I know he's excited, but he's been about to worry me to death over it. The concept of time is tricky with Joshua...and the FRIENDS.
If you've ever planned a special trip with young children, you know...or you LEARNED...that you can't give them too much of a warning or they will hound you every minute of every day until it's "time."
That's Joshua.
My mother-in-law gets aggravated because she'll mention something to Joshua that we are going to do or an event in the family or whatever, and he'll say, "I don't know about that, Mammaw." She has no filter when it comes to him, and doesn't understand why we wouldn't tell him everything and talk about everything in front of him.
And, I get that...and it's nothing against her...she just doesn't know how he is. She loves him with all her heart, and wants the very best for him, like we do. She talks with him several times a week and they have a very special bond. He shares things with her that she thinks he doesn't share with anyone else...and that's okay. She doesn't understand all of the complexities involved in raising and living with a person with Special Needs.
So there are things...many things...that we do not talk about in front of him. Sad things, bad things, mature thing, things on the news...it's too hard for his innocent mind to comprehend. There is much we cannot control, but at home...in our home...we carefully consider the things we allow him to hear.
Anyway, for the past 4 weeks or so, he's been, "well, when I'm at camp..." and "well, only "x" amount of time until I'm at camp."
Joshua has been going Camp Barnabas, or as one of the FRIENDS calls it: Camp Bah-RAAAA-Nah-Bas, for about 12 years. When he first started going, the cabins were old and not air-conditioned, and the facilities needed a lot of updates. But then Ty Pennington and his Extreme Home Make-Over team came in 2005, and rebuilt and enhanced some things. The media attention led to more funding, and they were able to build all new cabins for the campers. Things are a lot nicer now!
Clark said he would ride up there with me, and I was so appreciative of that. It takes about 4 1/2 hours to get there, and then we have to wait in a long line for an hour...and then it takes about an hour to get him checked in and settled in his cabin...and then it's 4 1/2 hours home. Any way you cut it...that's a long day, right there.
I've done the trip by myself, and I don't really mind it...altho it does help when someone else goes with me. I feel safer, altho I don't know if I am. I have someone to
The main reason why it's good to have someone come along, is that they realize how exhausting this day is. Because if you're the one who stays home and gets 12 hours to do whatever you want, well, you have a different perspective of how the day went.
Right?
In the end, Clark AND Faith-the-girlfriend went with us. Faith had never heard about Camp Barnabas...or, as another one of the FRIENDS calls it: Camp Bar-nah-rahhhh-bas...until she started dating Clark nearly 3 years ago...and she has always wanted to see it.
So, as I am posting this, Joshua has been at Camp all week. We are going to pick him up early in the morning. The last night of Camp is always very emotional for the FRIENDS. They have what is called "cross carry." I will be praying extra-hard for Joshua and the FRIENDS tonight.
I just started thinking that maybe I should post links to Joshua's camp experiences from last year. You can find them here, here, here, here and here. And then the last post from last year was the one on cross-carry, that I linked above.
I cannot WAIT to see my boy tomorrow! We've only seen two pictures of him on the Camp website. One from when we arrived...and one with him and his counselor at the pool. I hope he's had a good week!
"I have written your name on the palms of my hands." Isaiah 49:16
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