CEF Camp Week 1 & 2

Simply amazing!

Crazy!
Hot!
Busy!
Exciting!
Exhausting!
Wonderful!

How can I describe those two weeks?? With many, many words! It was great as always! The same usual routine. A few new additions and friendships made. And most thrilling to see God bring in enough kids to fill both weeks!


This year we taught a new CEF lesson--Beginnings! And I loved it! It was exciting teaching on Creation, Adam & Eve, Cain & Able, Enoch and Noah! Needless to say that Noah, one of my favorite Bible stories to teach, could have lasted two hours instead of the 40 minutes I had. The first week, I had to skip so much of what I had planned, so the second week I ummm...skipped some details so I could get the whole story, memory verse and review game in that time frame! Oh, but I loved it!

And even though most of the youngest group of campers already know the story of Noah, it's still exciting to see their faces just waiting for the next "event" to happen as I'm telling the story. And then to see their interest in the size of the ark, just how many animals were inside and how long they floated on the water was so neat! Ahhhhh--I love teaching! :)

The first week I taught in the gym! Great--that's my favorite place to teach! The second week Sharon told me I was teaching in the chapel--ok, that's fine! (I have to admit; I was just a tad disappointed to not be teaching again in my favorite spot!) What was I thinking?!?!?!?

Oh--am I now ever so spoiled!!! I told Brian that I'd come back and teach year after year if he could guarantee my classroom remained in the air conditioned chapel! He agreed!! Remember that next year! ;) lol!!! But in all my years of teaching, I've never taught there and still taught the youngest group of campers--it was a treat!

This was a new Bible lesson review game I did this year -- dress up someone on your team!!! The kids LOVED it!!! After all, wouldn't you want a red nose, black rimmed glasses, feathers around your neck or blue hair???? ;)

Our memory verse rainbow was soooo fun! The kids loved seeing the rainbow being built every single day in the dinning room the first week and in the chapel the second week. They did an excellent job memorizing verses! And thankfully I had lots of help taping up all those rainbow sections every day! Whew!! That's a job--but worth it!!



Let's see--what else?! Hmmmm, so much happened during those two weeks. It's impossible to sum it up in one blog post! There were some friends I missed seeing this year (yes, Jenna--that's you!! :)) and then some others were there that hadn't been in a few years! Ruth and Josh--I'm sooooo glad we could all be teachers that first week--what a thrilling week it was! It was great to catch up on old camp memories!! Ahhhh--fun!! So many years spent at camp together and so many good times!!! :)

This year I enjoyed every minute of those two weeks I was there. As that second week drew to a close, I kept thinking, "This could be the last time I'm...

....handing out memory verse prizes,

....standing on the porch watching flag raising,

....keeping score, listening to kids competing in quiz time and laughing during counselor quizzing,

....melting in the dinning room grading manners,

....watching kids file into the chapel for singtime,

....shooting pics during talent night,

....sharing secrets about Miss Ruth, Luke & Nehemiah with Clara all week long,

....listening to the laughter and delight during final assembly when such photos such as Luke & his funny faces appear,

....pouncing on photo opportunities just like this one,

....watching Lauren grow up year after year and now attending as a camper,

....climbing that stack of stairs up and down & up and down again and again,

....seeing campers, counselors, teachers and staff come back year after year!

Perhaps this year won't be the last time, but this year especially I enjoyed every minute! Ahhh--the memories! The good times! The wonderful friendships! The kids year after year! The ministry God has allowed me to become apart of for 16 years! Wow! Amazing! How thankful I am to be apart of those two weeks out of the year every summer!


As Josh, Ruth and I were thinking back on the years we've attending camp together and all the things that happened year after year; it was so fun to look back! I began thinking...what was my favorite year? Hmmm....I'm not sure I can put one year in that category.

I remember that first year of counseling and winning best manners! And one hard year where God taught me just as much as I was there to teach the kids! And the first time I taught both weeks--the lesson of Esther! And then seven years after that--teaching Esther again! Then leading singtime with Ruth as my ever-so-helpful partner! And Bible teacher talks, outings and late night swims. Looking forward to seeing Brian and Sharon and their family year after year!

The years and memories--perfect! Never to be forgotten! I can't help but look back on those times and smile!

More photos from the first week of camp...

More photos from the second week of camp...

Ready or not -- camp is here!

Year after year it's basically the same--memory verses, prizes, lessons, object lesson....it's camp prep time! And I love doing it! Especially now that I can say it's done, finished and ready! ;)

By the time I pack all the memory verse work, prizes, my Bible lesson materials and just my stuff for the week, it's a huge load! And I think every year I seem to take more and more! Good thing it's just me! How did my two sisters and I ever have enough room in my car to get to camp in past years??

All my paper strips are cut and ready to create a huge rainbow! I'm so excited to get started on that this week and see how many verses the kids can memorize!

Yep, more VBS!

This last week I've had a two track mind - VBS and camp. Camp is this coming week and the next, but VBS is that third week after two week of camp, so I managed to get the majority of stuff taken care of before this weekend. And hopefully I haven't forgotten anything of major importance!

Believe me, I've had stuff all over this house, trying to get two huge events organized and sorted. When I was working on the floor surrounded by paper, boxes, sacks, paperwork and who knows what else, Dad's comment was, "You sure do have lots of stuff!"

Yep, I do. But the majority of VBS is now at the church and camp will soon be out the door! Whew!

See? That's lots! And that's only the first room! ;) Oh, and that little itty bitty stack on top the dresser? That's the beginning of wedding planning! :) Don't worry--that pile will grow! lol!!

Of course, candy!

And fun crafts!

LOTS of notes and lists!

Prizes too!

Remember all that tea-stained treasure map paper?? This is it!

Love the clipart!! I have this weakness for cute clipart images and High Seas definitely has some cute graphics!

One of my favorites - the station signs!! These are so fun!!

These took FOREVER to cut, glue and tape, but they are so adorable--can't wait to use them!!

A HUGE Rainbow!!

For camp this year our theme is Beginnings - the very first Bible lessons such as creation, Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Enoch and Noah. Once again, I was faced with the challenge of coming up with something that would be our goal to complete for memory verses.

I had lots of ideas....such as creating a HUGE round world like a globe and then cutting it up into puzzle pieces and for each verse the kids memorize they would get to put up one puzzle piece to fill it in by the end of the week. Semi-good idea--still, I wasn't too thrilled with it!

Then, what about creation itself??? Use the same idea as what I've used in Kid's Klub and Sunday School and start out with a huge black piece of paper and day by day add light, sky, seas, dry land, plants, flowers, trees, fish, birds, stars, moon, sun, animals and man. LOVE that idea!! Until I realized just how many stars, flowers, birds, fish and animals I'd have to cut out.

Remember, I cut out 3,000 people last year? Granted, I only used about half, but still, that's 1500!!! I wasn't thrilled with that idea! And the year before that? Yep, the footprints! Ahhh....yes, the kids loved the footprints going all around the dinning room! What could I create again that would be huge enough to go all around the dinning room????

Hhhmmm....Adam & Eve? Naming animals? Reusing people from last year and create a huge chain of people? Noah leading the animals onto the ark? Oh yeah - NOAH!!! That's it - a HUGE rainbow!!!

It's time to sort and organize!

The last few weeks I've been planning out Kid's Klub and Sunday School lessons for the new year and the schoolroom which houses all my teaching material has been quite in a state of stacks of stuff! I can only tolerate it for so long and then something has to be done!


And when I have to move to the next room to find enough floor space, then it's definitely time to resort and organize.


So I pulled out my computer and put in one of my favorite shows and got started!


As I started sorting through my piles of stuff, I started taking mental inventory of what I actually have and fully and wholeheartedly concluded that I have ample for the next 50 years of my life. Seriously.

Every time I see ANY greeting cards, notepads, stationary or sticky notes, I'm going to remember this photo. No more; I have ample.


Props and play clothing to use for skits and Bible plays...I've collected and made enough stuff to be sufficient.

Craft pom poms and chenille stems; full to the brim. As for this pile, I must state that some of this was given to me which I could hardly refuse. I mean, I really will eventually use it for some craft project at some time. :)


Posters, bulletin board materials, laminated sheets, decoration cutouts. I don't care what sale items I find, I have every single season covered (more than once) and many Biblical themes to keep my SS classroom supplied for years.


Ahhh...foam! I love using foam for craft ideas, but I seriously do have enough letters, shapes, sheets, holidays, animals, etc.


Footprints and paperdoll people. Plenty. Maybe I should plan on using paperdoll people at camp again this year?!?!


Ahh...what a difference! Now if I can just keep it this way! :)

Posters and decorations all stored in one place on one wall. Flat and protected.

Even the closet is organized. Much better! :)

From 2000 to 2010; what a difference 10 years makes!

2009 is gone and 2010 is here! As I've been thinking back on the last ten years (the last five especially).....oh, so much has happened! Our family has changed dramatically, friends have come and gone, jobs have changed and so much more!

In that year of 2000, who knew that...

...I would work at Southgate Fabriques for 7 years, starting out knowing so little and working my way to teacher, store manager and now owning my own business in that same field.

...the statement I made the summer before would be proven totally false. Yeah, I only stated so firmly to my sisters, "I enjoy sewing, but it's not something I would want to do every single day."

...my first plane flight would be to Washington D.C. for a Bernina sewing machine convention in 2001. And that was before 9/11 and all the security was of the utmost importance.

...I would buy my first sewing/embroidery machine - a Bernina 180, soon to be followed by three other machines.

...a car phone the size of a letter size sheet of paper would turn into a cell phone that could handle photos, texting, email and much more only being the size of a credit card. And that we have become so reliant on that piece of technology.

...Jena would graduate as a LPN and later as a RN (well, we did know she would eventually do that!), work at at the Women's Center in Dodge and then work at Meade Hospital, all the while loving her job!

...Krissa would decide print journalism was her field of expertise and would attend BJU.

...we would spend hours on the road taking Krissa to and from BJU and attending her graduation. I can so clearly recall Mom looking forward to that moment and then as it turned out, she wasn't here when she graduated.

...we would move in a three story house just down the road and Dad would remodel it to use as a rental house.

...Grandma and Grandpa would celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary and then Grandpa would only be with us for a few months after that.

...our family would be hit with a huge blow of discovering Mom's brain tumor and three months later watching her step into her eternal home. Only 10 months after Grandpa was gone.

...Krissa would move to Birmingham, Alabama (Mom would have loved knowing Krissa was in the same city where she lived for several years.) to intern at Southern Accents for 6 months.

...I would buy my very first laptop computer. And now to think I can't live without it. Well, not that original one.

...technology could change so much. To the point where it would be the basis of my business; from buying and selling to teaching online to students in other countries.

...watching Dad loose Mom would be the hardest thing I've ever been through. And how that loosing someone changes your entire outlook on life.

...I would unexpectedly find "someone just like me", named Joanna, in the most unusual circumstances, proving that God brings just the right person into my life when I didn't even know she was needed.

...Krissa would travel to California before settling in Lexington, KY, working for of all things - a farming magazine. She can't seem to get away from "the farm".

...Jena would move to Oklahoma City to fulfill her dream of working in a NICU at Children's OU.

...attending Camp Good News every summer would still be happening. Even though it's dwindled to only me, myself and I instead of all three of us.

...a certain person named Ryan would come into Krissa's life and our family would return to the happy number of five. (Becoming official this year!)

...and through it all God has remained faithful!

God has allowed hardships and struggles in our lives and yet in so many ways blessed us as well. As I look forward to the next year and following years after that, I can't begin to imagine what they will hold. Just as 1o years ago, who would have known the above. I'm thankful that even though I don't know and nor care to know, God does. And through the fun times and difficult moments, He continues to be the same unchanging, awesome God that He is.

CEF Camp 2009 Week 1

What a week of camp! I always love week 1 as it always seems to be cooler and not quite as hectic as week 2. This week we had 106 campers and surprisingly enough, the week went rather well with that many kids. I was amazed at how quickly they were able to get in and out of the dinning room for meals. Sure, it was crowded, but not as bad as I was expecting.

I taught the youngest group of kids - the 1st-3rd graders and they were so sweet! There were several I could have packed up and taken home with me! Jenna (activities director), Ruth (another Bible teacher) and myself roomed together which was loads of fun. Plus we were able to spend time together during the day, telling each other how old we are getting.

Seriously, Jenna and I have been coming to camp since we both started counseling more than 10 years ago. So we've seen so many kids grow up and so forth. And then this year for Ruth it finally dawned on her just how many years she's been coming (she's not quite as old as Jenna and I as we came to this realization several years ago! ;). Needless to say that was our topic of conversation for much of the week. And also saying, "Do you remember when..." or "Remember that year..." Ahhh....too many good memories!!

This was the first year that I've attended camp without one of my sisters. And I can honestly say that I didn't miss them; although don't tell them that! ;) Much to Jena's dismay, camp continued just fine without her in attendance. LOL!!!

All in all I took over 800 photos during the week. While I'm able to take the majority of them, I still had to enlist the help of others (Jenna - thank you soooo much!) for Bible lesson, quiz time, canteen and sing time where I'm involved and can't be snapping pics.

Here's a few from the week and you can see more here.

Here's what our wall looked like
Monday afternoon after we had saved
a few Jews from Haman's decree.

By Friday we had saved 503 Jewish people
(therefore memorized 503 verses)!

Clara and I after Sing Time!
Just look at her cute flipflops she made!

Luke had quite a fun time with ice cream!

Clara, Ruth, me, Luke
What fun we had during the week!

My Bible class in the gym - I had 27 kids!

I love this pic of Jenna doing activities
with the kids - she's having so much fun!

Peter Hall - such a cutie and can you imagine
being the only boy with 7 older sisters?!?!

Clara was sooo sweet and in my Bible class.

Anne was able to come to camp this
year as a camper which she loved!