God is working here and now, and I haven't even posted about it!  Shame on me.

Three (and a half) weeks of camp have already flown by.  All I can say is that God has blessed us with amazing staff--young men and women that are seeking Him*.

because you were wondering why

Because Judah often looks like this between 4 and 7 pm,

we have taken to making that time our official “walk of the day”. 

 There is so much to see up in the hills!  Spring is simply glorious to behold.  Here we can look across a valley and witness the amazing transformation from worn-out brown to vibrant green.  I kid you not, it takes my breath away every day!  And, honestly, green is just such an awesome colour, especially paired with brilliant blue sky.

The other thing I LOVE about living at a summer camp is that WE HAVE HORSES.  Did you catch that?  I get to go see horses every day!  AND I even get to ride them {if I’m not pregnant, which I’m not intending to be this summer}.  Hopefully Judah learns to love horses as much as I do!

This is simply the best place I can think of to raise a family.  Can you blame us for wanting to get a start so early in our marriage?  I bet you wouldn’t be able to resist if you lived here, too. 

Of babies, baking, and pestilences

The summer camp season is over for another year. It's my fourth year in a row at this place, but this year did not look like any of the others. To start off, I'm pregnant--that means abnormally low energy levels, aversions to many random foods, and daily fluctuation of emotions. My involvement in the things I love, such as getting to know campers and participating in the occasional wide game, was seriously compromised. But now I have nothing to complain about. I have no pressing responsibilities and I live in absolutely gorgeous countryside. Hooray for a season of rest--and just plain strangeness due to the baby growing inside of me.

We've been dealing with an abnormal amount of little furry pests this year. So far, Sheba's winning the fight in our place with a total of 4 catches, vs. Victor with only one. Still, there's more to be had. I'm just refering to the pests in our chalet. There's been 6 caught in the tuck shop--one of which only got its tail stuck and proceeded to crawl under the freezer and die. We were wondering where that trap went--and where the stink was coming from. Sigh. There has also been capital "P" Pests around/in the lodge, although we didn't know about the "in" part for a while. Again, the mysterious stink has been identified. These Pests are falling prey to an old trick known as POISON. In my dislike of both pests and Pests, I definitely prefer pests. No doubt about it.

Mmm... I am in the process of baking my first successful batch of buns. Okay, I don't know if they are successful yet, but I'm sure hoping! The last time I tried (my first attempt) I mistakenly put half the amount of yeast in than was required. Silly me. They were only tasty while piping hot. After that, well, the NHL could have made good use of them. On that note, I will leave you. I will not risk burning them!

UPDATE: The buns are delicious and Sheba caught another little pest! She may reconsider placing it in Joey's shoe, though...

can there really be a life in there?

It's been... well... another week here at the camp. I can't say that I feel like I accomplished very much. I do my part when it comes to all worship team affiliations--picking songs, organizing the binders, setting up the power point presentation, setting up sound, and making sure any bugs stay very far from all electronic devices. In that area I've kept very busy. But now it seems as if this year's camp season is very well off and set in its ways--who am I to interfere or stick my head where it hasn't been thus far? I'm not too worked up about it, though. I get more time to nap and prepare for BABY!

I guess you could say that my excitement has increased majorly ever since Wednesday. Joey and I went to our first midwife appointment in Brandon. Before I get into the really neat details, I'll just let you know that I think midwifery is DEFINITELY the way to go! I got to skip all the dumb blood tests that don't even apply to me because midwives aren't paid per visit, per hour, per test. A lot of responsibility is placed on you, the soon-to-be parents, to decide exactly what path you want to pursue during pregnancy. My visits are not just 10 minutes long, but a whole hour. YES, I am excited about this!

Anyways... on to the really, REALLY cool stuff! Joey and I heard the baby's heartbeat! It was so small... and so fast! Joey said it sounded like a pow-wow in my tummy. I don't know if that's flattering or not... At this point there was only one baby's heartbeat, but there could quite possibly be another hiding in there. I've heard of women who don't know they are carrying twins until TWO WEEKS BEFORE. Yikes. I'm not opposed to it, but I'd like a little notice! And, with the presence of the twin gene quite strong on both my and Joey's side of the family, it is plausible. Wouldn't that be something? I'd double my parent's yeild in one shot!

I'm sitting at the end of a long white table burning picture CD after picture CD... and this is how I'm spending my time. My back is aching because of poor posture, and my sweet tooth is really hard to ignore. Sigh. Maybe I'll just bury myself in a pregnancy book or two.

there is joy to be found in sorrow

It would be fair to say that my life is pretty crazy right now. All of a sudden, I am engulfed in camp--happily engulfed, mind you. I have a tiny flock of LDP's following me (and Joey) around and listening when we tell them to do something. There are only three girls in my care this year, but that in itself is a blessing in disguise. For undisclosed reasons, my energy levels have plummeted abnormally low as of late. Three girls is a wonderfully close and comfortable number to have!

In other news, my family has experienced yet another crisis, and it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel in this one. It's hard to see my family mourning... hard to see two young girls being ripped away from those they love. I found comfort in three different places. First, in the song "Mighty to Save", second, through Colossians 3, and third, by listening to the Hutchisons sing of God's providence. All three hold deep meaning to me... and I am too tired to write it all here now. Needless to say, God is GOOD and He will act to preserve His great NAME.

I will post at a later date because my body is trying to convince me it's natural position is supposed to be horizontal.

I've never been this homesick before

I'm sitting in the kitchen at camp with a happy boy who's slurping mushroom soup. Conner doesn't like mushrooms, but he's always very quick to defend his appetite for the soup that bears the name because "it doesn't actually taste like mushrooms!" I enjoy the time I get to spend with this kid.

Today was a day of janitorial duties--like sweeping and mopping the dining hall, kitchen, and main hallway floors, vacuuming the entire second level, cleaning up messiness that gets overlooked during the week. Camp season is nearly upon us! Promotion Sunday will take us by storm, and then we'll be hopelessly lost in the middle of IT. Despite the natural oh-my-there's-no-time-left-to-plan reaction, I'm really looking forward to the summer. Bring on the campers---and please, PLEASE bring on the warm weather! (sometime? SOON??)

Last weekend Joey and I went to Saskatoon for a wedding of a friend of mine from Millar. I've decided that road trips are simply marvelous--on a double-lane highway. I'd rather not have any more near-death experiences, thank you. I'm convinced that some people actually believe that they can win in a head on collision. Sheesh. The wedding was splendid, but the company I kept was even better. Hubby and I did a little shopping at Old Narvey... I mean Old Navy... ate a little green peppercorn cheese & wasabi peas... and drove through a town engraved deep in my memory.

Oh, on a side note, isn't it strange how everything seems so MASSIVE and AWESOME when you're little? And then you see those things when you're all growed-up, they really don't look impressive at all. In fact, they seem quite disappointing. I wish I still had the ability to think everything is cool. Anyways... back to our trip...

During a pit stop in Yorkton, Joey observed an elderly fellow teaching a young gaffer NOT---let me repeat that---NOT to wash his hands after using the facilities. That is nearly nauseating. Ewww. It is so gross that I'm going to stop talking about it at this moment.

In other news, Joey and I have been studying up on the Emerging/Emergent Church. What to say, except that there is a lot of twisted theology lying behind many of the hip new preachers and authors that are being so widely publicized. It is vitally important to research where a person stands on foundational Christian beliefs before you start to promote him/her all willy-nilly! I suggest checking out lighthousetrailsresearch.com and challies.com for more info on this postmodern fad.

Hmmm... It's 5:51, my back is aching because of poor posture, and it's FRIDAY. So...

The End.

in training

Hello to everybody! I am taking this moment to relish the feeling of finally being able to blog again! It's been a long two months, that's for sure. I apologize for my neglect, but we've been through summer before. You know that I hardly ever get time to blog!

I've been working at Valley View Bible Camp again this summer. It's been quite a different experience this time, though. I headed up the Leadership Development Program of 2008, which was absolutely amazing. There was a lot more responsibility on my shoulders, but I do well when given extra responsibility. It's better if it's just laid on me rather than me taking time to mull it over and get stressed out. After all, I am a perfectionist, and I do have the tendency to get bogged down in the decision making process! I went into the program desiring just to be obedient to God. If you think of the goal of summer camps to simply be converting as many kids as we can to Christ, then the whole ministry is pretty disappointing. We as Christians are called to be obedient to God--"sowing" where God shows us, "watering" where necessary. HE is the one that causes the ultimate growth. The knowledge that God is sovereign and will work the way He has ordained is the only thing that has kept me going this summer. I have seen Him at work in the lives of all my LDP participants. What a strange feeling it was when I found out that He taught them exactly what was on my heart to teach, except I never found the right words with which to teach them! God definitely knows what He is doing.

I also had the opportunity to be a cabin leader during one of the teen weeks. This was such a refreshing experience for me. Wow, did I ever miss being a cabin leader! Leading LDP is a little bit different than having a group of girls that come to camp for fun (and sometimes boys). I wasn't exactly enthralled at the idea of being back in a cabin, let alone during one of the most draining weeks of camp that there is. So, in my weakness I cried out to my Father.

Jesus, break my heart for these girls. Break my heart for what breaks Yours. Be the Love I need for them, give me that Love even before they walk into my cabin for the first time. I need You because I can't do this. I will be obedient, God, because You have called me to be obedient. Have Your way, Father.

I believe that God led me to pray in this specific way, because He was faithful to provide all of these things. I have never been so spiritually refreshed while doing ministry!

Apart from camp news, Joey and I are exactly half a year away from our big day. 6 months, that's all! God has been revealing so many new things to us. It's difficult to always rest in Him, though. I often begin worrying, or planning beyond what God has laid out for us thus far, or I nearly forget that we do not belong to each other yet. It's definitely been a challenge, but we have so many loving people to keep us on track. I am so blessed by all of my Christian friends.

Well, that's pretty much 60 days in four paragraphs. I wish I had an eternity to write and a infallible memory, but I have neither. Thank you for being so patient with me (as if you have any other choice!). I hope to blog more often, but I doubt it will happen. Once I'm back at school and a normal routine (camp is not normal), I think I will find more time to do things. Until I write again, God bless you!