Dawson's week at camp

Dawson, our oldest, had his first sleep-away camp adventure this past week. Our church put the camp together and he decided back in May that he wanted to go. He has been waiting for this week for several months now.
Like everything Jennifer puts her mind to, there was meticulous planning that went into the whole camp adventure.....from making sure he had just the right bag to getting all the right clothes.
We picked him up this afternoon. He seems to have pulled through relatively unscathed. See the pictures below.

Here, Dawson and Jennifer pack his bags. We carefully counted out all the clothes to ensure he had enough of everything. We also made sure he could carry everything that was packed since he was required to be self-sufficient.

Yep, he's able to lug it all. This was his departure Monday morning. So far, so good!

Dawson on the bus as they depart.

Late Sunday afternoon, Tropical Storm Edouard formed in the central Gulf of Mexico. Typically, we have lots of time to prepare for tropical storms or hurricanes. This one, because it formed right in the central gulf, came on very quickly. All day Monday we tracked progress and monitored the storm as it began to head directly towards Galveston, which is due south of Houston. My work was even closed on Tuesday because we expected heavy winds and lots of rain. As it turned out, Edouard's bark was much worse than his bite. It came ashore a bit east of Galveston and the center of the storm came right over Kingwood. We got about 3 inches of rain and it was windy for a bit. It's hard to tell in the picture above, but I took a picture of the pool mid-afternoon because it was about to overflow (no worries, we have an awesome triple redundant drainage system to move water away from the house). Anyway, we did get quite a bit anxious about Dawson being at camp; we even contemplated going to get him (this is before we experienced the storm's full "brunt"). In the end, cooler heads prevailed and we trusted that God would guide the camp leaders to make the right decisions. Dawson said it just rained a lot but I don't think it crimped too many of their activities.

Here is a picture Dawson took at the entrance to the camp. It's called "Piney Woods Baptist Encampment".

There were lots of activities throughout the week including kayaking, dodge-ball, worship services, and all sorts of competitions. The student pastor from our church, Stuart Henslee, was the worship leader every night. For those of you who have not experienced one of his sermons (he fills in occasionally for the adult services on Sundays), you are truly missing out. This guy is really high energy. The picture above is of Chris Allen, a Christian singer who performed at the camp this week. Dawson got a shirt from the band with each member's autograph.Here is Dawson getting off the bus today (with his head down in the doorway holding the tube of cookies Nana sent him). He was all smiles. Again with the details. Jennifer quizzes Dawson about each and every detail from the camp.
Dawson, Braden, Tate, & Abby in front of the "Welcome Home Dawson" sign we made this week. He was really excited about the sign.

Upon closer inspection of his bags when he returned home, we found a really stinky bag of wet & dirty clothes. He also informed us he only took one shower the whole week (we remedied that right away). There were still many clean clothes left in his bag. Also tucked neatly inside his bible were all the cards he got this week. He really appreciates all the cards and he pinned them up on the bulletin board in his room.

Dawson had a great time, learned about God, and met some new friends. The church leader who went along made a point to come up to us when they got back and tell us how sweet Dawson is and what a good and polite boy he is. We're very proud parents!

What's not pictured is us during the week. Some would say "gee, with one less kid, you got a little bit of a break". To be honest, we love spending time together as a family (see blog about our family vacation below). All week we felt off-kilter. We're used to counting six heads in the car or at the dinner table. Even Braden, who Dawson is typically at odds with, said he missed Dawson and was having trouble sleeping in their room by himself. Needless to say, we missed him a lot.