Finishing touches, Residents, Care Cards and Goodbyes....

I have mixed feelings about Fridays at camp and I know I'm not the only one who has them..... there are feelings ranging between wanting to be home, wanting to stay, glad to have made new friends but sad to leave them. But when you get down to it the important things are the excitement of the crews coming in talking about how they have finished their jobs, that their residents made them a traditional lunch, gave them home made necklace or something special. This is evening program of the week where it's a celebration of our residents and they are invited to dinner and the worship program so we can say thank you to them and honor their presence. It is a fun evening but also a sad one as we say good bye those new friends.

Curfew is midnight tonight and most youth and adults stay up until the last second so they can spend time with each other, say goodbye and get things ready for leaving in the morning.
And then there is the "Care Card Rack!" Care cards are envelopes with each campers name and crew numbers on it and each person is asked to write notes of thanks, encouragement or blessings to those you have worked with, your own youth group, your work crew, etc, etc. NO one, and I mean NO one is allowed to peak at Care Cards before they leave on Saturday morning so there is the Care Card Rack Police that make sure people don't peak! The rack is put away on Friday night at midnight while campers are kicking and screaming....Pulling and pushing........writing frantically to insert their important message to someone special! The staff (of which I am a part of) make sure we make a great show of pulling the Care Card Rack out of the way very ceremoniously.
It is very funny to watch and can be very dangerous is one is not careful...no just kidding! No campers are generally harmed in the Care Card Removal process!

 A perfect ending to a perfect week---a fireworks show at night while sitting on the football field in the middle of Monument Valley, Utah.
Tomorrow will be sweet and tomorrow will be sad as we head back towards home after we check out from our camp here.