It's Good to be Home

Three days, twenty-seven children and many activities later this is about how I'm doing. In fact, I have a cup of tea in between me and keyboard and am typing around it!

Really though, we had a fabulous camp. The kids have been great, if not a little noisy! They've thrown themselves into everything with gusto and enthusiasm and have been a pleasure to spend time with. Some highlights:

* The girl who, when we went on our night walk on Wednesday, left in tears of fear and who returned victorious and discovered it wasn't so bad walking with lots of people even though it was dark.

* The boy who was so worried about his family (Mum's been unwell) that he didn't think he'd be able to sleep. He slept. He didn't even come out to mention not sleeping the second night!

* The boy whose behaviour I always find a challenge, ended up being the most well behaved one in his yabbying group. Amazing.

* The boy who did one of the most difficult low ropes elements in 32 seconds flat. Whoa!!!

* Bush cooking with the kids. The damper was spectacular.

* Catching yabbies ... trickly little critters that they are, but we have photographic evidence of our catch.

* Being mobbed by 11 girls who wanted to say goodnight.

* Playing Keeping's Off...staff against kids. Those boys are rough & strong! Mrs R was constantly at the bottom of a pile of arms and legs, all of whom wanted that ball.

* Being constantly amazed at Mr W's creative mind and how he keeps the kids on their toes and always has them guessing, never quite sure if they should get excited....or not.

* Being awake at 5am and right where I needed to be for the little one who required some adult help to get dry and comfy again. Such a God-ordained moment.

* Singing 'Awesome God' around a campfire under a perfectly clear sky filled with trees and stars with precious children who just wanted to praise their Creator, and listening to their 'Popcorn Prayers' of praise.

Unfortunately I also made a little boy cry. He'd been inclined to ignore instructions and run ahead to do his own thing and by after-lunch-time today I'd got to the end of that rope. We were around the yabby dam and I really needed him to be safe rather than running off on his own, so I had him sit aside and handed his yabby bait to someone else for a bit. He was terribly upset because he really wanted to catch a yabby, but when I had the chance to speak with him quietly, he completely understood his infraction(s). He ended up catching the biggest yabby later on so all's well.

Mr Busy has decided he needs me to come to camp next year. I told him that's a whole year away and we're not even going to talk about it right now!