Junior Campers

Ashley and I took the juniors to camp yesterday. This is the same camp where Justin and Jeremy are working for the summer.

It was good to see my boy. He said his first week of camp with juniors was excellent. The Lord blessed and thirteen got saved. I believe he said two of those, the Lord let him lead to Christ. He's looking forward to the next few weeks and what God has in store for him and the campers.

I got our girls settled in. They were a little nervous, but very excited about the upcoming week at camp.

I was able to make sure the boys got settled into their cabin also. They were really happy to find out that they were in the same cabin and that Justin would be their counselor.

It made the girls a little more comfortable, too, knowing Justin would be around to look out for them.

As we were leaving, we saw Justin and his crew heading to the church for evening service.

Praying they have a fun, safe week and that the Lord does good things for them while they're there.

Life's Little Blessings

Another friend of ours had their baby the other day. Hannah and I went to see him and he is an adorable little guy. Well, he's really not so little. He actually came into this world weighing 9.14 and 21 inches long. He has the most adorable little cheeks. I forgot to ask his mom if I could post his picture here. So when I get a chance, if she says it's all right, I'll do that. But even his little chin is pudgy and perfectly round. He's such a doll. Please say a prayer for his mom who is recovering from a c-section and very low iron. I know she'd appreciate the prayers.

After seeing the baby, we went to the mall. We had lunch at Subway. I love their grilled chicken on flat bread. I always get onions on it, but the smell of their onions stay with me all day. But you know what? It's still yummy.

We went to Dillard's after lunch and Hannah found her a pair of Sperries. She ended up having to order her size and they should be here soon. I know she'll be happy when they get here.

Then after shopping we ran an errand and stopped off at Bruce's Aunt Dessie's house for a little visit. We were pleasantly surprised to find Aunt Sue there, although she was recovering from a little eye surgery. It did not stop Aunt Dessie from finding Aunt Sue reading, though. She's an avid reader and even with one eye she's keeping up with her books. That must be where Hannah gets it from.

Aunt Dessie has a new hobby of making picture videos so we sat down with her and Aunt Sue and watched a few videos she has put together. They were fun to watch and a LOT of fun to watch with Aunt Sue and Aunt Dessie. Those two are real characters and will keep you laughing.

Aunt Dessie showed me the program she uses for making her CD/DVD labels and then let me borrow the program. I'm really excited about that because I've been looking for a good program to make CD labels for KLM Photography. I'm hoping it will run on my computer. I'm sure it will and I'm excited about trying it out.

We stopped at my mother in law's house on the way home and visited with her for a while. We had a good visit. Hannah is talking her into teaching her how to crochet. We'll get what she needs this weekend. I know Hannah will be good at that and she'll enjoy learning and making new things.

After a day of fun visits we came home and fixed a HUGE supper of deviled egg salad sandwiches. haha Truthfully, it doesn't sound like much, but Bruce loves 'em and would eat 'em every meal if I made them. Hannah made this batch last night. My mother in law came over and had a sandwich with us. Then she took Hannah back to her house for the night. So I'm guessing they watched movies, talked, and no doubt, Marie got up to cooking breakfast. That is, if Hannah didn't get up cooking before her.

Bruce has been working six days but he's off this weekend...and next...and took off next Friday for my birthday. YAY! So we're going to enjoy our weekend together and just chill. Well, he'll actually be working on a project he promised Hannah. She has a futon in her room and it takes up a good bit of space. She he's making a new frame for her bed to raise it up in the air and we'll put her futon under it. She's really excited about that. She'll have a place for her friends to spend the night when they come over.

I'll be taking our junior campers to camp this Sunday. Jeremy's fiance is going with me. It'll give us a chance to see Justin and Jeremy and find out how things are going up there. I'm looking forward to driving the campers and riding with Ashley. She is such a sweet girl.

And that's it for now. I've done two loads of laundry and have three more ahead of me. Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Building and Leadership Camp

Hannah started a new blog. You can check that out by clicking here.

She left for Leadership camp this week, along with four other teens from our youth group. I drove them up there with the company of my friend, Rebecca. It was a fun trip. I enjoyed it. Before we left for Leadership camp, I was happy to see workers on our church property putting up our new building. So exciting!


Brother Ronnie, Brother Wayne, Clayton, and Nathan were also working.


We made it to Leadership camp and the facilities were really nice. This was the front of the gym and where the kids registered for camp.


Hannah, James, Todd, Parker, and Justin C. The young man in the blue shirt, I believe, is someone they knew from being at Teen Camp last week.

This is the view from the side of the gym. That line there is for the zip line. fun, fun!

This was the boy's cabin.

This was the lake...obviously...tubes, water basketball, swimming...more fun, fun!

Hannah's cabin was clear on the other side of the lake. I liked these cabins.

Hannah immediately decided which bunk she wanted. Smart little cookie grabbed the bottom bunk by the door, next to the air condition vent and outlet. LOL

I'm praying the Lord will show each of the kids something more this week and that they will develop a deeper relationship with Him.

They'll be home Saturday. I look forward to hearing all about it!

They're Back!

The kids were coming home today and I wanted to make sure I degermed the house as much as possible. After the stomach virus and this horrible summer cold/flu thing, it was a definite must!

I'm still sick and didn't feel like cleaning, but I had bought these pretty pink gloves last week and forgot about them so when I opened the cleaning cabinet to retrieve some products, there they were. It made my cleaning more enjoyable.
:)

The kids called shortly after lunch and said they were just a few minutes from the church so I freshened up a bit and hit the door. I was excited about seeing them and hearing what all happened at camp this year. They were full of stories and testimony. It was a blessing.

I prayed the Lord would deal in their hearts this week and He did. Justin is stewing on some things and we'll see how that goes. The dealt with Hannah's heart also. She's going back next week to their Leadership camp for a few days. She's looking forward to that. I was glad to hear she had a desire to go to that. From what I have heard it is an intense leadership training course. I know the Lord will work on her heart some more while she's there.

It was so good to see my kids. I've missed them this week.

Justin was pleasantly surprised to see that his diploma from CCC had arrived in the mail today. So now everything is official for him.

While they laid around and napped for four hours (lol), Bruce kept our regularly scheduled date night. We went to see a man about a horse. OK, not really. But we did go see a man about a vehicle. It wasn't exactly what we were looking for, but we sure did enjoy the talk we had with him and appreciate him so much!

We ended up doing fast food tonight. We were both actually wanting a burger and ended up at Burger King. It was my idea. He was open to anywhere and I chose Burger King. I haven't had a flame broiled burger in a while. Anyway, we enjoyed our time together talking and picking on one another. Hit Wal Mart for a little bit, then a couple of stores at the mall. I did find a really cute jacket at Burke's Outlet I may go back after. I'm not usually an impulse buyer, but this was just really cute and I'm regretting not getting it. I might go back after it tomorrow. On the flip side, Bruce found him a couple of shirts he liked and bought them. I found a cute door ornament tonight. I call her my Ivy Fairy. LOL She'll be sweet hanging on my front door.

And then we came home. We're watching the picture video the kids brought home from camp. And thus concludes our Friday.

OH! By the way, we have a young preacher boy in our church that has started blogging. Brother Troy is one of my favorite preacher boys. He has such a tender heart for God and is a serious studen of the WORD! Please stop by his blog and read his posts and leave a comment if you will. He's a wonderful young man and this family loves him a whole lot!

Click here to read Walking In The Old Paths.

Off To Camp and A Couple of Pics

I dropped the kids off at the church yesterday afternoon. They left for camp between services in hopes of making it to the camp's church for their Sunday evening service. Justin and Hannah were really excited about leaving for camp. This is Justin's last year. I've been worried about Justin coming down with the virus while he's at camp. He's the only one in our family that hadn't come down with it. I really hope it stays that way. I'd hate to think of him being up there sick, away from home....his own bed. I haven't heard from them so no news is good news, right?

On the way home from dropping them off I saw this little guy perched on top of an old birdhouse. He was just singing his little heart out. I decided to call him Sunday Songbird. He was just so sweet. He definitely was feeling better than I was. I wished I could have felt like singing the way he did.

We've had several frogs hanging around our house. Mainly the front porch. Bruce and I were sitting on the porch the other night and he told me there was a frog that had been living in a bucket under one of our porch benches.

Today I decided to sit on the front porch and just watch and listen to the rain, which we haven't seen in several weeks. I glanced over to the bucket under that bench and there sat this little guy.

It rained for fifteen to twenty minutes and he sat there, just like this, the entire time. I guess he was enjoying the rain as much as I was. LOL

When the rain stopped, he fell back down into his bucket.

Later in the evening it started raining again and he decided to enjoy it one more time. This time he hopped out of the bucket and sat where the rain would hit him a little bit. When the rain stopped, he went back into his bucket.

Isn't he cute?

Sick With A Capital "ICK"

So now it is Sunday. Still not feeling up to par. Woke up with a terrible tummy-ache around 8:30. Went back to sleep until 10:00. It's almost 11:30 now and Bruce is still in bed. He spent ten hours in bed yesterday. This is not a usual characteristic of Bruce. You know he's sick when he stays in bed like that.

I was feeling ok when I got up yesterday. I took my time getting ready to go grocery shopping. I felt a little dizzy when I got out of the shower, but when I sat down I was ok. So I went on to the store.

I stopped at the Dollar Tree to pick up new toothbrushes for everyone. You know they have packs of two Colgate brushes there for a $1. I always buy new brushes when we get sick. Well, that's not the only time, but most definitely when we've been sick. I've always been perplexed at when to start using the new toothbrush. Do you continue to use the old brush while you're sick? Do you keep giving yourself the illness with that brush? Or do you start using the new brush right away? And if so, does that mean you're contaminating the new brush? And should I buy more brushes when we're feeling completely better? These are questions that I ALWAYS have in my head when we've been sick.

Anyway, I started feeling dizzy at Dollar Tree again. So I sat in the car for a minute after checking out. It passed again. Cato's was there near the Dollar Tree and I had gift cards. So I went in, looked around for a minute before I started feeling dizzy again and just turned around and walked out. That's when you know I'M sick!

I made my way to Wal Mart for groceries. Never in my life have I ever noticed how long that store is. I made it through the grocery section, but not without wanting to just sit down where I was and pass out. I seriously considered just leaving my buggy and going home, but that would mean having to come back and start over. So I finished and came home.

When I got home, Harrison had started throwing up again. He seems to be feeling better this morning, but I kept him home with Bruce and me while Justin and Hannah went to church.

Speaking of Justin and Hannah...when they get home from church they'll eat lunch and then I have to drive them back to the church to drop them off for camp. This is Justin's last year at camp and he's both excited and a little bummed.

I know they'll have a great time. I'll miss them while they're away, but looking forward to some fun time with Harry. I have plans to attend a local revival service with him, maybe a day at Monkey Joe's, a day at the park, etc. That is....if we can pass this horrible bug. I hope we're not sick all week. :( That would be a bummer.

Right now we're just laying around. I thought some fresh juice would be good for my tummy so I juiced some carrots with an apple and a few strawberries and it was very good. Harry drank some too and loved it. I'm always amazed at the amount of juice you can get from just a handful of carrots.

I hope everyone has a Happy Lord's Day!

2 Corinthians 12:9 "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee:
for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather
glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Camp, Old Friends, and Knobby, the Sasquatch!

So we're into our third day of camp. I just found out that there is Family Night up there but have no idea when. I'm guessing it is Thursday. Which is my birthday. Which is already booked with a family thing here. But it's ok...I'll survive. I heard from a friend of ours that works there and he said Harrison was having a great time. So unless something changes, I'll see him again Friday morning. I know he and Matt are having a good time and I found out there were several other children we know up there.

I was sitting on the couch yesterday watching FOX news (so depressing sometimes) and I heard a knock on the door. I thought, at first, it was one of the little neighbor boys coming to play with Harry, but the knock was too strong. When I stood up I noticed a car in the driveway. And when I went to the door, there stood an old neighbor friend from Justin's childhood.

I couldn't believe it. I opened the door and gave him a big hug and he visited for a few hours with us. It was so good seeing him. I'm hoping he'll come to church with us since he's moved back into the area. He's looking for good friends and I know he'd get along great with our growing college and career class.

I'm thinking there are about thirty + in there come September since we just lost eleven that graduated from high school. That's a nice crop of college and career kids.

We've recently had a sighting of Knobby the sasquatch in our parts. If you haven't seen it on the national news you've really missed it, let me tell ya. This mountain man claims he came face to face with one. Legend has it, that "Knobby" the sasquatch was spotted several times in these parts back in the '70s and is now making his appearance again.

Here's a link to the news report:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T0R4l7Iyp8&feature=related

And here's a link to see a video Brother Ted took of Bruce telling about his sighting of Knobby:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fybri3QOlzc

It's going to be a busy weekend. See you all later!

Off To Camp He Goes!

Harrison woke up an excited young man this morning. He was ready to hit the road to spend his first week at camp.

He and Matt were BOTH excited young men!! The talked and carried on the whole ride up.

After Tammy and I road and searched and drove and searched, asked an older gentleman at the recycling center where it was, and then asked someone directions to the camp, who called someone they knew that worked at the camp, we finally found the camp.


The facilities were great.

This is the chapel. This is where we checked in and they would have chapel services each night.

I'm guessing these were the old cabins the campers used to stay in.

This one was a craft cabin.

There's a lake if they want to use a canoe or go paddle boating.

A volleyball court and a place to play basketball.

This building had a wonderful mural on the side. It's the game room.

When we checked the boys in, they were assigned their cabin, so off we went!

This is the cafeteria.

And signs like this are important to campers. You know....drinks, candy bars, etc...

Their cabin looked like a new facility.

They were the first ones in the cabin and chose lower bunks across from each other.

Matt was making himself comfortable. :)

There were two other rooms like this one besides the one they were in.

Their bathroom/shower was in the back of the cabin.

Tammy and I nearly killed ourselves showing the boys how to play tether ball.

They have archery and horseback riding too. Unless he's died, one of those horses is the same one I was riding when I broke my leg years ago. Hope Harrison doesn't get him. LOL

As we walked the boys back down to the chapel area, two counselors came out and rushed them down the hill to the game room for some play time while the other campers checked in.

And off they went. I know they'll have a terrific time. I'm sure there will be lots of funny stories told when they get back!