love this place {time to pack and go}...

we are heading to one of our favorite places on this earth....palmetto bible camp!  this photo (of my brother, looking over the lake at camp) was taken a few years ago in the fall (which is why there are no leaves on the trees!).  we spend a week at camp each summer, when it tends to be very green and very warm!

although this photo is not one of the most beautiful of camp, it's not so much the beauty of the campus that i love and look forward to each summer.  don't get me wrong, camp is truly a wonderfully glorious piece of property, nestled in the mountain foothills and situated near a huge lake.  i especially love camp in autumn, for here (unlike the coast where i live) the tree leaves actually paint the sky with shades of auburn, crimson, and gold and the air is crisp and cool.

what i love about going to camp, the anticipation that builds over weeks, days, and then hours as we wind our way down the roads that lead us there, are the people.  i love my brothers and sisters and the relationship we share in Christ and i experience true joy when i get to see each one and greet them again.  they are beautiful people, radiating God's love.

Our mouths were filled with laughter,
   our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
   “The LORD has done great things for them.”
  The LORD has done great things for us,
   and we are filled with joy.
psalm 126:2-3

see and know {it is good}...

as i lay on the beach today, enjoying what will be the first of many warm and sunny summer days ahead, a dear friend of mine was traveling through oregon with her sweet boys and hubby, on their way to WA.  she posted this photo...

it's SNOWING in oregon! 

and i was reminded about just how very awesome is our God...


I will put in the desert
the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set junipers in the wasteland,
the fir and the cypress together,
so that people may see and know,
may consider and understand,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
isaiah 41:19-21

summer is upon us...

summer is here, at least in the sense of the encroaching heat and freedom from school and work. maybe not officially on the calendar, but definitely in our minds.

summer means maybe (don't hold me to it) i'll blog more often. it also means that i am extremely busy, but with things i choose to be busy with. like palmetto bible camp. and our 12 day youth mission trip. and a bahamas cruise. and books to read and study. and plenty of beach days.

at least i'll have something to blog about...

{photo taken with holga in bahamas, 2009)

so far away...

i can hardly believe that a month has gone by. a lot has happened.

church camp.
school camp.
beach days at folly.
sleeping in.
staying up.
lots of reading. books books and more books.
grilling out.
friends visiting.
celebrating freedom.

but no blogging. i just didn't feel like it. call it the lazy days of summer...

i will post a few photos, to catch you up. me up.

summer oasis...

i hope to sit here soon, in my splendid summer oasis, if it will ever stop raining...

yesterday we went to the beach...nice.

today becky and i worked on lessons for church camp and then i took her to her birthday lunch at ladles. i've also been organizing all my photographs and scrapbooking supplies...that is taking forever...{sigh}...

but i did find my holga photos from the bahamas last summer! i will share those soon.

wish for no rain. and no mosquitos. those guys are pesky.

summer's here...

and i am going to be sure i keep track of how i spend it.

it's going to go by...i don't want to wonder what did i do with it?

on may 31st we celebrated the holiday at a cookout at tommy and becky's.

on june 1st, i helped becky learn how to coupon and grocery shop (in the pouring rain). i also saw erica and jonah's new home.

today i took david to renew his driver's permit. i took mary e to cut her hair for locks of love (it looks so cute in a short asymetrical bob!). i cleaned and organized my bedroom and closet. and i saw shrek forever after (funny!) with coach sal and jacob.

what else is in store?...

it's a sad, sad day...

...when the suntan lotions go away...boo-hoo!

before...


...after...

(but you know it's been a good summer when you're on your third bottle!)