Hiking the Vasquez Rocks

Jon is turning 17 in April and I know it's important to get out with him before he graduates.  Here's one of our recent adventures.  A great location for easy hiking and walking or, for the more adventurous, climbing the famous Vazquez Rock, as seen in numerous movies and TV shows.


http://parks.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dpr/Parks/Vasquez_Rocks_Natural_Area

















To get a feel for the size of the rock behind us, there are people climbing it off the the left peak!














Jon climbing to the peak on the right.

Global Impact Conference.

One of our Church donors, Asbury Methodist Church in Madison AL.  has a large Missions Summit every other year called Global Impact Conference.  This year I attended the 4-day event on behalf of RFK.  They had nearly 100 Missionaries or Missions Organizations attend the event, from local, National and International locations.  They treated us like Royalty and we had opportunities to hear some powerful speakers,  be involved in workshops as well as speak several times about our own organizations and how we are impacting the world.

Working the Table for local attendees to stop by and learn about RFK!

The local church helps at the food bank, so we all went down for the "Potato Drop".  Bagging the sweet potatoes that were not store worthy, but were food bank worthy.

Connecting With Kids, Even After Camp

The following is a letter from a Counselor in Ohio.  It speaks of the simple, yet powerful affect that one-week can have on kids from hard places.  The Royal memories that we help create bring tangible connections before and after we intersect their lives.

I have been a counselor for Royal Family Kids Camp for 6 years now. Each year at the end of camp I am upset to see the kids go.  Some kids go back to a good home, but some of the kids I don't know if they are going to a good place or going to be with others who love God.  

This year I was able to see a child outside of camp and was able to be one of those people that cared for them throughout the year.  I was the child's teacher.  I found a job as a second grade teacher at a Christian school.  Before the first day of school I wrote the kids a letter and sent it to them during the summer.  It just talked about what I was doing this summer and that I was excited to meet my class.  I mentioned that I was a counselor at camp as well.  

The first day of school came and one little girl was there very early.  Their family is always the first to arrive at the school.  She seemed a little shy at first.  She asked me if everything on my letter was true, even camp.  I told her it was and that I loved camp.  She stared at me for a few seconds and then asked if it was Royal Family Kids Camp.  I was shocked that she knew about this camp. I told her that it was.  The next question she asked was if I knew the songs.  I started singing the camp theme song and she joined in with me.  When the song was finished she shouted "Be right back!" and left the room.  I didn't even have time to respond.  A couple minutes later she came back with two boys.  They both had been to Royal Family too. One was her brother and the other a close family friend.  The three of them were so excited to find out I was a counselor for Royal Family.  They were all talking at once trying to ask questions and share stories.  I could have talked to them forever, but the other kids were coming in and school was starting soon.  

The next day the boys were back in my room and all of us sang some songs that both of our camps had done.  They were so excited and so was I.  The girl in my class was especially excited.  Her teacher was a Royal Family Counselor!  She brought in her camp shirt from the summer along with her photo album.  She showed me the pictures and talked about each one.  She loved her Counselor and I can tell that she is excited to have her again next summer.  

It is amazing that this girl could have ended up in any class, but she just so happened to be in mine.  She has shown me just how much Royal Family has meant to her.  The three of them still come into my room some mornings together just to tell a story or sing a song together.  Royal Family has such a huge impact on kids and they carry their memories with them even after camp is over.

Kalyn W. - Ohio Counselor

Camp & CASA Workers Experience to Always Have HOPE.

From one of our Camp Directors:

One of many things I've learned since last year's camp: Just because the camper's application says the child, who is 9, has been in care for almost 4 years, with 16 placements & 2 failed adoptions, does not necessarily mean this is a child with severe behavior problems! 

I requested to be this child's CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocate, so I could learn what had caused a young, precious child to have been through such an ordeal. That child had already attended 2 of our camps, & we never had had an issue with her. 

Her big sister was a different story. By being her CASA, I learned that a lot of the problem was The System & the foster & potential parents! This child had let us know that, shortly before camp, all 3 of her siblings had been adopted. 

Can you just imagine how she felt! I am HAPPY to say, and Praising the Lord, that she is in an amazing home with hopes of adoption in late May or June. 

PLEASE never assume anything about your campers. You just never know! 

RePost from our camp in Kearney NE

Why Royal Family KIDS Camp is important for Kids in Foster Care:

My Wife and I have been doing respite for a while now and recently had a young boy stay with us for little over a week. He was full of energy and ideas that kept us on our toes.

In that short time frame my wife noticed that his week was full of visits and appointments one after another and would start right after he went to school. We would start the day around 6:30-7 a.m. and he would be dropped off by a case worker to our home some nights after 8 p.m. It was hardly enough time to make sure he had dinner, bath and any homework that needed to be done before going off to bed.

A few days in my Wife looked at me with a look of sadness as we got him and our other two young kids to sleep and she said disheartened, "He doesn't have any time to be a Kid. This is why Camp is so important to these kids. He needs to go to camp this year."

She was right! There was no time to play, be silly, or just be a kid. He had a full time job after school with everything involved with his routine. After a while with that kind of schedule anyone would need a vacation, let alone a six year old kid.

Royal Family KIDS Camp is a week long camp that treats people royally and creates life changing moments that matter to kids in the foster care system that have been forgotten. All at no cost to the child or the caretaker and it is because of people in our community that volunteer at camp or scholarship the kids for about $500 a kid.

We are getting ready for camp this year and are looking forward to giving kids some time to just be a kid.