Wednesday afternoon kicked off our 2nd annual MK Homeschool Spiritual Emphasis Camp at Camp Koinonia. Camp concludes tomorrow just before noon and the kids have had a blast.
The camp got off to a challenging start since a ministry team from a church in the U.S. did not come as planned. They were going to be handling the bulk of the positions as counselors and kitchen help as well as help with some of the programs. A couple of our parents stepped up and we just barely covered the basics but I think we’ve made it work.
Chuck and Karla Topp brought their three homeschoolers with them from Mexico City and also covered the elementary grade chapels. Mike and Pam Contreras came from Puebla with their kids (who attend Puebla Christian School where Mike also has some ministry involvement). Mike covered the junior/senior high school chapels. Karla and Pam also helped out in the kitchen. Both couples filled in for at least one night in the cabins as counselors. Dennis and Sharon Kirsch also helped in the kitchen. Julio who works at the camp also helped as a counselor and game coordinator for the older kids.
A really nice gal, Rachelle, who came with a homeschooler from Mazatlan also helped as a counselor and with the games. By the way, I think she said that it took 16 hours by bus to get here. Wow.
Rich and Sara Musgrave who direct the camp helped out in more ways than I can count and probably more than I know…but did at least a little of everything and a lot of some things. Without them, this camp wouldn’t have happened.
Beth ran crafts again this year which is a kid favorite. I was asked 2 weeks ago to lead games…uh-oh…I don’t know many games! Of course, I agreed to do it but had no idea what to do with it. A week ago I was told there was someone coming who was going to lead the games so I could just help out and not have to worry about coming up with the games. I arrived Wednesday to find out there had been a miscommunication and the person coming was as clueless as I was with games and hadn’t known anything about them! Oops! So, we scrambled at the last minute and came up with some game ideas.
Funny thing happened on Thursday when we actually got to the game time. We ended up simply playing kickball which the kids liked so much that we played it again today! We never did play any other games! It was a good thing though…many of the kids had never had the opportunity to play kickball before and didn’t even know the rules! So, it was a good home culture experience for them.
It was a comedy of errors and situations I have never seen before in any sport. Keep in mind this is Mexico so apart from the kids, the playing environment provided its own challenges including large rocks, cacti, dog flops, sheep droppings and an interesting slope to the field that forced me to roll the balls from right to left to get them near home plate. But the kids were the best part. Just to give you a taste I’ll just throw out that we had the littlest girl in the group who couldn’t kick the ball as far as the pitcher who ended up with a home-run, a 2nd baseman who didn’t know he was supposed to catch balls thrown to him (opting to let it plunk him squarely on the head instead), one of the oldest and biggest boys who tried to kick the ball before it ever left my hand and nearly fell over when he realized I hadn’t rolled the ball yet, and a kicker who was out at first but only knew he was supposed to kick and run…he circled the bases at full speed for a very long out! Whew. These MKs need some serious help! But it WAS funny! And it WAS fun.
It’s late and we’re commuting to the camp each day so I need to quit and post a few pics. With the boys at camp and Beth’s mom in the US for a conference, we were happy to make the 45 minute commute so we could spend at least a little time when we came home each night to enjoy our home by ourselves. In five years here, I think these were the first nights we’ve ever spent here without either our kids or Beth’s mom or both or guests! So…while we were too tired to really enjoy it much, we have enjoyed these three nights. Pics to come…
Knowing Your ABCDs 