As school ended last year, I asked Elizabeth what one thing she wanted to do over the summer. She said she wanted to "have camp". I, wrongly, thought she wanted to camp in the backyard... but, no, my social child wanted to HOST a CAMP. So we did. We invited several of her friends, picked a few dates over the summer, and picked a name- Camp of Kids... and a tradition was born. (She asked me just this last week what crafts we were doing *this* summer at Camp of Kids.)
As the moms came to pick up their kids, there was a common outcry... "Why don't you do a camp for *us*?"
So I did.
This weekend, I hosted the (first annual?) Camp of Y'all. Not Camp of Moms, and not Camp of Women... but Camp of, well, Y'all. (Which, over FB, became renamed Camp Becky or Becky Camp... funny.)
Sidenote: Recently, I had a wine tasting party. (Stay with me, this relates.) I did an invitation on Facebook and started clicking names of people I thought would enjoy it. When I got to the number "76", I realized that was a bit ridiculous for a wine tasting party... so I narrowed it down to only inviting about 40. Seriously. As I was crafting my invitation list for Camp of Y'all, I could not invite everyone I know... nor could I even invite everyone I wanted to. If you were not included, please do not see this as a reflection of our friendship. Also, you could see it as a reflection of your email not "liking" Evite... like my friend Nicole... who was invited, but never got the invitation. Who knows.
Saturday morning, my house was full of 20-ish beautiful women. We had breakfast. Including mimosas and 4 pots of coffee.
Thank you, Kristina, for these amazing cinnamon rolls!
Wouldn't you know the one thing we ran "low" on was fruit? Buncha girls...
Next, we did some ice breakers. And we made some crafts.
What's a camp without Mod Podge?
one of the cute magnets...
One of the "stations" the ladies had to do was writing a letter to themselves. I always loved/hated this activity back in youth group/student council days. Now as I'm older and see how quickly time flies and things change, I relish it.
Before lunch, we played "telephone-pictionary". I may have laughed so hard at one I almost wet my pants. I freakin' love that game.
this one was something about Becky going to Las Vegas and throwing up then playing craps
I have no idea what this was.
Lunch was incredibly yummy... tasty salads and, of course, some chocolate. Thank you, Lisa, for your recipes! Your salted caramel brownie bites were a hit... and I adore the chocolate dipped clementines!
My favorite part of the day, however, was right at the beginning when my friends shared their "words". I heard a great message on January 2 this year about picking a word for yourself this year and praying it over your entire year. I'd emailed the ladies coming and asked them to send me their words... as we did our first ice breaker, each woman shared their word. The beauty of a group like this is that we all fit into each other's words on some level... as we shared our words (and shared why we picked them), several of us nodded or uh-huhed our shared experiences. We talked about:
- The desire to be more organized.
- The desire to be more intentional about enjoying the place we are in right now with our lives.
- The desire to complete projects instead of starting numerous ones and leaving them undone.
- The desire to be a blessing to others.
Just to name a few...
My morning was filled with joy, laughter, and being content. I am blessed to know such neat women. Now I will say this... I appreciated all of your shout-outs and thank yous via Facebook... but that's not why I did it. I have an amazingly supportive husband who understands my love language and encourages me to love other people the way I want to be loved. And I have an amazing God who wants me to live in community and be transparent. So while I appreciate your gratitude, I don't need it. Just feel loved... and pay it forward.
photos courtesy of Tamar Petty
photos uploaded to her computer and shared at an amazingly rapid rate courtesy of The Jett
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