DAY 3 morning

We are on day 3 of Kids Camp so I can now give my professional opinion and say with full confidence that this has been the smoothest camp we have ever had. Three years ago we started with our first ever First Baptist Wylie Kids Camp where we did our own camp. We were the only church here, could pick our own entertainment and make our own schedule. It was an awesome year and I think all of us learned a lot. So the second year we used many of those tips and had a crazy outrageously awesome camp. This year l think we have truly reached perfection. Lori Phillips and Donna Busby slaved over every hour of camp time to give us the best, funnest and most importantly in Texas, coolest schedule we could have. We have our outside recreation time and the younger kids free time early in the morning or late at night and our indoor activities are, for the most part, scheduled for the middle of the day. I can't tell you how big a difference this has made! 

And I know I have mentioned this in previous blog posts but I really love the Cabin Building Time. The counselors were given folders with instructions and several options of activities for this time in their day. The games are described as, "basic group building initiative games with a spiritual application." The challenge I saw used most often was called reach for the sky. The objective was to place a piece of tape as high as possible on a wall. I saw the girls rocking five star pyramids while most of the guys seemed to muscle one of the campers as high as possible by lifting him up. (let me add a disclaimer here that safety was definitely a priority and the counselors were on hand to spot the kids) The spiritual application was from 1 Corinthians 12 which teaches about the diversity of spiritual gifts throughout the church members and how we all must work together. 1 Corinthians 12:12 says, "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ." 1 Corinthians 12:22 says, "Nay, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary." Well in our kids game, reach for the sky, the smaller lighter kids were as essential as the stronger, heavier kids. If they worked together, they could attain greater heights than they could alone. It is the same when we do the work of the Lord. We are better able to meet the needs of others when we all use our different, individual gifts and work together. 

There were several other activities with great spiritual applications and they were all taken from the book Adventure Recreation by Sharon Baack.

Oh my gracious, I interrupt this blog to tell you that the fourth through sixth graders, who are in their last Activate session of FBW Kids Camp 2012 just rocked out like they were in the middle of a concert of thousands. I mean they were jumping up and down and singing out. I love love love it!!! Oh, their energy and enthusiasm is so infectious. There is serious God praising going on. And you know another thing I love to see is the kids in the audience whose parents are on stage. Coming out and volunteering at camp or at home at church is such a great way to lead by example. And we really do have the best volunteers in the FBW Children's Ministry! 

Worship rally today was a bit messier and crazier for the volunteers working with your offspring. Six of our male counselors participated in a pie eating contest. Mike Morrow, David Shaw, Domingo Tuitasi, Eddie Dean, Shawn Yonley and Troy Clasen gave their best efforts, but Troy Clasen dominated. It is important to know your strengths in life and Troy's strengths lay in the consumption of pie. I heard there were talks of taking his skillz on the road and perhaps competing nationally. Then, who knows? One day we may see his name in lights as he conquers world pie eating domination.

After the pie remnants cleared and we could see the stage again, RaRa GaGa announced the winning team for the spirit stick award and today the Sixth graders came out on top. There was a tie for cleanest dorms however, and this is an important competition here at camp because the winning team gets free slushies and in this Texas eat, slushies are like gold. The third grade girls and fifth grade girls were just too close in cleanliness. We had to have a tie breaker so one leader from each group came on stage to fight for their girls right to slushy. Angela Medrano and Lisa Harris had to put pantyhose with tennis balls over their heads and swing the balls around until they interlocked together. Then they had to tug until one of the ladies lost their hosiery. It reminded me of when you were a kid at thanksgiving and you and your little brother/sister pulled on the sides of the wishbone to see who got the wish... only in this game, tennis balls were flying rapidly at your face. Cause thats just how we roll at the FBWCM. (disclaimer: no children were harmed in the making of this crazy; the same can not necessarily be said for Angela and Lisa's heads.) 

I have to take a moment to brag on our youth workers. There is this young lady chillin with the 3rd grade girls named Brianna and let me tell you, girlfriend is like a tornado. She comes whirling into a room and all her girls are just caught up in her 60mph winds of fun and energy. Every time I see her around camp she is leading the girls in cheers  or just getting business taken care of. I am seriously contemplating leading a write- in campaign for Brianna for President. Jennifer with sixth grade girls also has more energy and more smiles than most normally grown teenagers. She graduated high school this year and has plans to attend Mary Hardin Baylor and dreams of working with Doctors Without  Borders. So pray for her now and in the hour of her many many science classes.  We also have several strong, able bodied male youth workers who have been kept very busy not only with their assigned age groups but they have helped out a great deal at recreation and that is always a lot of work. Gus, Barrett, Tj and Jessie have worked very very hard out here, and I promise you and all the little boys really look up to them. Evidently they are way cooler than us old people. 

Come and go with me…..to ……the waffle house. Its a big big house with lots of food, a big big table with lots of sticky goo, there's a big big gap in the waitresses front teeth……Oh that's my waffle house!!! Oh yes, Tony Wolf is on stage again. After some awesome worship time, Tony spoke to the kids about his mission trip to Zimbabwe. Thank goodness for all the things your not He talked with the campers about how lucky they truly to live where they do and have the things that they do. Tony Wolf has a heart for the Compassion International ministry where for $38 dollars a month, which is way less than my family of five usually spends eating out, you can sponsor a child. That money helps provide food, clothes and education for children do not have the basics that they need. Then he told stories about the amazing things he witnessed around the camp, stories of kids helping their friends out, being there for each other, being uplifting and loving. Less of me, more of you Jesus.   

Day 2 part 1

So Tuesday started abnormally early this morning. Seriously did somebody remove 3-5 am cause I really feel like we missed those hours when we should have been sleeping. Time at camp does weird things. There were some sleepy faces at breakfast, but they pepped up quick and are in full, crazy cheering, and color wearing form. Today is our first full day of camp and the action was immediate. Right after breakfast was first rotations. The sweet little first and second graders got to sit in and listen to world class storyteller and man of God, Uncle Buddy. I snuck in and got some pictures of just a few pieces of his rather large artifact collection. Every artifact has a story and every story points to the glory and merciful love of our Heavenly Creator. I feel absolutely honored to have had the privilege of meeting him and let me tell you, when he talks, these kids listen. God spoke to the Hebrews in Leviticus 19:32 and told them, "You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord." Your children honor this man with their quiet respect and attention while he is talking and their inquisitive nature through their many questions and interest in his artifacts. I think we could all spend the day in a room (preferably air-conditioned) just listening to him and nobody would move. Scott Phillips warned me months ago how much kids love him and how captivating he is and he was absolutely right. 

p.s. the stool in the upper left hand corner that looks like an elephant

foot is an elephant foot. 

The third and fourth graders spent the first rotation with Tony Wolf singing some silly songs and talking about the importance of and how to communicate with God. He spoke about reading and studying your Bible and the power of leading a prayerful life. He challenged them to take their watch and take time to really sit and talk to the Father. 

Kirk was with us in the booth again today. He may look like he is reading activate curriculum 

but really he is communicating with the international space station. 

The fifth and sixth graders spent their morning doing some bonding through cabin team building time. This is a great time for the kids to learn to work together and spend some quality time with their councilors. 

At about 10am, the older kids finally got to experience the awesomeness that is Activate! They heard the lesson on having a great attitude that the first through third graders heard yesterday and I was highly impressed by the dance moves of our older campers. I know baptists aren't traditionally known for our smooth dance moves but some of these songs have some rather grace and coordination needing motions and they rocked it! And there are a lot of fifth and sixth graders in this group that I remember having in Elevate when they were first graders on up and I love seeing them participate. Sometimes when we are back home, they have to watch and gauge the coolness factor of a particular activity but here at camp it is just all about the fun, nobody looking around, just jumping up and down.

Our amazing activate team!!! I love these guys so much! And they

love your kids!!!!

We had our first worship rally this morning with Rachel the intern. For those of you who don't know, Rachel is from Alabama and she has taught us many of her native alabamian survival skilz. For instance, Rachel, or RaRa GaGa as she is known to the campers, lost her hair brush ten days ago. If one were from Texas, one might purchase a new hair brush. Alabamians are made of sterner stuff however. Ten days without brushing her hair? Oh yes. Thankfully Tonya Haver brought extra toiletries in case a camper forgot something and Rachel is able to tame her tresses once again. I am not sure what accounts for the blue hair however the eyes are just a crazy camp side effect . 

You guys, it is 2am and I need to get some sleep before the campers start waking up but there is still so much I want to tell you about! I promise I will finish in the morning but let me leave you with a few more pictures. 

Randy Haver, Tonya's husband, led paintball with the older children and from the time I spent out there with them I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Randy is all about safety. I was impressed with his professionalism and the eyes he had both on the side of his head and behind his head. Honestly there had to have been ten to fifteen guys out there with loaded paintball guns and he noticed every move they made. And I kept my mask on like a good girl, I promise!

The aqua men decided to try out the zip line today. We already knew they were brave since they have been tasked with keeping 150ish kids fully hydrated in 105 degree weather. 

Oh and we played everyone's favorite game today! More on that later but as a sneak peak teaser, here is Barrett watering Rachel the inner tube flower. 

 You guys I have got to get some sleep or I will never survive tomorrow but let me say that I wish you could all be out here at camp. There are no smiles like summer camp smiles. They are a hundred percent brighter. 

peace out 

Jamie 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 

a note from Rachel

It's me again, and I am absolutely ecstatic to be at my third FBW Kids Camp!! I have to start by saying thank you to Pastor Scott and Mrs. Lori for letting me come back out to Wylie and hang out with these awesome kids for the summer! I have been so blessed to be a part of this children's ministry. I hope to be back for 300 more summers!

Today was a GREAT day!! Of course, I think every day in Texas is a great day! I'm drinking the kool-aid… :) Even though it feels like the surface of the sun! We had our first morning rally today and it's one of my favorite parts of the day! The spirit stick was presented to the 3rd grade. Those orange kiddos are dominating camp right now! They won our first night of recreation, they're super spirited, and they won our morning rally game! They almost had the cleanest cabin award, but the 4th grade girls left candy for the judges. :) Chocolate always wins!

I am super excited about another full day of camp tomorrow. It's flying by! Call me crazy, but I'd love for us to have 10 more days! I'm going to go hang out with these awesome kids and enjoy this cooler night time weather!

Roll Tide!!

-Rachel

Well parents, I am sure as I am writing this, all your sweet little children are passed out in their bunk beds after an amazing first day of camp. The busses pulled up to Sabine Creek Ranch a little after one and everyone immediately entered the chapel to quickly go over some camp rules with RaRa GaGA (otherwise known as Rachel the greatest intern who ever lived) while counselors organized  luggage and set up activities around the grounds.

 Then Tony Wolf welcomed everyone to camp as the hardest working volunteers in the universe unloaded enough water to sink the titanic, you know, if it hadn't already been sunk. We take hydration very seriously around here. 

Once the happy campers put their luggage in their dorms and made their beds, the first through third graders headed back to the arcticlly frozen chapel (Hallelujah) for their first Activate session for worship, learning and fun. The Bible verse was James 1:2, "Dear brothers and sisters, when trouble comes your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy."

The lesson of the day taught the campers that, while they can't always control what happens to them, they can control what kind of attitude they have. They should always choose to have a good attitude and the main point was, " I will always have a good attitude no matter what." The theme is called Shipwrecked and Jennifer Wiseman and Angela Medrano were stunning onstage in their tropical wear and straw hats. Scott McLaughlin and Matt Smith lead the kids in a rousing round of the future olympic sport of limbo and a very large beach ball volleyball game. All four First Baptist Wylie children's ministry rock stars lead the kids in some fun songs with crazy hand motions. I really need to get some video of THAT! We were also super grateful to have Kirk McDowell in the sound, lights, video and other intimidating equipment with lots of wires and buttons booth keeping everything running smoothly. I think while running Activate he was also launching space shuttles. And now you know what all those extra buttons are for! You're welcome :)  

While the first through third graders were busy getting their Activate on, the fourth through sixth graders were free as free birds during free time. There was swimming, canoeing, zip lining over the lake, blobbing, skeet shooting, water volleyball, rara gaga ball, tetherball, and game room games of greatness. This was also a great time for the kids to hit the canteen to purchase the all important slushy. This is Texas ya'll. Never underestimate the power of a slushy when temps top a hundred.

At 5pm, rotations started with the 1st and 2nd graders hanging with guest speaker and comedian, Tony Wolf, 3rd and 4th graders having cabin team building time with their councilors, and 5th and 6th graders chillin with Uncle Buddy, missionary extraordinaire. There must be an entire post devoted to Uncle Buddy soon. He is all kinds of greatness.

After rotations is was time to get our grub on, fiesta style! There were chicken enchiladas as far as the eye could see. I think there was even some mariachi music playing in the background, or that could have been the lack of sleep setting into my brain. You guys, these kids and the volunteers put in a full days play and they were ready to eat up! And the day was far from over at this point. After dinner it was recreation time with two of our favorites FBW pastors, Pastor Kris Segrest and Pastor Derek Draper. There were a lot of balls being dodged (though not always successfully), something called noodle hockey and then massive campfire sized marshmallows were thrown. Maybe some campers roast their marshmallows over an open fire but trust me, it was 7 in the evening and the marshmallows were roasting on their own as they flew through the air. No man made heat source needed!

After our organized sportastic time, we split again with 5th and 6th graders spending time with our fearless leader, Scott Phillips, while our 1st through 4th graders hung out with Uncle Buddy in the chapel. I really can't wait to tell you guys more about Uncle Buddy. Well I guess I can wait since it is 1am and I need sleep before those kiddos jump up out of bed all bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning. Breakfast starts at 8:20 sharp!

All in all, a perfect first day at camp. I am so glad to be back at this place and I wish all of you were here with us. There is nothing like the joys of summer camp. Your children are making memories that will last a lifetime and gaining skills, confidence and independence that will shape their character and their future. Thank you for sharing your children with us. 

peace out,

 Jamie

Heavenly Father,

We are so grateful for this opportunity to minister to the kids going out to kids camp. Lord we know that you created each of these children for a purpose and you have a perfect plan for them. We ask for this week at camp that you keep each child safe and in good health and that the children have a great time. But most of all Lord, we pray that each child and each adult going on this trip grow in grace and knowledge and are pulled closer to You. Fill us with Your love and guide us towards love and respect towards one another. I pray that the children are strong and courageous when faced with the tasks that will be put before them and may they show perseverance in all they do.

In Your holy name we pray
Amen