This past weekend SVYR had our 1st camp. There were 22 girls between the ages of 9-12 and 4 leaders. We all had a great time! God had is hand over our camp as it all came together and went so smoothly. We couldn't of done it without the support of so many people in our community. Thank you to our church family (Evangelical Free Church in Keokuk) for contributing food and tents. Thank you to our ranch volunteers for your hard work atpreparing the ranch and setting up the camping necessities Jeff, John, Gabe, Samantha, and Shannon. Thank you to the leaders and helpers to make the camp a success; Dona, Mandy, Mary, Morgan, Myranda, Hannah, and Amanda. And thank you to the parents for allowing your children to enjoy our camp-out.
We started on Saturday at 1pm. Every girl got a SVYR tee shirt and a picture with a horse. First we had water play with water toy wars and the pond. Second we went on a nature scavenger hunt hike. Then we ate our casserole dinner. Next was horse sessions for half of the girls. The other girls had good old fashsion fun and games to play but some of them went back to water play. Some skinny stray dogs showed up and got a lot of love from a few of the girls. Then we ate and ate and ate smores. Next we had campfire songs with Hannah. Then we did a barn dance. It was dark by now so the girls played flashlight tag. We sent them to their tents for the night at 10:30pm and they talked until ????
On Sunday Destiny was our early bird. She and some other early risers did the morning ranch chores with me. During our chores we found an injured baby bunny. We brought it back to the barn and I am still nursing it back to health. Then we all slowly woke up and had a simple breakfast. Next horse sessions for the other half of the girls. The rest of the girls either played or went for a dip in the pond. Then we had our children's church service telling the kids how much each of them is loved and valued by God. Next we did crafts, like painting the real horses and making picture frames for their keepsake photo with a horse. We finished our camp with wiener roast lunch. Feeding over 45 people which included some parents as they joined us to pick up their children. We can't wait until the next one.
1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us. This is why SVYR does all of this. We have the love of Jesus and want to share that love and joy with others. Amen.
