Oklahoma City Camp:
We left for OKC Sunday, June 19, and got settled into family rooms in the homeless shelter. The room the girls stayed in was small-ish, with a cold, concrete floor, and stuffed with 4 sets of bunk beds. We found the mattresses plasticky and loud, and could feel the springs poking through. We talked about how it wasn't a bad stay for people like us, who had nice homes to go home to with comfortable beds and a wardrobe of clothes, but it would be an awfully sucky living situation for families of seven or eight, with all their worldly possessions crammed into that small concrete room along with all those children and babies for months at a time. The food at the shelter was almost decent, but came in ridiculous proportions, and didn't make for a remotely healthy diet for the children. On Monday the first day of camp, we found, upon meeting the kids, that it would be a week-long struggle to maintain any as-semblance of order, not that we were trying to run a boot camp or anything, but we just found it so difficult to build any kind of meaningful relationships while we were so focused on disciplining the kids. As the camp progressed, we found that the kids truly were grateful to have us there, and didn't want us to leave, no matter how badly they misbehaved or refused to listen. They were grateful that for once, someone cared enough to tell them what wasn't acceptable, or what words were inappropriate, or why attitudes are ugly. I believe that by the end of the week, they felt the love in our firm words of discipline, as well as in our willing arms and laps, and our affirmation for the beautiful things they created during the week.
Kansas City Camp:
Our recovery time between the OKC camp and the KC camp was exactly one day, and was definitely not sufficient. We headed out the next Sunday, nevertheless, and when we arrived at the same shelter we had camp at the summer before, it felt like we were just continuing that same camp. It was such an incredible blessing to see some of the kids from last year, and although there were more children than in OKC, it seemed easier because of the more organized discipline system already in place, which the kids already knew about and followed. We did, however, find it challenging to build any meaningful relationships sometimes because of that discipline system. Even still, I personally left with a strong sense that God did mighty work through us in the kids' hearts, and was so thankful for the relationships I was able to build, and miss the kids so much.
