Day 5: Our work is done (for now)

Our last late night entry. Looking back over the week, while we had our ups and downs, we had a really great trip. This morning’s wake up was much gentler than others and some were disappointed, others relieved. Only the old timers knows what awaits them tomorrow morning. Today was much like all the others, except we knew it was our last with the kids we have come to know. We arrived early again, to avoid the heat of the day, and we finished up most of what needed to be done before the kids arrived; including preparing something special for our guests. This was nice because the whole team was then able to spend time with the kids. Good thing too, today was our largest crowed with 19 guests arriving for fun and games. Speaking of games, the kids even had Fr. Tom out there playing kick ball with them.

As the end of our day came to a close on Rosebud, we gathered in the church for worship and half of the kids who joined us jumped up front to help lead the songs. What a change from the first day. Back to the community center for snacks and special gifts. As each child left today, they got a bag full of the things they made, a hug and something none of them expected, backpacks with school supplies and some toys. As is usual, the good byes went on and many didn’t want to see this week end. But end it must and we waved farewell to the kids of Rosebud until next year. After cleaning up, we headed down to a local waterhole for a series of gross games and swimming (after the games the kids needed to jump in the water to clean off before getting back into the vehicles).

They don’t call the games grows for nothing, and a few kids had trouble with unknown flavors of baby food, and bobbing for marshmallows in a sea of cheerios, water, and chocolate syrup. However, they really enjoyed the water balloon fight, especially when the adults were the only unarmed targets. A short swim in the lake and it was back to Valentine where we unloaded and then sent the kids off to the pool. The adults followed with the supplies for our last night BBQ. For those of us who only got showers this week, up until today, the soak felt great. Of course going down the slide was fun too. With a hearty meal of hamburgers, hot dogs, and pasta salad, the kids (and one or two adults) went out to the swings or sat around chit chatting until it was time to pack up.

This evening’s time was a bit different as we did not have a bible study. Instead we talked about what our expectations were, the places these expectations fell short or when we were surprised about what we encountered, the best things that happened on the trip and how we might make the next one even better. There were some really great (and not so great) things that happened this week, and I suspect only the great ones will really live long in our memories. With our trip down the river tomorrow, and our long drive home, I suspect that I will not complete the last entry for Friday or begin posting pictures until the early part of next week. But I hope to do it as soon as possible. We give thanks for the time we have spent together and we pray for a safe day on the river and on the roads we travel to get home. Good night.