The Camp Experience

Right now Elle is singing "Thank you Lord for loving me." It reminds me of what a blessing it is to be able to take our girls to camp way before they can actually be campers. Yes, it was hard to have my kids by my side 24/7 with no privacy at camp, but the stuff they gain from being outdoors, no technology to disturb, and getting to be around other kids with like mind, made it all well worth the lack of privacy! This was another wonderful year at camp. Our class was wonderful this year, but it always is. We had 13 HS girls and 6 HS boys. It was actually a really good ratio. Usually there are equal amounts of boys and girls but our guys cabin had around 6 cancellations at the last minute. We taught from the book of Ephesians and man it was a great book to go from! So much great stuff to learn! In personal news, I turned 31 while at camp. Shawn took me up to our cabin on my birthday and had a cake and milk for us. He sang happy birthday to me and then we did some cleaning and adding to the cabin to start making it feel more like home sweet home. Earlier in the week Shawn and our friend Dustin painted the ceiling and walls in the kitchen/living room and that was no small feat...the ceiling is REALLY high and just getting the ladder ready is a huge task in and of itself. But, it was all worth it because the cabin is starting to look so so so good!!! It makes me really excited for our first trip there! Here are a few pictures from our time at camp....I took over 700 pictures, many of which are on my facebook page, but it just takes too much time to upload many pictures on here, so I'll just show some of my favorites. Enjoy!
This was in Las Vegas, NM the night before camps starts. We always stay in a hotel there and then on Sunday drive the 30 minutes to get into camp. This fireworks display was such a treat for us Texans who have been under a burn ban for YEARS during the 4th of July. We happened to see if from our hotel and decided to find it! The city of Las Vegas was putting on a huge display! What a way to start camp with a bang!

The nightly ritual...FARKLE! On this night we squeezed 12 people into this game. These are some of the best memories!

We took the girls on a short hike to mini falls. They absolutely loved it! The water was freezing!!! They were really dissappointed that we didn't come across a bear...Shawn and I were not.

4th Session Teachers 2009

On top of that pole, a person is perched. They are about to stand up and jump towards a trapeze. This is about to be a new element on the ropes course. It was too much for even me! Shawn did it though and made it look easy!

Here's the precampers putting on a little play dealing with the verses that talk about the whole armor of God. True to form Elle said her lines perfectly while Ava picked her nose and then ran off stage to give Shawn a hug in the middle of everything. He told me later that she wanted to give me a hug too, but that he made her go back with the other precampers.

Here is our class....so well behaved looking....don't let them fool you! :)

Closing campfire...always so bittersweet. I was ready to be back in my comfortable home, but didn't want to leave! Shawn preached for closing campfire.