Looking Up

Our first Lakelands Retreat was a super amazing time for everyone!

Things have been looking up lately, picking up speed it seems. Maybe it's having a toddler and a preschooler who can actually play together for more than 1 second on their own. Maybe it has to do with Luke being able to say more than 30 words at 19 months and has found his sense of humour, rather than the ear piercing screams of yesteryear. Maybe it's the fact that I get to be more involved with CEF ministry again now that I'm back to work part time. Although balancing those two things may be the continual struggle.

One of the unexpected events that I was able to be directly involved with was the Lakeland's Retreat (for kids from Muskoka, Orillia and the Kawarthas) a couple weekends ago. My role at camp since having kids has always been "mom" while David does his role of working with camp. The boys and I get to join in for pieces of things here and there, like meals, a few games and songs. However, this time there was a sudden shortage of female counsellors while there was enough lead staff (Yay for Tim our intern putting the weekend together!) It was really strange but neat to get to hangout with the 13 girls - playing games, being in chapel, leading small group discussions, eating meals together, attempting to get them to quiet down to sleep, walking to a park, riding the zipline at the park, having campfire together and so much more packed within a weekend!

My two biggest highlights were:
1) I got to present new 60 day Wonder Devotional books to two girls that had completed theres after I gave a challenge to be in God's Word at camp this summer. Then, one other girl told me she had completed hers but had forgot to tell me and would love another book. "I loved the book! It was so cool!" she said.

2) Seeing a girl that has been on the fringe socially be embraced and loved by the other kids was wonderful. She'd brought a Robert Munsch story collection to read so I encouraged her to read to the other girls while we waited for a couple to finish getting ready for bed. I was so proud of all the girls as they listened respectfully to the children's story. I told her she could finish the other half of the story the next night and so the whole next day she kept asking me "When can I tell the rest of the story?" That night her confidence was so much greater as she read louder and showed the pictures proudly. The other girls cheered her on and got in to the story. It was such a sweet thing to see a healthy and loving place for her to blossom.