Scampout

As of Thursday night, Freestone wasn't planning on going on the winter "Scampout."  He wanted to stay home and mentally prepare for his ballroom competition.  Also, he didn't want to freeze.  But one of his leaders showed up to take him grocery shopping for the scampout, and after spending a wild hour at the store with his scout friends, procuring delicious food to be scorched and charred over a fire, he was sold.  He left Friday afternoon, didn't freeze, had a great time, and got home the next morning in time to get ready for the ballroom thing.  I love Freestone's scout leaders.  I was never a fan of scouts.  I actually went into it hating the whole idea.  I still have my differences of opinion with the Boy Scouts of America, but I am slowly being converted by the patience and dedication of Brother Call.  Scouts is EVERY Tuesday at the same time, EVERY week.  It's nice to be able to count on that.  In addition, they have other activities.  Everyone knows how much I hate throwing extra stuff into the mix on the fly, but the scouts just seem to have the patience for accepting whatever we can give, and loving Freestone no matter what.  After the scampout, Brother Call came up to Scott and me at church with tears in his eyes, saying how he had looked deep into Freestone's soul over the campfire and wanted us to know that Freestone was a great kid.  I mean, this scout leader is dedicated in the best possible way.

One of Scott's scout leaders from his youth, Don Kranendonk, passed away this weekend, at the very time that Freestone and the young scouts were making s'mores on Antelope Island.  Scott spoke in testimony meeting Sunday about his own scout leaders, specifically Brother Kranendonk, and said how grateful he was to have had their influence in his life.  Parents can't possibly supply everything a child needs in terms of examples and support.  I attribute the bulk of our kids' success to their music and dance teachers, and the good examples they have at church.  All of our kids have all had teachers and leaders who genuinely love them, and there is no substitute for that, not even a parent.

The scampout is a good example.  Scott and I are never going to haul a trailer of equipment to Antelope Island, let alone peer deeply into Freestone's eyes over a campfire as his peers bear their testimonies of Jesus Christ.  Thank heavens there are men among us who are willing to spend their weekend doing that for our son, and thank heavens there were men, like Don Kranendonk, willing to do that for Scott.