If you're a parent, you probably require very little explanation into my title choice. Maybe it's the break in routine over the weekend, or just having to get used to something all over again, but was one of those days that makes you think, "it must be a case of the Monday's."
It seemed that some of our all-summer campers were having a rough time getting into the swing of things today, including my own sons. By 5 pm, Owen, my oldest, was completely melting down, refusing the listen, wandering away. It was clear that it was simply time to go home. On the way home, as always, Owen dosed off. The difference came when we got there. He woke up, climbed out of the car, walked into the house, saw his Big Bear lying on the floor, and decided to join him for a quick cat nap. When dinner was ready, I picked him up and placed him in his chair, where he quickly fell back asleep. Honestly, I've never seen him do this before. The boy was determined to sleep. It must be a case of the Monday's...a result of a rather busy weekend and the beginning of his 5th week of being at the church all day, every day. But it wasn't just my son. It was almost as if there was a full moon in the middle of the day.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad day by any means, just a bit strange. We had our first counselor call in sick, which praise God he had already worked that out in his plan. We hope you feel better soon, Laura. My salad was wilted, which probably had less to do with Monday and more to do with the fact I had made it on Saturday, but still. The church facility guys, Blair and Aaron, were having the tile floors cleaned & waxed today which just meant we had to walk down to the main office whenever we printed something. (Not an inconvenience at all, Blair. We promise :)) Add all this to some off the wall behavior, again not bad, just different, and you get a good old case of the Monday's.
But let me tell you why it was a good day. Regardless of the circumstances, Grace Adventure's belongs to the Lord. This is evident in our staff from the leadership team to the counselors, in our vision team, our campers, and our program. I love that I have the most amazing opportunity to call my job, my ministry, my hobby and my passion as well; that I work in a place where change is considered good, and we have the freedom to fix things that are not working. For instance, late camp was becoming a bit chaotic. The kids desperately want to play rough and tumble games like Battleball, but the Junior Camp room is not so conducive to ball games, so we decided to move Late Camp to the Pavilion. This way the campers that want to run around and release their second round of energy (honestly, I don't know where they find it) can do so, while those that would rather play card games or work with crafty stuff can do that as well. I love that we're not satisfied with the status quot. Our goal is excellence, and though I may be a bit biased, I happen to think we're good at "striving" for excellence. We may not always attain it, but it's definitely our aim, our intent.
Allow me to share a couple examples of excellence. One of our staff members, Sara Beth, our Outdoor Exploration specialty counselor, doesn't have a group this week. She still has a specialty group, just no regular group. This morning, Sara Beth comes up and asks if she could use her non-camper time to make sets of outdoor exploration curriculum for next summer. She calls it "making herself replaceable." Little does she know that she's actually making herself "irreplaceable." It's people like her, with a heart focused on the greater vision, that we want on our team. Oh but it doesn't end there. Ethan was a late hire, and all we could offer him was a back-up counselor position. He worked the Taste of Camp and Week 1. It didn't take long for us to figure out what an amazing asset he is to our team. When he came to me on Friday and asked if it would be okay for him to help out even if he's not getting paid, my heart just melted. Seriously? "Ethan, please pray about joining our Vision Team." That's it, not that he's willing to work for free, but that he gets why we exist and desires to be part of that.
I'm telling you, it's always a good day at Grace Adventures. Even if everyone had a case of the "Monday's," it would still be worth it. Spend 5 minutes at camp and you'll see what I mean. I work with "called" people and it shows.
Posted by Hillary
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