What I Learned at Cousins’ Camp This Year
Cousins’ Camp 2023 is now in the books. We had a great time together and, for a change, all of the cousins got to be here. Our oldest grandson, Luke, only got to be here for about a day and a half because he has a job working with the church in Cookeville, TN where he had responsibilities to fulfill.
For those of you who don’t know what Cousins’ Camp is, let me explain. For the last 11 years we have set a date for a gathering of all of our grandchildren to come to our house for a camp. We have a boys’ cabin and a girls’ cabin, a counselor’s cabin, and the director and his wife have their own cabin. We have a slate of activities for each day, and we try to get as many as we can into our day. The day begins with breakfast, followed by cabin clean-up and the judging of the cabins by the Director (aka Grampy). Then we launch into all of the activities for the day. We end each day with a devotional given by one of the grandsons and usually some singing.
Let me remind some and tell others that, when we began this annual camp, our grandchildren ranged in age from 4 to 11. They now range in age from 15 to 22, and yet they still wanted to have Cousins’ Camp again this year. Over the years I have noticed so many changes in each one of our grandchildren – and not just in size alone!
Let me share some of the changes I have noticed:
- They have grown closer to one another. Since they don’t live in the same town, they don’t get to see each other very often. Holidays and an occasional weekend is about it. When they were younger they all seemed to want to have their way, but as the years have passed, they understand each other better and seem closer to one another and more interested in each others’ lives.
- They have changed in their desire to do certain activities at CC. While they enjoy the games and swimming (thank you to the great family who let us use their pool), and other fun activities, they want to do other more serious activities. Each year we have gone to the cemetery to put new flowers on the graves of their great-grandparents. They do all the work – cleaning the stones and arranging the flowers. We remind them of how proud they would be of each one of them.
- They have grown so much spiritually. All of them are Christians, and I can see a great deal of maturity in each of their Christian walks of life. The boys did a great job of leading us in devotional thoughts and in singing. Each devotional was Bible centered and very meaningful. Our theme this year was ‘Home.’ They selected this theme and brought three exceptional lessons on this topic.
- Their focus is centered on sharing the gospel with others. I just sat back and listened to some of their conversations. I heard things like door knocking, Bible studies, and helping at VBS. They talked about their youth ministers who are doing a great job.
Cousins’ Camp 2023 ended with lunch out on Tuesday and everyone headed home. At least that’s what I thought was happening. When we left the restaurant, I headed for a weekly ladies’ Bible class and then on to a hair appointment. When I finally got home, I expected to begin cleaning up the house and begin washing sheets and towels. But they had one more surprise for me. I walked into a very clean house with everything in its place and laundry almost completely done. They had gone back to the house and worked hard cleaning in order to surprise me. I also found a thank you card from them in which each one had written a message to Jim and me. Needless to say, I cried tears of joy!
My prayer for each person who may read this post is that you will do what you can for as long as you can to help the children and grandchildren in your family learn to love one another. Even more importantly, to love God and His word.
“…teach them (God’s words) diligently to your children…” (Deut. 6:7)
AUTHOR: Donna Faughn
