Rake 'n Rock 2009

Rake 'n Rock is a fall Beechpoint event where alumni, teens, and local church groups come out for the day to help rake leaves. Beechpoint is "nestled in the heart of 83 acres of Michigan woods" ... and turns out the trees are a lot leafier in Michigan than they were in Idaho.

[Did you know the spell check actually thinks "leafier" is a word?!]

The first summer that I worked at Beechpoint I told someone that I was working at a "summer camp in the mountains". Because all my experiences to date with trees en masse had been in the mountains, I assumed that Beechpoint must be in the mountains. They were quick to remind me that Michigan has no mountains. In fact, one of my favorite signs by camp advertises a skiing area 10 miles west - and you can't see the hill from the sign! I know we can't all live by Sun Valley, but I just feel like any hill worth skiing down should be visible from 10 miles away! (This relates to Rake 'n Rock because I am talking about trees...... see? :-)

Saturday was dry, sunny, and mostly breezeless -most of the day was above 60! Perfect fall weather to be outside. This is the view from the lodge.
Everyone was quick to jump in and help out. Sam is in our year-round discipleship program ... I was super proud of how hard he worked all day.

We hauled A LOT of leaves into the woods. My shoulder was super sore the next day!

Me and Liz raking .... in case you thought I just watched.

So what had happened was .... there's one leaf blower which Mr. Rick was using. But you just can't leave nothin layin around at camp and expect it to still be there when you come back. :-) It took Liz and I a minute to get this going. Okay, so someone else had to start it for us. But we successfully commandeered Rick's leaf blower!!!

It was anticlimactic because:

a) Mr. Rick wasn't around to see that we had absconded with his blower.

b) You can't really talk while you blow leaves ... so we went back to raking.

After we are done raking leaves the volunteer groups get to participate in rock climbing and the zip line. This picture is from our gym.

Reasons they don't let me drive the pettibone. Just kidding ... but don't nobody tell Uncle Bob that I posted this picture. ;-) I'm just trying to give a complete overview of how the day went. :-)

Construction is continuing on our new dining hall building and we are nearing the finish line! The deck is on track to be completed this fall which will leave only kitchen equipment, furnishings, and few odds and ends. This building will provide much needed dining, meeting, and storage space and will allow camp to host larger groups. Praise God for the faithful volunteers who are working on the deck and join us in prayer for the remaining funds. The building has been built primarily with volunteer labor under the direction of Bob VanDyke, our Site Development Director, and without incurring debt and we are SUPER EXCITED about using it soon!