Best start to a Friday

Conversation with this little guy:

Amar: Miss Jen! Miss Jen! Can I have a hug?

Me: Always!

Amar: Where were you?

Me: When?

Amar: When you weren't here.

Me: You mean this morning?

Amar: Yeah.

Me: Well buddy I was at home.

Amar: Don't you work here?

Me: Yes. But I have to go home sometimes.

Amar: *Insert confused look* Oh...Did you see the performance last night?

Me: I did see part of it. Just not the whole thing.

Amar: Why not?

Me: I had plans to have dinner with a friend.

Amar: Oh...I'm going to a party tonight! It's at 6.

Me: Really? What kind of party?

Amar: A birthday party. It's a party for my best friend. It's at 8.

Me: Oh at 8?

Amar: Yep.

Me: What are you going to do?

Amar: Hmm...I don't really know.

Amar is the type of kid that is our shining glory after camp. When he came to us he was just, well, little. He cried often. Got in trouble often. Had difficulty staying engaged. But only in the ways that little kids have those kinds of troubles and you have to teach them something different. He was incredibly difficult to discipline...look at that face and tell me that it would be easy to yell at him. :)

But over the course of camp his incidents became fewer. He smiled much more frequently and he started having fun.

One day he was sitting by a wall crying and I asked him what was up. He told me he didn't have any friends. I said, "Well that's silly. I'm your friend."

"You are?"

I said, "Well sure. And I'm in charge of this shindig right?"

"Yes."

And I said, "Well then I guess you're pretty lucky to have me for a friend." His eyes got all sparkly and I think he actually believed that I was someone important, therefore making him important, for half a second. And that was how he stole my heart. He was one of few kids that we see anymore that is a kid. He's innocent and flaky. He's gullible and imaginative. Most of the kids we see aren't like that anymore.

By the end of our time with him he was a very different kid than who we had started with. He still had his troubles. Like the day I found him in the corner with tears rolling down his eyes and we had this conversation.

Me: Amar, why are you in the corner?

Amar: Because I was singing.

Me: You got in trouble for singing? (Those of you that know me from the way back days will find this statement coming from me quite hilarious and understand why Amar and I get along so well.)

Amar: Yes. The teacher told me to stop but I didn't stop singing.

Me: And why didn't you stop when the teacher asked you?

Amar: ...because I really like singing.

But he was obviously different, more confident and comfortable here. He continued into another camp that we were offering here right after ours was over and it has truly been a JOY to watch him in this camp. The other day during their art class he went to go to the restroom and when he came back through the door of the classroom announced, "So what'd I miss!"

It's those kids who make it really fun. Not because he's going to be on Broadway someday. Although, if he doesn't stop singing all the time his career choices are going to be limited. But because I actually got to witness a change in who he was in a very short period of time. I got to see up close how God used this camp to help him mature and grow. And those are the sweetest memories I could hope for.

On that note, one of our counselors literally just came in and said, "Amar's on a roll again."

:) They just don't know him like I do.