Kids Camp 2009

On the way up to camp we stop by a free swimming pool. Okay so it's not really a pool but it kind of is. They made this huge pool like thing in the middle of a stream. The water in it is from the stream and then it drains off at the other end. It's kind of hard to explain, but if you look at the picture you might get the point.

The first evening the kids customized their own backpacks for their swim gear. Since swimming is something we do every day one of our counselors had this brilliant idea that we needed to give them something better than the plastic bags we used last year to help keep their stuff together. It really did work sooo much better.

Yohn is the one who puts together the theme and the messages. This year's theme was Transformers - Faith is More Than Meets the Eye. He also organizes the schedule, makes phone calls to the different places, etc. He basically is the one responsible for putting the camp together.

With the transformer theme the kids learned how to "transform" different parts of their body for God's use. Can you guess what this message was about?

On two of our four camp days we visit Whiskey Lake Reservoir. They have a great swim area with four or more lifeguards on duty. I didn't get a really good picture of the area but it was beautiful. If you look carefully you can see a floating barge thing in the middle of the water. The kids love to swim out there and jump off.

Ahh...breakfast the most important meal of the day. Thank you Kimberly for all the great food!

I thought this was a picture of worship time but normally they are standing up for that, so this might be announcements or just before worship or something. Anyway, you can see how we had the kids meet for their morning sessions.

Can you tell what David's message focused on?

This is an up close picture of that floaty thing with a lot of kids from our group hanging out on it (don't you love how well my camera can take pictures from a great distance?). In fact it might only have kids from our group on it in this picture. It was so funny when Pastor Gene was walking toward water so he could swim out to it. The kids were chanting "Pastor Gene, Pastor Gene!" That's one of our boys doing a flip by the way.

Yohn instructs the kids on how to do a belly flop the proper way. By the looks of it even he may not have done it properly.

There's a sand bar out in the middle that you can swim out to also. It's a long swim to get to it though, so you either have to be a strong swimmer, or you have to stop off at the barge halfway over and take a rest (that's what I have to do anyway). The kids love it on the sandbar too. I know the other shore seems kind of close in this picture but it really is a good twenty feet or more away.

Chef Yon makes an appearance every year at kids camp and the kids just love him.

He always whips up such "wonderful" things for them to eat. Can you imagine tasting that? You might not think the ingredients are so bad: spongecake, goober (peanut butter and jelly together in a jar), peaches, oreos, maple syrup and chocolate syrup, however, when mixed together the combo is a bit frightening, especially the way Chef Yon does it. At least he didn't use a dead fish like he did last year. Last we heard that meal killed someone!

See how all the eager suckers willing participants that raise their hands when Chef Yon offers a taste?

One of Chef Yon's lucky (or shall we say extremely un-lucky) taste testers.

I wasn't going to use this picture because it really didn't turn out the way I wanted it to but since I accidentally uploaded it there it is. This is Pastor Gene teaching on tranforming you hands to do God's work. A thank you to you too Gene. I don't think kids camp would be successful without you!


One final look at camp. It was a great four days spent with some great kids. But after those four days of them staying up late, sleeping in tents, worshiping, catching multiple lizards and frogs, doing crafts, playing messy games, taking no showers, swimming until they were exhausted, feeding them, listening to them ask when the next meal or snack is, torturing entertaining them with Chef Yon, teaching them how to let God transform them, praying over them, and "stuffing" them in cramped vehicles, we were very glad to give them back to their parents, transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The End!

Vacation - Elisha's Dance

I forgot about this video I took of Elisha on the last day in Oregon and wanted to share. Since my children are "tv deprived," meaning we have no cable or satallite, etc. The only tv they watch is on DVD's we purchase. However at my mom and dad's house they watched a few things on the satallite in the morning. This show is called the Imagination Movers from the Disney channel. They really loved this show and Elisha especially liked the song at the end. From the first day they watched it this is what he did.

Setting Up for Kids Camp

This was the third year we have done kids camp "on our own". What I mean by on our own is that our church does not join another kids camp where several other churches attend but rather we take our group of kids from our church only. It got way too expensive for anyone to be able to participate, so doing it on our own makes it more affordable for the parents. Our Hungarian Pastor own property near Redding so we head there every year and camp out in tents. There is water and electricity in his pool house and while the kids can't shower while we are there the adults still can. That is if we want to take one that is ice cold. We have learned a few things the past couple of years and one of them is that you can't set up the tents with the kids there. It's impossible they are impatient and in the way. So this year we thought we'd try going up the weekend before and set up the tents and take up the food. That way there's a few things we can cross off the to do list before we get there. Now I planned on taking pictures while we there to show, but alas, when you are setting up tents who wants to stop and take pictures. And furthermore, who would want to see pictures of people setting up tents anyways. So the pictures you are about to see are actually from on the way home. We stopped at a pool and let the kids (everyone's kids cuz' it wasn't just our family that went) cool off. While they did this I took some great pictures of them. Here goes...

Bethany happens to be riding on her daddy's back who happens to be underwater.

Okay so you already knew I had a picture obsession but you didn't know it was that bad, huh? Well, just be happy I didn't post all the pictures I took or you'd be here all day! And just when you thought I was done, pictures from the ice cream shop!

And that's it! Notice I'm not in any of these pictures? It's not because I didn't find any I liked but it's because I just don't think to photograph myself. Or maybe I wasn't there at all, hmmm...

Vacation - Day 11 - Saying Goodbye

The day we go home is always the hardest part of the trip. I hate saying goodbye to my parents because it's often a year before I get to see them again. I do wish we lived closer or they lived closer but it's just not really possible. God has us where He wants us for a reason. And I do love where we live and all our friends who have become family here. I really wouldn't trade it, I just wish I could see my mom and dad more too.


For the kids saying goodbye had to, of course, include Loo Loo Bell.

Bye Grandpa Hanery (It's Henry but Bethany says it with an accent).

In Winnemucca, where we stop for the night after six hours of driving, they have a huge playland at McDonald's. I don't care much for McDonald's but when you're starting to run low on funds and your kids have been sitting in the car for six hours it truly becomes a blessing. This is truly the best playland I've seen at any McDonald's. It's huge, has an air conditioned room with twelve or more family sized tables, and they play kids music the whole time.

I don't know how well you can see her but this is Bethany making a funny face through one of the windows.

Our room at the hotel we were staying at had two bedrooms and two tvs. Needless to say the kids were very excited about that. We were supposed to have this room on the way up too, but when we didn't get our car and had to cancel our reservation we weren't able to get the same room the next night because it was already booked.

That's it for our vacation story. Up next...Kid's Camp 2009!

Please Pray

I have a few prayer requests I was hoping you guys would join me in.

#1 please pray for the little guy in the picture on the right. He has SVT, which means he has a rapid heart rate. He is 8 months old and already had open heart surgery when he was 4 months old. His condition has been able to be somewhat regulated by medication until recently. He is now hopitalized and the doctors are scrambling to come up with a plan that will work for him. The past 48 hours have been really tough on him and his family.

#2 I just found out this afternoon that my uncle had a heart attack. They had to go inside and fix his blocked arteries. Please pray for a full recovery.

#3 Please pray for the school where I work. With current hit on the economy we are at the lowest enrollment we have ever seeen. Just pray God will give us direction and a vision that will change the circumstances.

Thank you!

Vacation - Day 10

You know you are in farm country when the hills in the surrounding area resemble a patchwork quilt (there's the clouds again. Did you notice?).

My mom had some rocks given to her, okay not some, a lot of rocks given to her and she gave some to the kids so we could start a rock garden. The kids are always bringing home rocks from different places so I thought this may help to boost their collection. There were some very neat rocks and my mom was told they were from places all over the world. Most of them were in need of a good cleaning so we entertained the kids with toothbrushes and a pan of water for about 1/2 an hour until they got tired of it.

The kids left a lot of dirt on the rocks and my mom and I finished cleaning them up for them. Yohn, for some strange reason, just had to take a picture of us.

We stopped by our friend Jackie's house for a visit because she was out of town when we first arrived. She had just gotten back the day before (I think) and so we thought we'd go see her. She wasn't home at the time so we took the kids to Riverside Park which is just down the street. Yohn and I visited this park often during the summertime when we lived in the area.

I know you saw all these pictures already on my header, but I really like them and wanted to post them again anyway! Sorry if you feel they are redundant.

We did get to see our friend Jackie afterall and the kids had a great time playing in the back yard. Josiah (her son) happened to have a soccer game that night so our family went to watch him play.

Josiah was very excited that we came to his game. Here he is giving us all a thumbs up!

He was also extremely excited every time his team scored a point. Here he is telling Elisha that they just scored one more.

Josiah made his first goal ever while we were there. Go Josiah!

This is Haley, Jackie's youngest. True to toddler form, she is chewing on her sunglasses.

Haley also had a thing for the water bottles that were sitting along the sidelines. She tried several different varieties until she found the one she liked. Anytime it was left unattended it was in Haley's hands.

Josiah practically attacked Yohn in all the excitement of his team scoring one more point!

Haley and Elisha entertained themselves by making faces at one another.

Mmmm... Ice Cream! After Josiah's game we stopped by Dairy Queen. There's a definate chemistry between our kids and Josiah and try as we might to calm them they were very animated and loud. After they finished their ice cream, that is!

Haley is one of the sweetest, most well-behaved toddlers I have ever met. Now I know I only saw her for two or three hours (or four, I can't remember) but she was really good during that time. Jackie, don't you roll your eyes at me! You and Michael are doing a good job, keep up the good work!

When the kids decided to all "dog pile" on Elisha we decided it was time to leave. Thanks again Jackie for letting us stop by unannounced. The kids really enjoyed watching Josiah's game!