13th Annual Summer Camp!!!

This years camp theme was “Love Your Neighbor!” We had several activities and classes to help show how to love one’s neighbor. We had the children repeat “Love Your Neighbor” both in Chinese and English several times a day. They also would repeat a Chinese proverb that says a neighbor can help you more than a far away relative.

Michelle came up with a great idea to make tie-dye shirts this year. There has been lot of tension with the differences between countries. She said it would be a great example to show what happens when we put different colors together…instead of fighting each other, they can make something beautiful! The first day we spent all day working on our shirts! “How do we love our neighbor? By looking past our differences!”

We did not even know if we were even going to be able to host a camp this year or not. Especially with all that was happening with Michelle and I trying to get our organization established as a NGO and being required to move out of the Pingyu Home of Hope orphanage, as required by law. We were so thankful for the extra hard work from our 3 sons (Jaxin, Eli and Tyler) and from our staff members (Jessica, Nicky and Shirley). They helped us pull this camp off in less than one weeks notice.

DAY 2– “How do we love our neighbor? Try seeing things from their point of view.“

We explained to the children that we all have different perspectives, different titles, and different experiences and need to took the time to see what it felt like to walk in other people’s shoes. We brought different pair of shoes and had the kids walk around in them. Told them that the different shoes worn require different behavior habits. For example, you don’t wear business shoes to play basketball or run a 10K in.

We then had the kids get in a big circle, take off their shoes and put on their neighbors shoes. We explained that it’s not always easy to wear those shoes and hope that we can have a little more compassion for our neighbor.

We taught the kids how to sing and dance to “Skidamarink.” It was a fun time and even more fun to listen to the kids try to sing, “Skidamarink a dink a dink, Skidamarink a doo”

We were given permission to take the kids out to a local trampoline park. The owners of the jump house let us go to play for free!!!

We played several games while at the jump house, such as snowball, obstacle course, volleyball, and dodgeball. We also gave plenty of time to just hang out and relax. Some of the kids worked on their jumping skills and learning how to do front and back flips, while other kids climbed up the climbing wall. All in all, everyone had a fantastic time!!!

We finished the day with watching “The Lion King!” at a nearby movie theater.

DAY 3 – “How do you Love your neighbor? By taking the time to listen to them!”

We explained to the children that their is a difference in hearing and listening to others. We asked them what that difference was and many yelled out, HEART! We played the game “Telephone” to help show how hard/simple this is to do. We tried three times but could not get the message to pass through all 30 people…which helped drive in our point.

We stressed how important it was for their safety to be listening to the swimming rules not just hearing. Over the years, we have made sure to make it a priority to teach the children how to swim. We find it to be an extremely useful skill for them to learn.

Later that day, we played several different water balloon games. The goal, was pretty much get as wet as possible!

There was so much laughing and shouts of joy! There is no better thing than putting joy in a child’s heart and seeing it shine through on their faces! What a beautiful smile!

DAY 4 – “How do you Love your neighbor? By respecting and honoring them.”

We explained to the children that it takes time and effort to show respect and honor to others. I love seeing the above picture, it’s located in several different places in China. It shows a few things to me. One, that no matter the age, we show respect and honor by serving others. Another thing it shows me is, that one needs to humble themselves to allow others to help you…don’t be so prideful. We had the children get into a circle and give shoulder and head massages.

After the morning lesson and singing, we set up for our “Carnival Day!” This is the most talked about day of the summer camp. We set up several different games for the kids to play and wins all prizes and treats. We give them all 20 raffle tickets and they can freely go from station to station and try their best to win the prizes. Each Station has one big prize for them to try and win.

We finished the night with a BBQ and a talent show. Several kids sang songs and danced. Everyone had a great day.

A few years ago, Gabe asked if he could start being the announcer to our different productions. He does a great job, tells jokes, gets the crowd involved and keeps the different things flowing. We are so proud of you Gabe and are so happy that we don’t have to do this anymore:) We know this post was forever long, but as we have stated before, there was just so much joy that we wanted to show it all. Michelle and I want to thank everyone who helped this camp come to be, you really helped spread joy to some wonderful children. We hope to continue hosting these camps for as long as possible and may even start trying to do more than one each year. This was our 13th Summer Camp we have been blessed to host. If you are interested in check out prior camps, click HERE.