Kids are awesome!

We just finished a retreat for 9 to 12 year olds.  It was all about emotions and how to handle them in a Godly and self controlled way. (I was thinking of Benjamin when I realized that would be a good theme for this age!)  Angela and Francis, two of our counselors (see picture below), were the teachers. They did a great job of helping the kids understand in creative, fun ways how our emotions can be good or bad depending on our actions, and how the Holy Spirit can help us control them and use them in a good way.

                      

We had a bunch of new kids this weekend (about 10). Every night before we send the kids to their cabins, we stand in a big circle "mano a mano" (holding hands) and pray. On Friday I happened to be standing next to one of the new girls, and she excitedly told me, "I just got here, and I love it already!" It's awesome to hear something like that!  That means that God's love is being poured out on these kids through the counselors and staff.

                         

I am reminded every time we have this age in camp of the differences between boys and girls. It's hilarious.  Saturday morning I woke up around 7:15 because I could hear the boys from what I thought was their cabin. I decided to go and let the counselors know that it was OK to take them outside to play before breakfast sincethat was still over an hour away. As I left the house though, I saw several sleepy counselors already outside playing with a bunch of wild, energetic boys. I was informed that they had been awake since 6:30.  I went to wake up the girls, and as I entered I saw smiling faces everywhere.  I was told by equally sleepy counselors that the campers had been awake since 6 planning what they were going to wear that day.

On Sunday as we were going into the comedor to eat lunch, some parents arrived to pick up their son.  He was one of the new kids and decided to eat before he left. As he came in I commented to him about this, and he said, "Yeah, the food here is great, a lot better than my mom's at home!" I was glad that his mom had stayed outside to wait for him!

Reason #1

      Things I love about where I live.......

We have lived in Puerto Rico for eleven years now, going on twelve.  It's the longest I have ever lived anywhere in my life.  Wow, that's weird. I just now realized that.   The next longest place I have ever lived was Biloxi, MS where I was born and lived until I was ten.  I loved Mississippi. It was warm, even when it rained. We lived on a Pringle Circle which was just like it sounds, a big circle.  Whenever it rained, the sides of the street would fill up like a warm swimming pool.  So much fun for a kid!!!!   Our back yard was to an empty field full of wild blackberries and big piles of fire ants.  Also fun for a kid.  Have you ever watched them go crazy when you poke them with a stick?  That field ended in a Burger King parking lot.  Also fun for a kid.  French fries close by, ordering at the drive through on you bicycle, running over ketchup packages.....ahhh the memories.

I love thinking back to Mississippi.  It was a great place to grow up.  Now I sit and think what are my kids going to remember and love about the place where they are growing up.  We get a lot of groups coming through camp, and we hear a lot of opinions about the way things are done here in PR.  And while some things are less than ideal, I love this place.  So I thought I would start to share with you why. (These will not be in any particular order, just as they come to me randomly.)

Warmth

It's warm here.  Almost all of the time.  Actually it's cold inside of most buildings, so cold that when you go outside you sigh and relax back into a comfortable warmth.  I love it.  It was like that in Mississippi at night too.  Freezing inside...walk outside....ahhhhhh so cozy and warm.   There are times when it's a bit too warm, but that is sooooooo much more preferable to the other.

Not just the weather is warm though. So are the people.  Smiles, hugs, kisses all very, very normal.  Loud outbursts upon seeing someone they know.  Reactions to movies and songs.  I have to say that whenever we go back to the States I am really taken aback by the first handshake.  "What's this? A hand? Do I kiss it? Oh that's right, it's for shaking!" It takes a few times to get back in the habit!! 

Se habla español.....

So the other day I was talking to Eli about learning Spanish and why she should.  We live in Puerto Rico, honey; people in Puerto Rico speak Spanish.

People always ask me if our kids speak Spanish fluently; and when I tell them not really, they wonder why since they were born in Puerto Rico and have lived there all of there lives. Learning another language has so many different stages:  the everything sounds like goballygook stage, the oh he just said house cool I know that word oh know now I missed the rest of the sentence stage, the I can carry on a one on one conversation with a person speaking slowly stage, the i understand everything being said stage but have a hard time speaking stage, the only speaking in the present tense stage, the i'm tired so I can't even speak English stage, the I'm afraid to make a mistake so I won't say anything stage, and the list could go on and on.....  Ben, Eli and Logan are in one or another of theses stages depending on the day, their attitude, who their with or any number of other things.  

I am convinced that most language learning is a result of being surrounded by speakers of that language. Eli is helping me to prove this idea true. Lately we have had a lot of Spanish speakers over to play, and she has suddenly adopted some new phrases. The part I find the funniest is that she not only picks up the Spanish, she picks up the Puerto Rican attitude...the volume level, the hand motions. So fun to watch and hear. ¡Me encanta!