I bet you're wondering what happened to me? Here I was blogging every morning and then poof, there she goes again. Actually, it's not that I haven't thought about it (constantly actually). It's more that I was choosing to blog instead of spending time with God, and it was taking a toll on me through out the day. So I thought, since I'm blogging about camp, I'll just find time during camp to blog. And here we are on Wednesday morning and I've yet to write about anything this week. Solution? The only one I could come up with is to have my quiet time and then blog, all before I leave the house. We'll see how it goes.

So, week 1; not technically the first week of camp, but since it's the first full-day week of camp, we're calling it week 1. We'll rethink that for next year. I just have to get this off my chest, so bear with me for a moment...we have the best staff ever. From the leadership to the counselors, I see people hungry for the Lord and excited to be on the "mission field" at Grace Adventures Day Camp.

Getting to know people in a camp environment is no easy task. Sure we spend 11 hours a day together, but how much time do we have to go deeper? I'm so thankful for our devo times, but in all honesty, most of us are still waking up so the depth can be a bit shallow (& not in the conceited way). But those that I have had a chance to spend some quality time with have been nothing short of an encouragement to me. To see their character lived out on the soccer field or back deep in the "non-woods" we call the hollow, or their hearts lived out in during camp song in assembly...it's a privilege to be in a position where I can observe, and hopefully exhort.

Now God has not made exhortation a key gift for me, but I know of it's great importance, so I'm at least attempting to use it regardless. I'm also trying to encourage the staff to lift each other up through prayer, notes in boxes, etc.... As the weeks go by, and bonds continue to form, it will be cool to see the different ways that they carry each other through the summer.

I wanted to highlight one counselor in particular. Iman was one of the first people to apply to camp, way back in February. She was also one of the first we hired. From the get go, I could see her excitement for this summer. But it wasn't until staff training that I began to see her heart. Granted, I haven't had much time to spend with her outside of camp, but because of a particular circumstance, I've had a couple opportunities to get to know her better.

During staff training, Iman came to me and asked about the room I had for rent. She had heard me talking to Amy about possibly renting out Mat's room when he goes off and gets married. Neil and I had decided if God sent someone to us that met our criteria, then we'd love to have another roommate. Of course Mat's shoes are hard to fill. He's like family.

So I told her about the room, the basement, the house, and the chaos, and it didn't scare her away. Then I told her about our expectations like the fact that we want that person to not just be a tenant, but part of the family (oh and they have to keep their bathroom clean). Iman seemed intrigued, but moving out of mom's house is a huge step for her, for anyone. On Monday, she came over after camp for dinner and to see the room. It was so much fun to have her there and to be able to hear more of her story. She fit right in, and yesterday let me know that she was pretty sure she wanted to do it. Yay! I'm actually pretty stoked about having a girl live with us. Fun girl time without leaving the house? Yay again! Plus Iman does have the gift of exhortation, so I can totally learn a bunch from her. I hope she rubs off on me.

Oh goodness, I so have to go take a shower, or I may never get to camp this morning.