End of Camp

We were so glad to see our boy yesterday!!! I could hardly sleep on Friday night as I was so excited to go and pick him up from camp.

Grammy and Grandpop (Sam's parents) came along to see Henry and watch the closing show. They arrived at camp at the same time we did, so we got to catch a ride on the people mover together. Have I mentioned how blessed we are to have family living so close? It's wonderful! We love having them here to share in the big and small events of our everyday lives.

Sam left his post (he works Saturday mornings through the summer, helping to keep camp running smoothly during camper departure) and came along to enjoy the closing show. He saw us drive by so he pulled in along behind us. :)

Jonah and Bridget were very excited to see Sam, but they were both very anxious to see their big brother.

Henry had an amazing group of counsellors. His senior counsellor was Josh, an amazing guy with lots of energy and love for these little guys. Henry was very sad to have to say goodbye to them all, but he felt better knowing that we are still able to visit Sky Ranch and see them throughout the rest of the summer.

He had a more difficult time accepting the fact that he wouldn't be seeing his new friends every day anymore. We tried to snap a family picture after meeting up with Henry, but he was upset about having to leave his friends. :)

The closing show was great. The theme for this year's camp is "Be-volution: Form the Swarm" and everyone up on stage was dressed as a bee. Very cute, lots of energy, and tons of fun. The campers participated by reciting their daily memory verses as a group and singing the camp anthem, among other worship songs.

After all that, they led the kids outside to wait for us to pick them up. When Henry saw us he came running. I bent down with my arms open and he ran straight into them and buried his head in my neck. He was so emotional that he couldn't talk without a raspy voice and he had tears in his eyes. It was so incredibly precious. Later that day, he described the moment to us like this: "I wasn't so sad and I didn't really miss you guys, but when I saw Mommy, it was so weird. Tears came into my eyes for no reason at all!"

We brought Henry home and had a late lunch after listening to ALL of his camp stories. He had a lot to share! New friends, new experiences, new challenges, and so much fun. Henry laid down for a nap after that and slept all afternoon. Sam tried to wake him up around 5pm with no luck. When dinner was ready around 6, I went in and forced him to wake up. That boy was TIRED! :) He made it through dinner, got ready for bed, watched a 1/2 hour cartoon show to relax and went back to bed at 8. He's feeling much better today!

We are so thankful for Sky Ranch and all the staff that works so hard (and so sacrificially) through the summer to create this amazing camp ministry. Henry seems to have grown up in the week that he was gone. It's incredible the difference we can already see in him. We are so blessed to have had this opportunity to send him to camp! :)