Best.Group.Of.The.Summer.

Last weekend was our staff's most favorite group of the summer...Special Ed Camp!

It is the most rewarding weekend of the whole summer. Several "Group Homes" of special needs adults get together and organize the weekend for their clients. They eat candy bar after candy bar and drink sodas galore all weekend. They ride go karts, swim, go down the water slide, tie dye t- shirts, have {the most precious} talent show and the last night they have a dance!

Our staff takes this dance VERY seriously! Most of the girls dress up and they all have a ball!

This year Tyler asked Shae to go!! Hahahahahaha

He even brought her flowers! He was planning to pick her up in the golf cart, but it wasn't working, so he tried the mower...but it was broken too!

Here they are doing the "awkward first date pose."

At the last minute Leanne came out of the dorm so she joined in on the "date".

Off they went to the "Rec Hall" for the big event.

Tyler has endless energy and he whirled Shae around a few times, at one point he was in the middle of a circle of ALL the dancers busting a move!

Bill danced with every single one of our staff girls I think! He is a real ladies' man! Crystal is so adorable with that sweet smile, no wonder he came to ask her to dance!

Corbyn, our Texas boy, got into the action even though it wasn't his taste in music!!

My mom and dad were there for the whole dance, and they even danced!! Hahaha. This is their little friend, Lynette. Every day at breakfast she asked, "Where's John and that other lady?" "Can you call them?"

Jack Doney surprised us with his moves (all 6'7" of him!) He took Anna for a dance! He was our wonderful worship leader all summer. He is headed back to Liberty University this year.

Sweet Gavin said, "Hey baby girl" to Shae every time he saw her and zoomed in on her right when she arrived at the dance. His brother was also a camper (my heart goes out to their parents having two special needs kids, but what precious boys!)

The LP Staff had a blast!!

This is Shae with (Gavin's brother) Josh and her favorite camper, Adam!

Two years ago, Adam came up to camp for the day time, he was so shy! Now he lives in what we call, "The Cool House" with all the cool special needs guys! The staff at that house are the coolest guys, that's why the clients are such ladies' men!

My little "special" girl had a fantastic time too! She danced with Micah and her Daddy and Grandpa even got a dance with her!

I am so amazed how God prepared me for the path that my life would take.

He knew that Lassen Pines would provide the unconditional love Lindsay (and all of us as her family) would need to feel from all of our sweet staff each summer. They step in to help her to the bathroom, get her food and get her back to me when she wanders off. He knew that the worries about what life would be like as Lindsay gets older would be extinguished by my experiences with these campers. The gap between Lindsay and other kids her age is getting bigger with each passing year but it's comforting to know that she has a bright future and a lot of fun experiences ahead of her, and she will have her own peer group!

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