Home Alone

My family is away at church camp this week. They have hopefully had a good first night there. My husband is a counselor for the boys who attended, which is good (I get updates from him) and bad (I get updates from him)...



Last night when he finally called, the news wasn't necessarily what a mom who courageously sent her kids off to camp with an optimistic attitude wanted to hear.



For those who know my daughter Anna, her news isn't too shocking. Anna has managed to set a new precedent for this camp's rules. NO FLIP FLOPS except in the pool area. Anna was wearing her flip flops on the way back to her cabin yesterday afternoon and sliced her foot pretty good on a rock! Thankfully, the lady who is the girls' counselor is also our 2nd grade teacher at school and kind of a wanna-be nurse, so I am sure Anna's foot was dealt with efficiently.



My son - who is a 2 year camp veteran - was the most excited about going this year (camp was canceled last year). He was packing almost immediately after we got home from our mini vacation on Saturday, offering to do laundry to get his clothes transitioned more quickly into his camp suitcase. Best of all, this year's camp theme was BASEBALL (American League vs. National League) - and baseball is Andrew's favorite sport to watch and follow (Go Cardinals!).

And besides all that, he was glad that a boy that he often plays with was able to go to camp, making 4 boys total so everyone kind of had a "buddy" for the week.



Upon arrival to camp, Andrew found out the boys were being divided into teams - by age/grade. His friend, who is a year and grade older, went to a group led by Dan (my husband). The other 2 boys are a year younger and went to a team/group together, which left Andrew by himself among kids he doesn't know. Not that he can't make new friends - but he had his heart set on being with his familiar friend most of the time. To add insult to his unmet expectations, the team Andrew is put on is named after the Cleveland Indians, which if you know anything about baseball right now, is an insult to injury for my son. The Cleveland Indians are at the very bottom of the rankings in all of baseball right now - the biggest losers, if you will.



These are the disappointments a mom wants to make go away - to soothe over - and to make "all better". I know it was/is a very temporary disappointment, and no doubt the rest of the week will be just as happy as the last 2 times Andrew was at camp. As a mom, I just hate to hear that it all started out not as hoped for.

I know that we can't always protect our children from every unhappiness - and I know it isn't good to hover and control every area of their lives for them. It's good that I am 120 miles away from my son so that he can learn to make choices that are - hopefully - right. My husband did say that it didn't take long for Andrew to re-adjust his attitude and embrace his new team. These are the mini-life lessons that help us mature and grow, I guess!

I'm supposed to be enjoying my days at home alone - and I am! But I confess that today I was tempted to get into my car & drive to camp to see with my own eyes that my children are ok instead of trusting my husband and the counselors to take care of them. God did send me a little sign that I am supposed to just stay home & pray: the battery in my vehicle DIED!!! How obvious of a sign is that?! :) I wasn't going ANYWHERE! I did get the battery replaced, but I am staying put, enjoy the quiet of my house, praying for the kids who are at camp, letting GOD take perfect care of them.