A Time for Camp Good News

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. ~Deut. 6:7

If you are not familiar with Camp Good News click on the link and see what it's about. Ben grew up going to Camp Good News (a CEF ministry) as a kid and then when he was a teenager attended CYIA (Christian Youth In Action). This year was the first year that we had a child old enough to be a camper, which starts at age 8. Because Ben was a counselor in the cabin and Owen had an older sibling in the cabin, they let him be an overnight camper too. They all had such a great time. Ben really loved being a counselor and Noah and Owen had a great time...although the very busy schedule was a lot for them to get used to at first. Each camper gets to choose a "skill activity" they want to participate in for the week. Each day they have 1hr learning that skill with an instructor. Owen got Rifelry with Ben, he was the instructor for that skill. Noah chose archery. They were both really happy with what they chose and had a blast. 

Each week camp has a camp pastor who does all the chapels. The kids attend a chapel service each evening after dinner. In the mornings after breakfast they attend song time, then afterwards they go to their cabins to clean up and do their "extra duty" for that day, which is different each day from cleaning the bathrooms to sweeping the chapel. Then their day starts with the skill activity, cabin time, swimming, etc. Each day everyone gets 1hr of rest time in their cabins after lunch and I'm pretty sure ALL the counselors look forward to this!  The kids are kept very busy but they have a lot of fun too all while learning God's word and spending time with other kids their age. Ben had the opportunity to lead two of the boys in his cabin to the Lord while one boy dedicated his life after chapel one evening. 

My responsibility at Camp was to be one of the Kickapoo counselors. The Kickapoo cabin is made up of all the staff kids who are not old enough to be campers. While their parents are serving, we are watching them. This year there were 9 and 6 of them were either my own children or my cousin's kids. It was fun this year because I had a lot of family there the same week. My aunt and 3 of my cousins and their families were there. In total there were 11 cousins as campers there this week! While Ben slept in the cabin he was the counselor for, I slept in the Kickapoo trailer with the 3 younger kids. We shared the trailer with another family &  the wife was the other Kickapoo counselor for the week along with the help of 2 Junior counselors. I don't have a picture of the Kickapoo's because I was being careful to not take pictures of other people's kids but trust me when I say, we stayed very busy!! 

Along with having family at camp we were also joined by a few others from our church who attended and from all reports they had a great time too. 

One thing that is great about Camp Good News is how affordable it is. But they also have a policy that they will not refuse any child who wants to attend even if the parents cannot afford to pay the fee. God has always blessed and provided for these campers through generous donors who sponsor campers each year. Also, if as a parent you serve in some capacity at camp the week your child is there, one child per parent serving goes to camp for free. The other thing that I think is so cool is that each camper has someone who commits to praying for them. At the end of the week the camper has an opportunity to write to that person and thank them for praying for their week at camp. 

Gabe and is cousin, Seth

So for our family camp was a really fun and great experience. I'm not saying we did not come home tired, we did, but we're looking forward to serving again next year and Gabe is VERY excited he'll be old enough to be a day camper!