I can make a difference for this one...

"One day a man was along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy he asked, 'what are you doing?' the boy replied, 'throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and tide is going out. If I don't throw them back, they'll die.' 'Son,' the man said, 'don't you realize there are miles and miles of beach, and hundreds of starfish? You can't make a difference!'. After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another star fish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said, 'I made a difference for that one.' :)

That... was pretty much our whole basis for camp. There's no way to make a difference for all of those precious kids... but if we can even make a difference for one... just one... then I'd say it's well worth it. 

So yes... camp was incredible. We laughed... we had fun... we ate a ton... we got up at 6 every morning... we took showers twice a day... we went 3 days without shaving... we went a whole 5 days without our phones... we sang and listened to the same songs at LEAST 15 times a day... we danced without shame... we made new friends... we connected on a level that you would have to experience to understand... we listened... we cried... we hugged... we loved... 

I wasn't sure I would have anything left to cry by the time I got home... but that unfortunately has not been an issue. These children were soooo precious & amazing. Just spending this week with them... and seeing the pain on their faces turn into joy at something as simple as getting a new back pack... or a glow stick. a princess crown. a stuffed animal. It honestly brought me to tears seeing something so... small... and ordinary... make them so incredibly happy. I have all that and so much more... yet a lot of times I'm  not happy. Talk about selfish. I don't see how anyone could spend a week with these children and be anything but humbled by it.

For them... they've never had any of this. 

Most of them had never even had a birthday party... so on Wednesday night, guess what? We had a HUGE party for everybody! One of my little girls gave me one of the best moments of my life that night. She's only 9, and has been through terrible things that no one, let alone a sweet little girl, should ever have to go through... and for 3 days she would barely even smile at me, let alone laugh or show any kind of emotion. Well that night... she got lip gloss & eye shadow for her 'birthday'. And oh. my. word. She started squealing and laughing and crying all at the same time. It was such a precious moment... to see her really happy for the first time. That's pretty much how the whole week went. Another little girl got a box of cookies and just burst out crying because she was so happy. 

So I feel like my words are just... totally falling short. It's hard to really even put into words what it was like. Incredible. Amazing. Heartbreaking. Beautiful. Humbling. Exhausting. Happy. A few adjectives that totally hit home. :) 

I have sooo many awesome stories from camp, but really... they're something that you'd have to experience to understand. I didn't even really get it until I was a part of it. We went through a lot of training for this... so I was totally prepared. but totally not. ya know? 

Our 4 little girls were so cute... they gave us all nicknames while we there. I (totally saw this one coming) was Miss Hannah Montana. Then we had Miss Krispie Creme Donut, Miss Boo, and Miss Kim Kardashian.
So original right?

Every cabin gets to have a 'theme' for the week... and you decorate it and do whatever to make it not so blah. 'Cause trust me, they totally are! Anyways, so Miss Krispie thought an olympic theme would be cool since this whole week was kinda based around that... but ummm... olympic stuff is not so easy to find! So our cabin sorta turned into an all out -proud-to-be-an-american type thing. But hey, the girls loved it... and we sorta did too. :)

This was seriously our favorite building at camp. Gregory Lodge. It's where all of the counselors and staff went for meetings, food, and just some blessed down time every night. :) 

Okay... so there was the ultimate camp experience. As best I could put it. :) I am so looking forward to doing this again next year. It's just totally worth... well, everything.