June Review

Natasha took a picture of all the special items she had prepped and ready to take to camp. :) Is this a flashback, or what?



I was so thankful I had my camera in my purse on the Sunday a.m. before we took N to camp that afternoon. You see, Jeremy couldn't come with us. I turned around and saw that Jeremy had pulled N aside to a quite location in order to have some final father/daughter moments with the girl before we sent her off for a week. (Blurry because I had it on the wrong setting. Speaking of camera settings, why is the date in 2010 on all these pictures??! Annoying! Gotta fix that....)



Here are Natasha, Hope, and Ross being dropped off at camp. Lexi hadn't arrived yet, or I'd have shot all four now-5th-graders from Grandview!



(Same picture, cropped.)







Because of our years of Yellowstone Bible Camp connection and experiences, I think a number of my 'readers' will enjoy looking at the following pictures of Midwest Bible Camp's facility....

N's bed (top bunk on the left). The cabins have electricity, especially needed for lights and FANS. No one takes sleeping bags to camp here (so weird! ... but makes sense!) because they're too hot!! Top sheet, bottom sheet, pillow, and one blanket are the typical bedding. A centrally-located bathhouse is where everyone uses the bathroom/showers. The old one was in very bad condition; the new one is being used for the first time this year. Its basement was designed to serve as a tornado shelter; parents all around are much more comfortable leaving their children at camp now.



Inside the main building (Justus took all these pictures!):












(Freezer space at MBC is limited to all these donated chest freezers. Interesting.)



Here are some of the cabins; I think they are all identical, with five bunk beds in each.



Here is one picture Justus took inside the bathhouse; its design is ingenious, with a remarkable amount of privacy and space efficiency.




Pretty enough for ya??



There is NO 'equipment' on which children can play. Organized sports are the (ha) name of the game there.




The small white building in the center is the kitchen's location for "dry storage". The kitchen is in the back of the main building (visible there on the left).



The week N was at camp Justus had the opportunity to do a few unique things. One was going fishing with the Morts while Jeremy and I were in Knoxville. Another evening that week we watched one of Kieran's baseball games. The game wasn't Justus's primary focus.... (LOL!)



On the way home from camp the children, but especially Justus, had a BLAST 'mapping'.










When Natasha got home she was surprised to find a half-birthday gift. (You know, the whole "December birthday" thing....)



We got N Paula Deen's cookbook for kids. It is very, very well-done, and the foods are actually good/healthful! I saw it first at Troy and Kayla's when we were there a couple months ago; someone had gifted the book to their children.



Here are a couple pictures of the Heart Walk, in which something like 150+ people participated in memory of Baby Easton. It was a good (if early Saturday early morning) experience. Too bad it rained, or more would have turned out to walk! Here are Stacy and Enoch (big brother) working on handing out shirts to folks who didn't have theirs yet.









Ooh, these pictures are gross. This is Jeremy's foot that he brought home to me from his week at Bible camp in Arizona!! He saved the life of a younger one who ended up in his landing zone when he went up for a hit during volleyball. Being a shorter one, and a girl, this is a sore subject for me, so I did ask him (later) if he was being a ball hog and not letting Braelynn do her thang!! He said that as he remembers it, he was in his own space doing what he was supposed to do ... and that he has NO CLUE why she ended up under where he needed to land. All he knew was that if he landed square on her, she would die. So he sacrificed his body to save her. Afterward, she didn't move for many seconds, and everyone including Jeremy got very concerned that she WAS dead! "Braelynn?! Are you okay??" Then she popped up, "Yeah." ??! (eye roll! lol!) At that point Jeremy called Ben over and said, "Help me up. I'm hurt, bad." A (3-hour, one way) trip to the VA Hospital in Tucson provided x-rays that indicated it's not broken, but this thing is taking a lllllong time to heal (common for sprains more serious than 1st degree). It has made some good progress this last week, though, so maybe surgery, etc. won't be required. The bruising and swelling are still very much present (We're on Day 14 now.), but getting a tad better every day....















I wish I had more to say about our move and the next place in which we will live, but it's not completely nailed down yet, so I will reserve those details for a future blog when I know more. Suffice it to say, it hasn't been the most comfortable, relaxing month, on the phone all the time, and walking through place after place, searching for a house that will meet our needs for the next few y-e-a-r-s, but that is LESS EXPENSIVE to rent than this house is ... so that we can have enough $$ available to pay down our debt (medical bills, etc.). Our goal is to be able to buy a house in 3-4 years. *sigh* It's all good! :) I'm excited about all of these developments, actually, because they put us steps and steps closer all the time toward that goal (buying a house) which we have had ever since selling our beloved little trailer house in Blair. :)

Although we have had a MUCH cooler June than we did last year, and than is normal for this location, we have had a number of very hot, very humid days. Thankfully we have also not had as many STORMS as last year. Good grief. The children have had two opportunities already this summer to swim, with a number of more opportunities promised in the future. :) (Pictures in next blog.) Summer fun!!