Friday, October 22, 2010

Family Camp and a Give-away!


I have enjoyed Nathan Clark George's music for a while now.
His wife and I have been online friends for quite a few years now and I had the privilege of meeting him this past September up at our family camp.
It is hard to describe his style of music...
he reminds me of James Taylor, Bob Dillon, Wes King...
a nice touch of folk music.


Press the album cover above to visit his site. He has some wonderful albums available with a new one that is a compilation of Greg Wilbur songs called My Cry Ascends. It features a variety of artists including Wes King, Steve Green, Michael Card, and Nathan Clark George. I added this one to my Sovereign Grace iTunes playlist and what a great playlist it is!

The above album is a Christmas album that your family will enjoy for years to come.
So, why do I have these albums taking the forefront of my blogpost?
Because I am giving them away!
Two readers of this blog will be able to win one of these albums.
Details are at the end of this post.

FAMILY CAMP 2010


The move went well and I am feeling MUCH better. Thank you for all of your prayers and helpful hints.
We are still unpacking and will be for a while....so, I thought I would at least write something. Then, I remembered that I had a wonderful collection of photos from Central Valley Presbyterian's third annual family camp.
So, I figured I would share them with you. Thanks go out to Darby Sproul and Sven Rafferty for the few extra photos that they contributed to my collection.
Above is a very nice picture of Pinecrest lake where our family camp is held each year.



A bunch of the young adults getting ready to hike up to Cleo's Bath. Cleo's Bath is a rigorous hike up the hillside to a collection of pools. These pools in the summer are teaming with water that cascades down the mountain into the lake. But, in the fall the pools do not have enough water to create the waterfalls and so the we have an annual hike up there to be able to jump 10 to 30 ft into these bodies of water.


This one is out of order but I was just so thankful that someone took a picture of us. Miss M had the idea of getting a few of us together to perform a skit at the Talent show. We did a rather funny Monty Python skit based on a couple that shows up to a very nice restaurant where they find a dirty spoon. The different staff members go berserk over the complaint even though it was an innocent one. Pretty soon the staff has pretty much keeled over and the customers are left wondering what just happened and thankful that they had not complained about the spoon. Phil, Miss M, Daisy, and I were involved along with a few good friends.


Okay...back to Cleo's bath. Daisy is adventurous. She does not mind getting wet nor jumping off a cliff into a pool of water. So, the idea of her being pushed into the water is rather silly...


...there she goes...


...and there she went!


Phil was asked to do the morning devotions for camp.
He did a great job...of course, I am biased!




Brown Sugar and her daddy!


There were lots of games played including basketball



Who are you going to listen to? And, what rules are you going to follow? Those that were given from the director of the game or the ladies standing around watching?


Great discussions abound around campfire and throughout the day.


Ah...the girlies!


We had so many young people and old capturing the happenings at this camp with super cool cameras. Nikon and Canon were the faves.


For much of the camp I was sitting around watching. I had done something to my foot and it was swolen for much of the camp. But, on the positive I was able to take some amazing photos of some incredibly photogenic children.




So, Steal the Bacon has become an annual event. It is down right dirty and competitive. The old guys against the young guys. We ladies love to watch them duke it out.


At some point everyone is called out to "find" the bacon. What a pile up!


After Steal the Bacon there was another game that entertained the masses. Not sure what this was called but in this picture Daisy is hiding behind a friend in hopes of not getting hit. It is a extreme version of dodge ball.


Then, of course, there is dancing. A lot of twirling and foot stomping going on.


The Virginia Reel.


Daisy holding the youngest Sproul.


Volleyball...


it is a spectator sport! And, even in the cold mountain air we watched as the teams played against each other for the title of 2010 champions.


So, back to talent show night...Miss M sang along while the Winton boys played.
Like Mother, like daughter. Doesn't hesitate a bit to get up in front of people and sing her heart out.


When we first met R.C. Sproul Jr. we were visiting with our friends the McDonalds up in Illinois. Sunday morning we captured on film a story being told to the young kiddos that were waiting to leave for church. I am telling you what...my kids sat there transfixed to his every word. It was great!


So, on this talent show night R.C. gave us the chance to listen to him tell another story.
He had not only the kids listening but the whole of the audience.


Daisy took a speech class this year and plans on being a part of a speech club next year. Her favorite form of speech is interpretation.
For her class she took a piece out of Alice in Wonderland (the book!) and created a three character interp...all the characters played by her. But, for camp she turned it into a three person skit.


Very well done, indeed!


The theme was the fruit of the Spirit. The theme song was a kids song telling us all that the fruits of the Spirit are not the fruits that we eat. Fun to watch the Elders and Deacons of our church sing and hold up the different fruits.


Down at the lake I sat and watched Brown Sugar and other little ones play while the older kids and some of the other adults were hiking either around the lake or heading up to Cleo's Bath.


Nathan surprised us all by a visit from the Northwest. I was incredibly happy to see him as was everyone else.


Darby Sproul and Miss M hanging out. These two hit it off...Miss M looks like she is thinking about something terribly important...or maybe she is daydreaming about what it would be like to live in Florida!


Nathan Clark George performed for us and led us in music throughout the week. What a treat!


So, here are the kids performing the fruit of the Spirit song.


"The fruit of the Spirit is not a grape"


We always stop by Jimtown Frosty on our way down from camp. It is a tradition that many others have decided to join us in. This year it was fun to see the different families that stopped by. The Sproul family were driving past when they saw us and made the next turn.
We had such a great time hearing the Word of God preached nightly by R.C. Sproul and enjoy the music of Nathan Clark George.
We doubled the amount of people in attendance this year. It was great fun getting to know some of the new families that have started attending our church.
It is such a bonding time full of fellowship and good times.


Here is one of the dipped ice cream cones that we get at Jimtown Frosty. Yummy!


Darby and Miss M enjoyed their week together as well as Delaney and Daisy. I am only in the picture because Darby and I have been FB friends for a long time. It was fun to finally meet this lovely young lady. They are truly kindred spirits!


Another blessing for me was meeting Patsy George. Patsy and I have been on a yahoo group together for a very long time. I have met many of the ladies from this group over the past couple of years on our travels but Patsy and I have seemed to always miss each other along the way. There were even times when we were within days of being in the same place...so to finally meet this online friend was a treat.

So, here are the details on the contest:
Leave a comment...a nice comment!
I asked Darby Sproul and Patsy George what their favorite numbers are.
They told me and now it is up to you to comment and find out if your comment lands on one of their favorite numbers.

I will be out of town for the next week but will still be able to check up on the comments...don't worry if you don't see them posted right away.
Tuesday, November 2 (election day) I will post the winners and hopefully have a prego belly shot for you all to enjoy!

God Bless!
~Heather



19 comments:

Cari Shoquist Gruelle said...

Oh how I'd love to be that winner!
22
My favorite number ever!
Thanks for letting me be the FIRST (1) to post tonight!

Anonymous said...

7

Aaron and Amber said...

Oh that looks like so much fun! I love picture of you and Pasty! You are just glowing! Glad you are feeling better and getting settled in.

Pamela Vasquez said...

Heather, I always love reading your blog. You are an inspiration. Thank you for your support through the years.

Dena said...

Thanks for the music rec! Can't wait for the belly shot!

Anonymous said...

Good to hearfrom you again. Hope you are able to write more frequently again soon.
Rebecca in Canada :)

Sara said...

What a beautiful place for a family camp! Can't wait to see the prego belly shot!
~Sara

Heather said...

I've been reading your blog for a few years now. I have cried and laughed with your posts. Thank you for allowing us a glimpse of your life and true faith in the Lord.

Jennifer said...

Thank you Heather for sharing your life with all of us. Looks like a fun time was had by all. We recently saw Nathan Clark George in PDX. What an inspiration!

Krissy said...

Thank you for continuing to share your story with us. I an enjoying reading how your (still) new husband is fitting in and your children are adapting to his presence.

dkt said...

So much fun to hear from you again! :D Blessings to you and your dear family!

dianna

The Moodys said...

I enjoy following your blog. You encourage me! Would love to win the CD.
-Angela

Alesha said...

thanks for sharing all the lovely pics of your time at family camp. it looks like you all had a fabulous time together!

so nice of you to share the cds with us... :)

Alesha

Elizabeth said...

Thank you for hosting this give-away. I have been an occasional reader for a few years after following a prayer request link from your friend Kendra. Praying for your family,
Beth in MO

Mountain Mama said...

Oh the Winton boys! They (with their father) stayed with us one night on their way home from CO. Neat family!

Looks like a fun family camp. Lots of memories made!

We are fans of Nathan Clark George also!
7 and 8

blessings,
ashley

Luma said...

Great Pictures. Looks like everyone was having a great time. Thanks for sharing these, Heather. Wow, we had no idea you guys had R.C. Sproul Jr. as your speaker this year.

kimberjoy said...

can't resist trying to win :)

Melissa said...

Love your camp posts!

The Mayo Family said...

Okay we have visited for a long time now and feel like we know you! ha-you know what I mean...we are so happy for you, your hubby and all your children at the way God has woven your life into such a "beautiful" family! I have shared your 'story' with others at the way God took a time of sorrow...and how you did not take your eyes off HIM and the joy and beauty HE has now brought to your life and your chilren and now to think of a baby...oh I get teary just typing all this. Okay, enough. We are so happy for "ALL" of you and the way you give GOD ALL THE GLORY! We keep you in prayer...Now we would appreciate some pic's! :)
For a number...um we have so many how about the number of blessings we have "8"...
Again glad your feeling better and we will keep on praying, your blog and sharing has and I am sure will continue to be a blessings to many!
Blessings~
~Lori