We are back to having the "little ones" at camp again. After a week of having teens, the juniors seem so small! But they are lots of fun and they love to be goofy :)

We have a smaller camp this week....just under a hundred. But it's a great group of kids and a lot of fun. The staff kids chose this week to go to camp so there are about 8 of them in camp this time....2 of mine are there, so that leaves 2 at home....a little less stress in the house now...and it's quieter when I come home in the evenings!

Our staff is doing well. Last week they seemed a little tired but most have found their energy and enthusiasm again. Should be a good week!

Tonight we have the waterfight and that's always a blast. There's something about pouring a big bucket of water over a little kid's head that really just "bonds" you to them! They love it! And it's a nice relief from this heat we are experiencing.

Even though it's a smaller week, we are still praying for God to do BIG things......


I'll keep you updated!

Teen week was mostly a success.....
In the spiritual aspect (which is the most important), it was great. The speaker was amazing and the teens were very receptive to God's Word. Although I know there were some who left without making a decision for Christ, many left with a lighter load, knowing they have a Savior who loves them and died for them. Please pray for these teens as they enter back into their "real lives", where many of them live with temptations, fears, worries, hunger, etc.

Tomorrow starts a new week of junior campers and I am praying we will have the enthusiasm and love for the kids we had the first week. Wes and I had weekend duty this weekend and we tried hard to provide some down time, some fun, and some "sleep" time....hopefully everyone benefited from it.

I love my job....but pray that some of the joy lost last week will return, full force!!!

I am really feeling the "later nights" of teen week. Most of us are only averaging about 5 hours sleep because every night is a little later than junior weeks. But it's been fun and worth it :)

There has been lots of basketball and volleyball tournaments going on....it gets pretty serious!....it's fun to watch. Another thing that's different about teen week is the night of field games. We spend one evening playing soccer, football and ultimate frisbee. My hubby gets VERY into the football aspect of it.....jersey, 'facepaint', etc. Thankfully we ended with only minor injuries!

The waterfight last night was SO refreshing....it's been very warm here. Although not many kids participate (teens are too 'cool' for things like that!), it was a lot of fun. We did have one injury...another staff member fell and busted his head open....but he is fine, after a couple of staples had to be put in. He's a pretty tough guy so it didn't slow him down much!

Please pray for safety this week....teens are a lot more active so we need extra protection.

The speaker this week is AMAZING!!!! And I'm not just saying that because he is our pastor's son :) He has such a way with teens and is such an effective communicator. There are kids here that won't open up to anyone and he has managed to break down walls and get them to pour our their hearts. God is really using him in powerful ways....please pray for him as well (his name is Aaron) as he continues to share God's love with these teens. It is a heavy emotional and spiritual load and he takes the task seriously (although he is having MUCHO fun as well!!!!). God is working in the lives of many teens this week.....many have already made some kind of spiritual decision...whether it be to finally surrender their life to Christ, or to let go of some sin that has been hindering them. It has been an exhausting week, but at the same time it's been an amazing week.....worth every late night!!!

Thank you all for praying! Please continue....the week is not over yet!!!

Week two wrapped up beautifully with many kids making decisions for Christ! Praise the Lord!

We have just entered week 3.....TEEN WEEK!
I've heard many of our new staff express how nervous they are about teens coming....and it's understandable....they can be intimidating. But really, when it comes down to it, they are just kids at heart....just in bigger, more awkward bodies :)
One thing they do love is basketball.....it has been non-stop since registration started this afternoon at 1pm. They only time there were no balls bouncing in the a-frame was at dinner and chapel. They love it! As much as they love the game, my prayer is that they will learn to love the Word and their Savior just as much. It is a little more challenging to reach teens in this day and age...so much more going on in families, schools, etc.....so many more distractions, so it seems. But hopefully, when they come here, most of those distractions are lifted and they are able to peel away some of the "layers" in their life and see the Lord for who He truly is and what He can offer them.

Please be in prayer for these teens. Even though they are laughing, smiling and enjoying their camp experience so far, they are carrying burdens that are heavy and wearisome. Pray that we, as a unified staff, can help them find relief from it all....help this camp to be a 'safe' place for them.
I'm excited to see what God is going to do this week!

We are halfway through the second week of camp and it's going well.
We have a good group of campers and are staff are really hanging in there. We had one counselor go down at the waterfight and ended up with a large bump on her head. She is pretty much out for the week, but recovering well. Thankfully we have good wranglers too, that can step in when they need to. God is good!

Yesterday was another victory for the girls in the massive tug of war game.....BUT, they did outnumber the girls almost 2 to 1. But regardless...a win is a win....right girls!??!!!!

Last week was a disappointment in the verse memory department.....plenty of girls said their verses and books of the Bible, but only THREE boys said theirs.....boo!! But we are praying that this week will be more of a success, and that many kids will choose to hide God's Word in their hearts.

It was yet another good game of Mission Impossible last night with (praise the Lord) no injuries! And the boys redeemed themselves and won the game!

The speaker is doing a great job going over some of the characteristics of God and touching on some of the issues that Christians (even little ones like what we have here this week) deal with. Several kids stayed behind last night (and it wasn't even skit night....yay!)....pray that many more will decide to let go of their doubts and fears and decide to ask the Lord to be their Savior!

Pray that we finish well....again. And that we will not give up on even one camper.....no one left behind!!!!!!

Week 2 has begun!

We have about 120 campers (not as full as we thought it was going to be).....WAY more girls than guys. But we've had a good start so far.
We had a couple staff that were wranglers last week step up as counselors this week....pray for them, as it takes time to adjust to the new role. It seems like we have a good group of campers so hopefully they will make it easy on our staff.

I'm interested to hear what the speaker is going to talk about this week.....he started off tonight with Gen 1 and how BIG God is....the power of God exposed in His ability to just 'speak' light into existence! Praying God will 'speak' with that same power to these camper's hearts.

I'll keep you updated! :)

We finished strong!!! Well, at least our summer staff did (I came home a little early on Friday night to hang out with my kids). I am pretty impressed with our staff this week....most of them gave more than 100%. This morning they will have the opportunity to 'decompress' and just allow themselves to turn into a big puddle. They are spent physically, emotionally, and spiritually.....please pray that they will get the rest they need this weekend so they can be just as energetic and excited about next week's group of campers.

Friday nights are always fun.....it's pizza night, we have a huge rocket launch, Friday night Award's chapel, ice cream sundaes and root beer floats, and "parties" in the cabins. But with all that excitement going on, we encourage our staff not to relax too much....there are still campers who have not made a decision for the Lord and sometimes they wait til the last possible minute to do so....it will be interesting to hear if any campers did that.

Thank you all for praying this week.....just as we encourage our staff not to grow weary as the summer progresses, I ask the same of you. Please don't grow weary in praying for us as the weeks go by....we need just as much prayer later in the summer (if not more!).

Now off to get some rest.......:)

Another late night......

Last night was our 'funtime program'.....we laughed our way through about 15 silly skits put on by staff and campers. We had a great time!
Afterwards we headed down to the campfire circle for a time of singing, teaching, and testimony time. My heart was blessed as I heard camper after camper stand up and announce that they had given their heart to Christ sometime this week....God is so good!

What a privilege to serve here in this ministry!

Last day of camp.....Lord go before us!!!

Well, we survived our first night of Mission Impossible (a night game, similar to Capture the Flag). The campers (and the staff) had lots of fun and it went on until almost midnight. So needless to say, it was a little more difficult to get up this morning. But the Lord always supplies our needs....even the need to be able to stay awake today!

We have a great group of campers this week and they are full of energy and excitement. They have enjoyed everything, from the chapels, to the waterfight, to the family-style meals. They even were smiling and laughing during the spontaneous "Flash Mob" number we did for them at breakfast yesterday (Mandissa's "Good Morning" was our song of choice)!!!

Although they are having a great time, that is only one of our goals for this camp.....the other one is to bring them closer to Jesus, or to introduce them to Him for the first time. That is happening as well, in the morning/evening devotions, the daily chapels and one-on-one time with the counselors/campers. Please continue to pray as our staff work tirelessly to bring the Gospel and the Word to these little ones.

Day 4....bring it on!!

First full day of camp....DONE!

Well, we have officially finished our first full day of camp.....and it went well! Praise the Lord!

We have a slightly smaller camp (only about 110 kids) and so it made it a little easier....most of the counselors only had about 5-7 campers. At our counselor meeting yesterday everyone said it was going well for the most part.....no really difficult kids and everyone seems to be having a good time. The staff are having a good time, too....although they haven't had much time to really get tired yet :)

We had our massive waterfight last night and BRRRRRRR!!! it was so cold because of that wind! But it's all about the kiddos!
Today will be a busy one....we have the regular activity classes plus a huge tug of war after dinner and then our "night" game of Mission Impossible (late night!).

And I know some of you are wondering about the fires we are having out here. Right now we are still just getting smoke, but not enough to really be harmful. It is predicted to cross over into New Mexico sometime today....but it's south of us. Please pray for them to get it contained and that it won't affect us. At this point, it's still 0% contained.

But we are still moving on with camp and focusing on the campers and the Gospel. The Lord is good!!!
Thank you all for your prayers and please continue as we finish out these great first week of camp!!!

BABR Campout

We just spent 2 nights deep in the CO forest.......what a beautiful place!!! Sometimes I wished the Lord had called me to that state!

We arrived on Wednesday night....after we unloaded and set up tents, we headed to the Bar D, a country western dinner and show. Those cowboys sure can sing and they know a few good jokes, too. It was a good night of fellowship.
Then the next day we headed to Ouray....a quaint little valley town. We spent a few hours there, soaking in the hot springs and shopping. Again, I could easily move there! We finished off the night making smores back at the campsite....again, another good day! Scattered all through out those days were many sessions with Dino, our lead counselor.....he challenged us to get out of our comfort zone....he shared his heart.....and he gave us the tools to be the most effective ministers of the Gospel this summer. What a great place to reflect on the mightiness of God, His love for us, and His faithfulness! So thankful for that time away, surrounded by new (and old) friends!

So we will spend the next couple of days just resting and getting ready for the upcoming week...our FIRST WEEK OF CAMP! Everyone seems so excited.....praying they keep that excitement!!!