Facebook Madness

Well, I have to confess...I've been unfaithful to my blogging friends! I don't know what got into me, but yesterday on a whim, I decided to try and look at someone's facebook which of course you cannot do unless you have your own facebook. So, I signed up. I figured I could do it just for the sole purpose of "flying under the radar" and looking around. Well, I was wrong. Apparently I was facebook dumb. To make a long story short, I am obsessed with this facebook thing. It's totally consuming. Like last night, I had to pull myself away from it because even I was getting annoyed with myself. However, in just 24 hours, I am now in touch with like half of my classmates from high school. People I haven't talked to in years....seriously, years. Isn't that crazy? Also, I am clearly getting "old" because I didn't understand most of what I was doing and I had to call my youngest sister and ask her what stuff meant...that's lame. Also, now my email inbox is full and I mean full, of "friend requests" from like people all over my life, past and present. What kind of pandora's box have I unearthed??? I'm sort of enjoying facebook, but I'm also getting stressed out by it and I've only had it for one day! I think I can handle the blog world but I have serious doubts about the facebook world for now!

Home Again...

My husband is home and all is well with the world again! It's always fun when I have a few days to myself, but nothing compares to having my man home again. It's so quiet around here without him...imagine that! He was gone on a Pastor/Elder prayer retreat for a few days. I always love when Trav goes to prayer retreats because he comes home in such a good mood! That's one of my favorite things about our church and our leadership. Our Pastors and Elders are committed to seeking the face of God and not just his hand. I am so thankful that Trav gets to serve with such godly men...we love our church and after a summer of being busy, it's so nice to be home again and to once again, love on the people at Grace. God has been so good to us and I'm happy to say that I feel refreshed and excited about what God has in store for us this year, we both do. After our crazy, stressful summer...truly that is a miracle!

Belated Anniversary Pictures

In all the chaos of camp, I forgot to post some pictures from our Anniversary...which of course, does not reflect how much I love my husband! This year we celebrated 4 years of marriage by going to a bed and breakfast for the first time. We were already on vacation in Iowa, so my parents gave us a night at this beautiful place in Dubuque, Iowa. Dubuque is on the Mississippi River and is a beautiful, historic city that was built on some gorgeous bluffs. The bed and breakfast we went to was called the Hancock House and is a historic home on a bluff, overlooking downtown and the river...so pretty. We chose a room on the third floor because it had a hot-tub in the top of the tower, with an unbelievable view! So, how fun to celebrate our anniversary there.

We're finally home from camp!

Well, it's Saturday now and we're finally home, recovering from a week with junior high students! What a great week it's been. I'm always amazed at how tired and sore we are when we get home from something like that! We are just chillin today, watching tv, and laying around...perfect. I have absolutely no idea how we will do this when we have kids, but I guess we'll figure it out when we need to! Anyway, for now we are happy to be in our own house, in a clean bed with a clean shower!! And Ryley has done nothing but sleep since we walked in the door last night! Have a great weekend...

Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing...

Of course, despite the fun and games, the real reason we go to camp is to build relationships and point our students to Jesus. We play all those games to create a fun atmosphere and to let the kids see us be silly with them, but our real purpose at camp is to make sure these kids know where they are going to spend eternity and to help them see their need for salvation if they are unsure. This year we had 5 kids who accepted Christ on Thursday night and Travis baptized 10 students on Friday morning before we left...we consider both of those things, the greatest part of camp. It's such a blessing to look a student in the eye and hear them vocalize their love for Jesus and their need for him. Suddenly all the late nights, endless pranks, and irritating kids fade away and you realize why camp is so worth it! These are pictures of our baptism service yesterday...we always invite parents to come up and witness this awesome occasion in their son or daughter's life, and they are thrilled to drop everything and come. In addition to the kids, Travis baptized one of our counselors, Ellie, who I mentored this year. What a fun way to end the week!

What would camp be without crazy, messy games???

One of our traditional games at camp, that we would never change, is our annual shaving cream war! Every kid has to bring 2 cans of shaving cream, which we confiscate at registration, to contribute to the arsenal. We basically throw cans all over the field, and then blow a whistle and let the kids go at it! Chaos at its finest. After they've had enough, or usually- they can't see anymore, we let them play on a giant "slip n' slide" we've created. It's pure camp bliss! Oh, and my husband LOVES it!!!

Ryley's Camp Adventures

Bringing Ryley to camp was so great! It was so much easier for us to just bring him than to have to arrange for some one to take care of him...and I didn't have to wonder if he was ok or what he was doing. He stayed in his crate on our porch all week at night, but during the day, he ran and played and swam with the kids. Our cabin was in the middle of all the boys cabins, which was really great because Ryley became a total bonding point between us. At all hours of the day, we always had boys hanging around our cabin, playing with Ryley and talking to us. It was funny because some of the boys who are so quiet, totally opened up around Ryley because they had a dog at home and they wanted to talk about that, which of course led to other things. Who knew God would use Ryley this week to be a connection point with so many campers?? Anyway, Ryley was totally exhausted everyday because he played all day! Here are some pictures of him swimming in the lake with Travis and the kids...he swam everyday for at least an hour and the kids were so great with him. We've decided we need to get him in lakes more because he loves it!