Wrapping Up our Amazing Camp Experience

Seth has completed 4 of 5 days of mountain therapy at Adam's Camp. The staff has reported that he has had good or great days each day. Our reunion friends left camp yesterday morning and Bella and Luke were able to join the Sibling Camp mid-week. They have had a great time the past 2 days getting to know other kids with siblings with autism. Today Mike and I joined the kids at sib camp for a canoeing outing at the reservoir here at Snow Mountain Ranch. We enjoyed the time together. Sib camp lets out at 11:45am, which gives us time to spend with Bella and Luke before picking Seth up at 2:30pm.

We are finding this camp a wonderful adventure for the whole family which is truly a blessing. Not only is Seth receiving intensive therapy and having fun at the camp, the rest of the family is able to get some respite and have fun together also. Last night we joined 3 other families for dinner at the Breford's condo. It has been a joy to meet other parents and connect with them also. The Brefords are a couple we've connected with who share our faith and were so excited for us to get to experience Adam's Camp. They were also excited that we had an 11 year old daughter who has become fast friends with our 11 year old daughter (last night we enjoyed dinner at their condo, tonight we had dinner together at our condo and the girls enjoyed the Disney channel movie together and were plotting to have a sleepover).

Over the course of our stay here in the Winter Park area we have seen 5 rainbows. It has been an amazing testimony of God's love for us and his promises to us. The beauty of God's creation is so breathtaking in this part of the country that it makes me want to shout for joy at times. This week has truly been a week of refreshment for my soul even though my body is beyond weary from many late nights and nonstop activity. Getting to share this time with amazing friends old and new has been so uplifting. First with our precious reunion friends who have known us since we were newly, newly married and prayed and supported us through our unique journey of parenting and second with other families who are walking the journey with us - facing the tremendous challenges of parenting a kiddo with autism.

I have felt the goodness of God in an amazing way this week with all that has happened that He clearly orchestrated to bring us encouragement and hope. I know it has been a great benefit to our whole family. Today we were able to meet one on one with a family therapist as part of the Adam's camp program with expertise in dealing with behavior issues and talk through strategies to implement to reduce Seth's head banging and teeth grinding. She has a strong background in ABA therapy (the type of in-home therapy we've done for 5 years with Seth and was able to give us some fresh ideas for his programming along with confirming that what we are doing is spot on.) This was a good time to get a fresh set of eyes to look at our situation.

Tomorrow we finish up camp - there are closing ceremonies and a final parent conference with Seth's therapy team to hear in depth all he has done this week and recommendations for therapy goals and methods. Then we are off to Breckenridge - no not Utah anymore. We were able to exchange our week in Utah for a condo in Breckenridge - a unit that must have become a6vailable in the past couple weeks. We are relieved to not have such a long drive ahead of us since our stay here in Colorado was extended. The big kids were a bit bummed - but Mike and I are overjoyed to not have to drive an additional 18 hours with a fairly quick turn around. We are looking forward to having some much needed downtime after 7 exciting, action-packed, but tiring days .