"the week where one of my campers ate sunscreen," aka week 2 of camp counseling

For some reason, I thought the first week of camp was hard, and it definitely was, but this week seemed to be just as trying as the first, if not more so. For some reason, I feel like I can better deal with kids with issues from the inner city than from, oh, Kirkland, y'know?

Oh gosh. She's from Kirkland. What if I run into her again? 0_0

Allow me to explain. This week we had a lot fewer kids than last week--about 50--which is common since this was the week of the 4th of July. So I went into this week thinking, "Hey, this will be the light week that will help me recuperate from last week's insanity." Boy was I wrong, because this week, I had Katie P. in my cabin.

My first impression of her is that she's this charming nine year old who loves her dad, who definitely has a lot of energy, but seems to behave pretty well. And then her dad left and I was in charge. Apparently, summer camp is an excuse for children to forget that rules have ever existed, even though we tell them upfront, day one, what is expected of them.

A few things that she did during the week: scream (a lot), egg on the other girls' hyperactivity during Bible study, KBMO, evening devotions, and any other time that we were all required to be in the cabin, act like a horse (incessantly), slap, kick, spank people (staff included), fake crying to get attention, eat sunscreen, eat after sun lotion, lick the Purell off her hands at meals, lick her deodorant, make up inappropriate songs, and basically run around like a hooligan.

My favorite night was Tuesday because she was in the horsetrack program and they had an overnight out at the tepee camp. We actually got through devos that night with few interruptions and were in bed on time. Pretty sure that was the only night it happened.

And honestly, now that the week is over and I'm reviewing it, I wish that I had handled it better. I would like to justify how frequently I lost patience, how little I loved Katie--or any of the other girls in my cabin this week, and how often I lost my temper, but I really can't. I wish that I had relied on God more. I wish that I had prayed for patience, love, joy, and wisdom, but I don't remember praying much this week.

On the end of the week evaluation sheets, all of the girls--including Katie--marked me down as "10," or "Awesome!," and one girl gave me "100," but I don't feel like that was an accurate measure of how I did this week. Honestly, I'm feeling discouraged about this whole camp thing. I don't feel that I'm really making any headway with my campers. They don't hate me by the end of the week, but have I really impacted them? God only knows.

Other staff encouraged me this last week--we finally got mailboxes--and their notes helped a lot, but if I can't see any impact in my own girls, how can other people see it? (Ok, that's probably a dumb question.)

I would like to give a good report on camp, but I don't feel that I have much to say. I know that during a couple of the Bible studies, girls really got interested. I was able to answer some solid questions, and I know that at least one of the girls had a stronger realization of what Christ did for us on the cross. Also, Katie willingly tried to memorize one of the Bible verses and asked me one night if she could stay up late to read her Bible. So, ok, maybe it wasn't as bad a week as I thought it was. And really, if you think of it, please pray for her. She's interested, but I don't know how much she can grow at home.



Random highlights from the week:

~staff trail ride

~working in the trading post and making ice cream cones with Marzipan and eHarmony

~playing paintball (oddly enough, it got fun when I actually played :P )

~going swimming with Marzipan in the mornings

~going canoeing with Marzipan and Von Trapp in the fog this morning

~getting dressed up as Miss Hanigan from "Annie" for counselor dress up at last night's dinner. My girls dressed themselves up as orphans and sang "It's a Hard Knock Life" for the judges. We got 3rd place. :)

~our cabin's Shrek dinner dress up. We had three blind mice, Shrek, a Shrek baby, Princess Fiona, Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, Donkey, and Dragon. Didn't win, but we should've. We looked darn good! :)

~my watch tan line. It's pretty hot.