West Star Wilderness - We Love You!

I love West Star Wilderness. It has changed my life. It has changed Trev's life for the moment and hopefully for a long time to come. I guess I should provide some background to clear up my ramblings.

Trev is the younger of our two older kiddos (that sounds confusing, doesn't it?). He is the chocolate to his older brother's vanilla....literally. Those boys really couldn't be much more different. One of the obvious differences is in their extracurricular activities. Zach is the baseball player and Trev is the soulful musician. Typically, our summers are dominated with Zach's baseball and the rest of our clan gets to tag along to his activities. Dad was absolutely set on finding something just for Trev this summer, something he didn't have to share with his brother, something to reinforce our love for him as he begins high school and navigates all of the insecurities and stresses of teenagerhood. After much searching and consultation, Dad found West Star Wilderness http://weststarwilderness.com/. It was a five day hiking and camping trip in the Rocky Mountains. Up to twelve kiddos set out with a group of adult counselors and nothing other than the packs on their backs. The goal is for the kids to build relationships with others and gain a sense of accomplishment. Good stuff. And this is RIGHT up Trev's alley, he loves outdoors, camping, "roughing it". I was hoping that it would be a positive experience for Trev, but I didn't forsee the positive for our family. We set out to give Trev a gift, and true to the wisdom of the ages, "when you give, you get". Our gift to Trev turned out to be such a blessing to our family.

When Trev got home last Friday, we heard his fun stories of the amazing scenery they saw and the friends that he made, some of the low-points (dehydrated food, outdoor bathroom challenges), but what I didn't expect was the change in his view of our family. He could not stop gushing about how much he missed us, about how much he appreciates my cooking and all of the things we do for him, how much he loves us and in particular, his baby sister and brother. He immediately started helping me out with little things around the house that I usually have to solicit help with. Then we headed out for Orlando the next morning and I noticed that throughout the duration of our trip Trev was always searching for a way to help, carrying the diaper bag for me, buckling the babies into the stroller, taking on more of his share of bags when going through security (which is no small task!). Other changes were also evident, he was cognicent of what things cost and kept talking about being less wasteful and spending less money, he blew off the hurts that Zach doled out rather than retaliate. It has been an amazing transformation to witness. I just love the beautiful things that happen to our lives when we stretch outside of our comfort zones.

Thanks West Star for providing Trev with many lovely memories and for returning to us a more compassionate, thoughtful, helpful young man.

Here are some pics Trev took:



Trev and his new friend Chris. They bonded hard and fast.



Trev and his counselors/guides.




Trev and Chris in the shelter they built.




Beautiful scenery. Trev's turning into quite the photographer!




Trev and his favorite counselor, Tim.




Purple mountain majesty.



Self portrait.




The entire gang.