Church Camp

We have our church camp this week, and it's been a good week. Paul and I have been going back and forth, because of things we need to take care of--him, church stuff, me, garden, hens, and our freaked-out cat. Last night we got a date out of it--we went to the new restaurant that serves New Mexico cuisine on Lombard, Encanto. It was delicious! Paul had a very different chili relleno, and I had an enchilada dish that included grilled zucchini. Yum!

Anyway, back to camp. We had a very difficult time convincing Hibi that she should try church camp again. Last year was very difficult for her. She was the new kid, among kids that had been going to church camp for years together. She was (still is!) the priest's kid. She homeschools. And she's just a different kid. Plus she had counselors that were....well, just immature, not ready to deal with these issues. They were just young and didn't know any better. This year she got (at the camp director's direction) two *awesome* counselors, Christina and Margaret. They are crazy wild! And they are treating Hibi with rock star status! Plus she has started to connect with some of the girls. Perhaps also due to these great counselors? Anyway, they were going to have her play her guitar at campfire last night (we missed it)--her favorite, Country Roads. I also informed Hibi that there was someone else there at camp who didn't grow up here and might not be in a tight clique that she has prior experience with....though she didn't remember him very well. It was a boy whose family was at the seminary with us. The two of them were seminary brats together. Hibi always wanted to be his friend but he was a whole year and two months older than she and just was too old for her, in his opinion! That age difference is big when you're 4 and 5. They have been getting to know each other again, and are doing some chanting together. And man, he was the whiz kid then, and he's still the whiz kid. He chants very well.

It seems Zac is having a good time, too. I can tell because I haven't had much contact with him. :-)

Photos are being uploaded every day from camp, courtesy of Jacob Gorny. I found one of Hibi, in the drum circle the first night (for the oldest group only! Boy was that a shock to find she's in the oldest group). I was hoping for pics of me helping make prosphora (communion bread) yesterday with the kids, but it's not there yet, anyway. Maybe one will still be uploaded. Not that I noticed Jacob taking any pictures of it, but I didn't notice him taking other pictures of me that I saw.

Speaking of prosphora. On Saturday night we were at the camp with the counselors, and the kids were due to arrive on Sunday afternoon. Paul was to serve liturgy for the counselors on Sunday morning. He'd brought all his stuff he'd need for the liturgy. Except for one crucial element--prosphora! We all tried to think what to do about it: was someone coming out that could pick it up from the church? Not very practical as we'd have to get someone out there to open it up and turn off alarms....could we make it there? We could, but we didn't have a seal. The seal is a wooden item with carved out symbols on it, so it leaves markings from the symbols on the bread. Each symbol represents someone we commemorate during the liturgy--the different classes of saints, Mary, etc. and the whole of the church. What we finally came up with: I made the bread, and Martha, who is an artist, carved out the symbols in the dough with a knife. It actually came out beautiful! Maybe even better than with a seal. How's that for making do with what you've got? I wish I'd had my camera along to take a picture of that beautiful prosphora.