One Last Look at the Kids

Shadow Valley Camp was made with kids in mind. 

So before signing off for the summer, 

here's one last look at the camp kids having fun

and receiving daily doses of love

 Holding hands at prayer time.

Johnny Appleseed was the kids' hands-down favorite grace.

 Joel giving Auntie Pam slobbery kisses,

 Meredith checking Mommy's teeth for cavities,

 and hugging Grandma.

 Ellie having a serious discussions with Mom,

 Daniel trying out new ladderball skills with Uncle Randy,

 and Tommy enduring some spit and polish compliments of Daddy.

 Meredith, Daniel, and Tommy being chased by Vasya's remote control car,

 Joel playing iPad games on Daddy's lap,

 and Alaysiah snuggling with Auntie Nadya.

 Kristina supervising kids in the play area,

 Grandma June helping Daniel be patient,

 and Meredith getting smothered with Grandma and Auntie kisses.

 Ellie and Kaitlyn just hanging,

 Tommy wishing he could drive the big tractor,

 and checking the wheels on the toy dump truck.

 Kris and Meredith enjoying a cuddle,

 Joel chest bumping Tommy again,

 and again,

 and again.

 Ellie, Meredith, and Joel making peanutbutter play dough,

 conducting quality control tests on the playdough,

 and Daniel getting sand on the hands, but not in the mouth.

 Misha supervising Joel at pudding finger painting,

 doing double duty with Joel and Tommy,

and Meredith checking out a cabin loft with Uncle Nate.

I wonder how much bigger the kids will be when camp rolls around next year.

Cabinettes Going Up

 Last summer the first cabinette, belonging to Chris and Myleah, went up. Being the first cabinette in the Huckleberry line, it is appropriately named Finn...or at least that's the rumor.

 But before Chris and Myleah arrived to take up residency in Finn, 

Jay Utoff and his trusty crew were working on the first Antelope cabinette named

...well, naming the cabinette turned out to be more difficult than expected.

Even so, the time I arrived on July 9, 

the unnamed cabinette looked like the picture above.

 Before long, the crew was covering the rafters with roofing materials,

 using the porch as measuring and cutting headquarters,

 and before long, the roof was done.

 Then the exterior work started: staining the siding,

installing windows,

and doors.

The stain wasn't even dry before Tom and Kris moved out of their camper

 and into the new cabinette, still unnamed,

though suggestions were tossed in and out of contention with abandon. 

 

 It's a good thing they moved when they did,

because as soon as they were out,

the framework around the pop up camper came down,

 and the camper went on a little trip to

 it's new location near the Nerd's Nest.

 With the camper out of the way,

a work crew cleared the area of brush,

and Nate hauled it away

while cabinette naming angst continued.

Last I heard, the cabins that would not be named had passed over

Antemort

and

Voldelope

in favor of

Deer and Buffalo.

Any updates on that?

Alaisyah at 10

 Alaisyah was born at about the same time as the idea of Shadow Valley came into being.
Therefore, she's had lots of camp birthdays,
and this year she celebrated the big 1-0 just as camp began. 

Here she is going first in the food line on the day of her birthday.

Here she is carrying on the family tradition of reading.
It's one of her favorite activities.

 

And it's a good thing she likes it so much, 

because carrying thick books from here to there is hard work!

 But she doesn't read all the time. 

Sometimes she and her cousins cook up mud pies in the play area.

 And sometimes she works in the kitchen with Aunt Beth and others,
cooking up treats for supper.

Someday, once the camp cookbook becomes her favorite reading material,

she may become the head cook.

But not yet, and that's okay.

Because for now, we want to enjoy Alaisyah at ten.

I Can Please God? Are You Serious?

 

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit,
if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Romans 8:8–9 

I’m back from a memorable gathering at Family Camp in the Idaho mountains. For a week, close to 40 rellies gathered to work, worship, and play together. From daytime sandbox fun near Hammock Haven, to nightly board games in the Nerd’s Nest, to cooks preparing meals in the camp kitchen, three generations of family members rubbed elbows day after day.

One morning, a spunky four-year-old wanted to “help” knead dough in the kitchen. After washing her hands, she climbed on a wooden stool. Her grandma stood behind her, placed strong hands over her granddaughter’s small ones, and guided her through the process. “Push in with the heels of your palms, pull them out, then turn the dough and push again.” While the little girl didn’t quite master the art, her motions grew smoother with practice, and her grandma was pleased.

While they worked the dough, I thought about Romans 8:1–13, which I’d been studying all week. Could my imperfect efforts to live according to the Spirit can possibly please God as much as this spunky child pleased her grandma? Later, I reread the passage, and a phrase in verse 8 supplied the answer: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Therefore, I reasoned, believers can please God because they live in the Spirit rather than in the flesh.

Woohoo! Our Father is pleased when I, and other believers, try to live in the Spirit. He is pleased by our inadequate efforts and fledgling desires to choose rightly, to become more like him, and to do the work he has prepared for us.

Like a grandparent teaching a child to knead bread, the Father washes us clean when we mess things up. When our hands falter, his Spirit places strong hands over our weak ones and guides us. Day by day, he takes us through the motions of righteous living. Over and over, he reminds us to watch his Son and practice his ways until they become part of us. Until we are able to do his work in his way without hesitation, without the slightest thought of turning away. Until we learn to put to death daily the deeds of the old body and live more fully in the Spirit.

Of course, we can’t complete God’s work perfectly in this life. But we can become more proficient and compassionate as the Father teaches us how to do his business on earth. Proficient enough to pass on priceless lessons to believers new in the faith. Compassionate enough to speak encouragement and hope when we fail.

Isn’t that what being part of God’s family is about? Rubbing elbows with believers of all ages and stages as we work, worship and play together in the service of our Savior.

Photo Credit: Stock.xchng

Kitchen Crew Candids

Shadow Valley Camp runs smoothly, in large part because the campers are well-fed. A record of this year's wouldn't be complete without a record of the kitchen crew at work. So here's a look at the cooks...

 Pam,

 Mary...

 ...and her assistant Meredith,

 Mary and Megan trying to cut through ice cream

for the Buster Bar dessert,

 Nadya and Pam working on Grandma Annie cookies,

 June doing the meat thing,

 Kris making I'm not sure what,

 Beth...

 ...and Kathy...

...with their assistant, Alaisyah.

But the food wouldn't get to the hungry hordes

without servers like

 

Mary

and Vasya.

Now, to give your salivary glands a work out, take a look at some of this year's food.

Pam's delicious berry and fruit salad,

 Sunday brunch orange rolls,

 and caramel rolls,

and pies in the making.

Are you hungry yet?