We're Glad to Turn Again

"To this blessed place,where Truth and Grace, from God's own word abound"

A couple of weeks ago now, (goodness, I am behind!) we spend a week at Camp Barakel.  You know, that place we called home for 4 years.  Noah was a high school week team leader, which if you've never been to a High School Week, means he was across between a mascot, a cheerleader, a coach, and your goofy older brother.

This year's theme was the election for the President of the United Sides of Camp Barakel.  Before we left, we made sure to stop at the Mission Store and get a suit, and a handful of ties.  Yep, those are now in the skit closet because I don't want to drag those all the way to Costa Rica.  But I am digressing.

Yes, this is a new way to play box hockey.

Here's Noah's campagin comericial.



Commercial - Noah Kamper from Camp Barakel High School Week on Vimeo.

See, you surely want to vote for him, right?

Noah was also able to share with the counselors during their circle time.  The boys and I did a lot of catching up with friends and just enjoying being in the woods again.  The hot weather finally broke and we were all caught a little off guard.  Noah hadn't even packed pants or a sweatshirt.  Silly man.  But we were able to borrow what we needed and life was good.

 It was so great to be around such sweet people again, being welcomed back into the work there. We're grateful for the opportunity to spend a week there this summer.  It was fun to see what the boys remembered, and what they were clueless on.  And it was neat to spend a week on East Side.  I hadn't been over there in the summer since I counseled way back in '01.

And now, if you are intrested, here's one more crazy video.  Look for me and the boys about half way through.



Camp Barakel 2012 Week Nine (High School) from Camp Barakel on Vimeo.

The Next Couple of Weeks

Boy oh boy!  It's been a fullllllll couple of weeks, between zoos, gardens, family, and friends, we barely have time to clean and stock the fridge!  And now we are getting ready to head on the Northern tour portion of our time in the States. 

Over the next 16 days we'll be in 4 cities, well, that might be stretching the word city.  How about we say towns.  Ok, 4 different towns, speaking at 1 church, with 3 different families, camping for two nights, and spending a full 7 days at Camp Barakel helping with High School Week!  Noah will be running for the President of Camp Barakel (he has a perfect name, doesn't he?) 

Would you pray with us about a couple of things?

• Safe travels to and from and all over, somewhere around 815 miles and something like 16 hours on the road.
• Pray for cooperative, happy kids.  Hey, God says He does immeasurably more than we can hope or imagine!
• An effective week at Camp Barakel.  Noah will be doing a lot of the silly stuff, but the whole goal of the silly stuff is to point to Christ.  Pray for the speaker that week, that he would communicate the Gospel clearly to the High School campers, and pray for the counselors.  They will be in their second to last week of the summer.  They are tired and worn out, but they need to still be "on".
• Pray for me and the boys that week at Barakel.  We will pretty much be flying solo.
• Pray that God would lead people to join in the work that He is doing at Campamento Roblealto by partnering with us.

Thanks guys!! 

Time Out

We are closing in on being here six weeks, and it was time for us to take a break.  When we lived in the Great White North, we would take advantage of the off seasons in Traverse City and Mackinaw City where we could great a great room for about $50 a night.  The distance wasn't too bad, and while the weather was still usually cold and snow, an indoor pool and some pizza made for a perfect Monday off.

Well, that's sorta what we did this weekend.  Emphasis on the sorta.  The drive to where we went was about the same, there was water involved, the idea of the break was the same, time out to refresh and get ready for what's next and it's the off season here because it's winter, ie rainy season (this subject probably deserves it's own post.  Another day).  But that is really where the similarities ended. 

So we decided to head to Jaco on the Pacific coast with another family, who just happens to be from Lapeer Michigan!  What in the world?!  They are here until August, and then they are headed to Quito, Ecuador to work with people who are in extreme poverty.  Teresa is in all of my classes, Jeremy is in our grammar class, and their youngest is just a year older than Forrest.  Plus we have the Mitten State bond.

Anyway, we hired a driver to take us there, because while we could have taken a greyhoundish bus or rented a car, for our first outing with children this seemed like a better option. 

We got there in about 2 hours and immediately, and I mean immediately, hit the pool!  And what a pool!

We played in the pool that was like bath water (it was probably close to 90 F outside with somewhere around 75% humidity! Much different from San Jose, which is a mile up in altitude) for several hours, then ate outside (Forrest's favorite way to eat) and then played in the pool some more.

Ha, see that extra kid?  His name is Sebastian and he talked to us for probably 45 minutes last night in Spanish.  We caught maybe 1/3 of what he said, but he was a fun kid to have as our next door neighbor.

Now, back to the whole Pacific coast thing.  Yesterday morning, our boys got up at the normal time, you know 5:15 am because that's sunrise here.  So we ate breakfast outside, and then hit the pool by about 6 am.  Seriously.  After an hour and a half there, we decided to head to the beach.  Oh my!  Just take a look...

 

See, just like Mackinaw City.  Ha!

Then it was back to the pool, for more water, then more eating outside.  We all did take naps on Saturday afternoon too which was wonderful!  

Yes, Forrest wanted to play Big Splash...that will probably always be with us. 

In the evenings after the kids were in bed, we were able to play Euchre with Jeremy and Teresa, because, remember, they are from Michigan.  We laughed and laughed and laughed.  It was a good weekend!

On the way home, we stopped at a bridge and saw crocodiles in the river below (freaked me right out!  Those things are MONSTROUS!!!!)  and then stopped at a road side stand and got a caja of mangoes (a box of mangoes, probably about a bushel, maybe a bushel and a half) for $4!  Yeah, not sure what I am going to do with a bushel and a half, but they were so cheap.  Our driver suggested mango juice in the blender, and I think the people in the neighborhood might be blessed with some too.

It was a great weekend.  One that we really needed.  And the icing on the cake was I didn't have any homework!  And now we are home, enjoying the nightly rain, ready to tackle the next week of language learning!

The Snowy Day

There is Only One

Left His seamless robe behind
Woke up in a stable and cried
Lived and died and rose again
Savior for a guilty land

It's a story like a children's tune
It's grown familiar as the moon
So now I ride my camel high
I'm aiming for the needle's eye

I chased the wind, but I chased in vain
I chased the earth, it would not sustain

There's only One who never fails
To beckon the morning light
There's only One who set loose the gales
And ties the trees down tight
When all around my soul gives way
He is all my hope and stay
There's only One, only One Holy One

Lord, You are my Prince of Peace
But this war brings me to my knees
See, there's a table You've prepared
And all my enemies are there
But where my Shepherd leads
Where else can I go?
Who else fills my cup 'til it overflows?

There's only One who never fails
To beckon the morning light
There's only One who set loose the gales
And ties the trees down tight
To the Solid Rock I fly
Though He bids me come and die
There's only One, only One Holy One

-Caedmon's Call

Share the Well

Pot Pie and Double Sled Recipe

Last night was the perfect night for pot pie. Now, I am not a fan by any stretching or manipulating the definition of that word. Chicken pot pie I can tolerate. Beef? What's the point?
But my husband loves the stuff, and with a freezer full of beef needing to be used, I went searching for a recipe that might be good. And much to my surprise, found one.

We needed a double sled. No matter what time of year, we walk everywhere and the stroller becomes difficult in several feet of snow. I thought that somewhere on the Internet I would find a double sled. Seems to me there would be a need for it. And I thought surely in places like Russia and Norway they would have one. Nope, moms of twins in Scandinavia are out of luck. Nothing. So we had to get creative.

So here you have it, the pot pie and double sled recipe.

Ingredients

• Pie crust
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 can of mushrooms or whatever you have in the fridge
• diced potatoes

• chopped carrots
• chopped celery or if you don't have any, celery seed
• 1 pound beef of some sort, cubed. I used cube steak.

• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 cup beef stock (the original called for dry Marsala wine, which I don't have in stock at the moment, nor do I think I have ever had it in stock. Maybe it needs to make it to my grocery list)
• 1 bay leaf

• 1 molded plastic baby sled from a resale shop
• 1 wooden toboggan from eons ago from your mom's garage
• 2 bolts found in the program center
• 6 sleigh bells from the Amish Hardware store

Directions

• Make up your pie crust. Put in fridge.

• In a large skillet, cook bay leaf, oregano, onions and mushrooms in olive oil until soft. Stir in garlic, carrots, celery, potatoes, and meat.

• Cook and stir for 10 minutes, or until meat starts to brown. Pour in beef stock. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for 35 to 45 minutes.

• While the meat, carrots, garlic, celery and potatoes are simmering, wrestle kids into snow gear. Make sure they are wearing enough to cause heat exhaustion instead of frost bite.

• After everyone has enough clothes on, put kids in two different sleds and harness them to your body. Pray that you can get down the hills without them colliding.

• Remember to put enough clothes on yourself. A hat is a good thing not to forget. Make your way to the program center.

• Find a husband (preferably your own) that can take the time to drill two small holes in the molded plastic sled and bolt them to the ages old toboggan.

• While the "sled train" is being made, take kids out to the parking lot to play. Let baby crawl around in the snow.

• After double sled is assembled, head home with screaming children.

• After you undress everyone, roll out pie crust. Put bottom crust in pie dish. Add meat and vegetable mix and cover with top crust.

• Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

• Next day, eat left over pot pie for lunch and attache 6 jingles bells to double sled.

Snow

While Fairview had a snow day today, it didn't change our routine much. When you can walk to work, the amount of snow doesn't really matter. And yes, Noah did walk this morning. The golf cart and the camp van were snowed in. I think our house looks a bit like a gingerbread house, just need to slap some licorice and gum drops on it.



The snow is the wet, sticky, thick kind. It's been hovering right around 32 all day, so you end up soaked when you are out playing. We walked to Staff Fellowship today pulling both boys in their sled. Elliot really hasn't wrapped his mind around all the clothing and this weird new form of transportation. However, he is very interested in the snow and the sleigh bells.


And totally unrelated to the snow, did you see the new menu at the top of the blog? Check it out and let me know what you think! If you are reading this via a reader or Facebook, check out the actual site. Much prettier and more interesting than just plain old text and that yucko format Facebook imports it as. I am still working on the 'About' section, so check back later.

Ok, off to figure out dinner and fold some laundry.