Scattered and Collected

July 2014 sent my little ones in many directions. Every day this month activities scattered them and me. The month started with Howard County Girl Scout Day Camp for Megan, Rachael and Emma. Megan was the only camper, while Emma worked in archery and Rachael worked in Dance. All of them had a great experience and Rachael's overflowing enthusiasm was put to great use keeping the younger girls upbeat and moving to the silly camp dances. Emma got great practice with bow and arrow and only wound up with a small bruise on her forearm. Megan came home exhausted everyday with songs, crafts and a smile. Camp names shifted again as Megan picked Sven (the reindeer in Frozen), Rachael took Sherlock (I think this will stick with her) while Emma maintained Narwhal.

Then, the next week, Bridget attended St. Mark's Vacation Bible school. She had gone to St. Will's VBS in June and we were glad this was a different theme. Sarah and Ben were also doing VBS so Bridget was comfortable in a familiar place with friendly faces. Then the 3 cousins started swim lessons for 2 weeks. I was impressed with their teacher and they really gained a lot of skills. Bridget is in the Branches class and worked on strokes as well as a knelling dive from the pool side. While Bridget continued with swim lessons we started to pack up the 3 big girls for a week away.

Emma was the first to ship off. She was selected by our parish to attend the Archdiocese's High School Leadership Institute (High LI). It is an 8 day intensive leadership workshop complete with meeting organization skills and public speaking practice, all founded in daily Mass and spiritual growth. I had attended the program when I was in high school and those skills I learned have served me my whole life. I was so excited for her.

The day after I drove Emma to Sparks for High LI, I drove Megan and Rachael to Camp Connowingo for Girl Scout sleep away camp. This camp was their birthday gift from their Kehrman grandparents and they had been looking forward to it for months. The themes of the camps were Hunger Games based. Rachael was in Camp Katniss and Megan was in Tribute Training. This was Megan's first sleep away camp so she was a little nervous. I was so proud of Rachael as she reassured Megan and vowed that she would keep an eye out for her during the week. Megan's letters home confirmed that Rachael lovingly lived up to her promises. I made daily envelopes for each girl, with a small gift, a printed logic puzzle, and most importantly a love note from a family member. They were full of stories but not of energy when I picked them up on Friday. The difficulty they had saying good bye revealed the wonderful time that they had.

On Saturday our whole family went up to the Sparks retreat house for Emma's final Mass and conferment of certificates. There was a strong camaraderie among the participants but an exhausted relief as they greeted family. Emma was aglow. She explained many experiences full of the Holy Spirit and bonding moments with new friends. Jim and I both smiled with understanding at her struggle with leaving and teary good-byes. We grabbed a quick lunch on the way home and the girls happily swapped stories. Hanna was ready for her nap and sat quietly in her car seat on the ride home looking from sister to sister.

I drew in a deep breath and savored having everyone back together. Collectively we are family and together feels just right.