Royal Family Kids camp- Friday

Friday is a rough day... nobody is ready to say goodbye.  It's amazing how much these children grow on your heart & how you don't want to let them go.  We try to keep it lighthearted and fun so that the mood doesn't get depressing.  We graduate all the 11 year old campers (we had 25 graduates this year!) and then have our final chapel and dance practice.

This year we had some AMAZING guests- our local chapter of BACA: bikers against child abuse.  Oh it was SO awesome!!!  The kids brought their helmets that they got at the party and wore them when they went on rides around the camp (of course slowly & safely!) with the bikers.  They loved it!  And this pregnant momma got to have her first ride on a motorcycle as well!  It was a blast.  After the rides we had lunch, and then BACA escorted our buses down the mountain and back to church.  I ran off ahead of them to try & get some pictures, it was SO neat to watch!

We get to the church where the kids put on a show for all their foster parents of all the dances they learned during the week, and then we show a slideshow.  The kids go through out-processing and then we say our goodbyes and they are gone.  Just like that, it is SO fast.  But we are not done when the kids leave.  We split up into debriefing groups of about 6 or so workers.  We go through a confidential time of sharing our favorite & least favorite times of the week, what we would change, what we learned, etc.  It's so helpful & healthy to talk about all that we experienced.  After our groups are over we have a big welcome home dinner where our families meet up with us, and then after dinner we can finally go home!

It was SO good to see the boys after 6 days of not seeing them... the longest we had ever been away from them!  I fell asleep at like 9:00 that night and slept til 11:00 the next morning, so apparently I was tired! Ha!!

Royal Family Kids camp- Thursday

Wow I got way behind on the camp updates.  Not that anyone has been reading them, but I think this is important to have on file ;) 

So Thursday has to be one of the funnest days of camp!  We do a theme day every year, and this year it was on Thursday & the theme was Hawaiian luau!  It was so fun to see everyone dress up & all the decorations.  We had a special group come from our area- Hawaiian praise dancers!  It was SO neat!  These ladies were beautiful and held the kids attention the whole time.  We loved having them come!

Thursday is an awesome day as well because it is.... EVERYONE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!!

Every Royal family Kids camp does it, because when the camp was first founded they realized that the majority of these children in the foster system have never had a birthday party.  So we fix that at camp and give them all one there!  

I love how we do ours.  During activity time we have some ladies from local salons come & donate their time to give the girls princess hairstyles & do their nails.  The girls LOVE it.  Then we have dinner & a special birthday chapel service, then head back to the dining hall for the party.  Because it was luau themed that is how we decorated for the party... too cute!

Look at all those presents!  We get the most amazing gifts donated... I believe in these bags were Disney dvd's... and their very own mp3 players loaded with songs we sing at camp and worship songs for kids!!

But the biggest surprise for the kids were their brand new Razor scooters & helmets!  Seriously, how awesome are these gifts?  And how cute are my parents riding them in to show the kids (we didn't actually give them the scooters til we got to the church on Friday).

The party is so much fun!  The kids get cake, ice cream, & soda (the rest of the week we limit their sugar intake).  Then the night always ends with a dance party!  Please remember the identities of these children have to be protected, which is why there are some faces that are blurred out.

Oh what a fun day!  The kids are so hyper & go to bed later but they usually sleep great!  It's nice to have something so fun to do before Friday, because it is always hard to say goodbye...

Royal Family Kids camp- Wednesday

Thank you for your prayers for our friends during this difficult time.  Yesterday was sweet baby Jackson's funeral, which was definitely the saddest thing I've ever been to.  But the service was beautiful and the pastor did such an amazing job.  One major thing that stuck with me that he said was: sometimes we just have to look at God and say "I don't understand... but I trust You anyway."

The Wednesday morning special activity was a dog agility show.  The kids seem to really love it, even though it's HOT outside.  And this year at camp there were these awful biting flies... I have never seen anything like it!  These flies would BITE you and it HURT.  One bit me through my jeans.  It was nuts.

After the dog show we headed up to the dining hall for lunch.  We are so blessed to have our camp at this beautiful facility.  And an extra bonus is that the food is actually fairly decent there, as opposed to many other camps I've been to ;)

After lunch & 30/30 time is the outdoor activity time.  The kids love it.  There's a bounce house, inflatable water slide, kites, baseball, bubbles, hula hoops... the works!

We had the most amazing group of teens at camp this year.  They were so hard working & loving towards the kids, so willing to help in whatever area we needed them to, and just all around good teens.  I was SO proud of them.  Here they are helping fold up the bounce house after activity time.  I'm not sure what exactly happened but I snapped this right after a couple girls fell over & everyone was laughing.

During pool time (which is always separated guys & girls) it has become a tradition that every year my dad (the one in the middle) does a belly flop for the boys.  This year a couple other men on staff (Devin on the left is the Dean of Men & Vince on the right is one of the grandpas) joined my dad for the fun.  It was awesome!

We have SO much fun!!!  The rest of the day was pretty normal.  A lot of cabins went on hikes after chapel that evening because the weather was beautiful and there was some extra time.  It always feels like we've been at camp a couple of weeks already by the time Wednesday comes, but then by Thursday we are like "where did the week go?"  Ha!!

Royal Family Kids camp- Tuesday

Tuesdays at camp are a pretty "normal" day, if there is such a thing.  The kids get up, go to exercise time, and then breakfast.  After breakfast we have morning chapel.  For I don't know how many years the amazing, anointed, and talented Susie Starr comes up as our speaker.  She is seriously the best... entertaining for the kids AND adults as well as bringing the Word and Truth to them!

Some of the staff joining in dance time... I guess my dad is "overseeing" over on the right there? haha

Also during morning chapel we have the teenagers do a drama.  The drama is a 5-part story where the kids get a piece of it every day in the week and then it concludes on Friday.  It's usually very entertaining :)  Back in the day when I was a teen I was part of the drama team for camp.  Ahhh... the memories!

After chapel the kids did the treasure hunts that Dathan & I mapped out for them on Sunday.  Mon-Thurs are the same from this point on until dinner: lunch.  Then 30/30 time (which is a mandated rest time by law).  After 30/30 time they do free play activities outside (bounce house, inflatable huge water slide, kites, baseball, hula hoops, etc). Then snack. Then they split up by boys and girls and one group goes to the pool while the other goes to activity time (woodworking, crafts, dress up- for girls usually, archery, etc), and then they switch.  Back to the rooms to change & clean up and then dinner.  After dinner we head back up to evening chapel.

After chapel on Tuesday is a fun time- it's movie night!  Most kids even wore their jammies to chapel.  We head down to the "old" chapel (smaller & more rustic then where we have our chapel services) for popcorn and Veggie Tales.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it :) 

One of the cabins had these fun glasses.  Too cute!

After movie night they go back to their rooms and go to bed :)

During the basic day I would run around as a photographer taking pictures, as well as assisting in wherever I was needed.  I love interacting with the kids and having fun with them!

Royal Family Kids camp- Monday

Monday is a VERY exciting day in camp- the kids come!!!  Our mornings start out early with breakfast and final preparations.  The majority of the core staff (plain blue shirts) went down to the church on the registration team, and my mom & I stayed back to hold down the fort ;)

After breakfast we had 4 different groups in what we call the "circle of prayer."  Each group prays over specific important areas of camp, claiming that ground as holy & committing it to the Lord.  So we prayed over the dining hall...

All of the cabins...

The chapel...

And the pool, activity, and dress up centers.

Soon after prayer the trailer gets there and starts dividing the kids luggage up by what cabins they belong in.  It's go-time at this point.  The counselors rush to get the stuff to their rooms before the kids get here (usually the buses are about 15 minutes behind the luggage).

Then... it's time.  One of my favorite times of the week.  Gets me teary-eyed every year I have gone (did I mention that this year was my 10th camp?? I started young! ha!).  We make signs with the kids' names on them to hold, and the group of volunteers erupt in cheering & excitement as the buses pull up & the kids get out of them.  This is the moment we all wait for... the reason why we are there- THE KIDS!  The kids have to try to find their name (which is being held by their counselor) so they know where to go :)

This is actually the last picture I have from Monday!  Because we were RUNNING after the kids got there.  As the photographers we get each cabin to come out and take a picture of the camper by themselves, then the camper with their counselor, then the camper with the associate staff (teen) in their room.  Then we have lunch.  Then they go back to their rooms for a little bit before outdoor water play, pool time, and activity center (wood working, crafts, painting, dress-up, etc).  As the photographers we try to take a picture of each child in each specific activity we do during the day.  And we try to get the majority of them taken Monday so we have a lot of time to divide them into their different photo albums.  After all the afternoon activity time is over the kids go back to their rooms to clean up for dinner, go to dinner, and then chapel.  After chapel they have a snack with the "grandmas & grandpas" of camp before they go to their cabins to get ready for bed & lights out.  It's a whirlwind of a day, but worth every ounce of energy you give!

Stay tuned for Tuesday... ;)

Royal Family Kids Camp- Sunday

I've been wanting to give a run-down of the camp we worked at, so that I can give out more information of all that we do.  It really is a wonderful ministry!  Royal Family Kids is a program that ministers to abused & neglected children.  They do summer camps and then mentoring programs.  You can find them all over the country (click here to see if there's one close to you).  Our church offers both the camp and the club (mentoring program).  There is nothing quite like giving a week of your lives to make sure that children with horrible pasts have the best week of their young lives!

We always leave for camp on a Sunday.  This year that Sunday just happened to be Father's Day (and my dad's birthday!).  We started off the day with donuts with the boys before church.  We went to the church for our commissioning service (where the whole church prayed over all the volunteers) then came home to finish packing, show the sitter all the fun details of keeping the boys overnight, and say bye to our kiddos.

While the rest of the staff met at the church, Dathan and I had to head straight up to camp.  We had a job of mapping out a treasure hunt for each cabin to go on.  Every cabin had it's own directions, and there were 13 cabins so we had a lot of work to do!  We finished just about the time everyone else showed up to camp.  The counselors all go straight to their cabins to start decorating.  Every year there is a different theme, and they decorate their rooms to go along with the theme.  It's so much fun!  It's also a time to bond with the other counselors in your room.

I am not a counselor because I am on the planning committee for camp, as well as the fact that I am pregnant.  While the counselors were getting their rooms together we were busy setting up our different jobs, running around to make sure everyone had what they needed, etc.  We break for dinner and then head up to chapel for our annual staff picture.

Ok how amazing is it that we had 98 volunteers!!??!?!?!  98!  Almost 100 people gave up a week of their lives to give to these kids from our area.  And what a fun group of volunteers we had ;)

(Those of us in the plain blue polo shirts are the core staff who plan camp. And the camp speaker.  My parents are in the front & almost center- they are the directors of the camp! Did I mention that?)

After pictures we have a special service with just the workers.  Before we started service though we had something special to do.  This year was very significant for Lancaster's Royal Family Kids camp... it was our 20th camp!  How exciting is that??  There are 6 people who have gone to camp EVERY YEAR since it began, and we honored them.  What a neat legacy to carry!

Then we had a time of worship, prayer, and a short sermon.  It's so nice to sit & just soak in the presence of God before a very very busy week!

After chapel everyone went back to their cabins to finish setting up and try to get to bed at a decent time.  Monday morning is an early rise to make the last minute preparations and then the kids come!

Every day is SO busy that I will try to do a separate post for each one.  There are many different rules that we have to follow for this camp because of the nature of it (children being wards of the state).  All the staff actually goes through about 12 hours of training that is mandated by law before we can even go to camp... whether it's your first year or 20th you have to go to the training!  Nobody is allowed to take photos of the children except for the photographers (that was one of my jobs).  And the photographers have specific rules (only ONE child's face can be in the photo, unless they have a biological sibling there).  Those pictures we take are printed off and put into specific albums for every child.  For a lot of these kids, these albums will be their only pictures of their childhood they own.  So the pictures I do have that I am sharing with you are "safe" pictures... you either can't see kids in them, can see the backs of their heads, or if their face has sneaked its way in then I blurred it out.  Just in case you were wondering :) 

4th of july weekend!

this week over at i heart faces everyone is sharing their 4th of july stories, and since i need to post my pics, of course i am joining! :)

the weekend started out with me getting my new lens in the mail! i am absolutely in LOVE with it (can you be in love with a lens?)!! i had been using just the basic lens that came with my camera!

friday night our church did an outreach in the park downtown. it was so much fun and God really did some amazing things! our worship band played, the stomp team performed, & several people shared their hearts. all in front of a beautiful fountain that made for some awesome pictures!!

here are some of the kiddos banging on the "drums" during the band's warm up. we said it was the worship team & the future worship team :) mine is the cutie with the hat!

this is my oldest son sean, and below him is my youngest son nolan. of course i can't post anything without pictures of them :)

and now to the 4th (my second favorite holiday besides christmas)...
so the day started out with lots of cleaning, because we had a houseful over that night! probably 50 people came by at one point or another during the evening. we grilled out, ate TONS of good food, laughed & enjoyed each other's company. of course we had to start the festivities later, because nothing is fun unless a nap is taken :)

i busied myself in the kitchen for two days doing one of my favorite things (besides photography lol)... baking! this is a pound cake with cool whip and fruit. so summery and yummy!

and here are my famous cake balls! these are always a huge hit! if you've never made them, go here for the recipe, then make them. if you're single, make them for a guy you have your eye on... because i got proposed to over these! LOL one of the college guys said "man if dathan didn't already marry erica i'd propose to her right now" after he ate one haha
man i love my little man's sweet smile!!
this is my oldest sean and his "best friend' elana (her parents are our best friends & we have decided we wanted to take up arranged marriages for these two!). they have spent every 4th of july of their lives together ;)
look! the photographer made it in a pic! i just love my family :) :) :) we are waiting for the fireworks to start here
the night ended with all of us on our front lawn to watch the fireworks. we live just down the street (about 1/4 mile) from a bluff overlooking the river, & every year a barge shoots off fireworks right in front of this bluff. we have practically perfect seats for the fireworks! all of the young families stayed in our yard w/ the kids to watch the fireworks, & all the teenagers walked up to the bluff for the show.

hope everyone else had as fun of a weekend as we did!!