Week 5 and 6

Okay, so I’m going to tell you about the last two weeks of Camp in this post, and I said I would tell about my daughter’s twin, and a girl who had lice.

Here’s a picture of my daughter’s twin.
She was a girl who came to our Lauderdale County Camp. The camper was a couple of years younger than Leigh Ann, and looks almost exactly like Leigh Ann a couple of years ago. It was a little strange, because Leigh Ann was not there most of the Lauderdale County Camp. She was being taken to the VBS at Mary’s Chapel Baptist Church in Ripley – a church which is very involved in Camp. We weren’t able to get this picture until Friday, during the closing ceremony. Anyway, we’ve had fun teasing both girls about it a little.

The week before that, we had our Second Chance Camp. I was very excited about that week, because it meant we didn’t have to have a waiting list to get in to Camp this year. About 40 kids who would have been left at home this summer got to come for 2½ days of fun and love.

One girl, I’ll call her “Bri,” was in Cammie’s group. On the first day, Cammie noticed a pretty bad case of lice. She didn’t know what to do, because we didn’t want to keep the girl from coming to Camp – but we also didn’t want other kids to end up with lice. We finally decided to take her to the Camp nurse to get a second opinion and find out if there was anything we could do at Camp to help her.

As Cammie, the nurse, and Bri walked toward the Retreat Center, they asked Bri who they should write a note to at her house. The answer is what broke everyone’s heart, and is very typical of things we see and hear at Camp. She said, “I guess you should send it to my Granny, because my Dad is just a worthless bum who sits on the couch all day.”

Daughters are not supposed to refer to their dads that way. Dads are not supposed to live that way. Other family members should not teach daughters to think that way about their dads. Do you understand the damage done by all that is going on in that house? How do you begin to address that in 2½ days of a Second Chance Camp? No, let’s be really honest, how do you begin to address that in a week of Camp, several years of after-school Club, and trips to church? The answer is, sadly, that we really can’t make a dent in the damage done. Only God has that power.

So, when we’re at Camp, Club, or taking kids to church, we try our best to help kids get to know the only One who can heal them. Please pray with us for them. Please pray for Bri, her Dad, and her Granny. Please pray for the other kids who deal with the same kinds of issues in their homes. And, please pray for us as we work in some seemingly hopeless situations – that we will have hope, peace, love, and even joy.