Thursday, July 31, 2008

A Little Bit Blue

Late this morning, while Josh was taking nap, I escaped to the blueberry patch. If not for the birds, who like to take at least one peck out of every ripe berry they can find, picking would be very relaxing and satisfying.
I hadn't been out long when I heard a small voice call, "Martha?" It was Alysa out ont the back porch, wondering where I had disappeared to. I offered her the second basket and she helped me pick for a little bit. Being just seven she soon tired of the job and asked if she could take her store of berries into the house to share with Hannah and Sara.
I continued to pick until my basket was full. Both Jasmine and Oreo were there to keep me company, each one resting in the shade of a blueberry bush, Jazz eating an occasional tossed berry. She doesn't mind bird-pecked berries. In spite of the birds, who have to eat too, I think I have enough berries to freeze a bag and maybe make a batch or two of muffins. Maybe I'll bake a gluten-free batch when Josh goes back down for his afternoon nap.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Baby Days

Some of you are aware that Bethany has gone on a retreat with the junior high group from church. They were short on both vehicles and chaparones so her brother, who leads the group, begged her assistance and our minivan. The group left Monday morning. My job has been to keep Josh while Adam is working. This morning Josh helped feed the dogs breakfast. They had Fruity Cheerios.

This afternoon Josh had a look through Grandma's box of Fisher Price toys. He found the people quite tastey but Grandma said they were not to eat, so he tried out some little vehicles instead. The houseboat is too big to eat, but has a very cool springy flag that makes a great noise when it bounces back and forth.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Sun Shiners

Late yesterday afternoon I grabbed a moment to settle my new flower aquisitions. I popped them into my patio garden and gave them a tall cool drink. They didn't seem much interested in the coffee I was sipping. I think I am finished planting golds, oranges and yellows. Now my quest is to find something purple to add a bit of contrast, maybe some echinacea. And, does anyone have a good suggestion on how to help my taller flowers (mostly daisies) learn to stand on their own? They want to tip over and lay across the ground but don't look near as pretty in the prone position as they do upright.
I am looking forward to turning my backyard into a beautiful place once again. At first I was having a bit of trouble visualizing what I wanted to do, but as time goes on the creative juices are beginning to flow a little more. We are hoping to bring a small stockade fence home later this week and a few pieces of picket fencing also. A couple white picket sections will go along the edge of my patio to keep my chairs from blowing off the porch and into my flower garden.
I am going to be on the lookout for some good deals on outdoor rocking chairs. Every good grandmother needs a rocking chair on her back porch just in case she gets a grandchild who will sit still long enough to be rocked. Another item I'll be looking for is a post or a pipe to hold up one end of the hammock I want to hang under the red maple tree. I hope by the time we get things together there will be enough warm weather left to enjoy it all!

Monday, July 28, 2008

More Fun Photos From Yesterday

Just a few more pictures to go with the post below.
The beach more traveled...







The beach less traveled...


Looks like a potter's wheel...


Castle in the sand... and on the lap.










And a message in the sand.

Sunny Summer Sunday

Bright summer skies, sand and splashing waves... Yesterday we headed out to the beach. It was an impromptu trip, a spontaneous outing. We tossed a few things in the back of the van; a small cooler of bottled water, a loaf of banana bread, a few towels and a "beach blanket" and headed east toward Fair Haven.

We chose the beach less traveled, which basically means there is no life guard and swimming is strongly discouraged, but we were not really dressed to swim. Instead we walked along the beach, cooling our feet and legs in the surf. The water, which initially felt cold, quickly warmed and the waves beckoned me to go deeper. By the time the life guards walked their beat warning people not to swim here, I was drying out in the sand.

It was a beautiful day, only a little less than an hour from home and just seven dollars admission. We were cooled, we were relaxed, and we were happy. We were also a little sandy, a little sunburned, and a little smiling. On the way home we stopped at a fruit stand/ barn sale, bought some baked goods (which really made Hannah smile), a new coffee mug, and some end of the season cherries. We made it home in time to let Sofie out of her cage and make it to the evening service at church.


PS. Check out "Nate Stuff" if you'd like to see some of the photos from El Salvador.)

Saturday, July 26, 2008

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The past couple of days I have been cleaning out my patio garden. I have pulled tons of weeds and wild strawberry plants, dug up hoards of daffodil and grape hyacinth bulbs and feel as though I may never have the job finished. (Where is "Mistress Mary" when I need her? I hear she had quite the garden.) My son, Dave, stopped this morning and called my weeding job "a miracle". He even left me a few of his garden tools to help with the job and then looked longingly at the piles of bulbs laying out on newspapers. He is a lover of plants and the outdoors and has his own "Groundscaping" business. Of course I gave him some.

I fear I am not the gardener that my son is, that my great grandfathers were, nor can I compete with my own dad who always had a weedless vegetable garden. In spite of that, somehow there is a little bit of dirt running through my veins and I can't keep from hoping that I can someday have magnificent gardens of my own. My favorite perennials are the daisy type of flowers, Shasta, Gloriosa, Black Eyed Susans, and Purple Cone Flowers. Mix them up with some Bee Balm and a few others and maybe I can have the kind of garden that both the bees and the butterflies will love, not to mention the hummingbirds.

Friday, July 25, 2008

We Like Sheep

Last night James and I took a ride just a little south of here. We went to look at some used fencing and also a walnut tree that had fallen in a sheep pasture. The fencing is for our back yard. Not only will it help keep my dogs (and children) confined, but it will seperate my backyard from from My Darling's work area. We are hoping to move "Hannah's Place" up closer to the house where the kids can enjoy it in a safer more visible location.

The tree laying on the ground in the first photo is one that My Darling will be milling up sometime in the next month. It is laying in the sheep pasture of an area Bed and Breakfast. The sheep were fascinating. They don't know us and put up quite the racket as they ran across the yard to a "safer" spot. I think I just may look into visiting this place as a field trip someday. Baaaah!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Lunch

Jam on biscuits, jam on toast,
Jam is the thing that I love most!
(Frances, the hedgehog)

What better lunch on a dark dreary day than fried eggs with toast, homemade strawberry jam and a nice hot cup of coffee? Yummy!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Red Clover

“I’ll find it!” cried Horton. “I’ll find it or bust!
I SHALL find my friends on my small speck of dust!”
And clover, by clover, by clover with care
He picked up and searched them, and called, “Are you there?”
But clover, by clover, by clover he found
That the one that he sought for was just not around.
And by noon poor old Horton, more dead than alive,
Had picked, searched, and piled up, nine thousand and five.
In my 27 plus years of being a mom I have read more children's books than I can keep track of. For some unknown reason, strange to some, my favorite books often have a sing songy type of rhyme to them. Horton Hears a Who not only has a beautiful pro-life message but it rhymes too! I can't help but think of Ol' Horton when ever I see a field of purple clovers.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Breakfast

The blueberries are slowly ripening. I doubt I will be selling many this year as I have plenty of family members who are more than eager to help us consume them. It is a very sad looking little patch but it may yet be able to provide us some berries through the winter, we'll see. This was my breakfast this morning. Gluten free and yummy, Rice Chex with bananas and blueberries.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Hummingbirds

I bought two new hummingbird feeders when I was out on Saturday and today I chanced to see three birds at once. They were buzzing by playing chase, not one of them realizing that there were more than enough feeders to go around. So far they are still not sharing airspace, but maybe given some time they will learn to get along. And, maybe if I can learn to relax, I will get a chance to enjoy their presence in my backyard.

These particular photos were taken a few years ago when we had a camera that took much clearer brighter pictures. I wish now that I had kept it and eventually sent it in for repairs, but how was I to know? Afterall, I bought a camera that was supposed to be basically the same. Oh well, this one has videos with sound.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Church Picnic

Today's church picnic was a rather soggy affair. It was our turn to get some much needed rain, and rain it did. The showers didn't dampen our spirits though and plenty of folks turned out for the annual occasion. Tents were set up and both people and food laden tables moved into the pavillion. Uncle Ralph (that's him behind Dave) continued cooking hots and burgers and children had fun running in and out of the showers. Water was the main attraction as adults dodged raindrops and little people danced through puddles. The picnic is follwed by baptisms in Lake Ontario but James and I opted to go home this year instead.
Rachel and Dave, I have your hot sauce!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Friday, Saturday

Yesterday afternoon I met with two more blog friends, Apple and Country Girl from "My Sister's Garden". We looked at Apple's flower gardens, had a nice visit outside in her yard, and shared the evening meal together before Ben and I left to find Hannah at camp up in Oswego. Somehow, we neglected to get a photo before my departure. Ahh, maybe next time...

Tonight, for the first time since July 3, we have all three of our remaining children in our home for the night. Trips out of the country and time at camp are over and things should soon settle back into "normal", whatever that is. This evening we celebrated Hannah's birthday with pizza and ice cream sandwiches.

My poor feet are feeling rather tired and achy as I have let them escape from the loving support of my tennis shoes several times this past week. Sometimes the choice between hot feet and achy feet is difficult and when the weather is sweltering, I often choose air over no foot and leg pain. What I need is a nice long foot massage...

Friday, July 18, 2008

A Teenager!

Happy Birthday, Hannah Banana!

Today is my beautiful baby's birthday and she is thirteen! It doesn't seem possible that all seven of my children have reached this great milestone...

... I once turned thirteen...

I was getting ready for school that second day of spring in 1977 when the telephone rang. It was for me. "Strange," I thought, "who would be calling me before school?" I can't recall much of the conversation that morning but the caller turned out to be a DJ, "Ferdinand Jay", from one of the local radio stations. Seems one of my friends had called in and let them know it was my big day. I wasn't sure whether to be pleased or thoroughly embarrassed at being on the radio before school, but I did leave home with a smile on my face. Even the Vice Principal's son had heard it on the radio. There was a mystery attached to that early morning call. Who was the friend that called the radio station in the first place? I had no clue and it wasn't until months later, maybe even a year, before I learned that it was my dear, Jehovah's Witness friend, Elena, who had made the call.

So anyway, Hannah is spending her second birthday in a row at OBC. She didn't mind turning twelve away from home and I'm sure she'll get plenty of attention today too. Bethany mailed her a package and her friend, Kara, who has celebrated almost all of Hannah's other birthdays with her, is also at camp. Today I am going to see if I can find her another yellow shirt like the one in the photograph. It's her favorite and somehow got spots on it in the wash. Dont'cha hate that?

Thursday, July 17, 2008

A Little Cheese...

"Would you like a little cheese with that whine?"

I honestly wasn't looking for sympathy with yesterday's post. I was just having a hard time keeping my eyes open. It was an unusual occurance as I don't normally have an impossible time waking up in the morning. Sleepy is not so bad if you can shake it off, I just couldn't shake it yesterday. I almost wondered if I somehow woke up "wrong" and needed to go back to sleep and try waking up all over. At any rate, today I am awake... now that I have had my nap :)
Lately I have been pulling weeds out of my flower gardens. I pulled a cartful Tuesday night... Hmmm, maybe that has something to do with my sleepiness... and I think we could pull out a few more wagon loads besides. My gardens are pretty sad this year and somehow don't have the same allure for me as last year. What's there is pretty, but it feels like something is missing too. Maybe its because I didn't fill in the empty spots with those happy little marigolds and petunias. Whatever it is, I am planning on looking into a solution.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Keeping My Eyes Open

Yesterday afternoon found me feeling anxious. I'm not really sure why, maybe because I had just paid off my Target card leaving my wallet void of cash. Maybe I felt stressed because of all the things I feel the need to accomplish and don't know quite how to catch up with it all. Whatever the reason, this anxiety followed me into bed, disrupting my sleep repeatedly throughout the night. I tried praying but found I would get only partway through my list only to wake up again wondering where I had left off.
When morning finally arrived I crawled out of bed tired. Even a shower couldn't wash the sleepies from my eyes. Sara and Alysa arrived a little before nine and Bethany came with Josh a little after. I managed to keep an eye on the baby (with the help of "the pen"), wash a load of laundry, and give the dog a bath, all the while feeling like I was just about ready to drop off to sleep. When Josh went down for his nap, I lay down on the couch and closed my eyes, but sleep was not to come. Sofie stood at the couch and barked at me telling me it was time to be up. Somehow I staggered through the morning and Nathan was kind enough to watch Josh for 45 minutes or so after lunch so I could close my eyes for a little bit. I woke up feeling better. At least I don't feel like I'm about to fall over any second.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Walkin' the Dog

Have I mentioned how much Josh likes dogs? He is only a little bit bigger than Sofie. She thinks he is pretty cool too and often nibbles his fingers or licks his toes. Lately they have been playing games like Tug of War with Sofies toys. Sofie is usually gentle with him and he seldom complains when they play together.
This afternoon Josh found a new game, "Walkin' the Dog". We went over to Rachel's house to visit and swim and Bethany and Josh came along. I took Sofie since she has spent enough time in her crate the past few days. I like to keep an eye in her when we're out so she had her leash on. Josh figured it was time to walk the dog.
Sofie didn't seem to mind and Josh had lots of fun chasing the leash, shaking it around, and stretching it out in his hands. If he dropped it he just crawled over and picked it up again. He was very intent on doing a good job of Walking the Dog.

BTW

If possible, I will post more pictures later on when I get them.

We Will Continue (when it ends)

We arrived at the airport in El Salvador at/around 12:00 pm and were taken from there to Calvary Chapel of San Salvador, and from there to the orphanage. We got settled in pretty well before we met the boys. Our introduction was kicked off by a game of frisbee then of soccer. That is, that's how the guys in our group were introduced to them. It didn't take long for us to realize what the favorite sport was there -- soccer, or "football" more appropriately -- and that seven Americans, ages 18-40ish, were no match for ten little El Salvadorian boys, ages 8-12. It felt more like we'd come to Soccer Camp than on a missions trip.

The water in the showers must have been around 70 degrees farenheidt. I could hardly breathe when I took a shower. There were many inconveniences and a few of us got sick, myself included. On Wednesday we went to a pool with the boys and that's the day I was sick. The ride was a bumpy one so that didn't help. We got to the pool, I prayed with one of the adults of our group, subsequently vomited, and then was fine so I got to swim after all.

Most of us (of the teens in our group) got attached to at least one of the orphans. Roman got attached to Angel, and so did Chrissy, Matt got attached to Alex (conveniently, Matt has a brother named Alex), Gina got attached to Victor, Chelsie to Emerson (they share birthdays), and I to Kevin.

I first saw Kevin while we were playing frisbee the first night. He came up to watch us play and stood there for a couple minutes. I knew that he was the one the Lord wanted me to reach out to on the trip. I waited until I got the frisbee again then threw it to him. Later on while we were playing soccer, he came up to me, gave me a hug, and tried to tell me his name. At first I thought he was saying "Gabing" but later I heard Lora call him "Kevin" and Tandrian explained the pronunciation to me (Tandrian is the one who spoke fluent Spanish). When I told Kevin my name he couldn't pronounce it so eventually I ended up with the name "Nick" to all the orphans, and "Nick Junior" exclusively to Kevin. All this in spite of trying to get them to call me by my middle name, "Daniel." Kevin and I became best buds even though we had no idea what the other would say.

The night before we left we all watched a movie together -- "The Climb," A Billy Graham movie. It also was in Spanish so I tried to guess the story just by the picture and little words I'd picked up on. Kevin was leaning on my lap for the latter portion of the movie, and when it was over he wrapped his arms around my neck for upwards of five minutes.

The day of our departure we took some group photos, of us, of the boys, and combined. About a half an hour before we officially left Kevin disappeared. I searched him out thinking I couldn't leave without saying goodbye. "Donde es Kabveen?" I asked the other kids, but nobody knew. I finally found him on his bunk crying. I got him down and carried him outside to say "goodbye." He gave Max, and Chelsie, and me a hug, and then I felt it... "Oh no!" I said to Chelsie, then I started crying too. I was doing fine up to that point but then...

All in all this trip was well worth it and I'd go back in a heartbeat -- sickness, ant attacks, and all.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Scroll down for Nate's El Salvador Adventure...

Lakeshore Adventures

I have to admit that I am enjoying the lakeshore this summer. After leaving Hannah at camp yesterday, Ben and I decided to check out Fort Oswego and see if we could get a glimpse of the Oswego lighthouse. Tho old fort was closed (We'll have to try another day) but we took the time to walk around the perimeter, visit the Post Cemetery, and read the markers.
From the lakeside of the fort you can see the lighthouse. Currently owned by the Coast Guard, it is not open to the public, but the city of Oswego is in the process of procuring the property and maybe one day we will have the opportunity to visit. The lighthouse sits way out in the water at the end of a very long pier where the Oswego river empties into Lake Ontario. It was fun to see the fishing boats out there and watch the seagulls flying in circles, but we couldn't stay long. After checking out a few of the sights, we headed back to the van and made it home to church just ten minutes late for the evening service.

El Salvador - A post from "Nick Junior"

Greetings,
Most of you know me as Nathan Teal, however to a group of ten little boys, I'm known as "Nick."

The Saturday before last a group of eleven kids and six adults from my church went to San Martin, El Salvador for a missions trip to a small orphanage called Potter's Field Ranch Orphanage. It comes with some difficulty, telling with words exactly what went on there. We went expecting to minister but were in turn ministered to. I'll try to stick to the highlights.
Very few of us who went speak Spanish. The words I knew I didn't even realize were Spanish in the first place. But this was what made our trip so fantastic.
In our church we sing a song quite frequently and the last line in the chorus is "Jesus, Your love has no bounds." In El Salvador we could not understand what the people said and they could not understand what we said. Only one person in our group speaks fluent Spanish and she was not always there to translate everything everyone said. But there was something we all understood, be it in a hug, or a smile, or in one of the only phrases we knew, "Cristo te ama," everyone understood love. Strangely enough, El Salvador is a third world country, yet when it comes to love theirs is richer than I've seen almost anywhere in our prosperous North America. There's a verse, Proverbs 13:7 which says, "There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; there is one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches." There in a country full of violence, prostitution, poverty, and sickness, there is a hunger for love and for something real that will satisfy them. As we went there and held out Jesus to them, it shocked us to see how desperate the people are for something to believe in. we came with over five hundred gospel tracks and came home with none. Everyone who we handed them to took them and read them. People would come to us asking for them. If they saw somone else with one, they'd all ask for a turn to read it, or gather in a circle around the one and all read at the same time.
On Thursday we went to the church in the morning and did some things with the school there. We did a skit, and I had a chance to share my testimony, which was the scariest thing I've ever done -- not because it was in front of a bunch of kids I don't know, but because there were sixteen people there I do know. But I had to remember that beacause of God's grace I'm saved and that who I was is no longer who I am. That afternoon we went to the children's hospital where many of the kid's conditions were terminal. We played some games, music, and colored with them. Three of them prayed to accept Jesus. There are two children that stick out in my mind. Bartemeo was a 2 year old with one kidney, there was another who had just come out of a coma and was the skinniest person I'd ever seen. We prayed with the parents of the two children and told them that Jesus loves them. That was one of the most heartbreaking things I'd ever seen in my life.
For brevity's sake I'll split this into two posts so you won't feel you have to read it all at once.
(By the way, in the picture is the boy's from the orphanage. Standing, l-r is: Alex, Marcos, Emerson, and Angel [pronounced Onhel]. Sitting, l-r is: Franco, Douglas [he spells it Duglas], Victor [pronounced Bveecter], My buddy Kevin [pronounced Kabveen], Carlos, and Omar. Thanks Lora [aka "Dora"] for the picture.)

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Going Round in Circles

Friday evening I retrieved Ben from camp and this afternoon I returned to Oswego to deliver Hannah. Unlike the other trips, which were bright and sunny, today's drive was dark and rainy. Picture a slight mist, gently splashing waves on the shore, and a light fog over the lake. The rain was warm and gentle and the wet grass soaked the toes of my tennis shoes through to my socks. Hannah settled into her cabin and got into her suit to take her swim test. Ben, who had come along for the ride was talking with his friends, so I decided to take some rainy day photos.
There isn't much to see along this particular portion of the lake shore. Much of the beach has been covered with large rectangular blocks of stone and concrete designed to keep the shoreline from eroding into the lake, and the power plant next door kind of detracts from the scenic beauty due east.
There is however a small lagoon which was quite pretty today. I took advantage of both the cloud cover and the tall weeds for a nice photo. The campers practice their fishing skills here and there is also a boat launch. No one swims in the lagoon (it looks a bit scary), instead the camp has a nice inground pool for all the would be polar bears.
On Friday I will return once again, first to meet some friends, and then to bring my daughter back home. When I see her again she will have turned into a teenager. Her birthday is Friday.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Sodus Point

Wednesday night I lay in the darkness of my bedroom listening to the wind rustling the leaves outside the window. A cool breeze brought in fresh air and yesterday was clear and bright. I decided to "get off my rocker" and take the girls, Hannah, Alysa, and Shelly's daughter, Jessi for a ride to the Sodus Point lighthouse museum. On the way out we stopped to pick up Bethany and Josh.

It was a gorgeous day, one where the sun shines bright and the breeze blows not quite cold, but almost. The wind blew the water into choppy little waves and splashed it against the pier. I felt the urge to sit down on the shore and watch the water, the seagulls, and the people on the distant beach. Out over the water I could just make out two stacks from the Oswego Power Plant and to the left of them a giant stack and cloud of steam, the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Power Station. I pointed it out to Bethany, "That's where Ben is," I said. "HI BEN!" she shouted. We jumped up and down and waved.
After our tour of the Lighthouse, where we all climbed the 52 steps to the top, we stopped down at the beach. No one was in the water on the lake side as the lake was a little rough, but there were several people on the beach including a group or two of children on some kind of outing, and another testing the water on the bay side. Alysa and I thought it would be fun to look for shells and beach glass, but Josh's stroller doesn't roll in sand and we hadn't yet eaten lunch. We decided to return another day and search the beach for treasure.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Off My Rocker?

I found a kindred spirit in my Uncle Chuck when he quoted me poetry at our family gathering last Friday. It wasn't the poem itself but the fact that he sat down and looked me in the eye while quoting it. I thought I was a little off my rocker (and so do certain other people) when I would quote lines of poetry, often Dr. Seuss or other silly nonesense. People are never quite sure how to react. I've been told I "need to get out more..." but that would mean I'm really "off my rocker". Following is the poem Uncle Chuck quoted me. (He had others that day, but this one was mine.)

Grandma's Off Her Rocker!

In the dim and distant past,
When life's tempo wasn't fast,
Grandma used to rock and knit,
Crochet, tat and baby sit.
When we were in a jam,
We could always count on gram.
In the age of gracious living,
Grandma's life was one of giving.

BUT TODAY....

Now grandma's at the gym,
Exercising to keep slim,
She's off touring with the bunch,
Or taking all her friends to lunch.
Driving north to fish or hike,
Taking time to ride her bike.
Nothing seems to block or stop her,
Now that grandma's off her rocker.

Author Unknown

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

A Little Bit of Music

Judi recently tagged me for a music meme but without Nathan in the house I don't hear much music. Nathan is the "Music Man" around here. Several years ago he learned to play the guitar and now he is teaching himslef to play the piano. Now if only he could read music. (I apologize for the sideways video.)

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Meeting Gudl


This afternoon I had the privilege of meeting one of my blog friends in person. What a great experience. It was nothing like meeting a stranger, more like meeting up with an old friend. We shared tea and cake while the kids devoured a box of assorted donut holes and then took turns riding M.'s pony (the kids, not us).

It was a hot and sticky day so we got in our cars and followed Gudl down to the beach where the kids had fun cooling off in the water and playing in the sand. All too soon it was time to head back toward home.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Back in the Day

Ben is at camp. Next week Hannah will be going to camp. Jim has gone to camp, Dave has gone to camp, Bethany wanted to live at camp, Joe couldn't wait to get back to camp, and Nate has loved camp too. Years ago a friend started encouraging the kids at church to go to OBC. She provided scholarships, she provided transportation, and most of all she heckled the parents until we finally gave in and let the kids go.
My husband has always been somewhat hesitant to let go of his children. I was once reluctant to send the kids to camp, but for a different reason. I needed the break from the kids and they needed time away, I just wasn't sure OBC was the right place to send them...

Once upon a time two sets of parents decided their daughters should go to camp, so off they drove to a little old Christian camp on the shore of Lake Ontario. (Did I mention it was "old"? My mother's aunt and uncle owned a cottage there! ) My sister Priscilla and our pastor's daughter Tori spent a week at OBC in 1979. We had not been impressed with the "dirty, rundown old camp" back then, so I wasn't sure about sending my own kids 15 years later. To my surprise, my own children came home loving OBC and have begged to go back every year since.

This is how our cabin looks now. Back in the day it had a cute little front porch and the door wasn't boarded up. There were curtains in the windows and two sets of bunk beds where we slept. Kind of sad to see it this way. Most of the old cabins have been replaced and this one was rarely used when we attended. Hey, it's still standing!

This is our friend Tori, Priscilla, and our "counselor", Ella on front of our cabin. Next week when Hannah goes to camp, Tori's daughter, Katie, will be going along too.

In Dependence Day

I keep thinking of July 4th and the birth of our nation. We call it "Independence Day" because it was then that we declared our independence from England, but at that time in history we were totally de-pendent on someone else, Someone who we keep trying to assert our dependence from these 232 years later. We cover up, remove, or roll out of sight His laws. We fight to have His name removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, our money, and even public prayers. We scoff and ridicule those who would live their lives for Him preferring rather to promote every kind of sinful behavior instead. We thumb our noses in the face of the God who gives us our very breath and then wonder what is happening to the "Land of the Free and the Brave". I vote to change our national holiday to In Dependence Day because we need Him.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

A Quiet House

Nathan and the group from church left for El Salvador early Saturday morning and this afternoon I took Ben up to camp in Oswego. We are left with but one child, Hannah.