Camping in the Kentucky Woods

Our first week of camp has come and gone, and we are having a great time! The theme of our camp is “Asian Adventure” in which the girls are learning about Asian customs, making Asian arts and crafts (kites and fans), and even eating some Asian foods! John and I feel right at home! It’s really exciting to see these young girls growing in their faith and getting a vision for what is happening around the world.

Of course, they’re also doing all sorts of fun camp stuff like singing silly songs (The Little Green Frog, the Coconut Song, Bazooka Bubble Gum Song, and more!), swimming, having chapel out in the woods, sleeping in cabins, and all the rest.

But, I must say, both John and I have been somewhat surprised at the high standard of living here at camp! Things sure have changed since I was a camp counselor in 1994! (Or maybe I just went to a less-developed camp!) The main difference is that the cabins here all have air-conditioning, with showers and toilets (albeit somewhat primitive) inside the cabins. That is a luxury we didn’t have back when I was a counselor! If you woke up at night and had to go, you’d have to find your flip-flops in the dark and trek down the path to the bathroom, then fight your way through the buzzing moths around the safety light outside the building in order to enter. As well, these girls don’t have to swim in a lake with fish, watersnakes, and turtles, like we did then, since there’s a pool onsite! How nice is that!

So, though I think that part of the fun of camp in the past was “roughing it,” I’d better be careful that I don’t start to sound like those stories your grandfather used to tell about having to walk to school uphill both ways . . . in four feet of snow . . . without any shoes . . . since I don’t mind at all having some more creature comforts. It’s true that these girls aren’t roughing it too much, but I must confess that at this stage in my life, I appreciate having a few more conveniences. Actually, we have a nicer bathroom in this cabin than we had in our home in Asia, and our room here is in a lodge with a nice common area right outside our door. It’s lovely! There’s even a kitchen just for staff (including us) use where I can make my coffee in the mornings and put our family’s necessity (yogurt) in the frig. Very convenient!

There are about 75-80 campers this week in addition to 15 counselors, and since this is an all-girls camp, John is overwhelmingly outnumbered! But for Clara Anne and Chloe, it is like having 80 older sisters. Clara Anne is in her element. She told me on the first full day (after having only spent one night here) “I like this place, Mommy!” She loves to imitate whatever the “kids” (as she calls them) are doing. It’s been really fun to see her interact with everyone; they’re all lavishing attention on her and she is soaking it up. I just hope we won’t have a spoiled little girl on our hands in 2 weeks! Times have changed, though--I’ve been pleasantly surprised how well she has taken to allowing other people to watch her while John and I are leading sessions. The last few times, she has hardly even looked up at me to say goodbye! I guess separation anxiety is a thing of the past.

We’ve had a beautiful few days weather-wise, too. The mornings and evenings have been cool, and the afternoons just warm enough to make the pool feel good. What a pleasure to be out in the woods, with blue skies and green trees, in a comfortable room, with all our meals provided, with a pool just down the hill, sharing with young, impressionable girls about things near and dear to our hearts! Wow! What a wonderful opportunity! It’s great to be at camp!