Grandparent's Camp

I just got home from Grandparent's Camp at Camp Christian. It was really nice to take part in it.
No - I am not taking my grandkids yet - I am sort of the assistant director. We just started offering this last year at Camp Christian for a first camp experience for kids who are past kindergaret and 1st grade. Last year we had 7 kids. This year we had 12. That is good growth.
And next year we will have Alyse and Reagan.

One of the things I have realized about myself is that I get great joy in watching people have fun. That is why I have always liked to work with youth and watch them come out of their shells and just enjoy each other. This was so great. The little kids immediately entered into everything. Mary Wood is the director and she is gifted with kids and we just had a wonderful time.

And then I also got to watch grandparents have real quality time with the grandchild. Our rule is one grandparent and one grandchild. We started at 7:oo pm last night and they will end at 6 PM tonight. It is only 23 hours - but it is a long time for a one on one experience with your grandchild. They ate together, did crafts together, prayed together, fished together and swam together. That is a lot of time together without those pesky parents and siblings in the way! We did an evaluation form and the grandparents loved our schedule and I think appreciated that we included quiet time this afternoon.

One of the sweetest things was that Mary asked the kids who wanted to say grace. They all put their hands up. So she picked a little boy who then when faced with the microphone went silent. We waited and then you could see his grandma whispering words in his ear as he repeated them.
It was so cute.

It was also fun to see my contemporaries who are now grandparents. Bob Thornton was there and he is a pastor (retiring this summer !) with three sons who I remember from when my 3 daughters were at camp as teenagers. Now he is there with one of his son's daughters. In October I hope to bring my daughters' daughters. Life just keeps on going!

What a blessing it is to be able to put together a program and then participate in it with my own grandkids!