Team Reed: Runner's Camp 2012

It's that time of year again!!

"Welcome to Runner's Camp, welcome to Runner's Camp, welcome to Runner's Camp..."

This year, I had two campers and two mini-campers. I got to be an Age Group Leader (AGL) for Kate's group, which was lots of fun (although I could have done without the school-bus yellow shirts!)

I had someone extra tagging along with me to RC this year. I wondered if I was crazy to sign up as an AGL at 6.5 months pregnant. But...I love RC too much to miss it, and besides, God was so gracious...the weather was AMAZING...in the 70s most every day, in the middle of June!?!

Huge blessing!!

Mollie was super excited to be a mini-camper...I think she really just loved having a shirt of her own like her brothers and sister.

Suzanne, my fearless co-leader of the 7-year-old girls

We had a fun and energetic group!

This is Molly, one of my two youth helpers.

She was amazing...such a servant heart and sweet spirit. She was extremely helpful to me and that makes all the difference!

(my other helper Abby was great too...missed getting a pic of her as she was busy helping out with the water games (ie. getting soaked!) the day I brought my camera)

Every year there are a wide variety of track and field events to learn. Discus, javelin, high jump, hurdles, sprints, relays, distance...

Here are Kate and Carter trying their hands at shot-put...

And long jump (one of Kate's favorite events!) She jumped more than 8 feet this year. Go girl!

I love how laidback Carter is. He is just as content to participate as he is to chill with a buddy and wait his turn to jump. And bonus that said buddy in this picture is Haddon, whose mom Stephanie is one of my good friends and was Carter's AGL all week.

His turn to do the long jump!

Josh got to come out Friday morning and watch the kids do their different events.

Staying hydrated

The music at Runner's Camp is great! Our worship pastor from North Wake leads it and the kids LOVE it! Every year, Daniel writes a song to correlate with the teaching and teaches it to the kids over the course of the week. They gather as a whole group at the end of each day (this year there were 400+ kids at the June camp alone!! Most ever!)

Each age group makes up a cheer and takes turns performing theirs (ours were the Cheetahs), then they sing through different RC songs.

A couple years ago, Daniel asked Josh to help him put together a rap to help teach the kids how to study their Bible, using principles of observation, interpretation and application by asking different questions. It's called "Bible Study 101", and it's cool to see how the kids really respond to it. Every day, Daniel invites some campers down to perform the rap...it's amazing how many of them have memorized the whole thing! Daniel invited Josh to come make a guest appearance this year, and perform the rap that they had recorded together on the CD that all the kids get. He wasn't able to do it until the July camp, but the kids and I all came out to hear him. As if they didn't think their daddy was cool already...Ha! After that, he was by far the coolest ever in their eyes. And I love that so much : )

The game "Gorilla, Man, Gun" is a big part of the time Daniel spends with the kids each day. It's basically a different version of "Rock, Paper, Scissors" that involves your whole body. The kids pair up, back to back, and sing along with the game song... "I said Gorilla beats the Man (echo), the Man beats the Gun (echo), the Gun beats the Gorilla (echo), You tie, you die (echo)."

After the song ends, it's time to turn around and hold your pose with the hand motion you've chosen (either gorilla, man or gun). They start out with all the campers, and work their way down to one winner each day.

RC is so much fun, and we certainly love all the fun games, events and music. But the best part of RC is hands-down the Bible teaching we get to do every morning. My friend Blaire is one of the godliest women I know, and she pours so much time and energy into writing amazing curriculum for the kids to learn each year at RC. It is solid and straight from the Bible, yet presented in a way that even the youngest groups of campers can grasp. This year's teaching was "Gifts from God" and we talked through one gift each day. Over the course of 5 days, we covered 1)God's Word, 2)grace in Christ, 3)the Holy Spirit, 4)the Body of Christ (the Church), and 5)the local church. Wow! Rich stuff...and exactly why I want to be a part of this camp every year that I can. I'm so thankful for Blaire...for a myriad of reasons...

There she is, Mrs. Runner's Camp herself : )

And then, to cap off a huge week, they hold a track meet Saturday morning. The kids get to choose which events they want to participate in. Both Kate and Carter signed up for the 100m sprint and hurdles, and Kate wanted to do the 200m also.

Here's Carter, ready to sprint! On your mark, get set....

GO!!!

This kid was enjoying himself! Look at his face!! I love it.

This kid was enjoying herself, too!

I love this about my Kate...she always keeps me guessing. Sometimes she's super girly-girl, and other times super casual and straight comfort (ie. a cute sundress vs. the same t-shirt every day). But I love that for the RC track meet, she chose to wear a flower bow to run in.

And run she did! Sprinting to a 1st place finish in the 100m...

...and the hurdles! Go Sis!!

They do a Sibling Run, by age. Hudson decided to run it this year, or I should say "run". He is so fast and runs around all day, every day at home. But, he got a little shy for this event, and would only go with Josh holding his hand. So it wasn't really his full-on running, but he had fun doing it with Daddy.