We left our little house in Lindale Sunday after church, and arrived safely at Forest Glen Camp and Conference Center in Huntsville, TX by early evening. The GPS clocked it as a three hour drive, and I’m happy to report that even though it was in prime Sunday afternoon naptime, we only stopped once for a nap attack! We did it in a solid four!
This is our third time at Forest Glen (a little atypical for us), and although the last time was seven years ago, it still is nice to get reacquainted with the folks – and meet some new friends too! This project is also in our Area Rep group, so we do stop by about once a year just to check and see how things are going. Since we so often do new-to-us projects, it’s nice to occasionally be at some familiar stomping grounds! As you can see by the map, it’s about 3 hours north to our little house in Lindale (the blue dot) and about 3 hours NW to the kids in Waco (the yellow star). So it’s a nice central location for us!
We’re looking forward to a quiet, but productive, three weeks here!
We might be enjoying a bit of respite here in Lindale before we move to our October project, but I didn’t want to forget to share about our time at Camp Nathanael in Eastern Kentucky! It was an unusual project for us in several different ways. First, or course, was that we didn’t have our motor home with us for the first half of it following our breakdown as we made our way there from Ohio. The camp was so gracious, offering us housing and (as luck providence would have it) they were already preparing three meals a day during the week for their many volunteers, so our meals were provided as well. But perhaps even more memorable for me was that I was invited to work IN the ministry, as opposed to taking care of things (laundry/housekeeping/painting/etc.) in the background, enabling the ministry folks to do their ministry.
So each morning, after I would bake my quadruple batch of cornbread
and get the day’s batch of ‘gritty bread and butter’ ready for the day,
(That’s real homemade butter in the tub! The children learned how to make butter during their ‘Gritty (corn) bread and butter” class. I would use their butter (and the buttermilk for the cornbread) the next day as I prepared the day’s samples.)
I would don my pioneer gear and join the quilting station –
sometimes joining the teaching team
and sometimes helping to ‘unstitch’ the stitches from the class before.
I was a small part of a great team
and thoroughly enjoyed being part of the Pioneer Days at Camp Nathanael.
Meanwhile, Gary was doing his part, doing maintenance and repairs!
He tackled lots of different jobs, while I was busy baking and playing with the kids!
It was such a good month! There were new volunteers each week, so we got to meet many new friends. It was great fun to interact with the different children each day, and since I also love kitchen work, I enjoyed my morning cornbread extravaganza too!
How thankful I am that the LORD directed our steps to serve at Camp Nathanael in September!
It’s been a week filled with all of those things! First on the waiting – we’ve been told that our new part should be at the mechanics today(Monday), and then it will be on to the repair. So it looks like it might be several more days until we can be reunited. (Quick refresh – the turbo ‘went’ on our motor home, and it is now waiting patiently at a repair shop in Jackson, Ohio. We packed a bag and continued on to our September project at Camp Nathanael in Emmalena, KY, where they have generously supplied us with a room until we go pick-up Lizzie (the RV).) We’ve been blessed with a sweet room – and in the same building is a lovely common area (where I am sitting and typing at the moment!)
(You can’t see him, but Gary is snoozing on that comfy sofa! ) It’s pretty much like having our own living room! Oh, we miss our house immensely, but it has been such a blessing to have these lovely accommodations while we wait.
And then there are the kiddos! Last week was the beginning of a 5 week stretch of Outdoor Education sessions that are being run by the camp. School children come from the area counties for a day filled with reenactments and demonstrations about what life was like in the “Pioneer Days”.
There are different stations for quilting, butter making, candle making, washing and dying, and barn building to name just a few! This past week was “Kinder Week” so it was a little scaled down – a good option for us new folks! I was helping out in the “General Store”
Which I confess was more 21st Century trinkets than Olson’s Mercantile, but the little ones sure had a great time picking out some treasures!
But aside from being a helper wherever I am needed (maybe quilting next week??), I’ve been making cornbread!
The cornbread is cut into little squares and then a dab of butter (which the kids have actually made!) is put on top and the little squares are distributed at the end of the class.
Since there are approximately 200 kids that come through the program each school day (and there are 20 more days of kids) – that’s a fair bit of cornbread! So I’m trying to get ahead of the curve and plan to have plenty in the freezer since we won’t be here the last two weeks of the program!
Being that I love working in the kitchen and think helping students experience some quilting will be a delight – pretty sure this month will go by quickly.
Now if we could just get our motor home back.
Ah, the waiting…
Happy Monday, all ya’all!
PS – Gary has (of course!) been busy these days also. Heaters, A/C’s, shower floors – you know, Gary stuff. No pictures though, sorry!
Today this happy little guy turned 14!
What a delight it has been to watch him grow into manhood! He’s smart and kind, helpful and funny, and handsome and tall. (Yes, another grandchild has grown taller than me) Happy 14th Birthday, Noah! You’re our favorite 14 year old on the planet. We love you so!
These youngun’s are celebrating their 53rd anniversary today!
We’ve re-upped for another year – so we’ll see how it all goes! (still with that goofy grin!)
We started work today at Camp Nathanael! We are the only SOWERs this month, but there are lots of other volunteers here all getting ready for the Pioneer Days/Outdoor Education program which begins on Thursday here at the camp. Looks like this month my days will be filled with cornbread, quilting and kids! I’ll let you know how it all pans out!!
So it’s been a pretty good start to the month! Family celebrations, interesting SOWER activities ahead, and the part for Lizzie has been ordered!! There is so very much to be thankful for, isn’t there?
Thanks for stopping by!
So many of you expressed concern about Gary and his trip to the ER earlier this week – thank you! With a clear report from the ER doctor (who did suggest that it might be the beginning of shingles, which we thankfully have NOT seen!), Gary has had a good week – riding that big ol’ mower!
He did develop one more symptom, though –
Sunburned knees!