Family Camp 2010 Day 1

For the past several years a few intrepid explorers have set out for a long weekend of fun and frolic that we fondly refer to as Family Camp. Getting to Family Camp usually begins with several days of organizing, grocery shopping, and finding everything from the previous year. This year was no different although there were a couple added bonuses along the way.

After 2 years of hit and miss on the packing end of this,  I finally came up with some sort of "plan", and I use that term very loosely, as I am probably the most un-organized, un-prepared person I know. Since camp begins on Thursday, my plan consisted of getting the clothes washed on Tuesday, getting everything out of the attic, into the living room and sorted on Wednesday, and packing it all in the car and getting out of the driveway without forgetting to many things on Thursday. That was my plan and I was sticking to it
Along comes added bonus #1.  I received all these beautiful peaches and pears on Sunday, 4 days before we were scheduled to depart, which of course, needed something to be done with them, namely canned. Fortunately for me, the pears were not ready to can yet, so I relegated them to a dark, quiet corner in my laundry closet to complete the process of ripening. Soo guess what I did all day Monday? You got it! I was canning peaches! I had them all in the jars, sitting in the big pot and wouldn't you know the water wouldn't start boiling, I'm like why isn't it boiling? So I called my handy dandy BFF and she said, "Debra, put the lid on the pot and it will start boiling", I was like "DUH", and within a couple minutes it was boiling and the timer ready to be set. I should've known this but my mind was on the large amount of clothing I needed to wash and the camping gear that still needed to be collected from the dark recesses of the attic.

Canned Peaches

Moving along now, by the time Thursday rolled around I was exhausted, physically, mentally and emotionally. This is okay though, it means I actually did the things I was planning on doing. Much to my husband dismay though, I found it almost impossible to maintain a good attitude while looking at the pile of things that needed to go in the back area of my vehicle, whilst trying to remember if there was anything I might have forgotten to find. My husband reminded me that we had a boat to load things into also, which was a darn good thing because I know it wasn't all gonna fit into the back of the suburban! We proceeded to load the suburban to the roof and the boat to the gills. Everything had a place and everything was in its place, we managed to squeeze 4 kids in the back and off we went. First stop, Grandmas house. I truly don't remember why we stopped there, but I do know we managed to be able to unload about 50lbs of firewood we didnt need, and obtain an extra cooler that came in handy.

Grandmas House

While we were there, some of the other explorers stopped to see what we were doing and offered to drive down with us. That would have been nice but we still had several stops to make and did not want to hold up the parade.

intrepid explorers

We had a fairly calm drive down to the camping area and the kids were so tired they all fell asleep in the back of the vehicle until we reached Deary.

 And now we have added bonus #2, the Tube. With the absence of a compressor to blow up said tube, we needed to stop somewhere and get that done before continuing on the journey, as there would be no place for that to be done once we got there. The Tube was a last minute surprise so that even the little kids could have a great time on the lake. We already had skis and boy if you want to have a good laugh just ride on a boat with people who are learning to ski, but we did not have skis for little kids so the Tube was a great investment. This is were added bonus #3 comes in. We had a boat! Thank goodness for that boat, for there would have been numerous things that would have been left behind if not for the glorious boat and the extra space it provided for our large amount of camping paraphernalia. So we aired up the Tube, and headed on our way to, what I will refer to as "The Hill Of Doom". This is the road you have to go down to get to the Dworshak Reservoir, which is where we would be camping this year. This is a long, winding, downhill, have to have your brake on most of the time type of road. I took pictures all the way down, otherwise I probably would have been hanging onto the arm rest with my eyes closed, and praying that nothing was coming up from the bottom. The armrest probably still has fingernail marks in it from me hanging on. Here are a couple pictures of the "Hill Of Doom".

The top of the Hill Of Doom

Single Lane corner

The Final Corner

The "Hill Of Doom" is approximately 2 miles of corners all down hill, unless of course your leaving then its all uphill, but thats another story. If you notice in the pictures there are dings and dents in the guardrail ALL the way down the road. I actually breathed a sign of relief when we reached the bottom. I have more pictures, but these will at least give you an idea of my harrowing encounter going down a large hill fully loaded with boat in tow. I almost kissed the ground at the bottom, I was grateful we finally made it.

Dworshak State Campground

Having finally made it to our destination, we started unloading the suburban and boat of our assorted camping items and proceeded to load them into the cabin for Dale and I, and the various assigned tents for the kids. Yes you heard me, Cabin! Given the option of cabin camping or tent camping I will always always choose the cabin. It has a heater and electric and beds and a couch and a table and a floor, its AWESOME! One thing I tell everyone I know, I wont camp in a tent until I absolutely have to, which wont be for a while, hopefully the Lord will come back before then!
We had a wonderful camp dinner with great friends and a lot of fun sitting around chatting. I was so tired the first 3 days I was there, all I wanted to do was sit in my green fold up chair next to the fire and chill-ax (I got that word from my teenage son). Everything went according to plan, everything got done and everyone got to bed at a fairly reasonable hour. And that was pretty much the end of day one. This post turned out to be way longer than I had anticipated so will write about the other days in another post.
Hope I didn't forget anything :)

Calgon..Take me away! (trademarked of course )

Have you ever just had one of those weeks, where that line was so appropriate? In my case the mantra was "Jesus,Take me home!" Usually I start out with such good intentions, like with our homeschooling, or laundry, or "insert your project here". No matter what I try to accomplish, there is some point where I want God to just take me home and get it over with. Everywhere I turn, it seems that everyone else is having this great time and I just don't get it. For me it has been truly hard to maintain a positive attitude in the face of adversity.
Take our homeschooling experience so far. It has only been 3 days and I have already been tempted to throw in the towel, so to speak. They fuss, they fight, they argue, where is the peaceful, calm, homeschooling experience I keep hearing about? I can tell you it is definitely not at my house. Where are the kids who want to cooperate and have a great time with each other while doing school work? What about the peaceful walks in the woods looking at birds and squirrels and talking about Gods creation? Not here. As a matter of fact the last time I took my kids out to the woods for this nature walk thingy, I almost left them there. No worries though, they would have eventually found their way home as we only got a couple hundred yards away before they were pitching fits.
Every family is different, for instance, my kids have learned that I will cave at the slightest hint of noncooperation, because I want to have a whole day where there isn't any yelling or bickering. Another thing they have learned is the harder time they give me, the shorter school time will be. I have trained them well. They know exactly what buttons to push and how to push them to get their ultimate goal, which is to go do what they want. Just for the record, I have great kids, even with all the fussing, they are better than most.
Fortunately for them and me, I have a Savior who loves me. Left to my own devices, with no relationship with the Lord, I would have given up long ago. I can not let them win this battle of the wills, as in the end they will actually end up losing. I don't know what that looks like right now, but I'm working on it.
Yesterday I was watching a Voddie Baucham DVD from a homeschooling conference I went to a couple years ago and he was talking about parents being a blessing to their children, and I asked myself, am I being a blessing to my kids? Honestly, I would have to give myself an F in that category. I just don't know how to do that on my own, but I know that Jesus can help me with that. I want to be a blessing to my husband also, and that seems even harder than being one for my kids.
So now that my rant is done, I am reminded of a verse that seems to fit my circumstances at this moment, which is
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also ^(A)lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us ^(B)run with ^(C)endurance the race that is set before us.

To me this means, there are people watching, set a Godly example, put aside your worldly struggles and sin that can trip you and keep going until you reach the goal, that being telling people the Gospel and going home to be with Jesus. What a great encouragement for those of us who seem to have more problems then others.
Funny how that works. I can always find a scripture verse to fit my struggle or to give me encouragement. I don't know how anyone can make it in this world without Gods Word. After the week, or maybe month,  I have had,  it seems impossible to even conceive of living without it.

Paul Bunyan Days 2010 .......Totally Worth It !

Yesterday was the annual Paul Bunyan Days Fireworks Show. I will typically spend the whole year, after the last one, trying to figure out a way to get out of going the next time. The excuses come more rapid fire when there are about 2 weeks left to go before the great and glorious event.  I will usually pray for rain or sickness, which I know sounds silly, but the thought of trying to get through a crowd of about 12,000 to watch fireworks does nothing for me except make me cringe, not to mention trying to get out of the parking lot afterward. This year, it rained. I was ecstatic! I thought for sure I would get out of it! Not! It stopped raining at some point and the sun actually made an appearance as if to mock me saying Ha...HA HA!  When I found out my BFF was sick I was like, honey, I can stay with her and keep her company, I'm sure she will be lonely! He was like, Not! Foiled again! Not even sympathy for my friend would sway my husband this year.  The excuses I used ranged from I will be to cold,  to my friend is not going, why do I have to.

Once Upon a Time.....

These words are the beginning of your typical fairy tale. Well my week was anything but a nice sweet fairy tale. This is life, no one said it would be easy, at least for me. Everywhere I turn there seems to be some sort of struggle over any number of things. I spent the majority of my weekend upset and angry, and not getting any sleep. I didn't want to be angry, but I was, and it was a real struggle. I also had a yard sale this weekend, so you can add tired onto the list. On the second day of my yard sale, I wasn't feeling well, so I sat in my vehicle the whole time, only occasionally crawling out to visit with someone who had stopped. This week didn't start out much better. Monday had its own troubles and today has started out that way, (I don't think I want to do the checkbook or bills anymore) so the tone has been set. Tuesday was actually very productive as I was able to have the whole day to organize my office space. It is now nice and neat and you can see the floor! As always though, I managed to forget to do something. I must have early onset Alzheimers, as sometimes I cant seem to remember to do the smallest things, like take out something for dinner.
On the blessing side of things, I'm not angry anymore so I am getting much more sleep, and with the sleep and rest, I'm not as tired, and I feel better. Another blessing, I have a checkbook that I can mess up, some people don't have one right now. I have a house that can get messed up and cleaned, another thing some people don't have right now, and I have a fridge that has food in it that I can forget to take out for dinner.
All in all comparatively speaking, I have a great life, a great husband, and a great family. I should remember my blessings instead of complaining about my struggles, which are many. I am hoping that this week will get better somewhere along the way, after all there is only 2 more days to it. Maybe I should go take something out of the freezer for dinner, then get some laundry started, then get my living room straight. All the school books (and most of the other books in the house) are on the living room floor and stacks. I managed to get most of it sorted on Sunday, but when I went and cleaned the office/computer space yesterday, I found a bunch of things I forgot I had, things my children will wish I never found I'm sure.
I think that we will be ready to start school next week, hopefully. I am feeling excitement and dread all at the same time. Excitement, because we are starting a new year, dread because I know my kids will most likely give me a hard time. Our homeschool life is never easy. There is always some sort of struggle going on the whole time. No matter how prepared I am, there always seems to be something. The blessing side of this, I live in a country where I can still homeschool my kids, some people do not have that option.
This is my reality, even though my life doesn't always seem as pretty as someone else's , Jesus still loves me and my family, even if we don't have the perfect home, the perfect homeschool, the perfect menu plan, God has the perfect plan for us, always.