Weekend Youth Retreat

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to help lead a group of high schoolers to a youth retreat at a camp a couple of hours from our church. I wanted to go on the retreat as a camper last year, but I was saving money for my summer missions trip. Since I was asked to go as a leader this time, I didn’t have to pay. I can’t argue with that!

Eight of us (3 leaders and 5 high schoolers) met at the church Friday evening. Once we had things packed up in the two cars, we drove off! We stopped at Raising Cane’s for dinner and then arrived at camp around 8:30 p.m.

We checked in and unloaded our things to our cabins. Then the kids made their way to the sports field for a snack while the leaders had a brief meeting. We went to the gym for the first session.

Every time we had a session, we leaders formed what was called the “gauntlet.” We would line up on either side of the doorway and the kids would run through us to get in. Meanwhile, we were dancing, giving high fives, etc. J It was pretty funny!

After the camp staff welcomed everyone, we played a life-sized game of battleship!

The kids piled into the kayaks and played guys against girls. Several people on either team were blindfolded and had nerf balls to throw. If they hit one of the boats, they were out. The guys won of course!

After that we had a time of worship. The band—The Avid Light—is a local band, and very talented! They did a great job leading our group in worship. Next we heard the speaker. He was very good and engaging. His first session was focused on the gospel. He really knew his Bible well and had the kids constantly flipping back and forth between passages.

After the session, our youth group broke up for discussion time. Basically the girls went back to their cabin and the guys went back to theirs (it was a little too cold and late to stay outside for our discussion group.) We made it to bed around 12:00 a.m.

Saturday morning, I got up around 7:30 a.m. to shower and do my devotions before breakfast at 9:00 a.m. All the leaders came into the dining hall before the kids. We stood on top of chairs and they played “Good Morning” by Mandisa as the kids came in. J

The food at camp was quite good! After breakfast, the staff made a few announcements and then dismissed everyone. Campers went to have quiet time while the leaders had a meeting.

Then we all went back to the gym for our next session. The title of the message was “The Bible Isn’t Boring.” The speaker did an excellent job of making certain mundane parts of the Old Testament come to life! He even made a human timeline to illustrate some of his points!

We had our discussion time as a whole group. Pastor D really challenged us to think about how everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus. After that we went inside the dining hall for lunch. Then we were dismissed for afternoon free time!

About half of our group had signed up to go tubing on the lake. We donned swimsuits and lifejackets and headed to the dock. We had to jump off and swim out to the boat. It was a little bit chilly!

Believe it or not, I grew up in Michigan surrounded by the great lakes . . . but . . . I had never been tubing! I really enjoyed it! Since we were already wet, we decided to take a dip in the pool and go off the high-dive. Once we weren’t dripping anymore, we popped into the camp store.

Then we dried up and changed clothes. We still had a little time, so we headed over to the zipline. The only zipline I had done was very small and tight, so this was a new experience! It required me to temporarily suspend my fear of open heights and free falling. ;-)

Ready to go up the tower!

Getting ready to jump. I shrieked like a girl during the free fall. J (Those of you that know me know I’m not a screamer at ALL!)

Part of camp. You can see the sports field, the lake, and the dining hall.

After ziplining, we adults went to another leaders’ meeting while the kids in our group headed back to the cabins to nap before dinner. Dinner was quite tasty, and welcome after such a long, active day!

After dinner, we had another session.

They started off by asking for one leader from every church. Pastor D wasn’t in the room at the time, so I got pushed to the front by my group. Turns out, they wanted to have an Oreo-eating contest. Needless to say, I did NOT win! That was followed by having one girl from every church come up, get blindfolded, and then attempt to brush the leader’s teeth and gel their hair. Oh, and the staff was so kind as to mix chocolate syrup with the hair gel. :-P It was a memorable game for sure!

We had a session on God as our Father and how we are to view ourselves in relation to Him. We had a great discussion time as a group. Then we quickly ran back to our cabins to put on dark clothes for the upcoming game of Espionage.

The kids went out on the field for a snack and then into the gym for their instructions. We leaders went to the bottom of the huge hill in camp. In this game, the leaders take flashlights and go hide all over the hill. The kids receive a pinto bean at the bottom of the hill. Then—without flashlights—they have to try and sneak to the top of the hill without getting caught.

When they were noticed, a leader would shine their flashlight on them. The leader could either take their bean away (then the camper had to go to the bottom of the hill and start over) or they could make them do something before they let them pass. Most people made them sing something. I hid at the very top of the hill and was 50/50 mean/nice. J I sent about half of them back down and let the other half go after they sang something. The kids that reached the top got a wristband to commemorate their success. J

The game was really fun! Most everyone has some sort of bruise or cut to remember the night by. We went to our rooms to clean up and then headed to the bonfire where we enjoyed s’mores.

It was pretty windy that night, so standing around the fire wasn’t too pleasant. So our group went up to the game room and played Spoons.

Part of our group playing spoons.

I think we went to bed around 1 a.m. Of course, everyone wanted to shower after Espionage. We fell in to bed quite tired!

I slept in until almost 8 a.m. Sunday morning. I was so sore and tired from the day before! But I had to get up and pack since we were supposed to move out before breakfast.

Before breakfast we went out and took a group photo! I’m so glad I had the opportunity to get to know these guys a little bit better. J

After breakfast, we had one final session, which was on the Holy Spirit. We had one final group discussion, which was really good. I think a lot of us felt convicted over the weekend that God is so much bigger than we realize. He is in control! We all came away with a desire to spend more time in the Word and in prayer as well.

After a quick lunch of pizza, we left camp. We made it home later that afternoon, and were very thankful that we didn’t encounter any bad weather. I am so glad I had the opportunity to go on the retreat, and I look forward to going with the middle school group later this year!

Gators and Crocs

~Posted by Josiah

This week I am going to have two parts, alligators and then crocodiles. But first I am going to answer a question some people may have, and that is what’s the difference between the two? One difference is gators have a round snout, and crocs have more of a pointed snout. Now I’ll talk a little bit about both of them:

Crocodiles

About it: Many rivers and lakes of Africa are home to this large reptile: the crocodile! Crocodiles stay on the riverbank in the warm sun. Hunter crocs float near the top of the water, waiting for an unlucky animal to walk by. They strike quickly with their strong jaws and sharp teeth.

Alligators

There are a couple different kinds of alligators: one, the Caimen, is very rare because it is hunted for its skin. American alligators have very strong jaws that can break cattle bones, but if the mouth is shut, an adult human could hold it shut. (But that does not mean you should go around trying to hold alligators’ mouths shut!)

I hope y’all liked my post. I can’t wait to do another!

Easter Weekend

Our family had a very enjoyable Easter weekend! On Friday, we had one of our monthly movie nights with friends.

Spring flowers decorating our island.

The weather was great for eating outside!

After we watched our movie, we played a fun game of Capture the Flag. It was pretty tiring since our territory was all 5 acres of our property!

On Sunday, we went to church. I actually went early because I was playing on the worship team. The rest of them carried out the Easter egg hunt tradition at home. J We all served 1^st hour and then worshipped together 2^nd hour. Then we brought one of our adopted college students home to spend the afternoon with us. We had a light lunch and spent the afternoon napping and studying.

That evening, we prepared our Easter dinner. Just as we were about to sit down, we were surprised by our other college student! He arrived back home just in time for dinner. J

We had ham, rolls, minted peas, garlic mashed potatoes, and jello beans with homemade whipped cream. Then we had grasshopper pie for dessert. It was delicious!

Enjoying dinner as a family.

We are so grateful for the grace God has poured out into our lives. We don’t deserve anything He has given us, especially the price He paid for us on the cross. Praise God that Christ is Risen!

Risen

“He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!”

 

HAPPY EASTER, EVERYONE!

 

~ posted by Betsy

Saturday Outing

~Posted by: Roma

Last Saturday, Bianca had the fun idea of going up to the Texas/Oklahoma border to the bluebonnet dam, to have a picnic and take early birthday pictures of Rubia and me. Of course we agreed to having a fun outing!! J We also decided to invite our two friends from church J and J for the outing.

 

When we got to the bluebonnet dam, the first thing we did was play baseball, smell the gorgeous flowers, and climb trees while we waited for J and J to arrive. When they came, we spread the picnic blanket ( actually an old electric blanket from Grandma and Grandpa’s house) and got ready to make our PB and J’s—the only problem being we had no peanut butter, and no bread! J So Bianca and I quickly drove to the gas station nearby to get some while the others ate some junk food and waited. We had a wonderful lunch and all kinds of goodies, like oatmeal cream pies, (we love those so much) and then we got ready to take the birthday pictures!

 

Here are a couple and please let Ruby and I know which ones were your favorites! J

After pictures we decided to go to the OK. beach and take a beach walk. And get our feet wet as well of course. It was wonderful after a long winter to feel the sand on your feet and jump over the waves and just run around laughing and throwing rocks into the water!

 

After the beach we went to Braum’s! Even though I gave up sugar for Lent, I was able to have ice cream that had no sugar added and I turned it into a milkshake. We had such a great time with each other as siblings, and with our friends from church and youth group. I want to go see the bluebonnets again sometime! It was a beautiful day!

 

P.S—All photo credit goes to Bianca J

5k Family Run

A couple of weeks ago, our family participated in a local 5k run! The company our Dad works for was one of the sponsors, so we were able to participate for free (a big plus! It’s expensive to register 6-7 people for a road race.)

 

So we all got up early on Saturday morning, donned our running gear and headed to the race! It was pretty cool that morning, but good for running.

 

Josiah participated in a 1 mile fun run. We were all surprised when he came in 3^rd overall in 8-some minutes! J

 

Then the rest of us (except Mom. She was the camera-woman. J) lined up for the 5k. Some in our family had been consistently running 3 miles a couple of times per week. Others—like me—hadn’t run that far in awhile. But we knew we would all finish the race, and were mostly in it for the fun!

Excuse my *terrible* form, but I was sprinting hard towards the finish line.

We all surprised ourselves! Ben came in first, finishing in 25:34 minutes and getting 3^rd in his age division. I finished in 26:23 minutes (a personal record) and received 1^st place in my age division. Daddy got 2^nd place in his age division with a time of 26:46 minutes. Roma and Rubia got 3^rd and 4^th place in their age division with a time of 28:15 minutes.

 

Needless to say, we had a lot of fun and were quite happy with our times! We hung around for the awards ceremony and then went to Starbucks to celebrate. J It was a fun morning! 

 

Come Away

“And He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while’.”

Mark 6:31

~ posted by Betsy

My Favorite Season

Spring’s here! Though it’s technically been here since March 20^th, I can see with the changes around our property that it really, really is here! I’ve also been going through some pictures from last year that reveal exciting changes that may be yet to come around here. There are many ways (and way too many pictures to choose from) that describe why I love spring most.

 



I love the idea of water!

Much needed water!

Often times dark clouds promise refreshment for the earth

And who doesn’t love the growth that happens?



2nd Annual "A Child's Hope" Gala

This past weekend, our family had the opportunity to go to Houston to attend the 2^nd Annual Charity Gala for A Child’s Hope (the organization I work for that is building an academy in Haiti.) The gala is something that we really anticipate! J

This year, our whole family got to go (last year, Dad was on a business trip in St. Louis.) We drove down on Thursday, despite the rain and hail we encountered as we left! :-P We made it down there in time to check into our hotel and then go out for dinner.

We ended up at a local pizza place. The food was good, and different!

When we got back to the hotel, we donned swimsuits and headed down to the pool. It’s not often we get to swim at hotels anymore. Unlike the northern states, most of the hotel pools here in the south are outdoors. Somehow or another, we end up in hotels during the few months of the year when it’s too cold to swim outdoors!

The next morning we slept in a little bit and then went down to breakfast together. Afterward, we ironed our clothes for that evening, and then headed over to the gala venue to help get things ready. We assisted with a variety of tasks, including setting up the items for the silent auction, setting up my table with the missions trip info, and helping sort, label, and stuff the programs for the evening.

After a few hours, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for the actual gala! We knew it would take awhile considering 7 people needed to share two bathrooms. J

All dressed and ready!

When we arrived at the gala, I stood by my table and chatted with people about missions trips. The rest of the family mingled, talked with the missionaries from Haiti and with our friend who flew down from Michigan, and enjoyed the hors d’oeuvres. The silent auction also went on in one of the rooms.

Our table all set for dinner.

A friend of mine that I met through the College Plus program lives down in the Houston area. We had an extra seat at our table, so we invited her to join us! When she arrived, I enjoyed catching up with her. She also does a lot of work in Haiti, so we have a good deal in common. J

Finally, dinner time rolled around. J The food was delicious! But what I enjoyed the most was getting off my feet for a little while. :-P

During the dinner, we had a program. Several board members spoke, and several videos were shown about the work being done in Haiti. This was followed by the live auction. That is always interesting, and slightly nerve wracking for the board. It went well, and $105,000 was raised just through that!

After that, a band started playing and they opened up the dance floor. I stayed by my table for a little bit to try and pass out as many informational pamphlets on the mission trips as I could before people left. But then I joined the dance party for awhile. J

Mom and Dad with our friend, Miss D, from Michigan (she went down to Haiti with us in 2012.)

Me with my friend H in front of the mission trip table.

I don’t think we went to bed that night until 1:30 a.m. It was a long day, but so much fun!

             

The next morning, we couldn’t sleep in much. We went down to breakfast and packed our things up in order to make it back over to the conference center by 10:00 a.m. We helped load all the silent auction stuff back into the box truck so it could be delivered. Then we went out to lunch with the missionaries and part of the board so that we could discuss mission trip details.

The restaurant was really nice and the food was delicious! It was great to have some time with the board members.

After that, we headed back home. It was a short weekend, but we really enjoyed it! We are excited about the upcoming mission trips and look forward to the next gala!

"God's Not Dead" Movie Review

“Josh Wheaton ([played by] Shane Harper), a devout Christian and freshman college student, enrolls in a philosophy class taught by a dogmatic and argumentative atheist. Professor Radisson ([played by] Kevin Sorbo) demands that all of his students must sign a declaration that "God is dead" in order to get a passing grade. Faced with a choice between passing the class and betraying his beliefs, Josh refuses. And so the professor strikes a bargain: Josh must defend his position that "God's not dead" in a series of debates with him. If he loses, he flunks. When Josh accepts the challenge, he gets more than he bargained for — jeopardizing his faith, his relationships, even his academic future.” (Plot summary taken from Wikipedia)

This past weekend, our family had the opportunity to see the movie “God’s Not Dead.” We had heard a lot of good things about the film and were excited to finally get to see it!

We were not disappointed. The film was well done in terms of acting, visual quality, etc. The story line was also quite good, with several unexpected twists. There are lots of positive things about this film, but I’ll just name a few that stick out to me. First, it offers an inspiring example of someone (Shane Harper’s character) standing up for their faith in Christ no matter what it costs him personally.

Second, the film shows the little things God uses to connect our lives to others. We have no idea how He is orchestrating events so that we have the opportunity to minister to others. While we often call events “inconveniences,” God may be opening a door for us to minister to someone else! We must always be prepared.

Third, and finally, this film is a reminder that our God is NOT dead! He’s alive! How exciting it is to serve not only a living God, but a personal God. He sent His Son down to this earth to restore our relationship with Himself. No other religion claims to have a god who did that. We are incredibly blessed with the opportunity to serve such an amazing God!