Every year we take a week of vacation to go to our favorite church camp as counselors. The camp is
N.W.O.C.Y.C. and is located near McCutcheonsville, Ohio. I actually got to go there when I was a teenager so it is a special place for me to return to every year. Well even though our week of church camp got cut short we still had a great time. It was a week for the record books to be sure here are some highlights:
This Year's Theme: Persedure= Perseverance & Endurance (who knew the week would mimic the theme)
Sunday Afternoon: We head straight from my Mom's side Tevis Family Reunion to church camp, they are on the same day every year!
Sunday evening: We unload and Gabe and Scott set up in the oldest Teen Boys cabin and I set up in Cabin 6 with 6 other lovely ladies most of them 13 or 14. I was excited to be back in a cabin for the first time after 4 years.
Monday Weather: Rain
Monday Morning: I teach my first Camp Bible Class to 18 yr. girls and I had 12 young ladies present! Class is "Don't sweat the small Stuff" discussed how we all have baggage, and the sins of worrying and gossip.
Monday Afternoon: New Fitness Class this year by the famous Dee, Liquid Abs workout half on the bball court and half in the pool. Tough but wonderfully effective.
Monday Night: With 45 mins. notice we prep Scott's Drug and Alcohol Talk, session went great! Every year Scott gets better with his delivery and we always have responsive campers with lots of questions afterward.
Tuesday Weather: Rain & Thunderstorm Warning
Tuesday Morning: My class is on "Dealing with the Big Stuff" part 1 Shared life experience and ripple effect impact of making bad choices at their age. Also discussed life changing disappointments and anger toward God.
Tuesday: First official Tornado Warning= all campers and staff in mess hall, all campers under tables. Storm passed over and no harm done!
Tuesday: My co-counselor Nikki became an Aunt for the first time! Welcome Baby Emma, born early but safely back home in West Virginia. Congrats to Katie and Drew two other very special camp staff members!
Tuesday night: New Activity created due to all the rain= Zombie Apocalypse mud tag, awesome fun in the mud- Gabe enjoyed jumping in giant mud puddles and watching the participating campers chase each other.
Tuesday night: Gabe spends his first night in the youngest boys cabin! and he wins the legendary pillow fight!
Wednesday Weather: Severe Thunderstorm Warning
Wednesday Morning: My class is on "Dealing with the big stuff" part 2 Shared much life experience and how to endure loss of loved ones.
Wednesday: Crazy Thunderstorm Hits and big branches are coming loose from trees all over= First Evacuation from mess hall= transporting all staff and campers up to chapel in vehicles, again no one harmed and storm passed. Praise God!
Wednesday: First Power Outage= no electric= no air conditioning, no food refrigeration and no running water... or more specifically no working toilets.
Wednesday night: My favorite moment of camp this year- Stargazing with Scott on the road at midnight with the senior campers with inspirational music and devo.
Wednesday night: Gabe spends his second night in the youngest boys cabin and scares the counselors the next morning when he wasn't in his bunk. He had fallen out and was sleeping under it in his sleeping bag :)
Thursday Weather: Sunny (yep first sunny day all week)
Thursday: First Early Dismissal of Camp Ever= Sadness :( No running water and electricity meant no way to keep camp running. We had to call parents and have all the campers picked up.
First time ever I had no camera for photos, mine was in the shop. But we got a few on our phones:
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| Some of Gabes Fan Club, he has one every year. |
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| Gabe and I in the pool |
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| Wonderful Giant Mud puddles |
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| Three ladies from my cabin hiding out by the A-Frame safe zone during Zombie Mud tag. |
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| Gabe gets special treatment from his buddy lifeguard Holly. |
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| Gabe and Daddy having fun at the pool during boys swim. |
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| Gabe felt compelled to collect all the noodles |
Well that about sums it up, we were sad to lose 2.5 days of our precious camp week, but we were happy to have the time there that we did. Since the theme of camp seemed to match the events of camp the director made a joke that next years theme would be "Blue Skies and Rainbows" lol.
If you are looking for a wonderful christian youth camp for your children I highly recommend this one:
Northwestern Ohio Christian Youth Camp you can click that link for more photos from our week as well.
Since we got back early we got to go to Friday night uptown the next night and Scott got to play piano with a local gospel band, Gabe and I enjoyed the bouncy castles and drawing with chalks on the sidewalk Here are a few pics of that:
But the fun didn't stop there, the next day we went to the Columbus Zoo! But that will be another post for another day. Thanks for sharing in my vacation highlights. Have a great week!
Favorite Verse of the Week: Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
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Melinda Spinks
