so alaska is the best place on earth! I wake in the morning to two beautiful glaceirs. There are porpoise and bear as well as moose. The wildlife is beautiful. Not quite as beautiful as the kids that enter my life while at camp! The many faces, april katy, kels and laurie. Cameron and lisa. So many more and so many stories flood my memory. I was blessed those two years with some amazing fellow staff members. I fell in love with the cooking staff my first year, J and Charlene. The stories I heard from spending time in the kitchen are endless. I had a very different relationship with those to then many of the other staff, but i think they are two of the greatest people ever! I learned so much about myself that first summer.
The one story that will haunt my memory forever is from an eight year old child. It was week one of my first year. This adorable little girls was sitting by the fire after vespers. She came and sat near me and started telling me a story about her dad. It was about being out on a fishing boat and she finishes by saying he is a butthead. This is a word most kids would use to describe a goofy but annoying person in their life... i asked if she had fun with her dad and she said actually he is really mean. she went on to tell me how the fishing pole was leaning against the wall and she walked past and accidentally knocked it over, it made the smallest scratch on the wall. Her dad yelled and yelled. he told her to call her mom quick before he got really mad. She assured me i had nothing to worry about as she had an escape plan. I then felt the blood rush to my face... she had a what? she is eight. She explained that she can pop out the window in her room and climb out if she needs. the last day of camp is a worship night, she climbed onto my lap super tired and we sang together songs to worship God. As questions flooded my mind about how God could let this happen to such an amazing kid I also found myself praying for her safety as she would be going home the next morning. I cried for hours wondering how i could send her back
Another child told a story about how her mom was not a fit mom. She recalled how one time her mom was sitting on her with her back flat to the ground, a knife at her throat. and then her mom just dropped it. The child said there was no reason for her to drop it, it had to be God. Her mom was then entered in a program to get help and the child lived with her grandparents. She explained that she would be seeing her mom for the first time since the incident and she was nervous and was so happy her mom got help. She knew she wouldnt be ready to be a mom again but knew she was working on it.
the faith these kids have... and the trust in us as staff... its only faith and trust a child can have
