Monday morning we headed out of Pigeon Forge toward Black Mountain, North Carolina to the FCA Coaches (and Family) Camp. It was a beautiful drive:
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes has been holding camps at this facility since 1966.
It was easy to see why:
I didn't do much exploring, but I do know that JD and Halle made the almost 2 mile hike to the playing fields every day.
It was a big camp, over 90 coaches (HS, College and Pro) and their spouses and children. Over 400 total campers:
The schedule was really nice- in the mornings were breakfast, chapel, huddle/competition/kids' classes/babysitter. And then after lunch was free/family time (naptime in the Parker suite) until supper. After supper was chapel and social time for adults, Halle had more huddle/competition time, Cate and Ty were in their classes and Isaac had his babysitter again.
My huddle:
Carrying around an FCA notebook felt like old times! :)
Thursday afternoon we participated in the Family Fun Olympics (silly family competitions):
TP relay:
Ty loved it.
We also spent part of the afternoons at the playground:
The best part of the entire week for me was watching Halle fall in love with FCA. She was in PowerCamp with the 6-11 year olds, and the lady that ran it and her huddle leaders were fabulous. They did silly stuff, competed in different ways, had a bonfire and talent show, did crafts (like tie-dying their camp shirts), did a Bible study, and talked a LOT about prayer. And spent lots of time in prayer.
They posted their prayer wall in the chapel on the last night so the parents could see what the kids were praying for. Talk about convicting- there weren't many people who read through very many of those sticky-notes without tears in their eyes:
(Halle's said, "Help me to do good in the talent show." She did!)
Halle with her huddle leader, Maggie:
Cate and Ty were in YMCA classes that were neat too, but not FCA. Cate made LOTS of friends and had a lot of fun:
Then there was Ty. He screamed cried every time we dropped him off. He does that every Sunday and Wednesday when we leave him at church/class too.
So Thursday night (the last night) I get a phone call right before the grown-up ice cream social- Ty had had an accident (the first of the entire week). So I went to get him and he looks at me, grins really big, and says, "I KNEW you would come get me!" If I knew for sure that he planned it, I don't know what I would do...
It was an awesome week.
We are SO thankful that we were chosen to attend!
