Camp Teen Challenge

The beautiful Lodge

Me and Trevor dancing

Lifeguarding for the first time

I have been wanting to blog all week, because I have so many stories to share. Tomorrow is the last day of Camp Teen Challenge, and I've already cried on two occasions....saying goodbye to all the kids tomorrow is going to be real tough. :(

First of all, there are 37 kids that have been here this week, 6 of which are completely blind. I can not believe what these kids are capable of. Monday, a blind man, who started doing woodwork when he became blind 30 years ago, came to the camp to build wooden, folding tables for PKRC. It was cool to watch the kids work together to build these tables from scratch - they took turns drilling holes and sanding the wood.

Tuesday, I led beeper baseball (the ball is a bit bigger than a softball and weighs a couple of pounds - it contains a beeper, so you can hear where the ball is rolling) with some other staff members and was amazed to see those without eye sight field a ball. Nothing melted my heart more than to see one of the completely blind campers field the ball and hold it above his head with the biggest smile on his face. His smile just kept getting bigger and brighter with each play. This was the moment that made me realize coming to camp was the best decision I have ever made.

Working on high ropes today, I was inspired by those kids who conquered their fears. There was one little girl who is terrified of heights, yet climbed 50 feet in the air legally blind. Even though she cried and struggled through it, she came down with a smile. (She told me afterwards that she was glad she tried it.)

It is amazing how these kids can do so many things we do, but just have another way of going about it. For instance, one of the guys at camp has a laptop for the blind. The bottom of the keyboard is a line of braille that constantly changes. You read the "text" one line at a time. I could not believe someone could search the web without reading a computer screen.

It has been the little things during camp that have meant the most to me - the hugs, laughs, smiles, and even tears. It is such a great feeling to know I have made an impact on these kids. I think the biggest impact I have made so far was on the youngest girl at camp (this is her first camp at PKRC). She was very quiet in the beginning and has now come out of her shell. I completely lost it after camp closing tonight because I saw her crying :( I was doing SO well holding back the tears (knowing tomorrow I am going to be a hot mess) until I saw that. We hugged each other and cried for awhile - I don't know how I am going to make it through tomorrow...or ANY last day of camp this summer!!