Back at camp

This weekend I went to a leadership summit/running camp with my kids from Students Run Philly Style. About 100 students and leaders from all over Philadelphia drove an hour north of the city to Briarwood Day Camp. Most of the kids had never been to a camp before, much less an overnight one! Several of them were saying they had never left Philly before...so to spend a weekend in the woods was quite the change for them! Despite that, the kids responded so well to everything. The directors said that we were their best group they'd ever had! There weren't any fights and very little bickering. Everyone encouraged each other and stepped up to the expectations of leadership the counselors gave them.


Can you pick me out? (hint: front middle...the white dude with the red bandanna)


Personally, it was a little more difficult than usual. I'm used to Geneva, where there's a rock star feeling with elementary kids. At the summit this weekend, there were all middle and high schoolers. I was nervous about connecting with them, but it all ended up working out. You show kids respect, and they'll show it right back to you.


There sure is a difference between kids from Western Michigan and West Philly. For one, as soon as I had my bandanna on, I had several kids ask me if I was a blood. "A what??" I responded several times. Soon I learned that there's a gang that wears blood red bandanna just like that. Oh well...at least I'm adapting to the culture!

These are the fearless counselors. I'm excited about running in races and knowing several other leaders and more kids. Now I can cheer for specific students instead of simply "go students!".

Seth left this morning for Indiana for a photography gig. That leaves Murphy and me here alone! So far, so good. I was able to get a bunch of random things done today and try to catch up on the e-mails and other business I missed while away. You know, it's good to be missed, but sometimes........

I managed to snag 35 cents on the sidewalk last night while walking around town with John, Seth, Kallie, Jeremy, Casey, Melanie, and Christian. They made dinner and let me join them after I finished my final Walden paper for my third class (only 14 months left now!). I made cwaffles a la mode with ice cream, and we had to take a walk to get the calories burning again. John and Seth were in prime picture taking mode, as shown here by this creative picture:


With Sarah on vacation with her sisters, I find myself missing her more than usual when she's simply across town. It looks like we'll have to survive two weeks without seeing each other; good thing we had practice all last year! God has ways of reminding us how good we have it.