Last spring Elijah set about selling camp cards to earn his way to summer camp. With hosting he knew we did not have the money for him to go to camp unless he earned it. Through the generous help of many friends and family he sold 218 camp cards. This earned him not only the $2.50 profit from each card to be used for scouting activities all year long, but once he sold 200, he earned a FREE week at a Flint River Council Camp. He was all set to go to Winter Camp in December for free. Christmas morning he started running a fever. He was due to leave Monday morning, in 2 days. Monday morning came and he was running 100.1 – too high to go to camp. So, off we went to the doctor to rule out the flu, thinking that he’d go the next day.
Well, the test came back positive for the flu. He was so very upset. Months earlier he had worked so hard to earn this, and now it was being taken away through no fault of his own. I still remember him sitting in the office after the nurse told us the test was positive but we had not seen the doctor yet. He said “Mom, when God closes one door, he will open another.” I was so very proud of him at the moment of huge disappointment. He ran a fever all that week and was not able to go to camp for one single day.
Fast forward a few months. New camp had been planned for summer, but it was canceled due to the camp deciding they were closing that week. Our Troop then decided they still wanted to go that same week, so they decided to go to our local camp, the same one winter camp was at. Several people had mentioned to us that we should approach council and tell them Elijahs story and ask if they would give us a discount for summer camp. This was not a prize Elijah won it was something he worked hard for. We really do not like to ask people for things, but decided Elijah had worked so hard for this, wed swallow our pride and ask.
This morning we got an email from council. They have reduced his summer camp cost to only $50. This was the deposit he already paid!
We are so very thankful to Flint River Council for listening to Elijahs story and granting this to him. This not only helps him, but all the money he would have used for this, now can go for other activities during his scouting year that he may not have been able to do because money is very tight with our adoption.
I am thankful that my son has the faith to know that When the Lord closes one door, he will open another.
Most of all I am thankful to the Lord, who ultimately provided this for us, through many others. He sees the big picture we can not. He knew that having summer camp paid for was the better thing than Elijah going to winter camp. We may never understand why, but that is okay. We trust Him.