Through a mom's eye

Let me introduce myself to you… I’m Frances Lindsey, the Camp Mom, and I have the pleasure to love on your girls all day. During the day I see them at different activities and in their cabins and at every meal. I even get to do pottery or cooking and if I’m really brave I will do the V-Swing. But mostly I just enjoy hanging out with all of your children and give out lots of hugs. So let me take you through a day at camp through a mom’s eye…

Each day we start off camp by gathering together at Morning Watch to sing songs and learn the theme of the day. As you all know the overall theme of the summer is FOLLOW. Every day a smaller theme is introduced to help the girls grow in their faith and how this can work in their everyday life. Today is “Help! I’m lost.” The basic idea is how might we find ourselves off the Lord’s path and how do we correct ourselves. You will be amazed at how much your child will learn and I encourage you to ask your daughters about this when they get home or even in a letter.

Morning Watch is followed by the traditional Flag Raising and then off to breakfast of eggs, bacon, biscuits and fruit. Delicious! (I can’t tell you how amazing it is to have 3 meals a day served to you and you didn’t have to plan the meal, cook the meal or clean up after the meal!) Your children are well fed and then ready to clean their cabin. It’s amazing to see them learn to make their bed, sweep, take out the trash and more. And they like doing it! It’s actually a competition to see who has the cleanest cabin.

Shortly after cabin cleanup the girls head to their club meetings, learn more songs and bond together with all ages. It’s really neat to see the older campers braiding the younger girl’s hair or leading the group in cheers. This is also a time to hunt for the Horseshoe that has been hidden around camp and worth several points for the club who finds it. Several clues have been given and today was the big day…RANGERS FOUND THE HORSESHOE! So tonight the Ranger Captain and I will go out and re-hide it and the other two clubs will try to find it and get the points. The next few days will be very exciting.

Typically during my day I get to walk around camp to the different activities and occasionally ride the gator out to see the equestrian girls jump so today I started my day off by checking in on the girls at archery. Your girls are sharp shooters! My mission was actually a little selfish as I got to practice my technique for a little counselor tournament later on in the day. It was admin vs counselors. Now usually I hit several bullseyes but today was just not my day and the senior counselors took the lead. It was all in good fun and several of your children came out to support us all.

I also got to visit today with the brave girls at circus and I’ve got to tell you that they amaze me at the tricks they can now perform. We are all looking forward to showtime where the advanced circus girls put on a show for all of camp. And I must mention the girls at horseback and how they are really ready for the big competition tomorrow. I went out to the rings today to see several of our youngest camper riding like champions. And one of my favorite activities I enjoy with the older girls is Bible Study. Sally is teaching a great study on Ruth and to see these girls listen and to hear them ask such in-depth questions is wonderful. They will certainly GLEAN something from this summer’s bible enrichment.

What I witnessed that meant the most to me as a mom was the encouragement your children give to each other throughout the day. It’s really cool to see one girl telling her friend “you can do it!” as she jumps off the pamper pole and grabs the bar. Or when one girls shoots a little off target and a friend tells her “you’ll get it next time!” with a smile and a hug. I really do see this all day long! And please ask your child what “One, two bottom on blue.” means in Fun Swim!!

We ended our night with a crazy, fun game called Speed Challenge. It is a competition between the clubs and the pictures posted will tell the story. There are some really interesting races that each group performs that will have you laughing as you look for your child. There is always a lot of singing and chanting and very loud screams as the winner is called out….…Rangers 3rd, Mounties 2nd and Troopers 1st!!!

We ended our day with camp fire and again with our theme “Help! I’m lost.” All the girls are getting sleepy and it’s a nice way to complete our day with Taps and then off to bed. I’m sure all the cabins will be quiet tonight as they dream about the blob they had the courage to bounce on and off of or the horse they trotted on for the first time. I hope your day has been as fun as mine and your steps as many (21,475) but I seriously doubt it! :)

I’m off to hide the horseshoe with Lucy…

Sweet Dreams!

Frances Lindsey

Camp Mom