Summer Camp

This was the first year my kids have gone to Church Camp (mostly because I was asked to help and that required them coming along).  This was the SCCA Junior Camp for 3rd & 4th graders but all 4 kids LOVED it!  I was thankful it was only Sun thru Wed. as I'm getting too old for all that fun out in the heat.  I may have gone reluctantly but God got my heart right while at camp and blessed me by the opportunity to love on these kids.  I spent many years as a camper and I know how important those experiences, lessons and memories can be.

This is Boo with her new friend, Christian.  The first night she slept by me but then she moved her bed to be next to her.  It was great to see her making friends and seeing the other kids treat her as a peer instead of a little kid.  She did her fair share of memorizing verses for the team too.  The week's theme was "Believe it" and the lesson I had to teach was on Deborah (Judges 4:). 

Here is Goose with one of her many new friends, Shana.  She really has no trouble making friends and if anything, her struggle is juggling the demands of the other girls around her.  She's learning that you can't make everyone happy all the time.  That's difficult for one with a compassionate heart but a necessary lesson to learn.  Like the other kids, she was not ready for camp to end and is already planning for next summer.

The boys had a great time but as I wasn't allowed in their dorm, I don't have a picture of them for you.

Summer Celebrations & Such

We just celebrated a wonderful Independence Day.  We enjoyed a yummy cookout with friends and while we waited for the fireworks that evening, we made tie dyed shirts and played four-square (it was amazing how long they kept at the game).  Here is the beautiful outcome of the shirt project and the happy faces of their designers.

The next day we went blackberry picking at the family farm.  You can see it was a very fruitful few hours in the heat, thorns and ticks.  That's why they say, "no pain, no gain."  Now we are enjoying the "gain" in the form of jam, syrup and smoothies.

A huge blessing has been the recent arrival of the newest Ethiopian friend.  Jonah was welcomed home by his new family and our little group of friendly support.  I can't tell you how excited my boys are that another boy has been added to the group, even if he is a bit older than they are.  Please pray for Jonah & his new family as God knits them together and they adjust to their new life together.

Now this one probably doesn't qualify to many as a celebration but I disagree.   My man and his boys worked hard to reroof our shed this past weekend.  Not only was this a first for all of them but it turned out great.  You wouldn't know it was a first for them.  The boys mostly did the dismantling but they were proud to help out Dad.  Good job Babe!

Final Visits

Our last day out East was spent with some more relaxing family visits and the guys even did some skeet shooting together.  It was a relaxing day to finish up the whirlwind week.

We started our trip home on Father's Day and stopped in West Virginia to visit with Big Skip & Sue.  My man's best hunting buddy, Skip, is their son but he is in the Phillipines this summer on a mission trip.   We had a great visit with his parents and they treated us like kings & queens at their gorgeous hunting cabin for the evening.  If my man has his way, he'll be back out to hunt with the gang this fall...

After that, we spent the last day driving for 13 or so hours to get home!  As nice as it was to be in our own beds that night, we weren't thrilled about the nasty hot & wet weather we returned home to (we are about 12 inches AHEAD in normal rainfall this year and we're ready to build an ark).  And so ends our 2010 vacation.  Now back to real life....