Camp and The Great Cow Game

Today was a great blessing.

Aidan went to camp Timber-lee this morning. His first camp experience and at the same camp I went to when I was a kid. A group from church was carpooling and I was going to have a neighbor watch Garrett and Rachel so that I could just go with Aly and Aidan.

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps" Proverbs 16:3

I had made my plans. I was looking forward to carpooling and visiting with friends.

And the Lord determined my steps. He threw my plans right out the window. My neighbor has 4 kids of her own and three of them had VBS every morning this week. When I found out, and informed her, that I would have to leave the house at 7:15 to meet my carpoolers, she surprisingly did not back out. But she smiled very sweetly and told me that she didn't want to tell me "no." So I said "no" for her and I hope she had a really nice morning with Wyatt while the girls were at church :o).

As I pondered the question "what is plan B?" I had a peace. I immediately felt that I couldn't view this as a disappointment but just that God had other ideas. I'd love to say that this is always my reaction to plans falling through, but that would be a lie.

This morning at 7:40, we all loaded into the van. We headed off with a full tank of gas (very expensive gas), 4 kids, 3 gatorades, 2 pages of mapquest directions, and 1 very excited new camper.

We said our safe trip prayer and put in Aly's SuperChick CD. And everything from that point on made me feel both young and old, and very, very grateful to God that He doesn't let me carry out every plan I make.

The kids played the great cow game. I played this "game" when I was younger, with my brothers and my Dad. I don't know who came up with the game but it's very simple. You count the cows you pass on your side of the car. If you pass a cemetery on your side, you lose all your cows. If you pass a church, you double your cows. (Who did come up with this game?)

As a kid we played it every time we drove up to my Dad's house in Wisconsin. There was a cemetery, I believe on the right side, as you pulled onto his street, so you knew when you started that the driver's side players would win. And yet, we kept playing.

Today the only cows we even saw were packed into a trailer that we passed on the highway.

And today, I was the grown-up, driving while my kids laughed about cows.

We pulled into the camp and it hit me that this was the trip I'd taken with my Mom driving, just a few (we'll call it a few) years ago. I was now the one who had to make sure the car had plenty of gas and follow the map directions. And it was my son, now, who sat in the back, anxious to get there.

We actually made it there just a few minutes before the carpool. The girls and boys played kickball with their counselors while parents chatted. And Aidan stood with his counselor while the girls and boys played kickball. Then we all got to climb into the hay-ride trailer to go with our campers to their cabin. We settled Aidan in and headed to the commons for muffins and coffee (well, pop actually). I was already seeing the blessing of having to drive myself and take all the kids, but at the commons I found out that the carpoolers were not staying for the meeting.

But we didn't have to leave because we drove ourselves. So, the kids ate while I got the "camp shpeal" (is that an actual word, and how do you spell it?) and then they offered a tour of the camp. The camp director took us and 2 other moms, down to the lakefront and then to the science center. It was just a quick tour, we didn't even go through the whole science building. But as we stood checking out all their turtles, one of the staff members came by to feed them and asked the kids if they wanted to help. And they did, of course. Even Rachel got to pick out some worms and drop them in. They had a blast. I had a blast.

We walked through Pine Bluff and past Maple Knoll. It was so fun to be seeing the cabins that I had stayed in. We also walked past the ampitheater. Which is where I sat for a bonfire one summer night and heard a fellow camper talk about waiting too long to talk to his grandpa about the Lord. His grandpa slipped into a coma just a few hours before he and his mom visited him at the hospital. He sat and talked to his grandpa but regretted that he was left unable to know if his grandpa accepted Christ, or even heard him at all. I remember lying on my bunk that night with the overwhelming realization that Jesus was more than Sunday school lessons and summer camp. God was very, very big. And being a Christian was about life, all of it. I had asked Jesus to be my Savior at the age of 5, but that was the night I asked Him to be my Lord.

God has perfect plans, so if mine have to fall through, that's more than okay with me.
Thank you God, for the gift of today.

***
6/14 - I have some new information...

It's spiel. Go ahead, check it out for yourself.

(Thanks Mom!)