Charis made me laugh at what came next...she said, "You'll see them tomorrow." I just looked at her...what? huh? We're lying to the kid! She saw my confusion and said, "and tomorrow it will still be tomorrow, and so on." I laughed! Truthfully, that REALLY helped Ronni throughout the week! I realize it may not make you laugh, but it made me laugh! I used it all week!

Laughter is healthy, and I find that when I cross someone that is unhappy, I pray for them. As for last week, it was full of laughter, and I heard myself laughing deeply at times.

The first night we were there they changed the Nerd Party to fish out of water. I agreed with the switch. It would have been hard to do a structured game with the group of campers that we had as a whole this year. So, fish out of water basically is a gigantic water fight with sprinklers, a man-made water slide, and cups to fill with water to get people soaked. Ronni found the big water cooler and got a cup and immediately soaked me! I was laughing like crazy! I would stand up and she would pull me down to her level and get me wet all over again! The best part came when the bucket to too low for her to reach. She whined so I took the cup, filled it, and she proceeded to soak me with it! This happened repeatedly. And the look on her face made me laugh over and over again! It was priceless in my book!

The moment that made me laugh the most was at the pool. I had promised Ronni that she could get me wet that day at the pool. The problem with that was the fact that on that particular day the sun wasn't out, the air was cool, and the pool was even cooler. I had gotten my feet wet that day and stopped. I didn't want to get wet. I was cold enough with my feet wet.

I had just put my clothes on over my suit and Ronni came over and said, "I get you wet!" I stopped and paused. Crud. I didn't want to get wet. Let me state: I REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO GET WET! I looked at her and said, "I don't want to get wet, maybe tonight at the pool party." She looked at me with those eyes and said, "peease!" I looked at her. Crud. I had promised. I said, "Really, we'll do it tonight." She replied with several "peeeeeeaaaaassssssseeeeee" comments. I said, "Okay, but if I do this, you promise to get out when the whistle blows?" She said "yes." I didn't believe her, I knew it would still be a challenge to get her out. She's a typical kid, who enjoys swimming. (I was right, it took 3 of us to get her out of the pool!)

So, we went out to the same water spout that she used last year to get me wet. I told her it was too cold, and I didn't want to do it, which made her laugh even more. So, I stood under the spout, and screamed like a little kid. It was cold. COLD. But, after a little while I looked at her, and she was laughing, so I was laughing. It's not funny as in "ha ha"...it was joy. pure joy.

And it's a moment I don't ever want to forget...

Life.
Is.
Good.