Christmas Camp 2.0 – Day 1

It’s the Camp that almost wasn’t… Christmas Camp was planned for early December but in November our campus was torn apart, covered in mud, & full of rocks from the flooding.

But look at us now?  Healing…. slowly.  The wounds are deep, our hands are calloused, & the anxiety creeps up on us anytime it sprinkles. But as I stared at our courtyard this afternoon – our beautiful courtyard – – our CLEAN courtyard – – our BRIGHT courtyard…full of lights NOT rocks –  full with 126 children who were SUPER excited to be here….

I saw freedom. I felt freedom… as the chains of fear began to fall to the ground.

I saw hope. I felt hopeful… as I began to laugh and felt “normal”.

I saw peace. I felt peace…  as the tension in my shoulders began to ease-up.

I knew that I knew that I knew… in that very moment –  God was and is making us whole again.

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Yes today was the big day!!  Today we combined our two orphanages for a Christmas Camp & New Years Celebration!

The bus left with 90 kids around 8am and arrived at 2:30pm! We have 36 children in our orphanage. So that’s 126 kids celebrating together!

The children ate as soon as they arrived and then we divided them into 8 groups – each with their own colored lanyard. Each team has 2 leaders – one from the Mole & one from St. Louis.  Mikela and Malaya are each leading a team. Rosie, Asher, & Izzy are participating as team members. 

The teams will compete in various activities, eat together, play together, & earn tickets together! (We have a prize table where they can use their tickets to claim various prizes – think about it being like Chuck E Cheese!). 

Game 1

This afternoon we played two fabulous games! For the first game you had to decorate your own human Christmas tree! The kids are SO creative! They totally took it to the next level. As we judged each group –  they explained what we were seeing… very interesting.

There were trees with roots,  branches, stars, wisemen, & angels.  One of the teams had a bunch of people standing around their tree. I asked them –  what are they doing around the tree? They said they were admiring it because it was so beautiful!! LOL!

Game 2

The next game we played is Fat Santa. We gave each group a 2XL t-shirt. They had to blow up their balloons and stuff as many as they could into the shirt. The one with the most balloons wins. The winning number is 16! (Fyi…the pic with the girl in the NWHCM neon green shirt – that’s Rosie!)

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After games we had them decorate bags – to keep their tickets in. Then it was time for dinner. After dinner they showered and came back to the cafeteria to watch Mr Bean Holiday.

We only had them for half the day – and I’m completely worn out! Tomorrow we start at 8am! It’s going to be an EXCITING 3 days in Mole St Nicolas!