LGYC Teen Camp 2005

Opening day at Teen Camp today was filled with all the normal anticpation for anxious campers and staff. A record camp of 230 campers; Jeanne and Jarrett Stevens are the speakers. Hundreds of hours have already been put into the planning. Son Christopher sent out an email asking that all of us not actually at camp this week commit to 10 minutes of prayer each day for God to be at work at Teen Camp. I signed up.

I went up there today to drop off stuff for the "Laurie" seminar for those who would like help processing her death. Just gathering the momentos, a shirt, a pair of flip-flops. a Hawaiian lei, sunglasses and a picture board and the artwork Heidi created was painful. Also included were handmade journals, Kristin designed, I printed, Brooke sewed and Cheryl and Ashley assembled. The brainchild of my sister JoAnne, these journals are meant for pairs of campers, staff to share their thoughts and have that one person who can read into their words and hopefully, if needed, hear a cry for help. After I dropped off the box in the program directors room, I roamed around camp, saying hi to various friends, remembering so many years there.

From the days with Denny when Greg and Chris were campers in Boys Camp and Denny counseled and I was handcraft lady to the days I went up to camp when Laurie was an infant so I could have a "vacation" with the kids to the years Pete and I were up there when the girls were little to 1999 to 2002when I went up as cook for Teen Camp. Laurie was everywhere, camper, team captain, Force member, seminar speaker... Dee Heick made it all real when she and I hugged and she said, "It's all wrong that Laurie's not here."

I have always thought some of Laurie's ashes should be scattered at LGYC and now they are. By myself, little handfuls here and there, she is now a part of LGYC, a place she described in her journals as " a really safe and comfortable place where I learned a ton about God and I was surrounded by solid and growing Christians..."

I love that place. I am glad I went. I am praying that once again God would shower LGYC with blessings.