Camp Three: Lent Day in Chapel

We've been going through the liturgical calendar here at Camp Gailor Maxon. We started on the first night of Camp Three with Advent. The kids learned about the season of preparation and made homemade advent wreaths:

 Today we progressed on to Lent. We focused on the idea of making space for God through the actions of our lenten disciplines. We started out with some songs:

 We then saw a skit by the counselors:

 And then went to family groups for discussion and creation of our Alleluias, which we buried after family group to symbolize the omission of the Alleluia.

 In the afternoon, we stayed on campus and went to the playground, pool, and did arts and crafts:

 

Camp Three: Rappelling

Today we took the campers to the Fiery Gizzard. While some of the group hiked, 12 of the campers signed up to go with the Park Ranger to rappell. Afterwards, all the campers met up at the water hole to swim!

Camp Three: The First Night

Yesterday was the arrival of our last session for the summer - our Camp Three kids! We started off with a successful registration, followed by the annual swim test. After a spaghetti dinner, we proceeded to the downstairs chapel for our Opening Eucharist and introductions:

 During introductions, it became clear that the favored SEC schools were UT and Bama - whenever a counselor would say they went to one of those schools, the little ones would either cheer or boo as the case may be. The allegiances start young with these ones. 

After introductions, we learned about the rules of camp with our covenant, which the kids all signed:

After appropriately learning that "shut up" is a bad word, that shoes are on your feet for a reason, and other fun covenant rules, the kids were introduced to their family group leaders (our family groups are mountain ranges this week) and went off to learn about Advent.

Camp Two: Final Eucharist

Friday brought us the end of Camp Two. After a fun afternoon of swimming, soccer, and "science experiments" (Diet Coke and Mentos), we prepared ourselves for the festivities of the night. 

The campers could pick whether they wanted to set up banquet or plan the Eucharist. The campers that planned the Eucharist could pick readings, songs, and sign up to play a role in the service. 

The evening started with the Final Banquet:

After the banquet, we went to the downstairs chapel for our service:

Pictured above is Dr. Andrew Gregory and his daughter, Sarah Frances. We were so lucky as to have Dr. Andrew volunteer his time as our "Camp Doc" for the week. He is an amazing man who played guitar, ran around with the kids, and helped out with injuries. We are so appreciative of him!

Our awesome JCs for the week were Martha, Callie, Neil, and Hannah (above). 

Siblings Fin and Jani Sarratt after the Closing Eucharist.

Camp Two: Skit Night/Coffee House

Thursday night of Camp Two was our annual skit night. Each cabin prepared a skit, with individual acts interspersed between the skits. Our emcees, Alex and Phil, were news anchors this week, with the news show "CGM News". Reports included the local skittle outage at the Canteen, the triumph of Cabin One in the quest for the Golden Dustpan, and the fact that our camp puppy for the week, Maxon, had defeated the Wolfin. 

Our individual acts at Coffee House were excellent and really allowed the campers to showcase their talents. 

Camp Two: Day of Service

One of the groups for our weekly Day of Service went to the local nursing home to do crafts with the residents. We allow the campers to choose their service project and these campers felt called to serve the elderly of our community. It was a special time.

 

Camp Two: Sewanee Day Trip

While half the camp was swimming at the Res, the other half of camp went to Sewanee and played all afternoon. We hung out in the quad, played frisbee, climbed trees, went to the playground, and browsed the bookstore.