Cousins’ Camp 2021
Cousins’ Camp 2021 is in the books! Memorial Day weekend was a good choice because of the holiday on Monday which let all of the adults be with us for all of the days. We shortened it a little this year, mainly because things have gotten back to normal and their camps and Summer Youth Series will be held this year. (And besides that, a full week nearly killed me last year!)
All of our grandchildren are teens except for our oldest who is 20 years old. You might think that they would be thinking that they are getting too old for Cousins’ Camp. You could not be any more wrong! They love being together, even though we do a lot of the same activities each year. They usually begin talking about it around the Christmas holidays and work out a theme for the year. We then begin coordinating all of our calendars to see when we can fit it into our busy summers.
This year our theme was GROW. It was based upon Luke 2:52 which says, “…Jesus increased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God and man.” Our devotionals all had to do with this scripture and our three grandsons each took a night for a devotional following Jim’s which was done on the first night.
I want to share with you a few things that made GROW the perfect theme for the camp:
- All of our grandchildren have grown physically. When we looked at the photo books from our last eight years of cousin’s camp, we certainly could see the physical growth.
- While they are bigger than they used to be, they also have grown so much in faith. All five of them are now Christians, and our nightly discussions following the devotionals made this very evident. For teenagers, they have very Bible-based thoughts.
- They have also grown and matured in their service to others. I’m the chief cook and bottle-washer at camp, but this year any task I asked them to do, they were willing to do without any complaining. They also volunteered to clean up after meals and told me to sit and rest. It really touched my heart that they were so thoughtful.
- It thrills me that one of the main things they want to do is go to the cemetery where their great-grandparents are buried. They trim the grass from the stones, clean the stones and vases, and put new flowers in the vases. They did not really get to know their great-grandparents. Some were very small when they passed and our youngest granddaughter was a baby when my mother passed – the last of our parents to die. But out of respect for us, they want to do this yearly visit. I tear up every year and they all try to comfort me with hugs.
- Something was said on our last night together that made me realize just how much they have grown. Our youngest granddaughter put it into words. I can’t quote her exactly, but she said something like this: “Thank you, Grampy and Grammy for being the kind of people you are, for raising Christian children who married and had us being raised in Christian homes. I hope we will all live the right life and be in heaven together.”
Are Jim and I tired? Yes. Would we do it all again? Yes. Next year will be our 10th anniversary for Cousins’ Camp. They’ve already talked about the design for the T-shirts and all agreed we need to have many more Cousins’ Camps in the future.
Our youngest grandson told me the other day that he hopes it won’t be any time soon, but he is already thinking about how he can continue Cousins’ Camp after we’re gone.
Our prayer for them has always been that they would GROW in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and man. I believe it is happening right before our eyes…and we are so thankful.
“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward” (Ps. 127:3).
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AUTHOR: Donna Faughn
