Lauren thought they were fun and she was using them as a phone!  The biggest zucchini was just about the size of her and it made me laugh.

Here are a few pictures…

Currently there is no overnight lodging at this facility.  The plan is to have the motel units ready for use by the middle of this fall.

This picture was taken before two more loads came in so there is even MORE wood in our yard than you see here!

Katelyn always looks so cute even when she is splitting wood!

This is Levi after he cut a huge hole in our foundation.  Boy we must really trust him.  This will help tremendously giving us a shoot to throw the wood down into the basement.

Thought this was funny.  Joleigh and Levi brought one of their great dane puppies.  She is only 9 months old and is already 100 pounds!  For those of you that know Asher (the middle dog) he is already a middle sized dog weighing about 45 pounds, but Yuna (the great dane) makes Asher look tiny! 

The summer began with a bang as we celebrated Camp’s 50th Anniversary during our Memorial Day Family Weekend.  We enjoyed reflecting on how God has brought us through many difficult times, given fruit to our efforts, and taught us more about Himself.

Soon after the celebration, Camp filled up with summer staff, for their time of training, as well as a whole lot of short, squatty wrestlers for Camp of Champs!  (no offense intended regarding their physical stature )

Then, in the middle of June, our 26 counselors greeted nearly 200 children for the first of five Summer Youth Camps.  I was privileged to be able to follow these campers closely throughout the weeks as I put together their follow up DVD’s.  Many kids made significant decisions regarding their relationship with Jesus Christ.  When all was said and done, the Gospel was preached to nearly 1000 campers, and over 90 of them placed their faith in Christ!

Four years ago this camper learned that we shared the same name.  Each year when Jesse returns as a youth camper, we make it a priority to get our picture taken together. 

At the end of each camp, I set aside some time to do video interviews with several campers about their experience at Camp Forest Springs.  It was great to hear how many kids said that CFS was the place that they heard about Jesus and trusted in Him for their salvation.  One camper shared how he placed his trust in Jesus while at camp and that when he went back home, he told his family about Jesus and they all trusted in Jesus together! What an awesome thing to be a part of!

Youth Camps is by far my busiest time of the entire year.  At certain times during the seven weeks, I almost forget that there is life outside of camp!  Many thanks to April for holding down the fort at home, and to Lauren for being patient with her daddy being gone so much.  Now that we are into Family Camps, my schedule will level out a bit.  I will be transitioning into more office work while at the same time being available to help out with the Family Camp program schedule.  Pictures and video still need to be taken for general camp promotion, so I won’t totally be an office hermit! 

My little sister Katelyn was able to be a counselor

Danielle (Another of my wonderful sisters!) was the Senior Counselor along with Andrew Kling

I hope to post some of the videos from the summer as well as some of the testimonies that we gathered over the past several weeks.  So please check back if you’d like to see them.

Here are some more links of interest from Summer Youth Camps 2008!

The start of the parade which lasted about 30 minutes. 

This is Lauren’s second parade now but the first one that she was actually able to enjoy a few pieces of the flying candy.  Here she is with her first experience with a sucker.  She loved it but man did she drool.

After the parade was over Jesse was able to participate in the softball tournament.  Camp entered a team for Westboro days and although they didn’t win they sure had a fun time.

Lauren and I were able to cheer the team on for a little while during their first of three games that they played.

To add more excitement to an already fun filled day, we ended up heading over the the Huffman’s so Lauren could attend her first birthday party.  Her friend Simon turns 2 on Monday and we went to help celebrate!

And the party couldn’t have been complete without a sweet bubble maker.  Lauren thought that was good fun!

Jesse, Lauren and I

Lauren just loved being able to play the piano.  And when we would let her down on the ground she would dance!  It was pretty funny.

It’s funny, sometimes people joke about having enough kids for a baseball team but truth is, Jesse’s family does have enough kids for a baseball team.  One of the evenings we all jumped in the car and headed to a nearby park for a fun game of baseball.  You can see the game going on behind us. 

Nothing says family vacation like some toasty smore’s and singing praises to God around a nice campfire!

Since Grandma and Grandpa remodeled their bathroom this year, removing their bathtub, we had to improvise to give Lauren a bath.  But Lauren sure didn’t mind taking one in the kitchen sink since I gave her a sweet mow hawk!

Lauren sure likes her Grandma…

...And her daddy!  She had a temperature for a few days during the week but pulled through it well with lots of snuggle time.  In the end we ended up with two new molars! 

This was Lauren’s first real movie watching time and as you can tell she is really into it.  Not sure if that is a good thing!  Fortunately our TV is in our basement and we don’t go down there too much to watch it! 

We are always so fortunate to be able to water ski when we go to Grandpa and Grandma’s.  Here is a picture of one of Jesse’s many ski runs.

Since I wasn’t able to water ski or knee board this year (believe me I tried but no one thought it was a good idea being 6 months pregnant!) Lauren and I enjoyed some swimming time instead.

She sure liked floating in the turtle.  Although after 10 years of Grandma calling it a turtle I think we figured out that it is actually a frog!  Sorry Grandma. 

On our way home Lauren entertained herself in her car seat very well.  It was a little bit longer drive than normal since we detoured to go and pick up Reya where she was being watched.

What an amazing week we had.  Thank you to the Smith’s, Herbie and Joy for watch Asher, the chickens and our house to make this trip possible for us!  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa we are already looking forward to next year!

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Here is also a quick update on the dogs...they are now friends!  Yea