Paranoid Mom? Bethany at Camp and Happy Birthday!

So Bethany went to camp. Now...this wasn't any old camp. This was a camp for ONLY 6th graders and ONLY members of the local REMC could apply and then they had to write an essay and get chosen as the winner. Pretty selective.

Before I tell you about her camp experience, I have GOT to share her hilarious winning essay.

"I would like to attend Touchstone Energy Camp (Everytime she wrote Touchstone she wrote the little R in the circle for registered) because I like learning about energy and how things work. Also I like ziplining and horseback riding and want to get away from my family for awhile.

I am all about helping the environment and want to learn how to help conserve energy. My parents say we have a high electric bill so it would save money as well. I try to turn off lights unless somebody is in the room. It doesn't always happen I'll admit.

I have ziplined before and it is super fun so I would not want to miss a chance to zipline. If there is rock climbing I would want to do that to as it is also fun. I own a horse and enjoy bareback riding for it is what my pony enjoys but I will tolerate a saddled horse as well.

If you are thinking that I shouldn't want to get away from my family you do not know my family they are obnoxious very obnoxious. Most of the time when my mom answers the phone she says "Hello chaos central how may we help you?" If you lived here you would understand why. I have an older sister, a younger sister and a baby brother, add them together and it equals pure hecticness. Take my word for it it gets messy and loud here.

So now you know why I want to come to Touchstone Energy Camp. And in case you forgot those reasons are I like learning about energy, I like ziplining and horseback riding. Also, I want to get away from my family for awhile, but mostly to learn how to conserve energy."

I rolled! I laughed until I cried! I couldn't figure out whether to be proud she knew such great persuasive writing form or to cry because she wanted to get away so badly! :-)

After she won we discovered that camp would be over her 12th birthday (which was Thursday!) and she was so excited!

This isn't my daughter but it is the zip line she was so excited about!

She is currently upstairs taking a nap to recover! I think we finally wore her out! She got to be fully active from 7:30 each morning until 10:30 each night! 

This picture shows the start of the zip line! It was a nice one!

She also did get to climb a rock wall as well as do archery, rifle shooting, horse back riding, swimming, water trampolines, canoeing, kayaking, and a cool rope bridge!

I also think they must have eaten quite well! This is just a guess! I am assuming that there were LOTS of hot dogs consumed at the first night during the bonfire! Or these guys were REALLY hungry! :-)

Overall, I was really paranoid about her going to camp. She often tends to live in her own little world and not pay attention to what is going on around her. With all of the activities I knew that if she weren't paying attention she could get hurt really badly. It was REALLY hard for me to sign the permission slips and the forms and let her go. It was hard for me to leave when it was time to take her and once we got there it was hard for me to leave the cabin. I was SO thankful they had a web site where I could look at pictures and I checked constantly...but they weren't updating it!

Insert a little time with God....who chose to remind me that Bethany is HIS child. HE is in control and protecting her! He could be there when I wasn't! He knew her attention issues and he loves her far more than I ever could! Oh, okay. Take a step back, stop worrying because it doesn't do any good! Enjoy my time at home and look forward to seeing her when she gets home! WOW! What a difference! I was able to greet her today with joy and honest pleasure instead of an inspection to make sure she wasn't sunburned, bug bitten or other more serious injuries!

I was able to be happy for her that they made a big deal of her birthday with all the campers singing to her one night at dinner. I was able to sympathize with her disappointment that during the electrical live wire demonstration the guy gave her a mylar birthday balloon...but the took it back and fried it in the live electrical wires! She really wanted the balloon! :-)

What a pleasure to remember that God gifted me 12 years ago with a beautiful blessing and He trusted me not to smother her! Thankfully He also gives me the strength to not smother!