Surprising GIFTS

 My children are always surprising me, with what they can do, or things that they say or what they already know.  It's not always a good surprise.  But there are times,  my favorite - when they surprise themselves.

I signed the kids up for GIFTS Camp (Growing Interests, Fellowship, Talents and Skills), which is held yearly at a local church.  It’s actually a pretty creative camp where they sign up for different areas of interest (Fishing, Sewing, Scrapbooking, Photography, Bow-making, Super Heroes, Legos, Group Games, Painting, Music, Gymnastics) and so many more.  Each kid chooses a Focus group where they spend most of their time and then each day visit other choices. 

Since Lanie is too young to participate, I volunteered so she could join in the preschool mini-camp which she thought was just the best thing of the whole summer.  She told me on Day 2, “I want to do this every day, ever day.”

This Spring, when Summer camps were far away, I had both Elijah and Lydia fill out the paperwork and ranked 1-10 their favorite classes.  Elijah zoomed through the list without a second thought.  Lydia wanted to check with other friends to see what they were signing up for. I turned everything in and hoped for the best, that they would get the classes they wanted and more importantly, would know someone in their focus group. 

As the camp got closer, and we got their camp schedules, I started asking around with other parents, who had what focus group.  Lydia didn’t know anyone in her American Girl class, and neither did Elijah in his Woodworking class.  Lydia seemed fine with this, but Elijah was so hesitant that before the camp started, he didn’t want to go at all.

I found myself texting friends who have been sending their kids to GIFTS camp for years, for advice.  One friend told me to tell Elijah – POWER TOOLS.  He would get to use real power tools.  Another friend was more long winded and thoughtful and told me it was a chance for him to learn a skill he may need in college to put things together or a chance to see why his grandpa may enjoy building things.  But the very best advice was, “Just tell him it’s for 4 hours and get over it.”

And she was right.  I’ve coddled them for so long, worrying who would be in their class, their VBS group, their dance class, their baseball team and would they make friends.  And yes there are some situations where having a friend in a new situation does make a difference, but for my two, walking in blind, uncertain as to who would be sitting across from them was the best experience they could have had.

Lydia stepped right up and got girly with her new friends.  She created doll bows, sleeping bags, barettes and went on an American Girl scavenger hunt.  I’m blessed that she seems to be easy going.  Elijah was more timid, but recognized boys from past baseball teams in his room.  At the end of the Day One he said to me, “It’s so fun.  We’re doing such cool stuff.”  And what was even better, he came home with a stepstool he made himself, a bird feeder and a bird house, not to mention a painting from art class and a mosquito catcher from Dangerous Boys class. 

Overall, last week was one of the best of the summer.  It was video-free, TV-free, and all 3 kids were expanding themselves in ways both fun, and Surprising.