rockbridge - week 1

So we are on the August assignment at Rockbridge. It is one week of YoungLives (teen moms and their babies), one week of Capernaum (kids with special needs) and two weeks of WyldLife (middle school kids). It is a beautiful assignment full of such diversity. We've done Capernaum camps 3 times over the last several years. This was our first venture into YoungLives. 170 teen mom's and their babies experienced camp this week. There is still so much to process through about the whole thing that I can't even start right now. So for now, I'll tell you about the week my kids and I had.

  

We had to come to Lexington on the last day of July's assignment. So we spent the afternoon at Rockbridge, poolside with these fabulous people (and some others). 

I love them so much and it's so sad to not be with them. They fall into the "friends who are family" category. We've lived a lot of months together over the years - especially the Bergs and the Johnstons. I think it was especially hard that we were starting an assignment with people I didn't know at all. Ben knows most of them, but I was starting from scratch. In the world of parenting and things like that, that's not always an easy place to be. Plus, many of them had been on assignments together before. So we are the outsiders. I'm happy to say that we've meshed well with the team, our kids are fast friends and it's been a real joy being here with people who are like minded. However, we would obviously love to be with the people in this picture the most!

Ted and Asher hit it off when we came for the day. They would've had a great month together. But maybe next year!

YoungLives camp is much smaller. There are 170 girls, maybe about 100 childcare volunteers and then probably about 150 babies. Because it was a bunch of moms and babies, I felt completely safe letting Ted run with the kids his age.  There were 23 kids here this week. 5 between the ages of 13-15. The rest under the age of 9. Everyone under the age of 9 has a scooter. (There are so many scooters we all went to the camp store on Day 4 to buy stickers to identify which scooter belonged to which kid). I gave Ted a walkie talkie and off they go. 

By Day 3, Ted had done everything except the ropes course (which he can't do because of his size) and the blob (which I will not allow him to do). Most days, we will swim in the pool, swim in the lake, play king of the mountain, slide down the slides a gazillion times, zipline at least twice, and hit the climbing wall. There are always a pack of kids running or scootering all over camp. They barely make it upstairs to our 3rd floor apartment every night. They play HARD!

For the past 6 assignments, my days revolved around wake up time (usually way too early), naps (usually a great reprieve during the day) and bedtime (usually early which gives me time to work and do some things in the evening.) This year, they sleep in till about 8 or so, we play hard all day long, stay up for whatever the night time activity is and fall into bed well after 10pm. I'm thankful I took my 2 weeks vacation from the church because between jam packed adventurous days and very slow internet, I'm not getting anything done. But we sure are having fun!

We got a brand new camera just before coming. I've taken a gazillion pictures and love, love, love capturing these moments.

Sophie has conquered the diving board. Now she does it without the noodle or anything.

These floating mat things in the lake are awesome and they have knock out battles on these for long periods of time. Basically the games involve the winner being the last one left on the mat.

The slides are so fun. We do them probably 20 times a day. Once I start, I can't stop. It's my favorite thing to do here because it's super fun and there's usually not a line. This is Sophie coming out . . .

And Ted

Sophie and our fearless 3 year old friend, Mac, after the slides.

Ben did the swing with Ryan and Ted. I don't think Ted will do that again for a long time.

As of this summer, Rockbridge has horses. One day, all the A-Team kids got to go up for a ride around the stables.

They got to brush River - everyone's favorite horse.

And then paint him. Don't worry, it's washable and he was clean by the time we left.

According to Ted there is 136 steps up to the zipline. Doesn't deter one kid from doing it multiple times. Don't worry, they aren't skipping campers. There's just not a lot of people in camp and then fewer who actually want to do the zipline. Come WyldLife week that will completely change.

Ted is old enough that we got to on a trail ride. Very fun to do that together with other 8+ year old kids and their parents.

Our sweet friend Meredith comes down on the weekends to help. It's very fun that she is here too!

Ted's horse, Hagen.

Bill Paige was the speaker for YoungLives. Loved listening to him. Somehow all the kids ended up at his table one night. They were telling jokes and having a good old time with Uncle Bill!

This is the King of the Mountain thing in the lake. It is not easy to climb. The kids love it. My limit is 3 climbs.

Battling on the water mats.

Sophie got in on the action yesterday.

The kids are having the time of their lives. Capernaum kids arrive today. This week is always so incredibly beautiful. As I gather my thoughts about YoungLives, I'll share. These weeks are truly about meeting kids right where they are.