Camp Winshape @ Young Harris ~

Well, after months of waiting...today was the big day!!!

We left early this morning to take Mary Dalton to Camp Winshape! She has been SO excited...so much so that she could not sleep last night!

It's about 3 hours from our house so we left early this morning and headed up to the GA mountains....she is about 5 miles from NC. We stopped in Helen for lunch and to look around some shops. While we were eating she told me she was a "little nervous" because she didn't know what to expect. I tried my best to assure that EVERYONE going was a little nervous and she would have a great time! She never mentioned it again....praise the lord! :)

The camp had a contest and asked campers to decorate their cars...

we painted the car windows and Mary Dalton stood out of the sun roof when we got to the camp! The counselors were lined up in the roads cheering and welcoming them to camp....

any nerves she had at this point were GONE!!!

They unloaded her luggage and we went to check her in!

They are SO oragnized and yall know I am ALL ABOUT some organization!!!!

She is a "Skocean" and will be a Skocean every year she goes from now on...even if she works there as a counselor, she will be a Skocean!

After we got her checked in, we headed to get her "Sweet" assignment and give the nurse her zyrtec! ;)

We also were able to leave letters and care packages for her. The counselors pass these out each day! She is going to be SO SO SO happy to get so many letters from not only us, but from our sweet friends and family who wrote her and sent her treat bags!!! I was kinda embarrassed beause she had SO many letters....but that didn't last long....our girl is very loved!!! :)

She was so excited to get to see her room, meet her counselor and her room mates! She even made her roommate some treats! So sweet!

Mary Dalton's counselor's name is "Happy" ~ not sure why everyone has a nickname, but they were SUCH cute girls!!! I talked to her for about 10-15 mins and we fell in LOVE with her! She just graduated with a degree in early childhood education and is looking for a teaching job in AL. She felt that God was leading her to work at CW and left AL without having a teaching job...talk about having faith...Iwould be SCARED to death!!! She was so gentle and sweet....I just LOVED her! Later, after MD was "out and about" checking things out, I talked to Happy alone and told her that Mary Dalton has not yet made a profession of faith and we would be praying for both MD and Happy this week as she leads her. She shared with me that she was not saved until she was 14....after she lost BOTH of her parents! Bless her heart! I want her to come live with us! I can't imagine!!! She told me that she has been praying over her campers by name and even over their beds.

As bizzare as it sounds, I left Mary Dalton and never thought about it. I knew she was in the best care possible!

We got her room all set up! Jackson was feeling kinda left out because he didn't go to sleep over camp this summer! The boy's camp sold out in 3 days!!! We are going to BE SURE he gets in next year!!! They are going to miss each other this week!

The halls were decorated so cute!!!

These counselors went ABOVE and BEYOND!!!!

Mary Dalton is in a "sweet" with 5 girls and a counselor. She is sharing a room with Ella Beth ~ she is 7 and from ATL. We met her parents and they are a super sweet family! I hope Mary D makes lots of new friends!!!

And just like that ~ She says,

"ummm....yall can go ahead and leave now....I'm good."

Obviously we were cramping her style! :)

Sooooo....we left.

And I thought it would be weird. Leaving my baby girl with people I DO NOT know...but it wasn't. It just felt right. She is going to have SO much fun and I am so thankful that we were able to send her to Camp Winshape this year!

We are praying for her health and safety this week while she is gone.

We are also praying that this week will help her in making her decision to ask Jesus into her heart.

If you think about her this week ~ please say a prayer for her!

Also, please pray for her sweet counselor, Happy.

(That girl is getting a treat bag Friday! I LOVED her!!!....did I mention that already?!?!)

And then there was one.

And he will be a TAD spoiled this week being an only child.

We went to eat supper and he wanted crab legs.

The boy ate and ate and ate...

Then slept the whole way home...

My child.

I am super excited about this week! I can't wait to see Mary Dalton on Friday and hear about her week, but I am also looking forward to some fun with this cutie!!!!