So I signed myself up for three days of “day camp” for Sophie and her friends while her big brother was at overnight camp. And truly these are three days I’ll never forget because we really had so much fun. It was a lot of work but I loved every second of it. Every morning we started out with a craft in the “Art room” (dining room). These were crafts I ordered online and found on Pinterest. Painting was the favorite. I loved these Trees of Life that I found on youtube made with water bottle caps.
Once we finished our art project for the day we played outside with sidewalk chalk. Grab clothes out of the “too small” container and put them outside to make people out of. The girls loved this.
Then we came back inside for snack and a table etiquette lesson. We started very basic and just learned how to set a table properly; how to make it pretty with flowers and linens and why we do this. Not to impress others but to serve and honor them by doing the best we can to bring God glory. The girls took turns stripping the table and then setting it all by themselves and the other girls would check to see if they needed to change anything. They all went home with a print out of how to set a table properly.
We also did a random act of kindness each day. We went to the ice cream store and gave notes with $5 in it to pay for someone’s ice cream. And then went to visit some elderly friends at the nursing home and gave out cards. My personal favorite was passing out popsicles at the park. We had 40 popsicles and happened upon a group of 37 kids from the rec. department. The girls handed out the popsicles and the director and all the kids were so appreciative and moved by their act of kindness. She told the girls at the end of it all, “I want you to know that you have given us the desire to do the same thing ya’ll did. And our group will do this as well. Thank you.” I told the girls God used their little day camp of 4 to impact a much larger group and to never think they are too young to spread the love of Jesus. I loved how God opened up that opportunity and showed these girls that His love spreads! So awesome.
My all time favorite part of our three days happened today when went flower picking. We stopped at the park and picked some roses. Public property!
Okay, so the next picture is not so much public property but nobody lives there and we needed beautiful fresh flowers for the table for the special lunch we were about to put on for all the Moms…. so we picked them. Well, they picked them. I drove the get-away van. There was one yard where we knocked and knocked on the door to ask if we could pick the pink hydrangea that was dragging the ground. The one in about 50 that were in the yard. But nobody came to the door and so I snagged it on the way out and hoped like crazy I hadn’t just undone everything I had taught these girls the last three days. Yikes. Randy’s gonna kill me if he reads this. It was just one and we tried to ask and I feel sure they would’ve said yes???? I know! It was just plain bad to do that with four little girls in tow. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
We concluded our day camp by hosting a special lunch for the Moms. The girls set the table all by themselves and served the food and took drink orders. We were so proud of them.
Love.these.girls!
I’m just trying to figure out how the flower pickin’ lesson went. “Ok girls, now what you are never supposed to do is this……” or maybe “now this is what happens when you don’t have an alarm system or a big dog….” or maybe “now girls, this is how easy you can become a juvenile delinquent” or maybe “have you ever seen the inside of a police holding cell…” Summer lessons, such a privilege to train our next generation!
For real, so proud of what you did and the impact you are having on these kids. They did have a great time and are privileged to have your impact in their lives. Love you.
Awwwww honey that is so sweet! Thanks for not being mad. Love you too!
There is much to love about this post. From the fact that you are teaching more than just your daughter a little table etiquette, to the whole section about the extreme need for beautiful fresh flowers, to the fact that your husband commented on your blog. Really, delightful!
Gonna do a little scrolling through your Pastor’s Wife Stuff. I’m one too.