best camper award

when i got out of the van at the service, lacee's counselor happened to be walking by. she came up to me and said, "your daughter is amazing!" i smiled and said, "awww, thank you". "no, really, she said. she is awesome. she has been the best helper. she has helped everyone, is always smiling, comforted other girls when they got homesick. she is getting the best camper award. all the counselors agreed on her, they all loved her. dont tell her, but you have to stay for awards." "oh ok" i said, nearly crying.
so they had the service and gave out all the swimming awards, sports awards, etc. then the director of the camp came up and said that they enjoyed giving out the fun awards, but now it was time for what he thought of as the biblical awards. they have out awards for best bible student, and the students who had memorized the most bible verses. then he said it was time for the best camper awards.
lacee's counselor, madison, stood up first. she said, "i have had the best cabin this week i have had all summer. if you had a girl in cabin 3 then you should be proud. these girls have been great. (at this point i had to tell lacee to stop talking to mark anthony as i wanted her to listen) i nominated several of my girls, but all of the counselors agreed that it should definately be this girl. she always had a smile on her face, she was willing to help anyone at any time, she was nice to everyone, making tons of new friends. last night she even stayed in the mess hall, missing the bon-fire, to help clean up. she wasnt even asked to do that. (at this point lacee's eyes got big and she looked at me and mouthed --that was me!) so our young girls best camper for week 8 2008 is -- Lacee Wilson!"
everyone clapped and cheered.
as she walked up there, i began to cry. of course, lol.
when lacee got up there, she hugged her counselor and began to cry. madison sat down with her, lacee curled up in her lap, as madison hugged her. this had me and our friend cindy wiping tears away. i asked madison later what lacee was saying up there and she said lacee was just like "thank you so much, i'm gonna miss you so much."
it was such an honor for lacee. our friend amanda, whose blog is linked below, called us later to find out what all nice things had been said about lacee. all of amanda's kids go to msyc, and several of her older ones work there as counselors. she said that the counselors have a meeting and they all talk about the kids nominated for best camper, that they all have to agree that the one chosen should get it, that it isnt taken lightly. i put lacee on the phone so that amanda could congratulate lacee. amanda is such a sweet person, so gifted with words. i am not sure exactly what she said to lacee, but whatever it was was wonderful and brought lacee to tears again and she thanked her.
as moms we all think our kids are wonderful, but it is such a reassuring experience when someone else thinks so too. the fact that lacee was able to make an impact on so many people on such a short amount of time is amazing to me. and she is so humble, so amazed that she got the award. she actually thought she got it just b/c she cleaned the mess hall last night. i said, no baby, it takes alot more than 1 act to get such an honor.
i thank God every day for my children. he has certainly blessed me with 3 wonderful children. he has blessed me with an exceptional daughter. if we could all have the heart that lacee has, this world would be so full of love and caring.