A Candy Land Adventure

To tell you the truth, Candy Land ended up being a challenge to pull off. For all it’s potential – color, interesting characters, sweet things to eat – it became almost overwhelming. Sometimes being able to decorate with the entire Life is a journey. It’s a winding path. Sometimes, you get a shortcut. Or, worse, someone else on the path gets a shortcut. Other times, you get stuck…while others pass you by. You meet interesting people. Some are nutty, others hardworking and many are evil. At times, it is quite difficult. But on occasion, you shoot to the top. Regardless of the journey, the destination is the goal. In the life of a Christian, that goal is the King.

It’s been a full year since Lisa, Andrea and I started brainstorming on a Candy Land theme for Mother/Daughter. As we talked and thought about it, it occurred to us how much our life journey is like Candy Land. There are shortcuts, but there are places you get stuck. Sometimes, you shoot ahead to Queen Frostine…only to get demoted to Mr. Plumpy. And the goal? King Kandy.

As fun as it was, Candy Land was a challenge. Decorating with every color of the rainbow is a bit much. And to have scavenger hunt complete with characters, games and crafts became an even greater challenge when nearly 130 mothers and daughters decided to come. I’m not sure Andrea slept for a week, thinking about all the things she had to get done to pull it off. But pull it off she did. And the girls completed their scavenger hunt with the prize of a tiara and a certificate showing they are a daughter of the King.

It was a long, whirlwind of a weekend. Girls and their mothers playing games, doing their nails, making crafts, jumping rope, cooking s’mores. Lots of laughter. Lots of fun stories to tell. (I had 9-year-old twins grilling me to make sure Ed is a Christian before I marry him). And lots of excitement to come back next year. As far as weekend retreats go, Mother/Daughter is my favorite.

But most importantly is what God did that weekend. We don’t know everything, but we had many follow up e-mails of praise for things God had done. And one women accepted Christ as her Saviour and became a daughter of the King.

As a full day’s worth of decorations came down (took 10 hours to put up décor that lasted all of 48 hours), you’re tired and wonder if it was all worth it. But once you have a nap and think back on a few special moments in the midst of the whirlwind, you know you would do it all again.

Camp Lebanon’s “Candy Land” Cast of Characters.

Bill helping me prep for the evening Mother/Daughter photo shoot.