Looking at the stars

This is what we got to do this weekend with the Junior High group from our church. We took 10 kids camping at Lake Ray Roberts this past weekend where we got to eat smores, ride in the boat, go tubing (skiing for me), canoeing, hiking (and lots of it), swimming, play games, bond as a group, and worship our Creator.

The first night, after we set up camp, we snacked on smores and got to know each other before one of the leader talked about Creation and the sovreignty of God. There was a storm headed right towards our campsite that split in two and went completely around us. I believe several of the leaders were praying about this. Since the storm went around us, we had a clear sky and saw many stars! The moon was big and bright and Jeff even pointed out a couple of satellites to the kids. The kids stayed up way too late and we had a hard time falling asleep even though we were up past our bedtime 2 nights in a row.

Saturday brought lots of fun and excitement as we rode in the canoe, swam off the edge of our peninsula, rode bikes around camp, went on nature walks, and even rode in the boat. Jeff let everyone go tubing, and unfortunately, some of the ropes broke and even ripped the cover off of the first tube. Thankfully he had a back-up tube we could use. The boat also came in EXTREMELY handy while we unpacked, because our campsite was a 1/2 mile from the trail head where we unloaded everything. Some of the containers, firewood, and coolers were VERY heavy and we wouldn't hav e survived without the boat. Jeff brought in 2 loads of equipment via the boat and some of the smaller stuff was carried in from the road. It did take a while, but we were able to unload everything and get all the tents put up before dark.

Saturday afternoon we all went down to the beach area to go swimming and enjoyed ourselves. After the first hour or 2 of doing not much, I was ready to go back to the campsite, but then a game of keep away with a volleyball in the water got started, so I joined the fun. It ended up being a pretty large game of keep away and lasted for almost an hour. I went back early with a few other people, and shortly thereafter, the rest of the group joined us at the campsite. One of the mom's was gracious enough to cook us some food and bring it out to us while it was still hot. It was an amazing meal of spaghetti, salad, and bread with dessert!

Unfortunately we left early due to an impending storm larger than the one the night before, so we packed up and left in the dark, with only 30-45 minutes to spare before the storm hit the lake. We had some very exhausted kiddos, some very sore leaders, and lots of red bodies, mine included. Being sunburned is one thing, but being sunburned AND sore is very painful. I'm starting to think I'm too old to be doing this! Thankfully I have until Wednesday until I have to be exciting and fun again!

Summer has started fast and furiously. The girls enjoyed their weekend at my parents house, and maybe we'll let them stay with Jeff's parents for a day or two while we go somewhere by ourselves, but there's nothing planned as of yet. Hopefully everyone's staying out of the hot summer heat and humidity!