There is so much good in good Girl Scout camping – I could never write enough – thank you for buying all the girl scout cookies and funding camp. I loved the box of firewood so conveniently boxed in a peanut butter sandwich orange box outside one of the other lodges. I am SO THANKFUL to our scout moms who organize it all and run such a fun rewarding experience for the girls – even up to senior year and then they can come to be co-leaders!

Girl scout camp is not just the best getaway for fun – it is like a “slice of heaven” away from the outside world. Yes the outside world is never too far away – and gratefully the girls were device free for the weekend. The news certainly could crash in (plane crashes, fires, you name it) – but the purpose of this camping is to build resilience, teamwork, skills, and camaraderie – which surely these girls will and would need when returning to their normal lives… In other words, we are now building the “Good Ole Days” for their futures. Camping is the “Good NOW days”. and isn’t that the truth – the Lord allows us time to be His kids – enjoying and learning…

And trust me, the real world is still really present – yet we had the time to divest our angst and just talk about how we handle the times – and the girls are not immune – this one girl had terrible homesickness – which our leader was able to distract her from and find the real cause of the issue and in the discussions with mom (an easy phone call home helps) we learned that she believes her breast cancer scare and recovery 2 years ago impacted her daughter’s coping right now.  And another older girl was learning her own set of coping skills as this young lady had a tragedy in her family losing a sister to violence, and our leader and the other girls around her were able to have a heart to heart discussion – these are the times where we need our sister scout friends – to guide us through tough times.

And of course – the tears come to my eyes when we sat down with a beautiful growing strengthened young lady at the fireplace – for our annual photos – three scout moms could never replace having her mom, our friend, who would have been at camp with us if her health had allowed. This is one year anniversary now for our friend to have passed away and this child is amazing in growing up – a resilient kid – friend to all – and the least trouble – she listens and plays with the other so well – it is necessary for you to remember she had 2 liver transplants like 6 or 7 years ago – now she is that healthy…  AMAZING… God is Good! 

Remember that we also had tragedies in our youth – but our parents sheltered us too – we got to play when tragedies were occurring in the news – and that is the blessing of God our Father too – Who shelters us from the biggest storms.

So camp activities! And yes eating our standard winter camp fare – cheese balls and twizzlers for evening snack Friday – pancakes and bacon for breakfast Saturday – grilled cheese and hotdogs lunch (eliminated peanut butter and jelly or fluffernutters now that some are allergic) and then the big spaghetti and meatballs and salad dinner Saturday night – family style – with smores for snack – Sunday is cereal and muffins and fruit all weekend and celery and carrot sticks all weekend – and did I mention CHEESE BALLS?!!!!  camp food never tasted so good! Was great to walk to digest – a short walk just across the parking lot to the lake  and away from the parking lot lights.  the stars were amazing – the photos are from my friend’s phone – she figured out the night mode…  seeing the stars so bright plus the moon – we saw 4 planets visible and there were 2 not visible – we were under Orion the hunter and Taurus the Bull and Canis Major (the dog star Sirius) and Cassiopeia the lady sitting in the chair and the Pleiades which are the seven sisters used as the image of the Subaru logo.

Nature hikes and science experiments and painting and card games and Bananagrams and bracelet making. We took a hike around the lake and later a few of us went to where the littlest Daisy girls were staying. You realize how BIG the little girls are when there are even littler younger ones there – and what a joy for me to see 4 of our girls run two science experiments for the littlest ones at their cabin. We enjoyed isolating strawberry DNA, making slime, making homemade playdough, making pH color changes for the red cabbage juice with vinegar and baking soda. They were really good to go with the slime and the elephant toothpaste experiment too – once it was set up the girls had free reign – this is camp and yes you can trust them with food coloring and controlled messes…  it all washes…

Camp beauty – an out of state friend questioned the other nature photos on the last email, if the photos of the glorious views were from this season and this weekend –  and yes they were! We all had 50 degrees and rain that Friday – and then it got chillier 40 when we walked on Saturday with the breeze starting – and then 20 chilly degrees on Sunday morning warmed to the 30s or 40 when we packed up at noon – both glorious sunny Saturday and Sunday.  Yes, in some photos there are some fall color leaves seen – we had a cold snap after a very very warm September and October – so when the cold hit, some of the trees didn’t have time to finish to excise their leaves – since the leaves were holding on so long…

Isn’t the truth – Praise God for holding onto us – holding on forever…. I am thankful to Him for allowing me to get to camp!!! It was yummy, funny, science-y, stary-night-ly, and scout-sisterly… Blessedly! 

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Camping in such absolute beauty, 

PRAISE of God in awe is my duty.

Getting here is so convenient, 

Escaping here was exactly needed.

The walks are worth the chill,

The natural views are our certain thrill.

Some rain, some sun, certainly lots of fun.

As the time with friends is the best still.

Make new friends and keep the old,

Some are silver and the others gold…

Girl Scout Camp

Girl Scout Camp 

Gee um, I’m in NO hurry to get home. 

Yes um, this place is Camp home…

Blessed and AMEN

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Thanks for letting me share – time to go back to reality – of course I am grateful for the time away to live in joy for God’s “Good NOW Days” as they later become the “Good Ole Days”…