Hawaii: Are you brave enough?!

I spent last week in Hawaii with my family. Thanks to the generosity of my parents we were all able to fly to Hawaii and spend the week together. Here are some pics from the trip!
This is the view from where we were staying - let's all move!

Okay. Um. Yeah. This is me snorkeling :-) If you smile you break the seal on the mask and water comes in, so no smiling! (p.s. the ocean tastes terrible)

One of the few things we all like to do: playing Settlers of Catan. Okay, Sarah doesn't like it - but I think she's coming around. This is the best game ever - you should play it!




This video is from snorkeling with manta rays. Mom, Sarah, and I went on a boat at night to somewhere in the ocean. I'm pretty sure we were fairly close to shore though, the water was only like 50 feet deep. They have put weighted lights on the ocean floor and everyone had a flashlight. Manta rays are just like sting rays - except without the stinger. They eat plankton, which were attracted to our flashlights. We had 11 manta rays, from size 6 feet to 15 feet! The biggest one was bigger than my living room! And weighed 1500 pounds!

Some people were screaming through their snorkels and one lady kept saying "I want to go back to the boat". It was hilarious, but remember- if you smile while snorkeling you get water in your mask and if you laugh then you choke. Miss LaVerna - I don't think this event would work out for you! :-) They were definitely close enough to touch, but we weren't allowed to touch them. So.... what do you think? Are you brave enough?

Jabri said "You would take a picture of that" - Hawaii is flip flop heaven! Mr. Rick - let's make Beechpoint a franchise and work the Hawaii branch.

We brought our own pack mule.

Family picture. Matt (22), Wayne, Alice, Me (26), Sarah (20)

You can mail a coconut as a postcard! It comes in the mail just like that - no box necessary. Ever since Daniel got a boxless beach ball in the mail at camp I've been mailing odd items. So far I've mailed beach balls, a cookie sheet, a bedpan, a rubber duck, a coconut, and a plunger. It would take too long to tell why for each of those, but if it won't come apart then you can just write on it and the post office will stick the stamp to it. Try it!

I got a sno-cone bigger than my head! The pink side tasted like perfume, but otherwise it was great. At least the 1/5 of it I ate.

These are the golf carts we need at Camp Beechpoint!!! If anyone has one of these in their backyard just looking for a home we would be willing to utilize it at camp! ;-)

You know you're from the city when .....

Welcome to February Winter Blast! I'll try to do short captions so that I can include more PICTURES! Ah, this reminds me - I'm mailing out a newsletter to all (maybe the endish of this month?). For those of you who read my blog there are some repeat pictures in the newsletter. Like this first picture - definitely deserves to be seen by all.

You know you're from the city when you would rather take your purse sledding in the blowing snow than set it down somewhere! This is 13-year-old Shawneesha and she's crackin me up with this picture!!!

Okay, turns out this picture is in the newsletter too. But I love it because I diddn't tell these boys to snuggle. But look at the 2 sweet boys in the back! I again spent most of the winter blast weekend with boy campers, and LOVED it!

This is the funniest winter blast dessert ever! My friend Jess took this picture and takes a lot of great pictures for Beechpoint. You can check out her pictures at her website.

I know 5 of the girls in this picture from years past. It's great to continue relationships with kids - pray for creative opportunities to get together with kids in the city.

This is my friend LeTaraJoy. She goes by Tara but I love her name, so I saved it in my cell phone as the whole thing and then I can never find it to call her cuz I'm always looking for Tara. She goes to my Michigan church and volunteers at camp, so I get to see her often. I love her heart, her son Micah, her amazing ability to braid her own hair!, and her friendship. I always look forward to seeing her... and I got to spend a whole winter blast near her!

Sometimes kids at camp come across as hard. But there's a sweetness inside of them just waiting for an excuse to come through. When I saw these 2 pictures it was like seeing a visual of that experience - that you can't react to a kid based on the facade they put up. 8 children made spiritual decisions between the 2 winter blast weekends. Praise God with us! You can read quotes from campers thank you letters at www.beechpoint.com

More sledding pictures! One perk of my new job is that I have access to more Beechpoint photos to use to communicate the ministry of camp. I didn't get to go sledding at all, so this is not my photo, but look how much fun it is! This picture was taken my friend Jess (a different Jess, it gets confusing here too :-) who is an amazing photographer, check out her pictures!

This camper needs your prayers. His name is JayShawn. Pray for a soft heart and that he will realize his potential.

The oldest boys doing a team building task during the Great Klondike Derby. They have to get the tire off the pole (it stops pretty much where the picture cuts it off at the top) without the tire touching the pole. Then they have to get it back on without touching the pole. It teaches communication, patience, and team work. And it's tricky.

Going home.

Going home.