When the Start of School Interrupts Your Favorite Camp

What's a mom to do when the start of school interrupts a favorite annual Bible camp? This was the dilemma many months back when we first learned that CBLI (Central Bible and Leadership Institute) ran from July 30th (it always begins on the final Saturday of the month, but this year that Saturday was very late in the month) to August 7th and school resumes on Wednesday, August 3rd. My initial response was simply to keep them out of the first three days of school, but alas it was Trevor's transition year to the middle school. I couldn't exactly expect him to return on Monday, the only confused and lost kid in a sea of students who had already learned the ropes the previous week. Thus, we landed on a compromise: the boys would miss one day of school and two and a half days of the camp.

So, last Saturday we drove up to the camp and began to settle in. When the settled in feeling just started to take root, we packed up and returned home. Thankfully, we discovered an easy route to the camp that takes us four and a half hours (this is better than our old ways of visiting Grandma for one meal and then taking a road closer to her house, making the trip almost six hours). Still, it's 4-1/2 hours! Groan!

Here are the boys, bright and early, awaiting the school bus on their first day back:

I enjoyed sitting on our wonderful, newly-refurbished porch to watch them wait for the bus. Hopefully, they will get off to a great start and do well in fourth and sixth grade. Praying also for a great end to our CBLI encampment (so glad we attended despite the obstacles and setbacks).