I can't wait until tomorrow.  This week has been soo long!  But, can you believe they BOTH made it all the way through!!?  David did so far past what I ever thought he could do.  I am so proud of him, and so thankful to the Lord for allowing him to be so successful.  I can't believe I didn't think he'd make it through one night.  Of course Matt did say he looked like a zombie this morning at flag raising.....he's got to be so exhausted, I can't imagine.

They are both tired.  Sweet Johnny lost it again last night and cried, "I don't think I can last another two nights....I just MISS you guys".    Of course, that was after a big, group game and it was 9:00...he was SO tired.  Matt told him to try and just go to bed, but that if he couldn't fall asleep it would be OK to come down to the nurse's station and sleep with dad.  Sure enough, his counselor said 5 minutes and he was out.  He's doing fine during the day, it's just the nighttimes that are hard.

But, it just ripped my heart out.  My boy!  SO I did what any pining mother would do....I went up and cleaned their room today.  Cleaned and cleaned it.  And sat there for awhile imagining two little boys sleeping there tomorrow night.  Now I know why my mom always had my room all spotless when I came home from camp.  She must have missed me!  Well, that and maybe she wanted to make sure I didn't have scary things growing under the bed.   Seriously, I missed them so much sitting there in that empty room!  Anna has missed them terribly too.  She gives them hugs and kisses when we go out....which they appreciate greatly.    Actually, David hugged and kissed her back, which was very sweet.  Anna's been sick today.  I hope, hope, hope her fever stays down tonight so we can all go out and pick them up tomorrow.

Going out to camp for lunch hasn't been terribly comforting either.  Not only do I barely even see them as they cram lunch in and disappear, but I also have to resist my motherly instinct to meddle.  It's amazing how quickly we react (or maybe overreact) to things when our kids are out there.  When Matt told me that Johnny slept badly on the campout b/c "they wouldn't let me take my pillow and blanket"....I was like, "WHAAATT!!!!  How could they!?"   I think Matt was a little worried when he saw the look in my eye.   He was pretty quick to assure me, "I'll find out what happened".  Turns out they aren't SO very dogmatic on it, it's more of a 'maybe you don't want to carry your pillow out and get it dirty' kind of thing. Johnny is a pleaser...he wants to do whatever you think he should do.  So that would have been all it took to keep him from taking his beloved blanket.  And a pillow?  C'mon, I can't even sleep without my pillow!  I drag it along on every trip. 

Anyway, do you see why I had to pretty much RUN for home after I was done eating?    Insufferable, controlling mother that I am.  But see, it's a good thing that there are always staff kids attending camp.  Because then we really keep tabs on how the whole experience is going. 

Funny story.  David has always had what Matt jokes about as being a 'superhuman' sense of smell.  The kid smells horrible smells that we barely catch a whiff of if we concentrate real hard.  He can smell cereal in the air when he comes downstairs if someone ate it an hour ago.  He knows.  The smell of  potato cooking drives him batty.  When he was 3 or 4, we walked into my aunt's house for Thanksgiving and all the wonderful smells that enveloped us sent him into a complete and utter meltdown.  He wanted out of there right NOW!  Couldn't take the intensity of those smells. 

ANYHOO....they were out on the campout and his counselors were playing a campfire game called Smell the Stick.  (or something like that)  One counselor turns around and the other counselor picks a camper to come and touch this stick someplace specific.  Then the first counselor comes back and smells the kids hands, makes a comment like "ooo, your fingers smell like candy...I'll be able to tell where you touched it", and then proceeds to sniff the stick to presumably figure out exactly where the kid touched it.  Of course, there's a trick to it and he's watching his partners feet b/c when one comes off the ground that's his clue that he's got the right spot!  And the campers are so impressed with his smelling skills!  Well, David immediately wanted to try it.  "I have a SUPER smeller", he said.  "I can smell cereal all the way across the room!  Let me try it!"  So, they turn him around, etc.  He comes back and smells the kids fingers carefully.  "They smell alot smoky and a little sweet", he decided.  Then he carefully sniffed the stick all over, taking his time. 

"He touched it there.", and pointed to a spot on the stick.  You know what's coming.  It was the exact right spot.  Can you believe it?  They were floored.  Of course, noone thought of having him do it again....and why would they?  He was I'm sure enjoying his success.  And honestly?  I do not totally believe it was a coincidence.  I'm telling you, he has always had an unusually sensitive sense of smell!

Now just so you know....after the pillow incident, my hubby reminded me that Johnny was fine, he got through it, it made him stronger....and he is right, as usual.  So see, I'm not SO very insufferable.