Tuesday, July 21, 2009

A Happy Heart & a Lot of Thanks!!!!!!!

This is the 6th year that I have happily chosen to spend my summer vacation being a Camper Buddy at Champions for Life Kids' Camp. What's special about this camp is that it "continues to bring HOPE and encouragement to children caught in the web of abuse". Please visit http://www.visionhope.org/ for more information and a direct link to Champions for Life Kid's Camp. CFL is a camp for the neglected, abandon and abuse kids in the Foster Care System.


Champions for Life Kids Camp



We have many activities for the kids, horseback riding, kayaking, archery, swimming, technical tree climbing, wood shop and more. We have several special events which include "CARNIVAL DAY, EVERY BODY'S BIRTHDAY PARTY, BEAUTY SHOP, PHOTO STUDIO" and the yearly favorite the "MUD WALK".

Our cabins



As Camper Buddies, each cabin chooses a theme and decorates accordingly. In the past, my cabin themes have been:

"Cinderella" (From cinders to a Princess)

"You Grow Girl" (Encouraged to grow in God's ways)

"Beach Theme" (Walk in Jesus foot prints)

"Flamingo" (Finding Love And Mercy In Needing God Only)

"Princess". (I am a Princess! My Father is the King of Kings!)

With each theme, I use scriptures to reinforce who they are in Jesus. I also try to have a different theme as there are 8 girl cabins and 8 boy cabins.

Back in December, my daughter Amy and I went to Frankenmuth, Mi. for her birthday. We wandered through the shops and one in particular caught our attending, "Here comes Treble".Visit www.frankenmuth-riverplace.com/StoreDirectory. It was a unique shop dedicated to music. Past the Beatles & Elvis was counter with jewelry. What girl doesn't like jewelry? Any way, there was a bracelet, earrings & a necklace that caught my eye. They had a guitar pick that read "Pick Jesus."(the bracelets also had real guitar strings) I was so excited!!! "That's it!" I told Amy. "That's the theme for camp!" I thought some more and came up with "JESUS ROCKS". I like the colors of silver, purple and black. So, needless to say, after Christmas, I bought silver & purple garlands and black letters to spell out "Jesus Rocks." I also bought the "Pick Jesus" guitar string bracelets for both the girls and Camper Buddies in our cabin.

Mind you, I had some help with the theme. Amy wasn't going to be able to attend camp this year as she is expecting her second child. If you're interested, you can follow her blog :http://www.coffeewiththemrs.com/ Any way, she found some really great decorations on line...cardboard guitar forms, silver & purple stars, curtains made of cardboard records, inflatable microphones and inflatable guitars She also help me design t-shirts for the girls.

Unbeknown to me, Amy did just a little bit more. She researched and found out that Kerusso made the t-shirts we had seen at "Here comes Treble". She sent them an e-mail with a request and all the links to her blog and Vision Hope and CFL Camp. They contacted her back and said they were interested in the camp and in her request. Here's the kicker,the company is in Arkansas and Amy got that e-mail about two days before I was leaving for camp. Amy didn't hesitate to reply back with the camps address and my name and asked if they could have it there by Thursday July 16th. So off to camp I went, having faith that I would get the shirts. It was Thursday @ 12:25 pm when I saw the Fedex truck pull up to the Lodge. I was as excited as a kid on Christmas. Mind you, Thursday is the "Beauty Shop," "Photo Studio," & "Every Body's Birthday."When the kids get back to their cabins, their Birthday gifts are waiting on their beds. We also had a pile of mail, but what the girls saw, was the big box on my bed. "Who's that for?" What's in it?" Well, I told them that someone in Arkansas had heard about them and our cabin theme and wanted to send them something special. "Open it up" "Please"!!!!!

Here's a picture of what was in the box.



True to their word, Kerusso delivered not only shirts, but Witness Bands for our cabin. Please visit www.kerusso.com and see what other wonderful t-shirts, gear & jewerly they have. I'd like to thank Jason Anzalone for his help.

Jason,

You made the girls in Cabin #5 very happy!!!! I couldn't believe the scripture on the t-shirt as it was one that we had for our theme. Once again, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!!!!!


2 comments:

Unknown said...

katrina here
the kilt is not from a clan but from an offical tarten for America. red, blue, yellow and the black rep the men and women who have servied our country and died.
the company is the something something virgina. look up "we make history" on the web and it will tell you every thing.
have a great rest of the summer.

Rebecca said...

Talk about Jesus multiplying the loaves and fish! I rejoice with you and praise God for the generosity of all of you (them) who made this a special week for some very special people. May the seeds planted receive sunshine and rain to grow into strong faith and to replace the cycle of abuse with strong, loving relationships-to the glory of God.