water slides and learning who to rely on

I could tell she had been thinking about it from the moment she stepped on the bus. She had half of her friends telling her she HAD to do it, and the other half saying NO WAY, that it was way too scary. In her 4th grade world, she debated, considered, and tried to convince herself she was brave enough. She asked all of her friends questions, trying to get more information so she could weigh the pros and cons, and make her own informed decision, but the reality was that despite all of their descriptions, she couldn’t actually SEE with her own eyes this huge water slide they were explaining since it goes outside of the main building. She had to just go on faith and figure out who to trust and rely on.

The whole first day, she opted to do other things and watched a few of her friends go on this slide, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. On day two, I could see it was driving her crazy so I asked her oooone more time if she was SURE she didn’t want to go on the slide before we had to leave, and that I would love to go with her if she wanted to give it a try. It only took her a split second before she looked at me and said:

“if YOU go with me, I think I could do it… YEAH lets go!”

and just like that she took my hand and we marched up the steps, with butterflies in her belly, jumped in one of the big inner tubes together and she laughed the whole. way. down… and then proceeded to go down the same slide 4 more times.

In that moment she had to pick who to trust and rely on, and it melted my heart that she chose her leader. It didn’t matter what her friends said, she knew she could trust me. I sat there and prayed that as she grew and had to make decisions about MUCH bigger things than a water slide, she would keep that mindset. That she would always know that her leaders at church are people she can trust and rely on not just to give her good advice, but who will walk WITH her through those scary things that she can’t always see.

I can’t believe its been a year since our last Great Wolf Lodge trip! This was the trip that got me hooked on KGB and after chaperoning last year, they couldn’t get rid of me :) Sometimes I wonder what the past year of my life would have looked like had I NOT been on this trip and not fallen in love with these kids. I feel like God still would have found another way to get me into KGB, but still :) This trip is one of my favorite things we do all year, as it gives us a solid two days to hang out and really invest in our 4th and 5th graders. Our time with them on Sundays flies by SO fast and there’s so much happening at once, but with this trip we have no big plans, no agenda, and we can really make the weekend about building relationships and making sure they have a great time in the water park.

I’m so thankful to be able to know these kids and be a part of their lives; they never fail to make me laugh and teach me something new every time I’m around them… whether they’re reading my palm to predict my future (in great detail i might add) or reminding me of what a child-like faith truly looks like, they are always one of the best parts of my week :) Enjoy a few snapshots of our weekend! A big thank you to Joseph for being on camera duty and taking some great photos throughout the weekend… cameras and water slides are not the best combo :)

all 42 kids loaded up and ready to go! :)

the girls were happy to talk and get to know each other on the 3 hour ride down… aaand the boys pretty much did this the whole way… :) yeah I’d say Great Wolf Lodge would be a pretty awesome place to celebrate your birthday :)
thankful these 6 were mine for the weekend: Happy Wednesday!