Dirty Laundry

This is the sight that greeted me today as I drove winding mountain roads to pick Child #2 up from church camp. This campsite had a major renovation over the fall and winter that would have made the writers at HGTV proud!! They demolished cabins that looked like cement blocks from the 1960's and designed super cool cabins with indoor plumbing and A/C! The kids were so excited! No more trips to the outhouse in the middle of the night carrying a flashlight!

But the aroma that permeated throughout the deck was overwhelming! After daily thunderstorms over the week, everything was soaked and smelly! Put 16 pairs of stinky tennis shoes in one area, and you've got a recipe to scare off any wild animals!

We packed up our camper's things (I just about went ahead and threw out all of his smelly stuff!), then met them under a shelter that must have had temps in the low 100's! And talk about humidity! Mercy me! I was dripping wet! I felt as though I had been running for miles...not just standing around waiting for the closing program to begin!

After signing out Child #2, we scooted to the mama mini van and took off. He desperately needed a "baconator" from Wendy's! And a Frosty! After a quick call to Daddy, he relaxed, and life was good again!

After a shower, he sat down to wait for his turn on the computer. Y'all, I promise I just sent one teensy weensy email! I turned to tell him that he could play a game, and look what I saw! Bless his precious heart! Child with long legs curled up in a ball on the tiniest chair that we own (still waiting for the slipcover to be made!!!)

It was time for the dreaded task--laundry! I proceeded to carefully take out all wet clothing from his suitcase, bookbag, dirty clothes bag, and Wal-mart bags that were thrown in for good measure in case something was still wet--ha!

Now, let me back up a bit. On the way home, he had explained in great detail some of the games that they had played. One involved teams using an obstacle course with those plastic baby pools. In each pool, you had either flour or Rice Krispies or other stuff to roll around in!!! I'm not talking one little bag or box--that pool was full! Of course, you were wet when you got in. Peanut butter was another yummy item slathered on kids' faces. Then marshmellows were thrown at said faces to see who could get the most marshmellows to stick. Gross!! But the kids loved it! Child #2 still had flour balls stuck in his hair and under his chin after bath number one.

Back to the laundry. I had almost all of the clothes in the washer when I touched something sticky at the bottom of one of the bags. Yucky sticky unknown item was pulled out. This used to be his cute orange bathing suit.

The white stuff was melted Rice Krispies--I told y'all it was hot! I felt like I was washing Rice Krispie treats! Oohh! Nasty! Tide did the trick though! I praise God for small miracles!
These had been brand new spanking white socks! I just chunked them! Not even worth it. He'll run around barefoot until school starts anyway!

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Eph. 5:1-2 A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about being stinky after a run. This scripture from Ephesians was on my heart as I sorted the smelly clothes. I wondered what type of offering my child had been to others at camp. Could they see the love that he has for Christ by his actions? Or had he been self-centered? Knowing his personality, I know that he hates having attention drawn to him, but while away from family, kids tend to act differently.

Later, during supper, I asked him about a certain activity that really looked fun from the DVD that we had watched during the closing program. I wanted to know if his cabin had done it and did he enjoy it? He said that his cabin DID do it, but not him. Hmm....did he get time-out? Then he finished the story. Another camper had gotten hurt during the activity, and he needed to go to the nurse. Child #2 offered to help him get to the nurse's office knowing that he would miss the rest of that fun activity. I was so touched at his actions. He made the right call--he sacrificed a part of his camping fun to help out another child. Bless his heart!

Child #1 comes home from mission camp tomorrow. Yep, more dirty laundry! But, we'll all be together again. We can celebrate Father's Day together as a family. I pray that your husbands and daddies will be blessed this Father's Day. Even if your earthly father is no longer with you, your Heavenly Daddy will always be there beside you.

Blessings!