"It's Not Over Yet"

Here is a random picture of a newly shed cicada. The campers named it Jordan. :)

Our assistant director at camp this week, who's name was Shawn (but he wasn't my Shawn :) ), was in charge of keeping things on schedule and ringing the bell to let the kids know when different things were supposed to start.

I hadn't really wanted my Shawn to come along to camp this past Sunday, because it had been a busy weekend, and I wanted him to have some time to rest before jumping into another week of work. But he asked me to check and see if there was any projects that needed to be done at camp, and there was,  so he came. :)

While kids were registering and settling in, the other Shawn came up to us and asked if we knew of anywhere he could get a watch, because he didn't have one with him, but keeping track of the time was a big part of his job.

My Shawn took off his watch and handed it to him.

Assistant Director Shawn: "No, no, thats ok, I don't want to take your watch."

My Shawn: "It's fine, take it."

Assistant Director Shawn: "Alright, thank you!"

Wednesday afternoon he and I passed each other by the dining hall and he said "Tell Shawn thank you for letting me use his watch."

Me: "I will!"

Assistant Director Shawn:"But it hasn't been working right.....time has gone way too slow this week."

His then serious expression broke into a smile "Just kidding," 

But I did agree with him, it had been a slow week, even though it was a day shorter then most of the other camps, ending Thursday instead of Friday.

I had the most difficult group of girls of the season for me- between homesickness, anxiety issues (or maybe just attitude issues :P ), arguing, unkind words, not wanting to go to bed, you name it.

So it felt like I was constantly asking them to stop doing things, to calm down, and to listen to me.

Yet with all that, the girls who made the most trouble would be the ones that would come up to me for a hug, or want to sit next to me during chapel or on the way to the pool. I guess it's good they still liked me. :)
The only time it wasn't so nice was Wednesday evening. While waiting to take group pictures, I had four girls trying to hug me at once, and when it's 90 degrees out and humid, that's kinda smothering. :)

But only God knows how this week will be used in these girls' lives, so while it may not have been the most encouraging week of camp, and my assistant dorm leader and I felt like pulling out our hair at times, we can't give up.

The song, "Its Not Over Yet" by For King and Country played on the radio last night while I was driving, and it was just a good reminder to finish strong, that it's God who gets us through.

There's only one more week of camp left.