Girls Camp IE Miracle Camp!

I believe in Miracles. I believe in small miracles that slowly saturate our lives. I try to recognize these small miracles but sometimes they are hard to recognize until time has passed. Other miracles are more obvious and overt. I want to tell you about some of our miracles lately associated with my daughter's LDS Girls Camp. My sweet girl, Peekaboo, is a handful and a half (maybe even three quarters). She's never been easy or easy going. She has always challenged everything in every way. This past year she has been refusing to attend church or even participate in anything religious (any religion). She's been defiant and unappreciative of the love that surrounds her at home and at church. It's been hard. Her father and I have had our hearts broken so many times that we began to wonder how they could possibly break again, but they did. In the Spring Peekaboo announced that she would not repeat NOT attend Girls Camp this year. Her intent was to do NOTHING all summer long. All of the alarm bells sounded in my head. This was not good. ( Church camp was not the only thing she refused to participate in ) She was shutting out good things in her life (church, vollunteer work, exercise). As a parent it was frightening to see your child shut off like that. I pleaded with her to change her mind. My pleading only provoked long drawn out arguments where I was accused of trying to control her...end of discussion. I tried everything I could think of and got such negative responses that eventually I just had to quit. In the begining of June we were at church and miraculously our daughter was along. She and a friend run up to me and thrust papers in my face and triumphantly say "We're going to Girls Camp!" I think I may have sung part of the Hallelujia chorus in the hallway of church. I ran home and signed those permission slips post haste and e-mailed them directly to the people who needed them...I was not letting her back out. I expected her to change her mind back and gripe, but she didn't, if anything her attitude improved. At one point I took her out shopping for a bathing suit, a taxing expedition under any conditions- add onto that the fact that we needed to find a modest bathing suit that would suit our modesty rules and the camps and we had a potential war on our hands. She kept looking at and picking up suits that were not ok with me and she'd look at me longingly and then put them down. I stuck to my guns and several hours later as we were about to stop we found THEM, multiple good choices...MULTIPLE!!!! Can you say Miracle, all were on sale, all were in our budget range and all of them she loved. I actually cried in the dressing room because I knew that God loves my girl.
So, this week she finally went to camp. She went without tons of makeup. She went in a positive mood. She participated in ALL (well, almost all) of the pre-camp prep activities. She went, she had a good time, she came home with hundreds of usable pictures and she came home happy. To me that is the Miracle. A happy child.

It's OK to be cliche

I sent my beautiful daughter and my sweet hubby off to our churches girls camp this year.  I hope they have a wonderful time, I hope they took pictures.  I sent them both off with the admonition to 'take pictures' as I have in the past, let's hope this year's better.
I asked my daughter for certain pictures and certain types of pictures and she looked a little irritated with me...she rolled her eyes and mumbled something along the lines of "I know...." (stop nagging me). 

This brings me to the purpose of this post.  I want to tell you that it is OK to go to an event or an outing with certain photos in mind.  I choose to make a list (physical or mental) before I ever leave the house (or car, or whatever).  It's OK to ask for a group photo (nothing sets the stage of where you are and why you're there better than a group photo).   Here are some suggestions for photos or types of photos you want to take to document your daily life or special events.

1.) group photo
2.) individual photos that establish a place (in front of a sign or with someone think *mini mouse*)- if you have more than one child they will likely want pictures of just themself in a special places.
3.) special groups (think sibling groups, groups of grandchildren with seldom seen grandparents, one on one and a group)
4.) candid photos
5.) photos of family traditions (big ones and little ones......more on family traditions another time.)

Don't be afraid of taking a bad picture.  Just take the pictures.  Go ahead, be a family bully.  Take those pictures!

our Drama Queens

I am blessed to be an Aunt and I try (emphasis on try) to be active in my nieces and nephews lives.  My brothers daughters are the ones who I know the best and who I live closest to.  Recently I got the opportunity to attend my nieces play "Star Power".  She had participated in a 2 week 'drama camp' and this 'play' was the end project.  I love theater..... but, this is the kind of theater that only a loving and adoring relative could truly appreciate....the most important wonderful part of the play is how much the children love, love, love what they're doing and all of the loving accolades poured upon them by relatives (such as I, who understood probably 1 out of every 7 words and having missed the first 10 minutes spent the following 3 acts trying to figure out the plot) who sat and cheered and absorbed the cuteness.  My niece is particularly cute (in my very biased but I believe accurate opinion), she broke character a couple of times to wave at her dad or scan the crowd or fix her antennae (see following picture)..... she was darling and most importantly, she had a wonderful experience and she wants to do it again next year... My other amazing niece was also in a similar camp but I missed her play (in which I must believe she was darling and completely amazing....because that's how she is).  Of course with loving family gatherings comes photo ops...and with photo ops and my family comes lots of goofy pictures (ugh...they drive me bonkers.... I mean, is it totally awful to ask for just 1 nice picture where the whole family is smiling???)

I do love these goofballs.  I am so lucky to be part of their lives!

So, similar topic, separate subject.....after the daahling play I took my eldest niece "A" to Borders bookstore.  A couplea weeks ago I gave her a gift card for her birthday and declared we'd go spend time together @ Borders and she'd get books and I'd spend Auntie/niece time....a few days later Borders declared they were closing all of their stores..........grrrrrrr............ so, since we couldn't go right away I had to hope that some decent books would be left in the store by the time we got there.  The pickins were pretty picked but some of the deals were awesome (some were just so-so and some were blechy)....but, we spent our auntie/niece time together.  I adored talking to her.  She has so much personality and is getting old enough so that we can talk person to person instead of older person to younger person...granted I am still a lot OLDER but I figure since we have the same shoe size right now that I'm granted some leighway..... (is that how you spell leighway or is it leeway???)

Sometimes I want to remember, Sometimes I want to forget

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the loss of my brother Richard, or part of Richard.  He was in a horrible accident and lived for 8 years following..... but I want to forget that.

I have been unusually lethargic lately.  I pondered today what my reasoning could be...and then my eye caught the calendar and I knew.  My husband and I have been in family and couples therapy and I believe that bringing up my brother briefly last week...he stayed on the surface.....

Grieving is odd.

Sometimes you feel fine, for a long time....sometimes NOT.  Richard's accident took him on August 9th, 1991...an overcast but warm summer day.  Eight years later Richard passed on August 25th, 1999.  For years the approach of August provoked a feeling of dread... I just didn't want to face it.  If we could skip August, I would....  Recently though, I've been able to enjoy August and not associate such negativity towards it, that's why I was so surprised that my mood took such a tumble this year.  Maybe I just need to remember, for a little while, so I can forget for a longer while.

I adored my brother.  I fell in love with him minutes after he was born.  Really, I fell in love.  He annoyed me sometimes (brothers!) and he was eccentric, and I adored it ALL.  He was silly and serious and very affectionate if he felt close to you (if he didn't feel close to you, he didn't exist!!)

Following his accident I wrote a poem.  Forgive me if it's juvenile.  I was a juvenile.

Richard

He had a funny gait.   kind of saunter with an extra kick.

He hardly ever smiled, but when he did he meant it and it came from the bottom of his soul and emerged in a large toothy grin.

His eyes were of a serious grey.

He had years of serious contemplation in them, with questions ever on the verge of being asked, and answers ready to be given.

He had a bit of a stoop, like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, but he never once seemed to regret it.

He had a lisp, just a little one that emerged when he became excited and spoke too fast.

Now he can not walk, so his funny little gait is hidden.

He can only smile with his eyes.

He can not stand, but now lays flat, indeed feeling the weight of the world.

And his lisp, his cute little lisp, is now hidden with slurred babbling.

Some would say it is a pity that a child as rare as he should be hidden from sight.

But he is not truly hidden, he is simply watching and waiting for the day when he once again will get up and walk, this time freed from the weights of the world, when he will get up and dance and sing and smile 

emerging as a new, more vigorous child .

I miss you Richard
(If you want, click on "I miss you Richard" and you can see the book I made for my mother about him...)