I love moments when I become a kid again, I find that camping aids this transformation. At home I am practical, focused, efficient: I'm an adult. At camp, however, I can be excited about roasting my food over a fire, chasing a frog through the wet grass, spending hours wandering a beach in search of - fun, and nothing else. *sigh* This brings a peaceful satisfaction to my soul.

Don't get me wrong, I can be very childlike at home as well. *snicker* The moments are seemingly more abundant and alive with excitement when we are out-of-doors.





I don't have very many pictures from this camping trip, sadly, I did not bring my camera out in the rain very much.

So, I think i'm done with the trip memories... on to this past week.

i have been attending a revival at a local church this week. The kids and I went for a couple evenings, and today Dave came with us for the entire morning. Sessions focused on stewardship, marriage, parenting, setting aside the old and putting on the new. All of the messages were excellent reminders of how to live our lives daily to serve our Master, Jesus. Every lesson pointed to the purpose of life being the glorification of Jesus. I love that. The Truth, i mean.

Marriage, it's for His glory.
Children/parenting, it's for His glory.
For this reason it is so important to be INTENTIONAL ( probably my favorite word, and definitely a key to any philosophies i hold in all of life's arenas). Why? Because we are to represent Christ to those around us in our marriage and in our parenting. We are a picture of His unconditional love, redemption, and forgiveness in our relationships here on this rock. Doesn't that send chills down your spine? I love that goal, that aim, such rich purpose.

Something that I would like to implement from the lessons this week is a family prayer journal. My lovely sister has been doing this, and now that it has been brought to my memory again - I truly want to attempt consistency in this tradition. One of the speakers mentioned something very powerful to us all: That he could tell us why God is real by explaining creation or the proof in the Bible, but more powerful to his own life is the working of Jesus he has seen through his families prayer life. Every January first his parents would write out a list of things they wanted to pray for that year, then a year later they would revisit those, see what had happened, and make a new list. Through that faithful labor, he saw so many answered prayers (examples: the salvation of his relatives before dying, money for school, a van to make room for their growing family) that God was made incredibly real to him.
.powerful.

What a joy to be together as a body of believers for many hours over the week. Now to get to the hard work of praying for revival to continue in the hearts of those who love the Lord. :)

more camping stories

Frog Hunting.






I led the expedition, after all, it was I who found the first Toad. By the rights of First-Toader, I excitedly took the Toad into camp to show the children and a new adventure was birthed. We hunted frogs for at least an hour, everyone, even the little girls followed us around. Memories of my childhood flashed back to me. Days at my cousins farm, squashing in the mud of the country ditch, trying to find frogs, or slime, or floating our Nutshell boats. *delightful mud*




The Drive Home.

There is a wonderful little Bakery about half way home from Selkirk, we have made it our tradition to stop there for a treat as we pass by.

tid bits.

Little by little, I will tell tales of our weekend in the rain.

Sam loves it outside. He is SO very much so my son, the genes are strong in this regard. He gets giddy when we hold wiggly frogs. He gets so sad when it is time to go home. Sam just loves it in the dirt, whether it is in rain or sunshine.



This was the first trip that KC and Mercy really began to form their friendship. Now that they are coming closer to their third birthday, you can really see the relational side of their development has grown and changed. They walked together, talking like grown up girls about books, bugs and toys. I found them sitting together reading side by side, comparing notes i'm certain.



I love watching this set of kids, they are so sweet and fascinating. :) more to come.

for now, i need to run off to church.

Lots of Fun in the Rain and the Sun. :)

Ah, May long weekend, and the inaugural camping trip of the season. praise the Lord for enough money in the camping budget to buy a new tent this year... because we sure needed it in the rain and downpours we received each day of our trip! :) The 25 year old two room tent we used to sleep in was very puddle-prone, and our new one is a fortress of Dryness ! :) yippeeee!!





Dave began the long weekend camping trip with our usual Adventure Club meetings. This trip was just a shorty, so he did an intro to knife handling and safety. Each child received a knife ( except for the two littlest of course ) and they were only allowed to use it if they first asked an adult (who kept the knives when not in use) and were near some sort of adult supervision. (I hope that writing these rules will help to put some nervous readers at ease. :) ha)

Julia and Matthew loved whittling the most. I am certain they spent a total of at least four hours doing so over the weekend. I have to say, it is a lovely "quiet time" activity. And we only had to use two band-aids in the course of three and a half days with 6 kids using knives. (the blades were small Mom ) :)



Downpour-enforced quiet time in our tent! :)



I have to say, it was SO worth packing along the big rain boots!! On any other trip I would have left them at home, thinking that they took up too much precious space in the van. Not so for this rainy weekend away!




More whittling time.

Sweet.

As chicken pox finally enters our home, I realize that even though I knew it would be here someday, I don't know what to do. First thing in the morning I call the doctor, confirming that I do not need an appointment since I am 99% sure of her diagnosis. I'm thankful that the "sick" symptoms only lasted over the first night, by midday Julia was out gardening with me and the kids in the sunshine, scooter-ing around, and making dandelion chains.

What a girl. At one in the morning, flashing back to the first pox night, Julia had a sick tummy and was feeling uncomfortably itchy. As I held her hair back, got her a drink and assisted in her sick-tummy-troubles ( she threw up ), she says to me, "You are such a good mommy." and "Thank you". As I tuck her into bed she grabs my hand and says, "Let's pray mommy". Seriously? Can a seven year old be this cute and lovely at the same time? Well, now that my heart is mush from her compliment to me, she could really ask for anything, half the kingdom, and I'd give it to her!! ha. okay, just kidding. But my heart was so warmed by her words, it makes getting up in the middle of the night so so so much nicer when children are thankful for it! :)

We pray. She snuggles in and goes back to sleep. I head back to my room, thinking about her words. Thanking God for a glimpse of sweetness, a heart that is turning to God in the midst of her struggles, and a little girl who remembers to be thankful even when she is feeling her worst.

hmmm. What a testimony to me.

playing "catch up"

Due to so many travel photos, I am very behind in "regular life" photos. Time-warp back two weeks: Easter Weekend.

Good Friday: stormy and gray, just like every year. we always have dreary weather on the day that we remember Christs' sacrifice for us.

Fast-Forward to Sunday, and it is gorgeous, sunny and blue-skied! :) We had a delightful dinner and egg hunt at Oma and Opa's place, with the local Aunts and Uncles of course. :)



Julia and I collected things from home that related to Christ's journey from the garden to the grave. A friend mentioned this idea to be a good conversation starter, i liked the creativity of it. :)




Hot boiled eggs + crayons = easy-kid-directed-decorated eggs !



we also celebrated my oldest daughter on Easter weekend. :) seven years. wow.