(From February 2011 Brave Girl Camp – McCall, Idaho)

Tuesday at Brave Girl Camp is all about finishing touches….and sweeeet anticipation.  Waiting for our lovelies to arrive is like waiting for Christmas!  So we try to keep ourselves busy and make every detail perfect….

Melody puts the finishing touches on several art pieces that she hopes will help our girls feel loved and safe. Several girls hang sparkling jewels from the highest windows and chatter about how beautiful it will look when the sun shines through them and casts rainbows of light over all the walls. A few more girls sit on the floor in the middle of the red carpet with stacks of curriculum printouts, sorting and collating them and putting them into hand-made fabric folders, each with a hand-made name tag for its very special new owner. We fold aprons and Brave Girl hoodies and tie each with a pretty ribbon; we add a name tag and place them on each girls’ bed as a little surprise. We iron hand-made napkins and tablecloths so they are ready for all the beautiful table-settings we have in mind for each special meal. We hang garlands of flags and lights and beads and most importantly, photos of all our girls and their families and pets and such so each one will feel at home. We place candles everywhere we can find a flat surface; colorful flowers and birds and beautiful things fill every corner. All the while, the lodge is filled with the sounds of girl talk and laughter and music; delicious smells come from the kitchen as our first meal is being lovingly prepared….



Then…before we know it everything is done…and Melody gets the call that says the shuttle is getting close…so she goes to the park to meet them.  And the rest of us are left to light the candles…and try to keep ourselves busy so we don’t DIE from anticipation! :)

While we’re waiting, Melody meets our girls at a park in town:

To tell them some important things:

And make sure they know that they are safe…and to let go of their worries:

And we try to keep ourselves busy…we are SO EXCITED to meet our lovely Brave Girls…and hug them…and
tell them how happy we are that they’ve come to be with us:

And then WE get a call…and they’re on their way…they’re SO close!!  We run outside and line up…and it feels like waiting for your mom and dad to say it’s okay to look in your stocking.  We stand together and stare down the road…and we cheer when we can see the shuttle.  And it seems like the busdriver is playing a joke on us and going as slowly as he can, but he’s not and he finally pulls to a stop right in front of us.  And then they’re HERE!!  And we are finally together!  And we hug our Brave Girls one by one…and take them inside the beautiful Brave Girl Cabin.  And Mr. Ross brings their luggage in because he’s nice and manly like that.  And we get acquainted over dinner….yummmm:

Like I said….YUM!

Then we spend some time around the red carpet and we talk about what to expect, and what we all want to experience during the next 4 days together.  And the girl time is awesome!  And we can already tell that this is going to be a magical camp.  So we celebrate with dessert:

Then Kathy sings us a lullaby and we all go to bed…and even though the anticipation should be gone, we have a hard time falling asleep feeling even MORE anticipation for what tomorrow holds.