Girls' Camp 2009

Last Wednesday, I left for girls' camp for the first time in 12 years. The last time I went, Sadie was one, this time, she went with me. I can't tell you how much it meant to me to spend this time with her. I loved being with all the girls. I was a little worried, I will admit, about the beehives. These girls have lots of energy and you know that age, let's just say I wasn't called as the beehive leader for a reason. Their leader is fabulous and so patient with them, but she was only there the last night. My fears were unfounded, tho', the girls were (for the most part) very well behaved.
They made me laugh- alot. This is a picture of one of Sadie's best friends. Is she being punished?

No. We did not force our girls to go under the tents when they misbehaved. This girl had kept some of the used shells after our shooting lesson. She accidentally dropped them and they fell between the wooden boards that made up the base of our tents. So, not more than 2 hours after complaining about how dirty her tent was, she crawled underneath it and spent about 20 minutes there, looking for those shells. Did we tell her she could've gone and got more from the shooting range? Nah. Watching her dig down there with the spiders and bugs was too much fun. (Have to add that her mom is one of the leaders and was watching with us.)

This little guy was Sadie's welcome to camp. We'd only been there a little while when this bat started flying around camp. We thought this was odd, since they usually sleep during the day. I watched it as it would swoop down and get a drink in the river, then fly around. The last time it went in for a sip, I saw it head right for where we were sitting, then suddenly took a turn and flew right into Sadie's head! Luckily, she had no idea what had just attacked her. Nevertheless, she screamed and her arms went crazy, then she ran over to me. I hugged her and told her what it was. The little thing was stunned-either by her screams or her flailing arms, and it laid on the ground. The girls all gathered around and were feeling great compassion for the nasty flying rat. Then a bishop from another ward came by, saw it and stomped it. Holy cow! You'd have thought he killed a puppy, the way the girls reacted. Never mind that it was out during the day and was probably rabid, they could've been PETA protesters the way they went on.

Other than that, we didn't have any more killing. We did jump into freezing water, tho. We were at a boy scout camp and they have a 'Polar Bear Plunge' tradition, so they did it with the girls. To become a member, you had to jump in, in the morning, and repeat the YW theme. I did it both days. I have never been in water that cold. The first day, my friend and fellow leader went in with me and we got in, sort of said the theme, (with chattering teeth) and got out. The second day, we were more prepared and determined. We got in, said the theme completely, then dunked our heads under. Seriously, once I went under, I couldn't even think.

The best part was the spiritual side, of course. We had a wonderful speaker on Friday night that had us all bawling and wiping our noses on our sleeves. The girls were very touched and we had a great testimony meeting afterword. I love girls camp. We had 20 girls, and many of them are inactive or non-members. It was such a great experience for them. Tho I hardly slept and am still dealing with a backache as a result, I wouldn't have missed it for anything.
(The picture on my blog was taken from our campsite. So beautiful!)