Adopt-a-Youth

Our youth group leaves for camp on Sunday. For the first time, I'm not going. I'm just not comfortable leaving Calvin for a week. Our friends would take fabulous care of him, but my concern is that he pees on stuff and makes messes. They shouldn't have to clean that up. And lately, he's been at it again, so I'm confident that I made the right choice in staying home.

Every year we put out information sheets on all of our students, and the church gets the opportunity to "adopt" a youth. This entails sending the kids off with snacks and small gifts and promising to pray for them while they are at camp. It's really a neat thing, and I loved it the year I was able to call a friend from camp to let her know that her adoptee had accepted Christ!

I've never adopted a camper before. It was always hard enough to just get Steven and me out the door with everything we needed for camp without trying to have presents for a student, too. But as I'm not going to camp this year, I happily chose a student. I love all of our students, but I especially love the girl I chose to adopt. We have a lot in common, so I've been having a lot of fun putting stuff together for her.

The students are always encouraged to bring a notebook to camp for taking notes and writing down prayer requests. My adoptee shares my love of pink, so I doctored up this composition book for her:




I also made a card for her:



I had fun making this stuff for her and buying treats for her, too. (Although it was a little weird to buy a bridal magazine for a teenage girl. Apparently several of our girls have a hobby of looking at bridal magazines!)

When I learned that two of our girls are celebrating birthdays at camp, I made notebooks for them, too. I figured if they have to be away from home during their birthdays, it would be nice for them to have a small gift to open from the youth minister and his wife. (And there is a birthday celebration planned for the birthday girls and my husband, who is also having a birthday at camp, including cakes in each person's favorite flavor.) I catered to each girl's personal tastes.



Would you join me in praying for our students and sponsors while they're at camp next week? It will be a new experience for them, as this year they're attending a missions-oriented camp, rather than going to Centrifuge at Glorieta again.