Have you been hearing the people around you excitedly saying, “Summer is right around the corner!”

For most people, that one statement can invite a host of anticipatory emotions and thoughts. You may find, like me, you don’t usually fall into the category of “mos

t people.”

Being an adoptive mom, I find when I hear this phrase spoken, a small unwelcome rumble happens deep inside of me that sounds something like short growls of fear rising up from my innermost self. Why? Because the concept of summer can bring an unsettling atmosphere in my home and my family.

For many foster and adoptive families like mine, fear can unearth questions without permission. Those questions flash across our minds like sentences rolling on a reader board in Vegas:

• What happens to the much needed structure our kids require when school is out?
• What type of activities can we do that will engage the kids?
• How can we safely take our kids out into the community for social exposure to build connections?
• How many corndogs can kids be fed over the summer before toxicity is a risk?

Okay, the last question really doesn’t go through the minds of most parents, but it goes through mine often! It’s an honest question because feeding the kids all summer is a “thing” − it really is a “thing!”

When this happens to me, I  pause, bring my breath to a slower pace, push stop on the rolling sentences flashing through my mind, and I come to an anchoring sentence…”Summer is tricky, but the family has Warm Beach’s Refreshed Family Camp at the end of July,” followed by a long slow exhale.

Our family looks forward to Refreshed Family Camp each summer because it gives the family something to look forward to! It truly is an anchoring place where we and other families get to be who we are without the worry or fears that often come up when trying to create summer memories outside of our individual homes.

Maybe you are at the point where you need an anchoring sentence to tell yourself to help calm your summer rumbling questions. Say this out loud: “Refreshed Family Camp, a place of calm, known structure, full of a wide range of age appropriate engaging activities, where the food is plenty, and you are surrounded with a diverse community of people who don’t fall into the ‘most people’ category.”

Feels good, right? Join us at Warm Beach Camp and Conference Center, July 28^th –31^st. I would love to see you there!

-Carrie Blaske

Adoptive Mom

Refreshed Family Camp 2019 Speaker