Quest to Believe

While Kiefer's striped belt looks funky--it was not! I promise!

Last week out of the blue a bunch of posts, this week...back to nothing.  Why you  ask ?  

Because of what you see in this picture.... and yes, I know it's blurry.  I attribute that to the early morning hour and my late nights at the sewing machine over the past week.

This is Kiefer and Quinn, dressed to go to our Church Youth Conference.  They will be living in tents for 3 days, dressed as people who lived in the Americas around the time of Christ's birth, and there will be no showers, no TV, and no jobs to distract them.  

There will be dramatizations of stories from the scriptures,  games, and campfires, testimony meetings, and quiet times to ponder.  There will not be any electronic devices, make up, electricity, or extra food/snacks allowed (Quinn is pretty sure he might starve).  

Making these costumes for the two of them to wear for the next few days took me much more time and energy than I anticipated.  They had to have a long coat, then a tunic, then long lightweight pants, and a t-shirt to wear underneath.  I made them all except for the t-shirts.  It was time consuming, I'm adequate when it comes to sewing, but no seamstress.  Of course, it didn't help that I decided to add pockets so they could carry their bug spray and chapstick and a pen.  Or that I put off beginning until the week before they needed them!

Shopping for the material was fun, I took the boys with me and let them pick out all their material.  Although that meant dealing with slippery knits, which added much frustration and time to my load, the fun we had together was worth it.  And, they enjoyed seeing their vision for their clothes come to life, from bolts of fabric to actual costumes. I also used the time to teach Sage and Thane how to sew straight lines on the sewing machine.  Now they all want to make their own pillowcases-sounds like a fun summer project!

They have had mixed feelings about this adventure, it's hard to do this in a new place, with few friends, and not knowing any adults who will be there.  They don't know what to expect and are feeling a little apprehensive.  I don't blame them.  They also struggled a little with the guidelines for the conference, extra snacks and books to read were begged for---many times.  In the end it didn't matter, the leaders gathered all the bags last night and went through them to check for contraband.  They left this morning with literally only the clothes on their backs.

I hope they will get more out of this adventure than sleeping on the ground, playing games and eating odd food.  The Conference has the theme "A Quest to Believe" and I hope they each have taken that to heart.  A few months ago our leaders gave out a list of scripture stories they wanted the youth to study and prepare to discuss.  I encouraged my boys to do it, but felt they are old enough to make their own choices.  My heart wanted so badly to push them into a spiritual experience, but I realized you really can't do that.  

That's the heart of spirituality-the individual nature of it all.  When you get right down to it, we are all on our own Quest.  It's the journey, the tears, the triumphs, the mistakes, the lessons learned and those neglected that  make who we are.  And, no matter how much I want my children to have all that I have, they have to earn it for themselves.  And it will be all the more precious when they realize their own answers.