Bible Camp!

Days 153-156:  We had the distinct pleasure of attending GoodSeed's bible camp in Alberta, Canada.  There were so many encouraging and exciting stories shared during our time there.  Since returning from Thailand, we've been praying about where God would have us serve.  We've been praying specifically about joining GoodSeed and took this opportunity to get to know them and for them to get to know us.  We are so thankful for this time and still praying about a possible future, and would honestly LOVE to be a part of the work God is doing in and through GoodSeed!  The following are pictures from camp. :)

Day 153 (Saturday 8-24):

Here's a random mom fact, sometimes when we are out in public with the whole family, Dad easily tunes the kids out and mom ends up feeling frazzled and alone.  When we got to camp, I literally knew zero people there.  Doug knew a few people from before we met, but I hadn't met any of them, not one single person.  But I was determined to put on a brave face and try my best to talk to people even with two little lovies in tow.  I cannot even begin to tell you how friendly and amazing everyone was. There was no chance for me to feel awkward or fight the urge to run to my room and hide.  I'm not even exaggerating, people immediately treated me like one of the group, like I was totally normal.  Inside, I was feeling like a foreigner, not even a whole month earlier, I was in Thailand going through the hardest transition of my life.  I've hardly spent any time in America, and here I am, after 30 hours of driving, chatting with complete strangers like they are old friends. Isn't God good?  I wish I could express the warmth and acceptance I felt, but I just can't.  If you've never felt it, I pray you will very soon, and if you have, experienced sweet fellowship, I hope you thank God for it, because it comes straight from Him.

Anyway, that brings me to this picture...

I had to leave lunch to put Kora down for a nap. Kees of course came too, he has to know where I am at all times. When we woke up it was nearing dinner time and Doug was feeling quesy and needed a rest.  So I decided to be brave and venture out with my two kiddos.  Not 2 minutes after I left our room, Karyn (in this picture) saw us heading out on a walk and joined us.  My heart sang just a little.  It's so nice to have a friend. I've left a lot of good ones back in Thailand, and part of me wanted to be cautious with new people, like making new friends would tarnish the old ones. But, my momma took me to girl scouts back in the day, and I learned, "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold!"  Okay, I don't know which friends are which and I know that conventionally gold is more expensive than silver, but I've never liked yellow gold, so my friends are white gold and silver and wonderful.

Okay, so we walked up this hill to a cross, you can see it in the picture above, I also snapped a picture of the view from up there. So gorgeous!

Beautiful View

He's my sweet boy, except when he's throwing stuff down a hill, then somehow he becomes Doug's child.

This is a very cheap fake camera, that white thing in the grass.  Kees kept tossing it down the side of the hill. He lost it twice and we had various new friends help us fetch it.  I'm surprised I still had friends by the end of the week.

After our walk up the hill, we came back down and it was dinner time. We rounded Doug up and headed to the "breakfast place".  Kees comes up with the names of all the places and we just go with it.  The food all week was so yummy and I think I gained a few pounds or kilos or whatever they say in Canada.

Don't let this picture fool you. I'm sure you could ask anyone from camp and they'd tell you that Kora is quite like a wild animal at meal times.  She ravenously destroys whats put in front of her in a manner of minutes, then demands her freedom to roam about seeking her prey.  It was nearly nightmare-ish.  In Thailand, we mostly ate out because it was cheaper and healthier than eating at home, so Kora doesn't have a lot of practice eating like a regular human.  Mostly the wait staff would carry her around and spoon feed her highness.

Do you remember when you were in junior high and you would go around wanting to be everyone's best friend, that's kind of how camp was for me. Every body I talked to was so nice, and I wanted to clap, squeal and say, "Will you be my best friend?!?"  Don't worry I fought the urge, and I think I managed to come across a few degrees less spazzy than I actually am.

While I was attempting to come across as somewhat mild and tame, Kora refused to do so. But she did make a lot of friends.

Kees stuck pretty close to Momma all week. 

They provided nursery/childcare during the morning meetings, but at night I was responsible for this lady, and I usually only lasted in the meeting for about 5 minutes, but I kept trying, because I'm nothing if not stubborn.

The teaching was so, so, so good!

They're very studious.

If you click on this link, you can see the back of our heads.  I'm on GoodSeeds blog! I'm way more excited about this than I should be, but I'm not sorry.

Day 154 (Sunday 8-25):

I didn't take too many pictures during the week. We were in meetings a lot.  So, here's what I had from Sunday.

I had to leave lunch without eating almost every single day of camp because Kora was so tired.  Doug would just bring my food up a little later after she'd gone down for her nap. 

Kees took quite a few naps at camp too. They both took long naps, like 3 or 4 hours.  I napped a couple times with them, can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Waking up and deciding what mischief to get into.

This game is titled appropriately for this crazy girl.  I sing "I knew you were trouble when you walked in..." to her all the time.  She likes it.

Doug loves frisbee golf.  The camp had a course...score!

Wish you could see her face better. She was so excited!

I would like to own one of these, or three because I don't particularly want to take turns.

Fancy table

Playing on the bunk beds.

Day 155 (Monday 8-26):

I love her outfit.  Notice she starts the day with a bow, that girl will not keep one on her tiny precious head.

More teaching and I may have been coveting that gorgeous hair.

She thought this was the best idea ever.

One of the many friends Kora made throughout the week. This is Sally, she also has gorgeous hair.

Hmmm...trying to figure out what kind of expression Kora is making and if perhaps Kees was teasing her in some way.

Day 156 (Tuesday 8-27):

He slept and slept, Doug thanked John Cross for putting him to sleep.

Elevator bag

One of the many reasons I married Doug is because he makes the best roasted marshmallow in the history of the world.  I'm not lying, he has skills.

Kees loved roasting marshmallows, or more accurately, slightly warming and scarfing them down.

Awww, so sweet.

This picture makes my heart happy...I'll explain below.

All week Kees was so shy. He wouldn't go to his class, and he had quite a few meltdowns if I left his sight.  I was feeling frustrated and like a huge failure of a mother.  I know he's been through a lot, but I just don't know how to help him and I feel like helping him through his anxiety is going to have to wait until we are settled. As it is, we have been traveling from place to place every few days, usually not even staying in one place for a whole week.  That's hard on all of us, and I'm sure it's hard on our families as well.  We're in transition, and let's face it, in "survival mode".   I can't give him the stability I know is best for children. In the coming months, I will, but for now, I simply can't. And God knows that.  So, all week, I'm seeing these kids running around playing and my heart is aching for all the hard times my sweet boy has faced and all the choices in life he has had no control over. Choices we made that have impacted him, often left him feeling insecure and uncertain.  But do you know what happened on the very last night? We were all down by the campfire and somehow, someway, a miracle happened, Kees started playing monsters with a couple of the boys. How ironic, my clingy boy, who wouldn't play with these kids in the daylight, was running around in the dark, far away from me and even behind a building playing monsters.  It's a hint of things to come, like God reassuring me that he will work all things together for good, and he cares about the small things, those things that keep a momma up at night.  God's gonna take care of us, I can trust him for all the small and big things.  So, so thankful for him and for the love of HIS people.