camp chat

This year was my second trip to #LHCAMP at Ocoee Retreat Center (aka Horns Creek) with about 650 middle schoolers from our church. And once again, I HAD A BLAST!

Here’s what a typical day at our camp looks like - -

Rise and shine

Meet in the field (all campers and volunteers) for exercise, fun and skits

Breakfast

Quiet time (devotion) for campers / Counselor meeting for adult volunteers

Morning worship service

Back to the cabins for family group with campers (discuss the message from morning worship, quiet time topic, etc.)

Tidy cabin time (they have a contest every day for whoever has the cleanest & most creative cabin)

Lunch

Recreation time

Back to the cabin to clean up for dinner

Dinner

Family group time with campers to prepare for evening worship

Evening worship service

Campfire share time

Back to cabins for family group time (allow campers to share about worship service, etc.)

Lights out at 11:30 (yeah right)

If that sounds like a lot it’s because it is a lot. They like to keep the students busy because busy students are less likely to get in trouble. Also, keeping them on the go like this gets them good and tired. And when they’re good and tired they’re more likely to be open to the things of God.

This year my group was a lot larger. Last year two college gals and I had charge of 8 beautiful young ladies. But this year there were 22 in the group. My poor ole memory had its work cut out for it. Remembering names - not my strongest skill. Anyway. Most of our campers were rising 6^th graders. The rest were rising 7^th graders. They were pretty great.

And my co-counselors were a couple of lovely gals who had just graduated high school.

Don’t be fooled by their youth & beauty – they were awesome! As it turned out, our group got to be in one cabin together – just us – so it was like we were a family for the week. That was neat.

We did our morning share time on the deck of our cabin.

Right behind the deck there was a little stream. It was peaceful and especially beautiful in the morning.

We did our evening groups in the living room of our cabin. 

I learned a lesson early in the week – passing around a big bag of mini chocolate candy bars at 11pm isn’t the best method for getting 22 girls settled down for Jesus talk.

In all seriousness though, these girls eventually opened up and shared some things that were pretty heavy. Sometimes as adults we forget the baggage you carry around in the teen years. My heart ached as girls shared about financial difficulties, death, bullying and family problems. We cried and prayed together. God was definitely in our little cabin in the woods.

It’s always so awesome to literally sense God helping you say the right things in these types of situations. Things I had heard my dad preach over the years. Stuff I had learned through reading the Bible & my own personal study. It would just come rolling out. Being spiritually equipped feels so good. And to be blessed with two spiritually sound well-grounded co-leaders was icing on the cake.

At camp F I V E of our cabin mates asked Jesus into their hearts. And one girl recommitted her life to Christ.

That’s what camp is about – LIFE CHANGE ! ! !

I’m so glad I got to be a tiny little part of something God did in east Tennessee during a week we set aside for kingdom work. Sure, a lot of kids went to camp because they were enticed by hanging with friends sans parents, ziplining, playing paintball, swimming and rock wall climbing. . . and we did all that… it’s loads of fun of course…  but the most important thing is that hundreds of students turned to Jesus last week. And that has eternal consequences!

God is soooo good!

Here’s one of my favorite worship songs we did at camp. ENJOY!  

WORTHY WORTHY by Vertical Worship

If you’re more lookin for a more upbeat song, check this one out. And you might wanna put on your dancin shoes.
Brighter by Hillsong Young and Free

are we ever satisfied?

Ok, this is gonna be a kinda girly post. 

I was thinking the other day about my body shape. There are parts of my body I'm cool with. Other parts I fantasize about changing. Not that I would. But a girl can dream... 

Ok... If you're gonna make an apple pie, what's one of the most important ingredients? 
 
Apples!

Well you can't really make an apple pie with oranges, can ya? 

So why do we, as girls, get so upset when our apple-y body doesn't look right in the clothes that are made for a pear shaped body? 

One of the things I think we kinda miss the mark on is finding clothes to fit us. 

I see cute styles and pine for em, but then I stop and think hmm. . . that's probably not gonna work on me because (insert reason here). . . 

And while I'm on the topic, can we please stop measuring ourselves against Hollywood models and the like?

It's bad enough we compare ourselves to each other, but trying to look at your body next to someone who has a personal trainer, a chef that cooks most of their meals and doesn't live a real life... um cmon now! 
  
God made us all in His image. We aren't meant to all be a size 3. Some of us are tall, some are short. So what? 

Be happy with what ya got ladies! And play up your best features! 

Well, that's me on my soapbox for a minute. 

Carry on.

Hope Can Change Everything

Hope. 

Hope can be defined as expectation... desire... even trust. Hope is something we all have. 

Hope for good weather on vacation
Hope for a good test result at the doctor
Hope for many years on earth with family & friends

If we're a Christian and we have the love of Jesus living in us, we have a different kind of hope. 

In 1 Corinthians the Bible tells us that three things will last forever - faith, hope & love. 

I especially love Jeremiah 29:11 
          "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord.       
       "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

As a Christian my hope is in the Lord. 
Because He will never fail me. 
He'll never leave me. 
He'll never ever disappoint me. 

I listen to KLove (97.1 in the Nashville area) & they play Christian music. Really good tunes. Last week they played a song called "Hope Can Change Everything." The song is performed by several different artists & all the proceeds from sales on iTunes go to a really good cause. 

Here's an audio version of it I found. Hope Can Change Everything

Life can be tough. If we spent a little more time encouraging each other, offering hope, I wonder how much of a difference we could make. 

In Matthew 5 we're instructed to let our light shine before others so they can see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven. We're called to shine His light.

See if there's somebody you can share a little HOPE with today. 

Like this song says - you could be the spark, you could be the word, you could tell them something they've never heard ... a word can give you strength to face another day... 

Offer HOPE 

auntie time and an extra little visitor

I'm the coolest aunt. 
On both sides of the family. 
Hands down. ;-) 

But for some reason Kerlandy hasn't ever spent a lot of time with me. 

The other day my brother asked if we could keep Kerlandy for the weekend because they were going out of town and she didn't wanna go. I said sure, no prob! 

So she came on Friday evening and stayed til Sunday evening. 

And we had a lot of fun.

We spent Friday night hanging with my other bro and his fam (previous post). Saturday we had pancakes for breakfast, hung out a little and then I took her to get her nails done. You know, girl stuff. 

It was cool because I haven't hung with a niece in a minute... since I only have the one niece and she's married with babies now.... so.... the last time I was a cool aunt to a niece we were still tucking our shirts in and tight rolling our jeans. Ah the 90s.

Anyway. We played Trouble and Monopoly, too. She apparently has powers over Anthony that I don't. Cuz Anthony will never play even when I beg. 

Hey. 
I get bored sometimes. 

Riley came over Saturday afternoon. Til then he had never met Kerlandy. 
They became fast friends.

And can I just say the $1 whoopie cushion I bought while we were out earlier that day was definitely a dollar well spent. I'd say we got way more than a dollar's worth of entertainment out of it.

Unfortunately the whoopie cushion met its fate when something happened upstairs and we heard a loud POP ... 
Guess I should've bought two.

On Sunday morning we surprised my parents and went to their church. 

photo cred to my pal Angela 

After that we bought Kerlandy the most nutritious meal ever at Sonic and headed home for more fun.

She and I rode bikes and jumped on the neighbor's trampoline and played some more inside. 

I was kinda sad when I had to take her home. It was fun having her around. 

Maybe she'll come back sometime. 
Cuz I didn't get bored one time all weekend. 
And that was pretty cool ;-) 

DICEcapades with the fam

The source of these smiles you ask? 

A game called DICEcapades... buy it on Amazon if ya want to

My brother and his fam are allll about some games. Me too! 

When we hung out with them recently we tried out their new game, DICEcapades. Loads of fun is what it oughta be called. 

We laughed and had a really good time playin it. 

Ok, so once in a while it was a little tough with a trivia question 

And then there was the card that made my beloved do two push ups. 

We almost had to call 911.

Ok, not really. 
But he was grunting and groaning like he had done 200 ... It was hilarious. 

Anyway, if you're in the market for a new game for friends or fam I give this one two thumbs up! 

my first layer cake

If you know me, you know I'm kinda a perfectionist about certain things. Or OCD. Whatev.

And if you know me, you know I'm not known for my superb baking skills. I make a mean batch of Oreo balls but let's be honest, anybody can mix up crushed Oreos and a block of cream cheese and dip em in some white chocolate. 

For a few months I had been dying to bake something. 

A cake. Some homemade biscuits. Anything sweet & yummy. I don't even know why. The dude I'm married to doesn't even have a sweet tooth and I'm on this little journey with Weight Watchers... so.... 

But when I got the April issue of Southern Living I read through the recipe that was featured on the cover for Strawberry Lemonade Layer Cake and thought to myself, hmm I think I could make that. And strawberries just happen to be muh fave.

Well, being the novice I am, I of course had to make a list of ingredients I needed that was as long as my arm. EEK! What the heck is cake flour??? I barely understand the difference between self-rising and the other kind... what's it called? 

Anyway... I came, I conquered, I baked! 

Everybody takes a picture with their cake, right? 

It's a thing.

So you may be wondering if I took this cake to a party or over to a friend's house or somethin. 

Nope. Just wanted to see if I could do it. 

Anthony accused me of shutting down the kitchen for the weekend but that wasn't the case at all. 

It kinda did take me most of the day, but it was mostly because I was OCD about reading the recipe 413 times and measuring everything exactly and trying to make it as perfect as the picture on the cover of the magazine. I really don't know why I don't bake these kinds of cakes more often. ;-) 

My coworkers loved it.  And I did, too. With a cold glass of milk.  mmm

 Eh, I think I'll hang up my apron though. 
Probably just gonna stick to Oreo balls. 

guitar diaper cake for baby Jack

Sometimes I get a wild hair to do something crafty I've seen on Pinterest.  Like making a guitar out of diapers and blankets. :o) 

I looove doing creative stuff for the really special people in my life. 

When I came across this one, I knew it'd be great for my friend Lindsay's baby shower that was comin up. 

She's actually birthing her baby today, on Mother's Day, which is extra cool since this is her first kid and her first Mother's Day as a mom. 

Anyway, like I said, I saw it on Pinterest and of course went to Google to search for the instructions. Came across a detailed vid on youtube that hooked me up. diaper cake DIY vid

I saw another one somewhere so I jazzed mine up a bit differently than the youtuber. 

I decided the strings were a must. I mean, really. Cmon now.

I ended up having to wrap the dark brown fabric around a piece of cardboard to make it sturdy enough to hold the gold brads. A little more work, but worth it. 

By the way, the brown fabric was like $1 in the clearance bin in the fabric department at Walmart. 

The polka dot ribbon had a dual purpose - flipped over it was perfect for going around the side of the guitar. . . sans the dotty beauty

And then it finished off the neck of the guitar perfectly with the polka dots showing in all their dotty splendor! 

And that, my friends, is a little DIY baby gift that I enjoyed giving away. 

I hope Lindsay unwraps it all and keeps Jack warm and cozy in those little blankets. And uses the diapers for... well, you know. 

happy tassles for Bridge

Today was extra cool for my friend Bridgett. 

She's like a kid sister to me. Like don't mess with her or you'll have to mess with ME! 
And today she graduated from college. She's gonna be a teacher. An awesome one. 

I've known Bridgett since she was born. I'm distantly kin to her daddy. Her mom was always like a second mom to me, and a big sister sorta too. They're really like family. I was their extra kid for a while there... til Anthony and I started dating. ;-)

I'm super duper proud of Bridgett for stickin with it. It took her a while but she got that diploma today! 

Can't wait to hear all the stories about the kids who LOVE her being their teacher!

I made her this card I saw on Pinterest 

and I threw in some gift cards for her to go buy some "teachery clothes" (that's what she always says about an outfit she likes for the classroom). 

The card was so simple to make I won't insult your intelligence by explaining the steps. The "necklace" is just some little brads. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. 

Happy graduation everybody! 

Easter

Is it too late to recap Easter? 

Ok, good. 

My family usually gets together for Easter in a casual sorta way... and it tends to be on Saturday because Sundays are just too tricky with church services, especially now that we all go to different churches... 

This year we went to my parents' house & grilled out on Saturday evening. 

Let me pause here and say Easter weekend was full of the most perfect weather this year. It was in the 70s, sunny and breezy. 
P*E*R*F*E*C*T*I*O*N

When Mom fired up the grill it seemed they were out of propane. So we grabbed a tank from the garage thinking it was a spare, but it turns out that was empty, or nearly empty. Either way it was gonna be Easter 2015 before the meat was done. 

Enter Anthony. Trevor's car had been making a noise so he and Dad were going for a drive.

Anthony ran to the gas station and did a tank swap. 

Fast forward a bit and my sister-in-law Michelle notices that the grill sounds loud - like almost a hissing noise. Well, not long after that a small fire started. Under the grill. And out the back. EEK!

Thankfully no one lost any eyebrows. And we got to eat. Mom had a backup grill and eventually got brave enough to fire the big one back up and it behaved this time. Whew. That was close.

After we finished eating the kiddos had to hunt eggs. Mom hid one egg per grandkid & they each had to find their egg, which had instructions inside about what they had to do to earn their prize ($$$). 

Camden found his egg in less than 2 minutes. No kidding. 
He had to tell a joke. But he had to get help from his dad to make sure he got it right. 
How do you take a sick pig to the hospital?
In a HAMbulance 
{Insert laughter here}

Phil & Sasha hunted for Conner & Brady's eggs since they aren't walking yet. Phil had to whistle Jesus Loves Me. He started off whistling the wrong song. Sasha had to sing Here Comes Peter Cottontail. 

Next up was Cullen - he had to say "rubber baby buggy bumpers" 10 times. He had some trouble with it. Which was kinda the point. 

Kerby had to hop like a bunny. If you follow me on Instagram you saw the vid of the kids doing all their stuff. And you saw that Kerby cannot hop like a bunny. 
At.all. 
It was hilarious. Maybe there aren't bunnies in Haiti, I don't know... 

Kerlandy was the last to find her egg. She had to do 4 cartwheels. She did it like a champ! 

Some of the guys played a little corn hole

And there's always gonna be some basketball goin on with these fellas

Sasha and I kicked our husband's tails last time we played badminton. 
This time we fell short. 
And since I mentioned falling... Sasha pretty much did the splits going for a hit during one of our games. To say it was hilarious isn't even gettin close to describing it. We had to stop the game a few minutes to get ourselves back together. AND Kerlandy whacked me with her racket so hard if I had been a cartoon character there would have been birdies swirling above my head. As I type this blog (6 days later) I still have a pretty good sized bruise. #memories

And just because I like to keep it real with yall, here's a couple crazy shots Michelle grabbed while we were playing. 

These two little studs got a lot of attention - 
        Shocking, I know

They turn one on April 26th & I think they're ready for that birthday cake LOL

Three generations right here..

I got a little crafty for the nieces & nephews... 
{cough, cough as seen on Pinterest cough, cough} 

Kinda cool what you can do with some scrapbook papers and adhesive, right? 

Ok c'mon now... how cute are my world famous Oreo balls dyed in Easter pastels?  {swoon}

Annette, if you're reading this please know that this Longaberger basket you hooked me up with has become my official Oreo ball carrier. ;-) 

As I was dipping the first few in a purpley-pink hue Anthony came through the kitchen and said "what's with the strawberry?" I said "no honey, it's just food coloring." Pretty sure I rolled my eyes, too. And maybe I said dummy, not honey. I can't remember...  

Fun times were had by all at the Easter gathering. Fun times indeed...  

I'm glad I share DNA with these people. 
They're cool. 

flashback to February

I can't skip over this one.

Let's go back to February folks. And to do that, I need to lay some groundwork.

You'll remember that in September 2011 my dad quit pastoring. read the post 
He had been at that particular church for 24 years. After that, Anthony & I stayed for a few months but then we felt it was time for us to leave the church, too. So we did. And there began our adventure in finding a new church home. I had been under my dad's pastoring my.entire.life. 
So there's that... 

We visited some and eventually, in July 2012, felt we belonged at place they call Long Hollow. 
We're still there. 
And we love it!

Pretty soon after starting to attend Long Hollow I joined choir. And let me just pause here and say God has really blessed me in a lot of ways through being in choir. But especially with friends. I've met some WONDERFUL folks through choir.

And one of em is this gal right here.

Karen is one of those people who's full of energy. Bubbly and fun, big hearted and just all around nice. 

I remember when I first joined choir we were walking up the stairs to the stage one day and I said hey, I just love your smile. I didn't even know her then. Now that I do, I know that her smile is genuine and comes from that inner joy that shines through even when she's having a tough day.

Anyway, her hubby is a singer. Well she actually is, too. But her hub does it for a living. 
One night she invited me along to one of their concerts. 
Thus the title of this post - flashback to February. ;-)

It was great to hear tight harmonies and the southern gospel music I used to hear every weekend when I was younger. When they did Step Into The Water I found myself singing along.

I played it cool that night and didn't get a pic with the fellas. Next time I won't be so shy. ;-)

After the service ended, I caught Karen's little boy being cute on stage and snapped this pic...

Give him a few years... he'll probably be on stage somewhere like his mom & dad.

Anyway, I just couldn't go on without posting this. 
It was a fun night and I sure am thankful for friends like Karen.