Camp

{ Wow. Ok. A LOT of life has happened since I last wrote. I'm going to just pick up the story where I left off. }

I worked at the Richmond convention, got home on Sunday and then on Thursday I went to Elizabethtown, PA where I led the Pennsylvania homeschool convention. The PA convention has shorter vendor hours, giving us evenings to relax, which is really nice. The convention ended on Saturday at 5pm. We finished packing up at 6:30. I was on the road by 7:00 and got home at 10:30pm. Just in time to make sure Josiah and Anna were packed and ready to leave for camp right after church on Sunday morning. 

There was another twist though. As I was driving home from PA, Jeremy told me the van was misfiring and he needed to replace the spark plugs. He's done that before and so I figure all would be well by the time I got home. I was driving a van of kids to camp on Sunday, which meant I got to see Aliza, so there wasn't a whole lot of time for van repairs.  

I got home and Jeremy was stressed and frustrated because the spark plug change was not going well. Something broke. He didn't have the right tool and was trying to improvise. It wasn't good. By 11pm, I decided that I was going to rent a vehicle to take to Skycroft (camp) the next day. Whatever the cost was, it was going to be worth it to spend a couple hours with Aliza and hang out with the girls on the way. 

Anna went with me to pick up the vehicle during Sunday School. It was a brand new Jeep Wagoneer. It was huge! And when I got used to it, it was a really nice drive. I especially appreciated the size when I had to drive home that night in severe thunderstorms. 

We left right after church. Given that I hadn't been home very many hours before I was driving again, Alena was my copilot and her job was to keep talking to me! We had a smooth drive with only minor traffic slow downs. 

While everyone got settled in, Aliza invited me to follow her around, eat supper with her and stand beside her during Opening Celebration worship. It was very special to get to see her interact with her team and welcome campers. 

By the time we got to worship, I had tears streaming down my face. The team (yellow shirts) prayed over every chair and then switched into full hype mode to welcome the students. When our church came in, they were ready to worship and were the first group to go to the front. To see Josiah and Anna in this setting, that means so much to them, was very special. My heart was full and overflowing with gratitude for the experience that all 3 of my children there were having. 

I left as soon as worship ended at 8:00 and got home to Jeremy and Isaiah at 11:30pm.  

My favorite picture of Anna! Happy. Carefree. 

Melinda is so faithful in sending pictures every day. It makes all of the Moms very happy!

This was my favorite picture of Aliza from the week. The spiritual circuit (seminar) that she was assigned was "Deep Questions." This was the very first week of camp and she was pretty nervous about leading this session. Here she is talking to (Pastor) Andrew about some of the questions. I know that look on her face. She is locked in and absorbing every word he is saying. 

And this is my very favorite picture of Josiah. Red was awarded the spirit chicken and, clearly, he could not be happier about it. 

The end of the week was just as exciting as the beginning...