Part 2 - Camp

As I was saying, so many fun activities! 

Kickball, carpet ball, hide-and-seek in the basement, ultimate frisbee, basketball, rock wall climbing, bottle rockets, horse back riding, Dutch blitz, hiking Peter’s Mountain to Table Rock. 

Jesse and Manny— two adopted teens who Nick admires immensely! 

That kid can run! 

Here's a picture from our worship times, where Nick and Jayden are sitting in the back row with the teens.  Jayden migrated from group to group, typically not sitting with us but finding new friend each day.  Nick was consistently in this group however, hanging with or sitting on the teen boys whom he admires.  It was really cute and endearing to see how they responded to him, welcomed him.  With these guys plus the amazing camp counselors, most of whom were high school or college aged boys, our kids have a lot of other kids to look up to and learn from at this place.  It's one of the many things we love.  

At the end of the week, we were thrilled when Diane, Manny's mom and the MC of the talent show, asked Nick to be her assistant. He did a great job announcing the acts and getting quite a bit of time on stage at the mic!  

Lukas was also in the talent show, in a skit by another family, acting goofy!  

This year we really loved the theme at Camp Hebron, "the Heartbeat," citing Ezekiel 36:26: 

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you  a heart of flesh." 

 The camp song is awesome too, "We Need the Love of God" by Rend Collective:  

You are the hymn for the hymnless, You are the hope for the hopeless

You're the God who believes in the rebels and the runaways

You are the home for the outcast, You are the friend of the faithless

You're the God who receives every prodigal with arms of grace

We don't need cold religion, but we need the love of God

Oh, we need the love of God, like we need a heartbeat

We're done with our pretendin', something real is what we want

'Cause we need the love of God, oh, we need the love of God

You won't give up on the wounded, You walk beside the rejected

You're the God who is for all the doubters and the down-and-outs

You aren't afraid of our questions, You're bigger than we imagined

You're the God who restores all the wonder to the cynic's heart

We don't need cold religion, but we need the love of God

Oh, we need the love of God, like we need a heartbeat...

Elaine, member of the Bethany team and camp Pastor, led discussions around Ephesians chapters 4-6 and helped us grow towards becoming the kind of parent God is to us.  During these discussions, all the other parents offer opinions, ask questions, and we gain collective insight through a group of similarly faithful and humble followers.  

In short, Camp Hebron's Adoption family camp week is a place where we truly belong.  Our faith and our family makeup are shared in common with all the other camp families and this creates an intimate and safe space to vulnerably grow.  This doesn't really make for a restful or simple week, it's intense and tiring but also awesome and exactly where we know we need to be right now.  So, we're thankful for the opportunity and looking forward to the ways in which this week will make us into brighter and healthier versions of ourselves.