Not your average summer camp

Brian and I spent most of the weekend (5-9 on Friday and 7-5 on Saturday) in training for a week of camp that is coming up in August.  We are volunteering for Royal Family Kids Camp, a camp for kids connected to the social service system in Blue Earth county (Mankato area).  Some of the kids are in foster care, others live in group homes with their parents, and a few are still at home, but with social services keeping a close eye on them.  Royal Family Kids is a national organization that runs camps for these types of kids all over the country (and some in other countries, as well).  Our church is sponsoring this camp, which will be the fourth RFK camp in Minnesota. 

The week of camp is intense, as you might imagine.  We spent lots of time yesterday learning about different types of abuse and how it manifests in kids ages 6-11 (the age of the kids who will be at camp).  The statistics for child abuse are pretty shocking...even in our little part of the state there are hundreds of new cases each year. 

Our camp brings these kids out for a week of being treated like royalty...all-expenses-paid!  We have all kinds of special treats planned from a tea party/super hero night to a birthday party for all the kids, complete with presents and individual birthday cakes.  We also have plenty of great camp activities including swimming, fishing, crafts, and games. 

Brian and I are serving as the dean of men and women.  This means that our primary job is to be the counselors to the counselors.  Each of our counselors is paired with two kids for the week and they are on duty 22 hours a day.  There are always at least two adults with eyes on every kid at all times.  That level of care coupled with the type of kids we will be working with makes for an intense week.  Our job is to make sure that the counselors are doing okay and to step and trouble shoot when they need help. 

We won't be able to share a lot of details with you because of privacy concerns, but we'll be sure to post some kind of update after camp to let you know how it went.  In the meantime, we'd appreciate your prayers for us and for camp August 4-9.