We got back from our missions trip last month. I am still processing it. It was a tough week and a great week.
Our mission trip for the last 15 years (for me, 14 for Steven, and 2 for Beth) has been Royal Family Kids Camp. We dedicate one week every summer to hanging around kids ages 7-11. They are kids that need love, acceptance, and to just be kids.
They happen to be in the Foster Care System. They are NOT defined by being in the foster care system. They are defined by their personalities and who God created them to be. So to say they ARE foster kids is short changing them. That is just a part of their story right now in their lives. That story is unfolding according to God’s plan and purpose for them. We just happen to get to be a part of it for a moment in their lives.
What an overwhelming responsibility and gift that is.
Royal Family Kids Camp is a way to bring kids in that have to live with the mistakes and bad choices of the people in their lives and give them a week to be kids. To be amongst other kids that understand what they are feeling and going through. To not be ‘the only foster kid’ in the room. To not be embarrassed by their circumstances. To be normal.
Isn’t that what we all want? To have people around us that understand our situation and accept us for who we are. To not be the stand-out for negative reasons but to be included in a group of the same type of people. To look around and see others that have been where we are and see that there is hope and things can change if we just hold on.
Royal Family Kids Camps do that for kids every summer.
The staff arrives on Sunday afternoon to prepare the camp for the kid’s arrival the next day. We decorate the rooms, the chapel, set up the Craft and Woodworking shops, and pray. We pray for the kids and for God to move in their lives. For a seed to be planted that He will water and bring to fruition at a time of His choosing.
We make posters for their beds with their names and the meaning of their names for them to take home. We label all the gifts we give them (which is a lot!) with their names so they have belongings and can feel ownership while at camp.
We make posters with their names and the meanings to hold up to greet them when they get off the bus. We sing, shout their names, and cheer when they get off the bus. We want them to feel valued, cherished, and important. THEY are the reason we are there. Each of the girls I have had over the years has held tightly onto those signs and gently put them in their bags as a treasure.
The rest of the week, we have a schedule that doesn’t vary too much but is centered around having fun and eating. Yes, eating. We eat constantly at camp. Breakfast, lunch, snack, supper, snack. We.eat.all.the.time. For the adults, it is too much. For the kids . . .some of them can’t believe we get to eat more than one or two meals a day. They gorge themselves just in case they won’t get another meal that day. It is heartbreaking to look into a child’s eyes and see the question of when or if they will get to eat again or the joy at being told there will be another meal in a few hours. We seriously never have to think about that in our cushy, comfortable lives.
We play dress up in 106 degree weather gladly. We put on wedding dresses or prom dresses, complete with heels and jewelry, or a complete fireman costume, because the kids asked us to. We will let them paint our faces in layers and layers of hot, itchy paint and proudly wear it the rest of the day because they were so proud of their creation. We sit patiently and teach them to make bracelets or paint when we wouldn’t normally at home. We teach them to build projects with wood, nails, and hammers when they have never been allowed to before. THEY make treasure boxes, bug boxes, bird houses, and sometimes whatever else they can imagine. The pride on their faces when they show you what THEY made is priceless.
We sing songs, learn lessons about life and the Bible, practice patience and serving. We swim twice a day (which also serves as bathing to those that are afraid to get in the showers while at camp.) We play basketball, football, go hiking, collect bugs, fish, and sometimes just sit and talk.
We also have Everybody’s Birthday Day. Sometimes our kids don’t get to celebrate their birthdays because they are moving around so much or they don’t know when they are. Yes, it happens. On Wednesday we have a birthday party complete with cake, ice cream, and presents. It’s usually about this time the kids start questioning why we are giving them all these gifts. To which we reply, ‘Because we love you.’ We sometimes get to have a concert that night by generous bands that donate their time to us.
On Thursday night we have Talent Night. It’s a night when the kids can get up and do whatever (almost!) they want and we cheer for them. They are proud that they got up there with huge smiles and we are weeping for joy at being witness to it.
It is such a privilege to be a small part of their stories. I can’t imagine NOT going to Royal Family Kids Camp each summer. Next summer Sarah, our second born, will get to come with us!
Have you ever thought about serving ‘the least of these’? Check out Royal Family Kids and find a camp near you.