10/5/2010

Lately we've been traveling, traveling, traveling!!

8/29/2010

So much has happened in the last few weeks! Recently, my brother and his wife had their second child, giving us our first nephew. His name is Charles Mark Anderson. We wish we could hold him and see him but since they live in AZ, it's a bit more tricky :) But we're so thankful for how beautiful and healthy he is!

Here at camp, things are beginning to wrap up for the summer. We have one weekend of family camp left and the leaves are ALREADY changing. -Seems waaaay too early for that! Yesterday we had a staff day, a day for all of us to wind down after 6 weeks straight of constant on-the-go activity. We played kickball and softball and had a amazing potluck afterwards. Jason and I then went to listen to Ron Roberts talk at the Coburn's house about their ministry in Romania. And at 9:30pm we left to spend the night house-sitting at Brent and Diane Johnson's.

Our friends from the Twin Cities, Matt and Beth Stiles, are arriving tonight to spend the next 3-4 days with us. We're excited to see Isaiah again and to meet Joshua (their two boys). We're praying for gorgeous weather and so far it's lookin' good!

Having company means I need to get ready! For so long we've been eating our meals in the cafeteria with the campers- I fear I may have forgotten how to cook! Hopefully, for Matt and Beth's sake, it'll come back to me :)

We're praying for amazing fun and great talks this week.

Devastating Truth.

This world is so filled with lies. In all appearances. And people believe these lies. Lies about God, about Jesus, about the Bible, about creation, about mankind, about history. They're everywhere. And it's devastating that people believe them; that believers are led astray by them.

And the internet....the media.... are the funnels through which people spread their lies. So we, as a people, have become so utterly confused. We see and hear so many different thoughts, false ideas about God, us, eternity.... And we don't know what to think; don't know what to do. So we decide that no one can possibly know anything for sure. Everyone's truth is their own truth. What each one believes is right for them. And in the end? We'll all be one big happy family, right? In the end we'll all go to heaven since we all must have the best intentions.

And Satan sits back and laughs.

Lord, help our country.

Xpedition Camping Pictures!!! (and a couple birthday shots)

What a time we had! Turned out to be pretty decent weather. Like usual, we had some storms on Saturday night- wouldn't be normal if we didn't!- and Sunday was HOT and sticky. Great combination. It was so good to see everyone again though. Check out the photos!!

Mmm...Camping.

Jason and Dan on arrival day,setting up camp. Or talking.

Jason entering our borrowed tent- before it flooded :)

The 5 of us went for a walk by St. Croix. HOT day!!

Lo and Behold, Jason's face!

Randi's artistic arrangement.

The crew.

Jen cookin a s'more.

Shannon, Austin and Randi.

Dustin and Matt heard something...

This has gotta be my favorite picture. Apparently Lindsey's famished.

Abe and Ali.

Harry and Jenn Norman playing "Have you Ever...?"

Pondering the reason for the weather siren...

Lindsey and I wondering, "What's the big deal, where's this storm?"

The poor kids, passed out on the floor in the Nature Center. Taken at appx. 1:00am.
Weather that evening? Not as bad as perhaps anticipated. We finally were able to leave the nature Center and got to bed around 2:00am. Everyone fared pretty well (despite sleep deprivation) except Jason and I. The humongo tent we had borrowed wasn't designed to be entirely effective. We got flooded out and ended up spending the night with the Bendsends in their tent, and listening to the racoons ravage our site... or try to. Thankfully we did a pretty good job of animal-proofing the place. Thank you Shannon and Austin!

Love this picture of us, taken on my birthday in Wausau. We had a fun day- getting physicals at the local clinic, eating at Noodles and Company, and watching a movie on big-screen!

Gorgeous wild flowers Jason picked for me on my birthday.
Another shot of the beautiful bouquet!

SPAM!!!

Is anyone else getting spam comments on their blogs?! Know of any ways to prevent it? Yikes, you can't get away from that anymore!! Recently we had someone put $200+ on our credit card from somewhere in California and they didn't even have our cards and people were using Jason's email to send out spam. Grrrrr. I'm about to entirely remove myself from the internet!

Posting again!

It's a record- I've posted twice within a week! Jason plays a softball game today against the family campers so in a bit I gotta run to support my hubby. He looooves baseball, but softball will do. I loooove sports but I'm not so great at any particular one. It's a shame really...

I need to work out. No time though....

Time flies by so incredibly fast. I never forget that before I know it I'll be 80+ years old. Provided I even live that long. God help me to make use of my time down here.

I like ice cream.

See?? ....This is one of the reasons I never blog- I can't think of anything to write.

Next time!

Blogging Again

I would love to blog more. I love the idea of blogging, but I'm not quite sure I've figured it all out. I haven't discovered how to "search" for friends or add people to follow. On facebook it all seems so easy. I write but I'm pretty sure no one reads what I write, since I don't know many people with blogs. I should confess that I haven't invested a lot of time into figuring it all out...

Moving along...

Right now I'm attempting to kill time. Which is funny since I never seem to have much of it. I'm at Camp registering families for Family Camp and every few minutes I have a bit of time to write a sentence or two. This is the reason I never blog- I can't set aside any time to spend on the internet. I must not value spending time on the internet enough, so it just doesn't get done.

Tomorrow Jason and I start teaching middle school sessions again for this new family camp that's arriving. We're teaching on "God's Wonders" -the wonders of His creation, Word, wisdom, power, and lastly love. We were asked to do this a while ago and God literally struck me in the head and said "Do this." To my suprise, Jason wanted to do it with me! It's definitely not something we're comfortable with, but that's what's made it such an amazing experience.

It makes me think about, "What do I have to offer? What am I able to teach these kids that's valuable?" It makes me process more thoroughly what I believe and why I believe it. Often times I feel inadequate to teach at all! For example, we're teaching during the first session on the Wonders of God's Creation. And let me tell you, I am one that LOOOVES His creation. I love nature, I love the outdoors, I love the beauty of it. But when it came to formulating our discussion times, I went blank! And I felt inadequate because I'm not a science or chemistry fanatic. "What facts could I give these kids that would wow them about God's creation?"

Today when I was driving and thinking about all this, I realized I don't need to have amazing facts to share. The wonder of His creation is all around me. My soul resides in one of those brilliant creations. Our bodies are such machines, and this is something that's tangible.

I was thinking about our faces. How convenient that our eyes, noses, ears, and mouths (four things that need air exposure) are on our faces! All nice and conveniently placed. Ears on the side so they can be kept warm by our hair. How convenient that our nose is above our mouth so we can smell our food before we eat it. Were our ears on our leg, or our nose on our arm, or our mouths on our belly, what a headache this would be. God knew where to put them. And nothing could be designed so brilliantly without a Creator. Certainly not through evolution- random chance.

I've been writing long enough. Time to stop. Thanks for reading!