The End of an Era

...a common expression in our family.

We use it to refer to the end of something that has been "big" in our lives.

Like... summer day camp at our church.  Our daughter has been attending since she was in Kindergarten.  That year, she attended for a week while our son was at an overnight camp.

The following year, I was offered a job at the day-camp, and both of the kids attended for nine weeks.  And so it began.  A summer tradition for our family.

After being a camper for several years, my son became a summer volunteer, and then took a job on the activity staff -- doing things like lugging around monster inflatables for the campers to play on, and cleaning up after everyone.

I did camp crafts for 3 years, and then started working at the front desk, taking registrations, answering parents' questions, answering the phone, and doing miscellaneous office work. One year, I took pictures, and did the newsletter as well.  Last year, I was asked to tackle picture-taking, a newsletter, facebook, twitter, and a camp blog.  It was an awesome job.  I got to work at our church, amongst friends, doing stuff I loved.  It doesn't get much better than that!

Our daughter has been a camper forEVer, and was really looking forward to this year -- her first year to apply as a volunteer.  She's all grown up and almost 14.

And then, we got the word.  No camp this summer.  Why?  For various, well-thought-out reasons that make absolutely no sense to our hearts -- which by the way, are more than a little bit broken.

We're TRUSTING that God will SHOW US

the windows that opened

when one of our very favorite doors closed.

The end of an era.