Fabulous Family Camp

We're back from our yearly stay at family camp up at Oak Glen Christian Conference Center. We had an amazing time and it was definitely in God's timing that we be there. James and I really needed to hear the message and have some alone time with just our family.

The theme this year was Fantastic Families, a super hero theme. The kids loved this and it was fun to see the theme weaved into the family devotions, trivia time, etc...One night there was an illusionist, another day a "beach" party by the pool, and there was also a carnival with games to play and lots of inflatables to play on. Dessert every night was yummy out on the patio and something we didn't need, but thoroughly enjoyed :) The weather was great, although the bugs were out in full force, it wasn't too hot which was great considering it was triple digits down the mountain.
*A note about the pictures...The family picture at the bottom is something I try every year, but everyone is always off having so much fun, so this year the opportunity where I had both the camera and all the kids was as we were packing up to leave :) We had to use the timer and set the camera on the fire place, not hte best, but still a picture to capture another year at family camp.
Also, if you notice there is only 1 picture of Gracie, well that is because she was little miss social butterfly and off with her friends most of the time ;)

The speaker was absolutely amazing and brought truths about marriage and family that we had been needing to hear. Each time we left chapel after a session we knew that God was at work and felt true transformation taking place. The seminars we great too and we are hoping to put the information we learned into practice in our daily lives. The kids had a blast, of course, with VBS, swimming, the playground, the rock wall, the carnival, the magic show, late night desserts, etc... the list goes on and on :) They all worked hard on finding coins to redeem and memorizing Bible verses to get prizes. We always enjoy getting to see Nana and Papa at every meal and feel extra special with the little things Nana does to accommodate the kids eating interests :) This year my niece Kendra was with us which was fun and super convenient. The kids not only adore her, but she tolerates :) them pretty well too. One afternoon she took all 3 big swimming, so James and I could have some alone time, it was nice. We feel like we are on our way to becoming a "super-family."

Oh...this is so sad :( We were at the pool swimming and Grady was crawling on the pool deck when he slipped and crashed face first into the concrete. He screamed and his mouth was filled with blood. Mouths bleed horribly, there was so much blood he was gagging on it. Thank goodness he had his binky in his mouth otherwise he would have knocked his front teeth completely out and his lip would have been a lot worse. The picture of the binky, there is a small white piece...that's his tooth. He chipped his first tooth :( The whole thing made me want to cry, he 15 months old and he chipped his first tooth, he just got those teeth. But as you can see from the pictures, he was okay after some sugar from Daddy. We took him to the kitchen and put him into the deep sink and he played with the water until he was laughing and all smiles again...Oh to be a kid again, minus the chipped teeth of course. hehe!
This year we returned from camp tired as usual, while at camp we go non-stop from 7am-11pm, however we feel extremely blessed that the Lord gave us this time to renew our marriage and family. We get so caught up in the daily survival routine that we somehow loose sight of making the most of our marriage and family time. We feel changed and that is what the speakers prayer was, that the families there would leaved having been transformed by the Holy Spirit, renewed and healed. We know our God is one of miracles, but this week was truly miraculous!

One thing the speaker kept reiterating was how important it is to let God invade our lives on a daily basis. It shouldn't be our goal to merely get to heaven, but rather to work at having heaven invade our lives on a daily basis. This is so true. It is our goal in the year to come to work on becoming a "super-family" by letting Christ invade our daily lives, every aspect, so that Christ's love is evident in all we do. We are all excited to revamp our family devotions and have Christ be the focus of our every day!

So, if you didn't get the gist of it all! God is amazing and worked miracles every day! Our time at family camp was truly a miracle! :) Hope you are enjoying your summer!