Carolina Creek Christian Camp

The kids just got home from Carolina Creek Christian Camp and had a wonderful time.  I think I worried so much that I was exhausted when they came home and spent all of yesterday sleeping!

Marlie went to camp for the first time this year!  Although she begged to stay for the week, she stayed 3 nights and I was glad because I got to spend the end of the week snuggling and hanging out with her. I missed her a ton!  I wasn't sure how drop off would go but here she is with her friends Annie and Kate...

She was so excited and not nervous at all!  I was expecting a few tears but...nope! 

We don't get to talk to the kids at all so every day we look through pictures trying to see if they are smiling and look like they're having fun.  Here are the pics that were posted of Marlie...

She was definitely ok.  I like the cute pic of her running on Red Out Day!

I was so excited to see her when we picked her up.  Marlie received the "Friendly" award for always making new friends.  Her counselors were all awesome and I'm so blessed so was in the Giraffe cabin with them!  Here's Marlie with Ms. Megan and Ms. Angel.  I wish I could bring these girls home with me!  They were amazing!

Since Marlie was only there 3 nights they didn't mail any letters home.  But she did write this letter to us that we got once we started unpacking her trunk.  It's probably the thing I'll cherish most about this camp experience.  Such a sweet letter from a little girl that just turned 7.  Marlie we love you a ton!

Matt, Caden and Evan went to camp together last year but this year they got to go for a full week!  They were all very excited. Matt had a few new friends join them for the first half of the week.  His good friend Cole and Dylan and John from his baseball team, the Hooks, joined.  The boys were all excited that they got to be upstairs in the Tiger cabin!

Here are the Hooks with their counselor Nate.  These boys LOVED Nate and I'm sure they kept Nate going nonstop!

Here are a few pics that got posted during the first session of camp on Red Out day.  I love these pics!

Although Matt was staying the week, we had to pick him up after the first session (when we got Marlie) and then take him back that same day.  When we saw Matt he looked exhausted. Matt got the "Good Listener" award for always listening and being respectful.  That makes me proud because we ALWAYS talk to our kids about being respectful! 

We headed off to lunch with our friends and come to find out Matt caught a stomach bug and wasn't doing so great.  We gave him some medicine and he slept in the car for a solid hour.  We weren't sure if he should go back but he begged us so we left some medicine with the nurse and off he went.  I didn't sleep much the next few nights because I was so worried.  Marlie ended up with the bug too.  I checked pictures constantly to try to see how he was.  This was from the first night.  Matt is in the white shirt and seemed to be doing fine.  Whew!

Then it was camo day...looking much more tired. 

Then it was red out day and Matt is wearing his clothes from the day before??? At this point I'm nervous again, assuming he had some sort of "accident" in his red clothes!

 Here is Super Hero night and he seems to be ok again.  Cannot wait to pick him up!

I'm sure we were the first family to arrive at camp that day.  I just needed to hug Matt and know he was ok.  He was better but I could tell from the bags under his eyes that he was beat.  Matt got the "Good-Natured" award and his counselor Nate talked about how much some of these kids bonded over the whole week.  Pretty cool. 

The closing ceremonies came with mixed emotions...exhaustion, happiness and sadness too.  At one point I thought Caden might cry having to say goodbye to Nate.  The boys were so lucky to have him as a counselor.  He was such a great kid and had an enormous amount of energy that allowed him to more than keep up with these boys.  Thanks a million Nate for showing these young boys how to be Godly men!  

Thank you to all of our friends who joined us at camp this year. I hope everyone can join us again next year. Thank you to everyone at Carolina Creek for teaching our kids that even they can Change the World!