And they're off! An epic first day.

At long last, the day arrived. Twenty-two of the Music Makers showed up at about 5:00pm. The first thing we did was eat dinner. I'd like to show you pictures of that, but honestly the adults were just lucky to survive the feeding frenzy. These kids knocked down eight nuggets each and some chips and fruit snacks. Shout out to our Grubhub driver, Wesley, for going the extra mile (literally) when they didn't give us our complete order. He went back and got the rest. (Disclosure: Wesley does drive for Grubhub. This delivery was not actually through Grubhub.)

After we ate, we lined up and did some warmups/last minute refreshers. It was a lively bunch, but mostly compliant, and they were singing well!

Our first stop was the Mansions of Decatur. I love singing here, especially as a first stop on a tour. They always have a great audience with a lot of energy, so it's very easy to sing there. And they have a piano so I don't have to set up a keyboard. My friend, Ruth, helps set up and make sure they're ready for us. She and I go back to Decatur First days! When I was chatting with her after the concert, she told me the residents talk about us coming as soon as they see it on the calendar. They look forward to it. This makes my heart happy.

If you've followed us before, you'll know the singing is only half of what we do. I spent some time with the kids at our last Wednesday rehearsal and also shortly before we left talking about how to engage the audience after we sing. What are some questions you can ask? How can you connect with them? Every person in the audience has an interesting story if you can just get them to tell it! 

You guys, some of these kids are 3rd graders who have never done anything like this before...but you wouldn't know by watching them. It is amazing to see the faces of the audience light up when we visit them. 

I've been doing trips like this for more than 20 years now, and one thing that hasn't really occurred to me before tonight is that this visiting--this listening to stories that we do--creates its own story for us. It's a common experience, something that gathers us together. When we sit around the circle and talk about our day, and when the kids recall this story or that and someone else says, "Oh, I talked to her too! Wasn't she great?" we draw closer to each other.

We said goodbye to our new friends at the Mansions and got on the bus to head toward Chattanooga.

It's a big bus for us. There are about 30 of us total on a 56 passenger bus. Plenty of room to spread out and get comfortable. Interestingly, many of the kids chose to sit near the front of the bus this time. That's unheard of. There's usually a mad dash to the back. But I'm here for it! 

I don't usually do a movie for this trip, but the driver had a Roku, and she turned on Zootopia 2. I hadn't seen it before. The kids wasted no time getting comfortable and settling in.

I had only seen the first one, so I enjoyed watching it too! (Also...these seats recline a really long way.)

We arrived at camp a little after 9:30p and gathered to talk about our day. I challenged the kids to learn everyone's name by the end of the weekend (if they do, I'll add an ice cream party to the list). I grouped them with their chaperones and sent them to their cabins. One final check to make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be, and then I started working on this. I realized just now I didn't get any pictures of our devotional time. I'll do better tomorrow.

I've forbidden them leaving their rooms before 7 in the morning. Breakfast is at 8. Guess we'll see how that works for us. History tells me tomorrow will be an early morning at Camp Lookout...but after a full day tomorrow they'll sleep more on Sunday! Guess we'll see.

Drop a greeting/thought/observation in the comments if you have a minute. I'll share it with the kids during our devotional time! You can look for another exciting blog post tomorrow!

~Mr. John