Today was the first day of Boyscout Day Camp for Joshua. It was terribly lonely without him at home today. However, it was wonderfully exciting for Joshua! The theme for the camp this year is "Everyday Heroes". Chris was one of the "Everyday Heroes" to speak at the camp today. He and Joshua left early this morning, along with all of Chris' FBI SWAT gear, for Camp Butler. After the boys were all checked in, about 100 kids, the camp leader settled the boys in for a little meeting before the troops separated and started the days' activities. One of the first things he did was to ask if Joshua Kopp was present, and if he would please come forward. So, our troop leader asked Chris to walk Joshua up to the front. Let me tell you a little story before I go on...A couple of months ago, when we signed Joshua up for camp, a letter was sent out to each boyscout asking for ideas on a patch design for the theme, and the winner would have his camp fee refunded (each boy will receive a patch at the end of the 3 day camp). Joshua was excited about the contest and kept saying he was going to draw up a patch design and send it in. Only, he waited until the day before the deadline to do it. We got it in the mail so that it would be post marked with the deadline date, but I still told Joshua that it might not get there in time. We never heard anything, so we didn't think of it again. Until...this past Monday. We received a letter containing all of the information we would need to prepare Joshua for camp - paperwork, gear, lunch, etc. On the letter was a picture of the patch being used for the camp. As soon as I saw it I said to Joshua "that is your patch". We couldn't believe it - it wasn't exactly the same, the wording was a little different, but other than that, it was his patch design. We were thinking maybe somebody else had the same idea only better, or maybe it didn't get there in time, but they liked it, so they used it. I told Chris and he said that somebody probably drew up a similar patch. So, we just said "weird" and let it go. OK... back to this morning. Chris and Joshua are standing up in front of all the boyscouts, leaders, helpers, parents, etc., and the camp leader proceeds to introduce Joshua as the Patch Design Winner!!! They framed a Winner's Certificate, with his original drawing and the patch, and presented it to Joshua, along with a refund of his camp fee. We are all so proud of him!! We knew you all would be too!!
It was pouring rain when Chris and Joshua left this morning, so we had to take his picture, before departure, in the garage.
This is Joshua (minus all the mud and muck from the day at camp) and his award.
This is a close up of the certificate. You can (sort of) see his original design compared to the actual Patch.
