Dear Prayer Partners,

Here are a couple of more stories from camp:

Celebrate good times, come on!

Wednesday nights are very special at camp. We call it "Everyone's Birthday Party". Some may wonder why we celebrate the kids' birthdays at camp when it may not be their actual birthday. Glad you asked.

For most of you reading this email, you know exactly when your birthday is. You more than likely have celebrated that birthday each and every year you've been alive with family and friends. If that's you... consider yourself fortunate.

Many of these kids come from foster homes. Many of them have been bounced from foster home to foster home to foster home. Many have been split from their siblings and any family they had due to unfortunate circumstances.

With that kind of history, it's no wonder some of these kids have never celebrated their birthday with family and friends like you. The foster home they are living at may not really care about their birthday if they even acknowledge it at all.

That's why Wednesday nights are so very special at camp. We have music blaring, line dancing, snow cones, popcorn, face-painting, bounce houses and even a huge rock-climbing wall. Your donations help make this happen. And one of the most cherished parts of the birthday party is when the camper receive their birthday gift. It's an MP3 player loaded with this year's drama audio as well as many of their favorite camp songs we have been singing all week. They love that MP3 player loaded in that orange and white box. Many will go to sleep listening to (and singing along with) their favorite camp songs. It's a very special day at camp!

A Variety of Fun!

Thursday night is always Variety Show night. Campers are encouraged to sing, dance, tumble, do gymnastics, juggle or lip sync to a praise song.

Tonight was no different. It never ceases to amaze that with all the hardship that some of these campers have been through, they climb up on the stage and sing into the microphone or dance with wild abandon with no worries of how they will look or sound. Okay, one camper looked scared to death before the music started, but she belted out the song like a trooper! They sway and they do hand movements. Some have their fellow campers as backup singers and dancers or just for moral support. The audience loves each and every one. One camper made up a song about fishing and brought the house down. The audience was on their feet for each act. If it was a solo, they were clapping and cheering or had joined hands and were swaying back and forth to the beat of the song.

Thursday nights are generally really hard for the campers as they are getting ready to go home tomorrow and most are not ready to leave. But the hour and a half they can encourage each other during the Variety show, is a highlight of the week.

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Hope you enjoyed these stories. It's been a great day at camp!


Darren


PRAYER REQUESTS/THANKS:

  • Praying for the kids today. Some will start to shut down and act out. Praying for their counselors as well. Exhaustion is at a high level on all sides.
  • Praying for the bus drivers who will be driving the kids back home to the DFW area tomorrow. Pray for their safety and health.
  • A big thanks to all our volunteers who came out today to help put on the Royal Tea party!
  • A big thanks to all of our volunteers who helped launch the first-ever Dude Royals event at camp. It was a big hit!