Oak Glen 2011

The Lord provided for our family to go one last time to Oak Glen Christian Camp. The church we used to attend, has gone there every year, for the last 20 years, for a 3 day weekend retreat but, the camp is being sold. Those organizing it, opened the retreat to anyone who wanted to come- free of charge- trusting that God would provide the money needed. This was a huge blessing for us and we were grateful to the Lord for providing this time together!:)

Thursday afternoon, our family, packed up and ready to go, headed out. We had a wonderful time seeing old friends, being encouraged and refreshed in the Word of God, attending meetings, delicious meals, playing volleyball and British Bulldog, doing crafts and relaxing together as a family.

Sid and Linda Osborn-Praise the Lord for all the work they have done over the years to make this retreat possible!

Thursday night, we settled in, and attended the first meeting of the retreat.

It was so much fun to sleep in the cabins! They are connected in pairs of two and of course our family used both sections.;) Daddy and the older boys slept on one side, while Mama, Katie, the two little ones and I bunked in the other.:)

Brushing teeth:)

Getting ready for the morning prayer meeting. (We usually went to bed around ten o'clock and set our alarms for six am. We were all very tired, needless to say.:)

Familiar faces at the breakfast room.:)

We used this chapel for regular meetings and another small lodge for prayer group.

Mama, with some of her adopted family, the Brimlows.:)

Our family row.;) (I think alot of people got a kick out of how cluttered it was with almost ten Bibles, purses, hats and so on.) It was closer to the front, causing us to make sure we were in our seats at a reasonable time. I suspect though, Daddy and Mama picked it that way on purpose.;)Mr. and Mrs. Osborn asked our family if we could teach one of the children sessions on Friday morning. Daddy and Mama gave Ryan and I the opportunity, and we jumped at it! Ryan did a great job preparing the lesson-What is real treasure?. We had a short time of singing, and then some games. It was a blessing to work with all the little ones and older ones! That was definitely the highlight of the weekend for me.:)

On Saturday, the Boyd's did a treasure hunt after their lesson and the kids really enjoyed it!:) It was neat to see how God worked out that our lessons fit together so well.

Quoting Bible verses

This year we did not have as many meetings, so there was more time in between to do other activities. This merry-go-round has always been a huge highlight of the weekend. As you can imagine, it was a very popular place to be!

The gym was open most of the day, where Mr. Osborn led several games of "British Bulldog."

A serious game of volleyball! It was scary how good some of those guys were, I'm surprised we were allowed to play!:)

Some of us also tackled Foosball. I hadn't played in years and it brought back some fun memories!:)

Ryan and Daniel

Friday night is the "talent show, in which anyone who wants to share something can. This particular couple read the twenty third psalm for us. The husband read in English and the wife read in their native tongue(unfortunately, I cannot remember what it was).

It was a tiring weekend for these little guys especially.:)

During the retreat, one of the activities they had was to build a derby, pinewood car for the annual race, Saturday afternoon. Daddy, Isaiah, Natey, Ryan, Daniel, Katie and Joshy all participated in this activity.

Ryan, working on his car....

Everybody had different and unique designs for their race cars!

The races:)

Caytlin won first place in the younger people's group....

...and, Daddy won second place in his group.:)

The last day of the retreat Daddy and Mama wore their matching sweatshirts. (Everything at the camp store was 50% off!:)

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life-the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us- that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. "
1 John 1:1-3