Girl's Camp in June

June was a long month for me—it was exhausting. I had came down with symptoms of…
BRONCHITIS.

I couldn't believe it. I was hoping I wouldn't but I caught it from one of my young women who should have been kept at home, whom I give regular rides to...so maddening.

I had fevers, chills, sensitive skin, raspy airways, and a deep seated cough that almost a month later has finally cleared up. The evenings were worse than the days when the fever was highest—it caused my back pain to flare up. I haven't slept on an ice pack for two years and suddenly I needed it again. Poor Adam, between my coughing and his snoring, my shifting in bed, both of us taking turns sleeping on an air-mattress, neither of us got any rest.

It was awful. I'm mainly recording it here so I can remember…I'm sure none of you want all the details, not really. Just don't catch bronchitis. You will HATE it.

While dealing with this I was preparing for girls camp (which was almost more than I could handle.) A week and a half later I finally asked Adam for a blessing so that things would clear up faster and I could make it through camp without keeping everyone awake at night with my coughing. It worked. The first night I had to suck on a cough drop but that was it. I was relieved all other nights went well. Camp is no fun on no sleep.

Which brings me to my next big thing
GIRLS CAMP

(Above: the t-shirt design. The girls wanted icons that represented the elements of this year's THEME, D&C 4:2)

This year, I believe a few tender mercies were extended to us last minute, and though it was still a little hard, things were calm. I enjoyed being with the girls and had time to get to know some of the adults better. I didn't come home in tears this year!

Really the only difficultly was the weather. The rain from a tropical storm didn't relent for three days. I think it was disappointing and at times frustrating for the girls but we did our best to have positive attitude and fun anyway!

Our camp leaders didn't shut down the day activities. Our youth leaders have been preparing for camp since January—so we still had flag ceremony in the rain, canoeing, archery etc. I wish we could have spent more time as a ward in our cabin but some wards have SO MANY girls, if there had been cabin time there would have been chaos.
(Last year there was so much drama that during our first flag ceremony this year, one of the leaders read a story to the whole camp about a "Drama Llama." No drama llamas this year girls! Posted in the center of the cabin circle was a big banner with the word DRAMA and a big red cross through it. My my.)

Though it was windy and pouring, half way through our long hike to the archery range we gave in to the wetness of it all. That's when the girls started having fun—walking through the muck, finding frogs, etc.

It was the highlight of our day. (The girls told me so that night. Which by the way is when the power went out and the toilets stopped flushing. THAT was a fun discovery…not.)
I only wish I'd brought an extra pair of tennis shoes. Having wet feet for three days in a row put me in some pain when I got home; pins and needles, sensitivity, and numbness. Ug. So now I know what happens if you walk around with wet feet all the time. Don't do it.

The rain effected our cooking as well. We were to have a couple of meals cooked in a camp fire, foil dinners and a paper bag breakfast that somehow gets cooked–I never did receive the instructions for it…but those didn't happen. We turned to the dutch ovens on the wet porch making a lovely berry cobbler and breakfast burritos in the morning.
Thanks to my Father-in-law for lending all the supplies to me!

Below is another method of cooking—hobo stoves. We made quesadillas over them. We also made ice cream in tin cans. It was great!

And here we have yet another little stove made from the bottom of soda cans, you fill it with alcohol and lite on fire. (You should have seen the mess we made assembling these before camp. I am very grateful to my adult leaders for helping the girls stay on task and picking up the slack. Marlex made my stove for me! Oh thank you, thank you.)

Everything being wet meant no bonfire for smores so each ward brought out their dutch ovens, put them all in a circle and we roasted mallows over charcoal instead.

Below is Marla who was asked by the stake to come and help supervise all the first year girls. When she wasn't at her station she hung with us and also bunked in our cabin. It was nice having a third hand around. On the right is Carrie who is our new Camp Leader! I have a deep deep gratitude for her. Our old camp leader wasn't able to attend so Carrie accepted the responsibility THREE weeks before we left…saying this was her dream calling! Without her I would have been in deep panic. She is an example to me, she was calm, fun, and positive. She found good teaching moments to help enlighten the girls, having the right thing to say in a difficult situation. I need leaders with parenting experience at camp—and she's good at it.
It was a success!

Then, the next week our youth had a three day Service Youth Conference. I had delegated the chaperone responsibility (since I'd done camp all week)—but it fell through last minute and I got to go spend another 12 hours with my girls doing service! We cleaned up a HUGE public park area by the river, made blankets for an animal shelter, braided emergency bracelets for soldiers, and participated in a few other activities.

I do enjoy hanging out with my girls. I spend so much time thinking about them, praying for them, planning lessons and activities with them in mind that I call them my friends. (Maybe they don't see me that way…after all, I am OLD…but that's okay.)
I am glad June is over though. All the sickness, and planning and preparing and meetings etc. etc. are over! (At least until January rolls around again.)


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