Friday, June 25, 2010

heading home...

Today was the day to pack up and go home. I was really surprised at how long it takes 6 little girls to pick up their stuff in a tiny cabin room. Did I mention it was quite disgusting? I came across a toothbrush on the filthy floor right next to some dirty underwear and a pair of mud encrusted shoes. Caitlin and I decided that going to this camp is the best birth control. I totally want to have kids but I can definitely wait a little while, haha. We signed each other's shirts and gave our children the scrapbooks we worked on all week. They were special moments.

I sat next to a boy on the bus ride home. I later found that the lady that picked him up from the church had to ask him his name to know who he was. It wasn't even his social worker, just a person from the same office. That completely broke my heart. This boy was so sweet, so loving and this is the last thing he deserved. But I know one thing for sure.. God knows his name and that is the important thing.

We unpacked all of our supplies and then had a nice dinner at the church with our families. Tisha read a story about a boy who was on the beach and throwing star fish that had washed on shore back into the ocean. A man came up and told him that he could never get them all back in the water but the boy replied that he could make a difference in the life of one star fish. The man was so inspired that he got all of his friends and family and they began throwing the miles of star fish back into the ocean. They could save just one more...

Tisha applied that to us working at Royal Family Kids Camp. We can't help all of the foster children but we can help one at a time and I had that opportunity. I was blessed to work with two little girls and I know I made an impact in their lives. One of my girls told another counselor to tell me that I was the best counselor she's ever had. It almost brought me to tears because I knew she meant it.

2 comments:

Casey Singleton said...

Way to serve Jess. I enjoyed reading all of your daily happenings at the kids Ranch. Were all of those writings letters to God? Little kids are the best at truth and asking and telling how it really is. Elliot's letter was really touching. And the giraffe...hahaha

jessica strecker said...

thanks casey! it truly was an amazing week. those letters to god were actually just pictures i found from the internet but i thought they were adorable. kid's are so honest and curious.. it's incredible. i hope you're doing well! :)