Of The Face of the Earth - Part 2

It's a typical fall day here in the Northwest. Light grey puffs, draped across the sky, hide the blue above; "Wait," they say, "the blue and gold are better if you don't see them every day." A light rain - for it's too late in the morning to call it a heavy dew - gently creeps about, slowly and steadily embracing the earth with its damp comfort. Drooping leaves awake, and reach upward once again, full of hope. Plants dancing, small creatures scurry for dryer shelter, sending droplets everywhere. Tickling through every nook and cranny, the soft autumnal breezes stir the world awake. It's fall, and I'm content. But this final, definitive shift in weather reminds me that it's time to finish up the things of summer, which include our Family Camp adventures... 

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Sunday morning dawned as all the others - bright, sunny, and surprisingly warm for all of us rolling out of our sleeping bags and grabbing sweatshirts. At camp, we had two illustrious speakers: Alistair Begg spoke to us Saturday, and Monday mornings, as well as Sunday and Friday evenings, and R.C. Sproul was our preacher for Sunday morning. It was so amazing to have these great men at camp with us, and to learn from them. They (of course) loved our church family and had a great time...

Ok, so actually, we watched videos of these men. Set up a nice telly in the outdoor chapel area, and settled back on camp chairs. Still, it was a great time of learning!

Sunday afternoon is more relaxed than Saturday. It's the time you play out the tournament matches, as well as other random games, like Speed Scrabble:

It's the day nails get painted (Alex is so sweet about doing the little girls' nails each year!)...

           

...the day you have a free afternoon to just play with the Littles...

...and the day (this is the super-wonderful part) when we all troop down to the river to witness (at least one) baptism! This year, as mentioned before, our friends came all the way from St. Louis so Emily and Abigail could be baptised at camp with us - it was very special!

               

Mom giving her exhortation to her girls... 

Mom, Dad, and girls

 

After the baptisms, we all stay and play in the river for a while...this year it was especially wonderful, because it was actually warm enough to keep us from freezing! :)

Sunday night is teen pizza night (all the teens...and *ahem* older young people - that is to say, the gang let me join in still at the ripe ol' age of 20 - make TONS of pizza), followed by the finishing of tournaments and extra-late volleyball-playing!

Monday sees the horseshoe finals, and general clean up. Mom and Dad were (of course) in the finals, but they lost marginally to the other team, due to the following reasons:

1.

Do you see these guys? Well, at first, they appeared to be unbiased cheer-ers. That is to say, they lowered and elevated their vocal pitches equally for both teams. But at half time...

2.

They started massaging Eric's poor, sore muscles, and giving him a pep talk, "No pain, no gain, Eric!" They shouted at him, "Keep it focused, man!"

3.

They brought him water. Yep. I mean, talk about unfair advantages!!

*sigh*

But moving on - after this amazing, to-the-death game, we spent our last few precious moments--er, minutes--er, hours cleaning camp...

Trianna found a butterfly! Maybe it was attracted to her shirt? :)

Last hugs, a couple snacks, and few snapshots later, we were off, declaring, once again, that it was "The Best Family Camp EVER!"

On the way home, Benj'in and I got stuck behind a puttering little truck going only 35. It was going to be a long drive home...

But we had sunshine, soda,

...and music...

...so we just sat back, and enjoyed the ride!