The Kennedy Family: Windy Gap Assignment

My home for the next 3 weeks.

I loooooooove Young Life Assignments! They truly are a gift from the Lord in so many ways. I went to a few Club Meds as a kid (oh, Steph, by the way...thanks to spotify, I found that Club Med song, Hands Up, Baby, Hands Up...remember that?)...anyway, I thought that life couldn't get any better than a week at Club Med. You're completely spoiled for a week, entertained 24/7, get to do crazy things like jump from a trapeze, and eat awesome food. If only I had known....Young Life camp is so much better. You are completely spoiled for a week (or 3), entertained 24/7, do crazy things like jump from a trapeze, eat awesome food AND see Jesus work miracles in the lives of high school kids, college kids, adults, and my own kids. You get to see the gospel fleshed out in so many ways. This week alone at Windy Gap, nearly 400 high school kids from Georgia and Tennessee got to hear that they have a heavenly Father that loves them so much that He died for them. Nothing beats the love of Jesus, not even a week at Club Med.

I promised my mom that I would blog while we're here so that she could see what we're up to since we have zero phone service. We haven't even been here a week yet and it's already been amazing. Joel is serving as a Summer Staff Coordinator, so he gets the privilege of walking alongside college kids that gave up a month of their summer to come and serve at Young Life camp. He's been loving encouraging them in their jobs at camp and in their walks with the Lord. A superneat thing is that the female SS coordinator is my Young Life leader from high school. It's so fun that we get to serve together. She invited me to join in on the "girl time" tonight with the SS...such a sweet time of hearing the hearts of college girls.

Mary Kate and Ford have been having a blast. Apparently, Ford is the BMOC. Seriously, we walk around camp and everyone knows his name, pounds his knuckles, and steals him away. It melts my heart because he often lives in the shadows of his spunky sister. Personally, I think it's the glasses...and the spiderman slippers that he wears everywhere he goes. Mary Kate is loving the freedom of getting to run around camp, although she's had to learn some tough lessons about telling me where she is going...and I've had to learn some tough lessons about letting go of control. As I was walking to the sippy today (the snack bar that is robbing me blind thanks to MK and Ford), she came beaming down the stairs telling me that she just did the BIG SWING, the kind of swing that raises you up and then you do a free fall until it catches you. I was in disbelief.

I know this is really long, and I'm going to post several pics, so here it goes...

This is Ford's best friend at camp, Owen. He's a special needs kid that has more energy than anyone I've ever met. Ford adores him. He looks for him at every meal to go say hello. Owen is constantly saying, "YYYYYYYEEEEEESSSS!!!!" really loudly while doing a fist pump and jumping in the air, which is what they're doing in this picture. (notice the spiderman slippers)

Going to the rodeo.

It wouldn't be Young Life camp without seeing Donnie Edwards.

This is Pioneer Plunge, a camp just up the mountain from Windy Gap. You get to live like Pioneers did...no electricity, no running water, you cut your own wood, and grow your own food. I love that I got to show the kids Plunge (Mary Kate calls it Pioneer Punch) and tell them about everything I did when I was a camper and a guide there. Ford kept wondering where all the Pioneers were. Love this place. I'd say that this is where I started walking with Jesus. There's just something about these mountains that makes me giddy.