Royal Family Kids' Camp 2016

Royal Family Kids' Camp - the people that have my heart. It is one of the biggest blessings of my life, both the opportunity to serve there and the friends I have there. It is a one week camp for foster, abused, and neglected kids.

If you want to learn more, read this: http://rfk.org/about-rfk/

It's all about the moments at camp.

The moments from this year--

• I chose to pick my battles, this included letting amphibians (a turtle and a frog) come to chapel with us (in a container...and with the pre-requisite that if they became distracting, they would be taken away)
• Funny conversations with kids..."Is your boyfriend at camp?" "I don't have one" "oh...I'm sorry to make you sad"...*me laughing*
• my Darth Vader princess tea party outfit (I don't even like Star Wars, but it was a fantastic outfit put together by my campers and me!)
• One of my favorite little fellas sobbing in my arms saying he will miss me and camp and everyone so much since he graduated camp this year
• a hundred high fives
• interactive audience comments during the nightly drama..."Did your uncle wear mismatched socks too?!" "Vinny!! Don't make bad choices!!"
• The shouts of excitement when we learn there are no kids with head lice for the first time in 6 years.
• unplanned sleepovers in the dining with your favorite camp nurse and a misbehaving camper (nothing like freezing all night and being woken up by the sound of breakfast being cooked at 5:30am ;) )
• sitting by one of the tougher boys and rubbing his back during chapel (with his permission). He stayed calm and listened to chapel for the most part.
• the joys of Fart Putty -- it was a hot commodity
• Laughing things off instead of being pissed off
• fun canoe races across the lake
• baiting hooks
• watching the kids be escorted into camp with motorcycle riders who raise so much money for camp...I just want to cry every time.
• lots of dress up
• all the songs and their motions
• going down the waterslide with a bunch of friends
• silly conversations
• Watching two of my closest friends get engaged at the beginning of chapel one night!!!!
• teaching responsibilities..."You dumped out all those bubble toys, you will now wash them all."
• One of the little boys came up to me and goes, "Elizabeth, can I tell you everything I got in my birthday box?"
• sitting in the midst of 5 boys as we listened to an Iditarod racer talk about his experiences and his dogs. The boys were so gentle with the dog!
• laughter, lots of laughter. With the staff, with the kids, with myself.
• marching up the camp driveway in our own Olympic ceremony with a torch and all!
• sweet sleep at the end of the day
• Jesus refilling my empty soul to overflowing when my humanness failed.
• supernatural love.
• French braiding many heads of hair
• playing with a giant ball and running around with it in the field with the kids
• hilarious synchronized swimming videos of the directors
• dressing up in clown suits with one of my campers
• a turtle release - the cabin girls took the turtle christened Bernard down to the bank and set him there, releasing him back to the wild. He quickly headed toward the lake, and with the girls cheering, went even faster and swam away!

It was a great week!