Camp News. . . and any other "news"

Winter Blast 2012

2012-02-07T21:46:00.002-06:00

So .... it has been 7 months since the last time I blogged. I'm not really sure what happened. I still read all my friends' blogs (and a handful of well-written strangers), and I always think how nice it is to feel all caught up with them. So I think I'm back. I even updated the music (although my feelings aren't hurt if you mute it :-) Winter Blast at Camp Beechpoint is a great reason to start the blog back up.

Thanks to some great camp friends I have pictures from Winter Blast. Enjoy this snapshot of the fun!

Ka'Ja, Jada, and Kendra on the bus headed to camp.

How one boy packed to come to camp - he put all his belongings into his coat, zipped it up, and slung it over his shoulder.

Gym games! We sure love having a gym during the cold winter! The leaders ran through all the kids and tried not to get hit with the balls in order to score points for their team. Hilarious. What little kid doesn't want to throw balls at their leaders?

Mya, Shayann, Ka'Ja, Megan, Drew, Bella, Curtynaija

On the Great Klondike Derby the kids use team work to accomplish a series of tasks. For this one they had to try to get the tire off a tall pole. Bonus points for ingenuity ... even though I suspect this ended with tears!

They also used teamwork to saw a ~~log~~ ~~branch~~ some kindling. Every kid thinks this is cool.

Each camper had a turn trying to hunt a giant polar bear. (I love Riley's hat! And seriousness, lol.)

And on the Derby they had to work together to build a shelter the whole cabin could use to get out of the cold, lol. I mean, to be fair, I'm not too sure I could do much better. It was my friends who took these pictures, after all. I didn't even go on the Derby. ;-)

Our lessons were from Ephesians 6:11 - "Put on the full armor of God so you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." I got to teach both the younger boys and the younger girls. I loved it! Teaching is always my favorite part of camp!

I know what you're all thinking.... "If only I could have THAT GUY'S job for the weekend!"

One of my supporters sent slipper socks for the girls! They were super excited to have new socks. I saved them for Saturday night so they'd have something warm and dry to sleep in after all day in the snow.

TriNiya didn't really want to smile in pictures this weekend ... but couldn't help herself during sledding!

This picture is taken half way down the hill. No wonder they all sleep so good on Saturday night! One little boy wrote in his thank you letter that he thought he was the coolest kid ever since his sled went the farthest ... until he realized he now had to walk the farthest to get back up the hill!

At the end of the weekend each camper writes a thank you letter to their sponsor:

"First the food was awesome. We went sledding and the Klondike Derby. The only bad part was farting in the cabin. We also learned about the armor of God. Thank you for making it possible for me to come here. I hope I can come again. Sincerely, Tyson" - age 10

"Now I think I really have a relationship with God and now my love is stronger. This was a blast!" - Aubrey, age 11

The summer is going good.

2011-07-20T22:04:00.000-05:00

I wish I had time to blog every day and tell you stories of campers and fun and life change. I wish I could post a picture a day so you could see everything I love about camp. I wish I could video every camper telling their story so you could hear it from them. As long as I'm wishing, I wish you could all come visit and see just what it is that makes camp so wonderful!

In the meantime I found these 15 minutes to upload some pics. I promise to post more from summer camp in the fall. :-)

I love this picture - it makes me smile. What a great new experience! To be clear, I am definitely not trying to touch a chicken myself - or sit on the ground in a chicken coop, really boys ?! - but I love that they are loving it. :-)

Khaniysile kissing the Beechpoint mascot.

It's a well known (and teased) fact around camp that I am bad at building camp fires. But since we've started using this indoor fire once a week I am suddenly self-sufficient! :-)

Jaelan and I at the park.

My friend Jess took this picture of Darrius. I'm hoping this gets blown up and framed at camp!

Sugar sweet Tatiana at the park.

Morning devotions. :-)

Javion and Shamya - 2 happy campers headed home after a great week at camp!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and care for me during summer camp. Please pray for the remaining 2 weeks and 240 campers we are expecting to join us. Pray that the staff will have endurance and the campers will come with hearts soft towards God.

Also, I miss all of you......

Hooray for friends from home!

2011-07-20T21:24:00.000-05:00

So, at the beginning of 2011 I decided that I was going to have out of town guests once a month for the whole year. Unfortunately, not all of my out of town guests were in on that decision with me.

However, this summer Albert and Zerena Turner came to camp from Rupert, Idaho! Albert is a summer staff cabin leader for 10 weeks and Zerena came out as an LIT (Leader in Training) to serve a missions trip on our teen volunteer staff. I love having friends from home here to visit! We spent a weekend in Chicago so that they could see my home (and sign the guest book!) Here are a handful of pictures from the trip.

Albert with some of the campers at the park, Jaelan and Donald. Albert is my favorite staff person to take to the park with me because he loves to run around with the kids!

Zerena with her campers, Destiny and Kayla.

First stop in the city: Giordanos Famous Chicago Style Pizza. See, the thing about Chicago deep dish pizza is that you really have to understand what you are getting yourself into. Otherwise you think you are going to get pizza. It's disappointing to find out you are really going to be eating casserole. Just sayin. :-)

Second stop: a dozen beauty supply stores so Zerena could by big (obnoxious) earrings and bright colored shoes. This display here made me shudder. Above the sample it says "TRY ME, YOU'LL LOVE IT". Do you see those before and after photos??!! That means people with those before lips have stuck their fingers into this lip balm?! Awww, heck no!

Third stop: Ed Debevic's, a restaurant downtown where the staff are supposed to be rude. Albert thought this was hysterical! I enjoyed it as well ... until our waiter called me a princess. Albert is busy planning how he can get hired to work here. ;-)

One of the signs at Ed Debevics.... can you imagine??!!

Fourth stop: Some shoe stores for Albert. He decided to wait until the next weekend when some of the guys could help him pick out a pair. I actually really like this shoe - it's like a pinstripe sneaker. :-) Come on, Ilise! COME VISIT ME!

Fifth Stop: We swong by (hmm... I mean, that sounds right...) Demetrius' house to see Jabari, Jabri and Jireh, since the summer is too long to be without them. Beth and Nick got to come here 2 summers ago, it was fun to bring more Turners over. :-) Zerena is holding Jireh and Cierra and Cheyenne are standing.

I also got to take them to both my Michigan and Chicago churches. I love that they have seen my apartment, my city, my churches, my camp.... it's good to have people from home!

PID Club Wrap Up

2011-06-27T14:33:00.000-05:00

Partners in Discipleship (PID) is camp's year-round discipleship program. Kids meet weekly 1:1 with mentors or in after school clubs where they receive 1:1 time from a leader. I currently meet each week individually with 8 kids and have 1 after school club in the city. We have high hopes that there will be 3 clubs running this fall.

During their 1:1 time, kids discuss the Bible lesson they completed at home, pray over requests, and quote memory verses. Kids in PID earn points to help pay for them to return to camp the next summer. The kids at the club do homework or play games together while they are waiting for their turn to meet with a leader.

At one of our last clubs I gave the kids my camera and told them to go take pictures. This is what I got:

Isabella

Isaly and Niani are sisters and are coming to camp for the first time this summer! I can't wait until the week that my club kids are here! :-)

Chelsea and I

Andy. Andy has a friend his age that he calls once a week to do a Bible study with. He told me that they were reading the story of Jonah and that they prayed for each other that they will always obey God. This young man is going to be a pastor when he grows up. I'm praying so.

Zoie doing skits.

Zoie and I praying at the end of her 1:1 Bible study time.

Alec and Nico.

Me and some of my Armitage kids. Since they were in such a photogenic mood we took a handful of group pictures. :-)

Golf Marathon 2011

2011-06-25T21:47:00.002-05:00

Camp Beechpoint's 2nd Annual Golf Marathon was held this May to raise scholarship funds for campers who may not have an opportunity to attend camp otherwise. It's a fun day-long event full of golfers from around the area who raise sponsorship to participate. The goal is to golf 100 holes in one day. This year we had 15 golfers and raised $20,000 to help send kids to camp! Praise God for His provision!

Last year I was unable to attend, so this was my first Golf Marathon. I got to be a caddy, although my golfer, Jeremy, had to train me from scratch. Apparently you can't drive on the short grass. And you shouldn't park the golf cart ahead of the golfer. And you're supposed to watch for where the ball lands (next time I need binoculars, I was surprisingly bad at this task). Lucky for me I was put with a golfer who had been by himself for 72 holes and said to me on the first hole we did together "you can keep talking while I am golfing". If he had known how many topics I could generate and how many questions I would have, he might not have been so eager to encourage conversation. :-) Did you know that the caddy gets a cut of the winnings? The Golf Marathon has a hole where you can win $10,000 for a hole in one. I was cheering Jeremy on!

It was a truly beautiful afternoon to be golfing.

My friends Chris and Todd. They had a riot of a day. Next year I want to just follow them around and make a movie.

This made me chuckle. I suppose 100 holes of golf would lend itself to some Tylenol at the snack station.

Oh, I almost forgot. I also loved the Golf Marathon because everyone had golf carts. At camp, having a golf cart is a bit of a status symbol. There are a handful of staff who have exclusive use of specific golf carts. Then there are a larger handful of staff who share keys to 2 carts that can be used when they are available. And then the summer staff are not allowed to drive golf carts. I have graduated to the second level and keep my eye on Craig's List in hopes that if we get a large enough fleet I will make it into the first level. :-) But at the Golf Marathon . . . everyone has a golf cart! :-)

White Sox Game - Take 2

2011-06-25T21:14:00.000-05:00

This spring we again took our PID kids to a White Sox game. I like this event because:

the work is done ahead of time - we pre-purchase the tickets and then everyone just meets up at the game
I get to have a bunch of my PID kids all in the same place at the same time
they sell cotton candy
I pass out the tickets so I always sit myself next to 2 people who will talk to me during the game

On the other hand, I dislike this event because:

it costs $25 to park
it takes a good long minute to get out of the parking traffic after the game. (why not just take the train you ask? because I wouldn't be safe walking back from the train station in my neighborhood in the dark)

it's baseball. and let's be honest... I'm just not that into sports.

Rachel and I... it was a chilly and foggy base ball game. Is baseball one word or two?

Kenya and Aunt Jan. I got to meet Kenya's dad at the game. He came with her because it was his birthday!

Me, my friend Nakeisha, and one of my PID kids, Tavontay. Turns out Nakeisha really cares about watching the game. Looks like we won't be sitting together at this next year. ;-)

My pretty girl Kiyasia! She convinced her auntie to bring her along to the game and shared my cotton candy with me. :-)

Jakarri and Tavaris. I haven't seen Jakarri in like 6 months. He got into the car with a grown man voice! I can't believe that all my "babies" are growing up, these boys are 13 and 14. :-) Look at Kiyasia tryna peak around the corner to be in the picture, lol.

Camp is going great!

2011-06-25T16:37:00.000-05:00

Here's the quickest camp update ever: We are off to a great start! The kids are great! The weather is sometimes great. The food is always great. I love love love being the Bible teacher for the younger girls unit. Please pray for more late registrations - we have space for additional campers in the next couple of weeks.

Generally you have to be 8 to come to camp - but for day camp you only have to be 6. It give local and younger kids a chance to come out to camp... and our staff a first week to kinda ease into the pace of camp. Charlie, Vanessa, Me, Kayla, Samantha, and Grace in the morning Bible teaching time called Power Hour!

Road trip to Chicago during staff training!

Albert Turner is here from Idaho as a cabin leader this summer. We went to an event to raise scholarship funds for Beechpoint campers. He is holding the magician's bunny and called me over to take his picture, lol.

Robert at the petting farm. "Look! This bunny LIKES me!"

Zerena Turner is here for 4 weeks in our teen Leaders in Training (LIT) program. She dug this clam shell out of the lake for her kids to see.

My new buddy Jamahl. He is super sweet and affectionate and we loved each other. (Who can resist a kid with a moose shirt like that?!) I miss him already. :-)

Grateful!

2011-05-10T14:21:00.005-05:00

This past weekend was Camp Beechpoint's 7th Annual Benefit Auction and Steak Fry! Every year the auction is a great day of food and fellowship for the great big Beechpoint family and many new friends of the ministry. With a crowd of 400 we enjoyed a live band, a steak and chicken dinner with a build-your-own ice cream sundae bar, and camp activities like go carts and rock climbing.

During the live auction we have a time where we auction camper scholarships for the coming summer. It is an incredibly moving, Spirit-filled, beautiful time. To see God move in the generosity of His people to provide a way for kids to come to camp - where they will experience His love and learn of His sacrifice for them. I am teary just typing about it. I was most definitely teary watching it happen. In less than 15 minutes, $46,000 was given in camper scholarships! The song Grateful by Hezekiah Walker has been flowing from my heart for days. The total received from the auction was just over $68,000! Praise God for his favor and provision! Praise God for allowing me yet another opportunity to witness His faithfulness and mighty hand. Praise God for the children who will be able to attend camp because of the giving of others! Here are a couple of camper testimonies from last summer. Lives are changed at camp!

"Thank you for sending me here, because without you I wouldn't have had my first experience of seeing Jesus and talking to him. I thank you for sending me because Alaina, my camp leader, she has shown me a new light and taught me how to be a teenager. I love her so much!" - Latanza, age 13

"The counselors here treat you as if you are their children. Which in this case I love that cuz I don't have anyone to care or pray for me back home. It's real heartbreaking living in the ghetto and now I know what real friendship is between me and another Christian. Some of the older counselors, they have experience with a lot of things like manhood, and I applaud them for it. If you want to grow in your faith you have to come here." - Mario, age 13

I have not used this blog as a platform for giving before, but if you were unable to attend the auction and would like to give toward camper scholarships you can still do so. Many of the families who come are unable to pay the full cost. Camp actively seeks out children who would not be able to attend otherwise and does not turn children away who are in financially difficult situations. $300 will sponsor one child for one week of quality Christian camping and any amount will help us to provide assistance to families. If you would like to be a part of giving camper scholarships you can send your check to:

Camp Beechpoint

3212 125th Ave

Allegan, MI 49010

Please indicate that your giving is for camper scholarships. You will receive a tax-deductible receipt and, at the end of the summer, a thank you letter written by the youth you sponsored.

A couple of photos from the day:

This bike was a raffle item this year. They tell me it gets 100 miles to the gallon! Can you just see me zipping around camp on it in the summer? I'm guessing Mr. D was having similar thoughts while he was getting the auction set up. :-)

Live auction in the Lakeview Lodge.

My friend Daniel and I. Daniel is our Water Front Director in the summer, has on his chef coat from working in camp's kitchen, and handled the financial check out for the auction. He also "made" me watch Fast Five on Sunday, explained the parts I didn't get, is not offended that I don't all the way love his dog Lucy, stayed up late with me to process the auction paperwork, and fusses at me like a brother. Ya gotta love a camp friend!

I love that this was the donations bowl for the steak dinner. It made me smile that a bowl full of cash can sit on the table at the end of the buffet line and be just fine. Someone made fun of me for taking this picture, but this moved me in some deeply restorative way that I can't quite put into words.

It was a beautiful day and I love camp in the late spring! (Not to be confused with the early spring when it rains every day and camp is one giant mud puddle.) I am "moving" to camp in 10 days!!! I'm happy to be reunited with a deck chair!

It's The Little Things

2011-05-10T12:20:00.001-05:00

I've been making a written list of the things I love:
* brand new notebooks, full of empty pages
* Easter Sunday baptisms
* being useful
* making lists
* an empty sink cuz all the dishes are clean
* good night texts

One of my very favorite things is having children in my home. I love the laughter and chatter of children playing. I love the little things like finding one lone army man on the windowsill behind my curtains the next day, left over from Tavontay's army fight. And the etch-a-sketch that's sitting in the toy box with a building still drawn on it by a very focused Jakarri. And the drawing Jireh put up on the fridge.

My affection towards these things works out well, since there are lots of times when children come over. I love that my role at Camp Beechpoint is centered around discipleship. And I truly believe that life-on-life discipleship is the way God intended it. Look at the ministry of Jesus - the disciples were a part of his everyday real life! The very most influential people in my life are people who let me be a genuine part of theirs!

Myree learning how to stuff manicotti and grill chicken. (Big shout out to Miss LaVerna, Miss Shari, and Ilise for making this picture possible! :-)

This is ~~probably~~ most definitely an obnoxious amount of pictures, lol. The kids have been over during their Spring Breaks - we had a good time. :-) Tavaris, Tamyra, Antwon, Tavontay, Mr. Derrick, and Nakeisha came over for the afternoon.

Tavontay, age 8, playin with the potato people.

Tavaris, age 12, playin with the light bright and perler beads. This light bright takes the most unusual battery size ever, so there's a good chance it will never light up.

Tamyra, age 10, showing off her pretty Easter eggs.

Antwon, age 7, dying Easter eggs.

Joshua and Christopher came over so Miss Jessica could take their pictures. Betcha can't guess which one enjoyed that more?! Lol

Christopher, Joshua, and Ziya Angeline - Miss Jessica is amazing!

I kept the JAYs and Jaylon over Spring Break and we had a blast together! We had free passes to the Brookfield Zoo, which was a blast!

Jabri said she was being sad because the penguin was sad. I guess he does kinda look sad, lol. Me and Jabri are going to be friends FOREVER! I just know it.

Jabri also has this thing for snakes. I don't get it. At all. But I am willing to pretend like I am okay with her affection towards snakes since we are at the zoo - where they can't get out.

Jabari and I. We had time to kill while Jabri was lookin at the snakes. :-) Also, my eyes are clearly green. I mean, they can't be brown like Jabari's are, right?!?! Come on now, people! Jabari willingly carried out backpack for the entire time that we were at the zoo. I love the young man he is becoming!

Jaylon with the gorilla.

Jabri and Jireh kissin the frog to see if it turns into a prince. :-) Demetrius said she wasn't convinced by Jireh's picture, that Jireh was kissin it like she didn't really care: "You can turn into a prince if you want to." Lol. (Side note: This may be the last time I get to braid Jireh's hair into barrettes. She told her mom that "I don't think these barrettes were a practical choice because they keep click clackin." I mean, they ARE loud. But cute!)

Jireh, age 5

Jabari, age 14

Jabri, age 13

Jaylon, age 9

In other news, we went to Ed Debevics downtown - an old school diner where everyone is supposed to be rude. Jabari has been wanting to go here with me for like 2 years. It was fun! Jabari said he has figured out where he wants to get his first job at. Working here would not be a good idea for me! Lord know I have enough trouble with my tongue as is - practicing saying things I shouldn't say for 8 hours a day sounds like a bad idea!

We taught Jaylon how to play Settlers. He was the quickest learner ever!

Jireh came up with her own fun. I think she spent almost an hour playing under my table. Remind me why we buy them toys again?! Both of these pictures are so endearing to me!

Jabari built this and then he took the picture making it look like he was smashing it. I love his creativity!

We all went to Jaylon's baseball game. I love, love, love this picture because of how sugar-sweet Jaylon looks. Makes me just wanna kiss those cheeks!

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy!

2011-05-06T16:32:00.002-05:00

Dear Mom,

Happy Mother's Day!

Thank you for giving me a fairy tale childhood! Thank you for making sure I had the security of a consistent schedule. Thank you for making it possible for me to find any toy I wanted to play with because they all had their own spot to be put away in. All three of your children have the organization bug - apparently it was catchy! Thank you for letting us get filthy dirty, even though dirty children were not your favorite. I remember more than one hose bath before we were allowed to enter the house - it was a good compromise. :-) Thank you for moderating a thousand disagreements between us kids - we didn't mean to be so petty. Everything just seemed so important at the time!

Do you know that one of my favorite memories was getting to pick the vegetable for dinner? I used to hover around while you were making dinner just so I would be the easiest kid to send to the pantry!

I remember playing with your doll house furniture for hours - please tell me you still have that in one of your boxes!

I remember running through the snow in swimsuits after getting out of the hot tub.

I remember you putting a blanket on the front porch for us to watch the lightening from.

I remember you making us dolls out of flowers and tooth picks.

Thank you for documenting all our many memories in photos that I will never forget:

Mommy and Megan vacuuming together. Everything about this picture is endearing to me... including those care bear curtains I had forgotten about!

This picture is excellent! We spent hours and hours playing one kind of dress up or another. Poor Matt, I'm sure to this day he wishes he had been the oldest! This picture is confirmation that he was a victim of my persuasion, lol.

You were always good at matching outfits. :-) I love this picture of Sarah and I.

See?!

You tried to talk dad out of letting us climb on the shed and run down the roof to jump on the trampoline. Praise Jesus we are all alive to laugh about this! Thank you for being the voice of reason in that craziness! Before I drop my kids off with their grandparents for the summer we are having a long conversation about how grandma gets to make all the safety decisions!!!

You made sure there was never a dull moment at Vacation Bible School.

And you made sure that we were never the kids who didn't have a costume. It's hard to guess what Christmas event you had us all dressed up for. Probably Awana. But no one was ever gonna catch a Schenk kid not participating on dress up day! :-) I'm also guessing that not everybody's Awana came with so many dress up opportunities, lol.

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy. I love you!

Blindfolds+Egg Hunts=Entertainment

2011-05-06T13:49:00.001-05:00

In the past few months God has connected me with Examples Ministries, an organization that desires to equip families to grow, model, and invest their faith. I love the heart and mission of this organization, because I think it echos God's heart. It's God's divine order that parents raise up their children to love and follow Him. It's also God's desire that we support each other on this faith journey!

Every other Friday night Examples hosts a mom's group called A Mother's Heart that provides an opportunity for moms to connect with other moms and hear relevant, Biblical teaching on parenting. I provide transportation for my friend Nakeisha and her children to attend the group. While the mom's are meeting, I get to minister to their children. I love the fruit from A Mother's Heart, because the more a parent's heart is submitted to God, the greater access God has to that child. God's design is for parents to reveal God's love and grace to their children and to intentially establish faith in their home!

I'm also thankful for the new friends I've made by ministering with the Examples team. Deanna co-directs Examples with her husband, Eddie, and leads the teaching and discussion at A Mother's Heart. We don't have any pictures together (yet), so I stole this picture of Deanna with her son Quad from her facebook page. :-) It never ceases to amaze me the many ways that God brings people into my life. I am thankful for you, Deanna!

A Mother's Heart hosted an Easter Egg Hunt for all of the families this year. It was a great day to be together! We did the bounce house and barbecue gig - always a winner. :-) Especially since I let it be known ahead of time that I should not be the one to work the grill. (riiiiight, Miss LaVerna?! lol)

Our smaller children hunting eggs.

Marianna in the bounce house!

Since Nakeisha comes to A Mother's Heart, that means an extra day I get to spend time with Tavaris, Tavontay, and Tamyra! They LOVED this bounce house. Tavontay has like a hundred of those little wrestling men, so I'm sure that's what he was thinking about up in there.

Quad enjoying the bubbles. I love that he is in his socks in this picture. :-)

Jayla blowing bubbles.

So, we decided that the mom's should get in on the fun of hunting for eggs as well. Deanna had some fun prizes for them and got everyone excited to be involved ... then she told them that they would be doing the hunt blindfolded! We spread the eggs out in one big pile, just like for the small kids, and the moms felt around for them. It was hysterical!

The tricky part was knowing where to bend down. Since they were plastic eggs they kinda just moved out of the way if you shuffled your feet. Again: HILARIOUS! I love this picture of Marcia!

T.J. and Isaiah

"Dear Lord, please let my children have dimples. Amen!"

Jayla, Heaven, and Tamyra waiting while their eggs were being hidden.

Faith Like This Child

2011-04-15T22:42:00.000-05:00

I love the innocence of children. The way they embrace life as one big adventure. The way they are enthusiastic about the smallest - we are tempted to say silliest - things. The way they make friends in the amount of time it takes to smile shyly across the playground. The way they hope expectantly - not cautiously like so many adults.

And I love the way that children love! With complete abandon. With fierce loyalty. With the kind of acceptance that willingly overlooks faults. With the sugar sweet affection that only a child's smiling eyes and squeeze-tight-hug can bring.

You know, there's a reason that God instructs us to have faith like a child. The faith of a child is pure. Genuine. Not complicated with my doubts and my stubborn pride and my insistence on seeing everything before I will move forward. Children receive God with the blessed assurance that, sometimes, I find I only sing about. Of course God loves me, they say. Of course I am valuable! Of course I am forgiven! Of course God is good!

I say these things too ... and believe them! But some days it comes out a little less confidently: God loves me, right? I have value, right? God can forgive this too, right? God is good even though children die in the streets and injustice runs rampant in this world and the empty aching of loneliness leaves tear stains on my pillow ..... right?

Every week I meet with youth from across Chicagoland for camp's year-round discipleship program. The kids are growing! They learn Bible stories and verses and are challenged with real-life application. I see an understanding of God's Word maturing in my kids as they consistently study. I can see the fruit of discipleship in their lives, and even in their families. Chelsea is 10 years old and this is her first year in Partners in Discipleship. At the end of our Bible study time we always pray together. These are Chelsea's prayer requests:

"Pray for my aunt and uncle. They are going to have a baby! I want to pray for the baby that she will get to hear God's Word and hear about how Jesus died for her."

"Pray that I will get to come to church every week. Sometimes my parents can't bring me because they are working, but I still want to come."

"Pray that I will be good crop. The Bible lesson this week was about the seed that feel on good ground and made good crops and the seeds that fell on bad ground and didn't grow crops. I want my life to be the good crop for God!"

What beautiful, beautiful prayers! I can feel the smile of God as his child prays from a tender heart, wide open. The faith of a child: innocent, pure .... and unexpectedly convicting. And I can hear the whisper of the Spirit in my soul saying "Have faith like this child."

I Am My Grandpa's Favorite!

2011-04-09T19:45:00.011-05:00

I love my grandpa! And he loves me! A couple of years ago we picked up my brother from the airport together. Grandpa stayed up half the night talking with Matt and I suddenly realized: He loves my brother too! I had no idea. I mean, I knew that he loved Matt. But I didn't know he loved him as much as me! My grandpa has always made me feel so special, I just figured I was his favorite. :-)

Our most recent time together, Christmas 2010. I need to print this for the frame. Just in case you think all my favorite pictures all have my grandpa with his eyes closed: they aren't! That's as much as he can open his eyes and smile at the same time. :-)

(I feel the need to add a disclaimer: I'm not always great at accurately recounting the events that happened yesterday. So I'm sure some of these memories, having been filtered through the glasses of childhood and carried through the past 28 years, may have inaccuracies. Enjoy them for the comfort they bring, just the same).
My grandpa has a great sense of humor. Ever since I was a little kid he's had a collection of annual jokes. The start of school: "I've got my new backpack all ready for tomorrow. What time are we catching the bus in the morning?" Halloween: "Sure hope my snowsuit fits over this costume." Christmas: "I hope Santa doesn't get lost again. He didn't make it to my house last year ...", etc. In the past couple of years grandpa and I have taken 3 trips together down to AZ to see my aunt and uncle. This picture is from Easter 2008. Grandpa is always telling me that he is going to email me and the other day he said he was going to Twitter. Pretty sure he's getting that from the news, lol.

Grandpa arriving for Christmas morning.

Grandpa singing Christmas carols in German with Aunt Clara, Uncle Alvin, and Aunt Ardena. Well, my aunts do most of the singing, but grandpa and Uncle Alvin are generally good sports. :-)

This is my very favorite picture of grandpa and I! Not only is he wearing the hat for my 4th birthday - he looks happy about it! I LOVE THIS PICTURE!

My grandfather, Richard Rueben Schenk, has celebrated his 86th birthday. Married for 56 years to my late grandmother, Viola Edna Schenk, he has been an example to me of faithfulness. I was in 5th grade when my grandma experienced the first symptoms of what would be a long and painful illness. I remember grandpa sitting beside her bed. I remember him learning how to work with pantyhose and fix hair so he could take grandma to church the way he knew she wanted to go. After grandma's eyesight worsened, I used to help her paint her toenails. I remember grandpa making me redo them after he came home one day and they were bright blue with glitter, since he knew that she wouldn't have approved! My grandpa loved my grandma in sickness and in health, and I will never forget watching his care for her and the legacy of faithfulness he has passed down to me.

My grandparents live a mile up the road and my grandpa continues to work on the family farm with my dad. When I was a kid I had constant access to my parents and my grandparents. Us kids helped out, but make no mistake about it: we were the spoiled kind of farm kids. I'm sure you would have had a hard time convincing us of it then, but we truly did not have to do as much as the generations before us! Anyway, grandpa was our snack supplier. He figured if we had to hoe beets we at least needed a pop and some ice cream. He was also good motivation. Hoeing beets doesn't add up very fast at 10 cents per row. But if we could manage 6 rows at a time like grandpa and dad, well then, we might just get somewhere!

I have a very distinct memory of being trained to hoe beets when I was about 5 or 6. I had a half hoe and I would trail along behind them, with our puppy bouncing through the field behind me. They would pick out a weed for me that was big enough to see but small enough that I could get it out. When I had that one taken care of I would run to catch up and they'd assign me another weed. If I hoed without asking what time it was then I could go in after a half an hour to watch cartoons, otherwise I had to hoe during the cartoon. (I caught on quick.)

Grandpa and Matt. Every year grandma and grandpa used to take Matt and I to Lava Hot Springs. They put us in the backseat of the truck with a book of Lifesavers for the trip there. I now know that was to keep us quiet. :-) One year they took us to the store to pick out a toy. I remember the effort it took to convince grandma to get crayons to go with my coloring book so I could use it before I got home. Matt and Grandpa came back with a cart so full of toys that they had to take the corner slow. I'm sure you can imagine my chagrin.

And it wasn't even Matthew ... Grandpa put up quite the argument about how they couldn't put back the army tank or army men or squirt guns or bubble gum, etc. We compromised: the boys had to part with a few things and I picked out a doll and the biggest box of crayons! I also remember grandpa riding along to go pick up our new puppy. Matt and I were having a hard time agreeing on the cutest puppy ... so grandpa suggested we bring home two! That was the last time Dad brought him along to get any pets! Shopping with grandpa still goes pretty much like this, by the way. :-)

My grandpa has written me letters ever since I left for college. Hand-written pages full of jokes, commentary on the weather, admonitions to stay well, updates and news, warnings about running out of gas, and a little gas money. And every letter ends with "Make sure you don't work too hard. You have to have a little fun." I have a huge pile of letters that I will always cherish.

Grandpa and Sarah. Does this look like a "grandparents house" or what?! And I think that owl pillow might be back in style - I wonder where it's at, lol. We used to sleep at grandma and grandpa's house all the time. I feel like I was in second grade when they made a rule that I had to sleep at home more nights during the week than I slept at grandma's house. I always slept in grandpa's white t-shirts and on the floor at the foot of their bed. Every morning grandpa would step on me when he headed out for lines. I'm still not sure why I didn't sleep in the perfectly good bedroom across the hall, lol.

Grandpa and Matt.

Grandpa reading stories to Matt and Sarah.

Grandma, grandpa, Matt and Megan in front of George K's.

Grandpa playing memory with me.

How can you not love this picture?! Grandpa laying on the floor reading the paper with a bunch of toys spread across the floor .... and Sarah with her hand in his mouth trying to get him to come play with her. I love this picture! :-) And I LOVE MY GRANDPA!

Things that make me chuckle!

2011-04-07T00:27:00.002-05:00

Life is better when you chuckle. I'm convinced of it.

So the other day I noticed a sign around the city. When you're driving you can see this picture. And a big, red "WARNING" ... but driving by you can't read the text. So I'm driving down the street wondering what warning involves a man walking a dog being followed by rats? "Walk fast so the rats won't eat your dog?" I mean, I feel like any warning involving rats is just not really going to work for me. So of course I had stop sometime to get a closer look:

Turns out that's the warning. Turns out I really care if my neighbors pick up after their dogs. I saw a rat the other day that I thought was a cat. My kids thought it was hilarious that they had to correct me about this. I have never in my life thought rats are hilarious.

Many of my kids eat hot sauce quite liberally. On chips. On pizza. On all pasta. On eggs. On garlic bread. So I bought this bottle of hot sauce for my house. I had to call a friend to find out what brand. I figured a 6 oz bottle would last for quite a while since I don't eat it and the bottle says "one drop does it." The kids were making fun of me, talking about "we've never even seen such a little bottle of hot sauce." And they have clearly never read the part about one drop, it is amazing to me how much hot sauce they enjoy! And apparently you aren't supposed to store hot sauce in the fridge. The kids said it loses its hot if it gets cold, lol.

So ... for Tavaris' 13th birthday I bought him a gallon of hot sauce. :-)

It's finally sorta warming up, so Mr. Percy is back outside. Although with this coat (and those baby blue gloves) I think he coulda been out sooner! Hopefully this means there will be more Mr. Percy coming soon!

My friend Rachel has an excellent blog where she posted the pictures of this bag of chips she found on her walk home from the train. She says she loves everything about this: "stay in school" and "Bar-b-quin' with my HONEY".

And "the official snack of hip hop". Surely this is worth a chuckle!

February Winter Blast 2011 : Breaking Generational Poverty

2011-03-31T13:41:00.028-05:00

Jaheim and JaKee. Camp Beechpoint HERE WE COME!

I love Camp Beechpoint! February Winter Blast was a BLAST! I love being with kids. I love the hugs when kids come back to camp and realize I'm still there for them. I love creating an environment where kids are successful. I love the schedule of caring for kids. I love serving meals and keeping track of gloves and fussing about brushing teeth and getting us all somewhere. I love mediating a dispute so that everyone is happy and can move forward. I love laughing over silly stuff. I love helping kids experience something completely new. I love, love, love teaching God's Word and making it's truths real and accessible to kids. I love the good-bye hugs. I love camp!

Top row: Tah'Jae, Rayan, Megan, Curtynaija, Manijah, Jada

Bottom row: Amarrea, Mia, Annalise, Chanel, Jalise, Mya

Roasting marshmallows during the night hike.

Curty tryna decide how she feels about these marshmallows. Gotta love the nails. :-)

Our first winter blast in the new dining hall. This is 1/3 of the dining space. Praise God for his provision of this facility! It's a blessing to not have to serve split meals and to be able to host larger retreat groups year round. We've been able to use this facility for conferences and banquets and weddings ... just another way God provides funds to keep camp accessible to urban youth.

The Great Klondike Derby - team building activities for all! One camper gives verbal directions to a blind- folded partner to avoid the cones.

Shardae trying to walk without dropping the egg on the spoon.

This one is a favorite activity!

One of my supporters had her Sunday School class make blankets and hats for Winter Blast campers! The girls were so thankful for their blankets and the letters from the Sunday School kids and had fun writing them back! Thanks Kathy and Courtney!

This is my favorite picture from Winter Blast, lol! I wish I knew what I was saying to Mya when this picture was taken. Whatever it was it made her happy. :-) Love this.

Trying to get eveyone to jump rope in the gym.

Curtynaija and Manijah making a giant thank you sign for Chef Marissa. We never take pics in our cabins, but I love that camp is so....homey.

Kadavion told us that before camp he wasn't too sure he wanted to come. (Praise God for the adults in his life who love him and fight for him to have opportunities to hear the Word!). At camp he participated in 3 teaching sessions centered on Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." At the end of the last session Kadavion asked his Bible teacher "How do I break the chains of generational poverty in my family?". The older boys stayed in class for an extra 20 minutes to hear the discussion! Pray that Kadavion's mind will truly be renewed and that he will embrace the life available to him through submission to God!

January Winter Blast 2011

2011-03-28T00:04:00.000-05:00

January Winter Blast was FREEZING COLD! On Sunday morning the air temp was negative 8 degrees! I told my kids to get a drink out of the faucet because it was too cold for us to walk to the lodge for breakfast and "don't run around and work up an appetite cuz I ain't feedin ya'll!" (Can you name that movie? lol)

We had nearly 80 campers ages 7-14 and tons of fresh snow for our outdoor activities. It was a great time to reconnect with campers and meet some new kids. Our lessons were on Romans 12:2 - renewing our minds with the truth! Praise God for 4 campers who made decisions to trust Christ! Enjoy the pics:

Darrius

Playing broomball on the frozen lake!

Makiyah. a) does fire rock? b) that's what she thinks my name is?!

Hahahahha - they had a lot of fun with sledding. And walking up that hill sure wore them out for rest time.

Eliza and Olivia

I love, love, love this picture! Making new friends at camp!

Jarae, Megan, Lily, Dajae

I got to be a cabin leader for Winter Blast. It's been 3 years since I got to be in a cabin with the kids. Now that I work full-time for camp I do a lot more administrative and directive and teaching type things. It was wonderful to be with a cabin of girls - I loved it! I might have to make that a Winter Blast tradition!

The Great Klondike Derby - campers work together to complete a series of team building challenges.

All bundled up. It's funny that you can see Bianca's breath in this picture. It was so, so cold!

"At Beechpoint you can have fun and friends. This camp is about friendship and loving. If I didn't have friends I would come to this camp to have friends and learn about God. I learned that He loves me." - Nathan, age 11

"The best thing in Beechpoint was making friends and all the fun we had. This was my first time and it was fantastic and fun. I hope I'll come here again." - Alfredo, age 12

2011-03-27T22:23:00.001-05:00

My parents came to visit me for Thanksgiving 2010! It was my mom's first time here and we had a great few days together. Lots of Settlers, food, laughs, visiting people, seeing the city, and just being together.

My parents got to meet a bunch of my kids and see a number of the different places that camp partners with in the city. We went over to see Tamyra(10), Tavaris(12), and Tavontay(8).

Me an Miss Nakeisha (the T's mom). We've been kickin it every other Friday night at a mom's group. It's been nice to have extra time to chat on the way over there and back. She gets to spend time with other mothers and I help out with the kids.

If you've never been to The Container Store I am whole-heartedly recommending it! It is an organization lovers dream come true! Mom wanted to go while she was here because Sarah had come home with some great treasures from her trip. When we told Dad we might be in there for an hour or more he decided to walk down to Borders, lol. While we were in The Container Store we ran into Randy and Beverly Stone ... from Burley, Idaho! (that's right down the street from where we live, for those of you not from Idaho). Randy and mom trained for the Ironman Triathlon together. I googled it: there are less than 10,000 people in Burley. It helps that my mom knows all of them, but still - the odds of running into 2 Burleyites in downtown Chicago just can't be that great. This confirms what I've always suspected of my mom ... she can find someone she knows everywhere! They were here visiting their children for Thanksgiving as well. So of course they made a trip to The Container Store!

They got to see Jabari (14), Jabri (13), and Jireh (4). Their grandmother made us sweet potato pies for Thanksgiving dinner! This family has truly welcomed me with open arms, and these kids are starting to feel like they have extra grandparents! :-) Mom brought a collection of new Adventures in Odysseys sent for the kids by the Ziulkowskis (HUGE thank you here!) Adventures in Odyssey is a Christian radio drama series that teaches Bible stories, ethics, and things like how to be good friend. They are hilarious and ALL my kids love them. I have kids in my car for a minimum of 6 hours a week and often much, much more and as soon as they get in they ask for an Odyssey. I love that it gives us something to do while we ride and prompts good conversation. They were so excited to get new stories!

My mom and Ms. Demetrius (the JAY's mom).

Dad and Jireh.

Every time my dad comes he helps me hang things in my apartment. My walls are kinda plastery and tricky and I am a little afraid of the drill. He is super meticulous and everything he hangs in perfectly centered and sturdy. I'm so thankful for the help he's given me in this area. The pictures are grainy, but this past visit he helped hang decor in my dining room/office and in my living room. My parents bought the square brown and and blue painting as a Christmas gift while they were here. My whole apt feels more cozy now - thanks mom and dad! I'm so glad you came to visit! I've got my planner open and my pen ready ... let me know when you want to come back!

Christmas 2010

2011-03-27T20:58:00.003-05:00

So .... I am a little late with this post. But I am still going to post because I love the idea of being able to re-read my blog 20 years from now as photo journal. (It occurs to me that I should pray for Google - I'ma need them to stick around.)

Of course Christmas was great! I got to see a bunch of friends and family and share with many about the past year at Beechpoint. But I need to plan a couple of separate trips to Idaho for 2011, that trip was a bit much/long/overwhelming. :-)

Every year me an Ilise take a new picture for a frame. Last year's picture was, well... not our best. So this year we made sure to plan ahead a little better. :-)

A Jonas (2) and Merari (1) update: growing like weeds and cute as everything! Next time I'ma live down the street and be the once-a-month-Friday-night babysitter!

My friend Britany and her boyfriend Chad (who I am finally got to meet!) Oh. My. Gosh. Isn't she beautiful?! Ridiculous.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service 2011. (apparently candlelight is one word ...) Me, Grandpa, Mom and Dad. I'm guessing if mom tried hard enough she could find a picture from every year with this Christmas Tree in it!

This was my Christmas gift for my grandpa: freezer meals! It was my mom's idea and she let me have reign of the kitchen and supplied a bunch of the staples. I put them in disposable containers and stacked them in the freezer in a random order so he wouldn't pull out the same meal 4 times in a row. I labeled them and put re-heating instructions on the lids, since one time he microwaved a plate with raw tomatoes and cucumbers on it (bless his heart). It's hard to know what to get him - although the real winner this year might be my Aunt and Uncle who got him an electric blanket to wear while watching TV. He refuses to turn on the heat. I mean, who would forfeit the joy of a $20 electric bill just to be warm?

I got to see some cousins that I haven't seen in a long time - so long that we couldn't remember the last time we got to see each other! And I got to meet Brayden! (Brayden, Ashley, Trista, Tawnya, Jake, Megan)

I got to see my Antoine. He's 17 now! Back when he was a little kid we used to kick it. We used to go to the movies and one time we went to a motor cross event (now you know that's love - nothin but noise and dust and payin to park at a motor cross event) and Antoine would call me lookin for rides, lol.

Keyauna (3) and Brycen (5). I can't believe how quickly all my Idaho kids are growing up! It's crazy to only see little kids once or twice a year!

Shari's beautiful family after church on Sunday - Shaka, Keyauna, Shari, Ashika

Keyauna ... I mean how could this picture not make the cut?!

After my time in Boise I went to north Idaho to visit a couple of friends. It's been a while since I was at a mountain lake ... but there is just something about being by a lake that has mountains for shores .... as soon as I saw it I just felt so ..... peaceful! I got to visit Rachel, a friend from Bible College, and finally meet her black lab, Jericho! It is A SHAME that we did not take a picture to document our trip!

I also got to see Rich and Heidi and their new home. They taught me how to play Puerto Rico (an excellent strategy board game!) and we sat around dreaming about paint colors. I need more friends in Chicago who want to play board games!

More Mr. Percy

2010-11-22T14:16:00.001-06:00

Mr. Percy lives near some of my PID kids, so I get to see him occasionally. If you missed the introduction and story of how we met, you can click the links below to previous blogs (and more suits :-)

Mr. Percy is waiting on a kidney transplant. He's not outside as much as he used to be, but he said that he is dressed in his suits in the house. He gave my friend and I his number and said that if we call he will come out for a picture - he loves to be able to share his suits with someone who is excited to see them. (What I really want to see is his closet!! 250+ suits and accessories is a lot to keep organized!)

Halloween suit. To see the others go to The Suit with the Feathers! and Braids, Beads, and Pimp Suits. (Be sure to come back here...I haven't updated my blog in a while so the following posts are new news too! :-)

Rake 'n Rock 2010

2010-11-19T20:36:00.001-06:00

Every fall Beechpoint hosts a camp service project day where families, youth groups, our Leaders in Training teens (LITs), and alumni staff come to help with the huge task of raking leaves on campus. When I was young enough to think that leaves were romantic we had 2 small trees in our yard - just enough to scrape together a pile. On the other hand, Beechpoint will shed enough leaves in the fall to mulch an entire farm!

Two of my PID kids were old enough to come to Rake 'n Rock this year. Jabari is 14 and HILARIOUS. You all would like him, I promise. It's impossible not to. He has a great sense of humor, gets along well with people, and is very creative and inventive. He's raking leaves with Sam.

Kenya is 13. She has this great laugh she does whenever she's surprised by something that makes you want to laugh too. She's very smart and pushes her own self to do well in school. She also has the best cursive handwriting of any 13 year old I know! She's raking leaves with her new friend Bethany.

Just in case you didn't believe me that it's a lot of leaves. And this picture only shows a little tiny part of what needed to be raked. This year we had about 90 volunteers to help with the work. Camp provides lunch and outdoor activities in the afternoon as a thanks for everyone's service.

My friend Hilda brought 9 campers from Chicago out for the day to help rake! These are her beautiful daughters, Annalise and Anaya.

New friends: Karleigh and Mya

Playing in the leaves!

I love visitors!

2010-11-19T20:06:00.001-06:00

My friend, Miss Shari, came all the way from Idaho to visit me!! We had an excellent weekend together just talking about all the things we never get to talk about since we now live so far away. I love that my Shari got to see where I live and my Michigan church and Camp Beechpoint. I love that she took the time to come here to visit. I've been shopping for her baby ever since I moved here ... I love that we got to go shopping for Keyauna together! She is a stylist, so she was also able to buy hair here for resale ... so I'm tryna get her to make coming to see me a bi-annual business trip!

Shari and I at church on Sunday.

"Look, I really am at Megan's house!"

We went to visit another friend from Idaho's mother and sister.

Miss Shari bought 10 pairs of shoes while she was here! And she got all these shoes for under $100! Now, I'm steady tryna get more people to come out here to visit me. So for all you shoe lovers, here's the ticket! We spent 2 days all up and through the hood shoppin for shoes and such ... and if you come to visit me then I will take you Chicago shopping too!

All my visitors sign the guest book... I've had more than 60 visitors since I moved into this apartment last October!! I will save a special spot in the guest book just for YOU! ;-)

New After School Clubs!

2010-11-19T19:52:00.002-06:00

Each week I get to meet with 6 kids individually to do Partners In Discipleship (PID), camp's year-round follow-up program. We pray together, go over the Bible lesson they've completed, and spend time talking about their day. Each PIDer gets to have some 1:1 time with an adult. While they are waiting for their turn they work on homework and play games together.

My favorite thing about PID is that I see kids getting excited to learn more about the Bible and learning how to study the Word for themselves!

Top: Adam, Leiny, Zoie, Isabella, Alec, and Raquel

Bottom: Idalys, Natalia, Enyaeva, Rosie, and Gabriel

There are now 4 PID clubs going. This is the newest. Praise God for their parents' willingness to allow the kids to attend club and coming to pick them up late.

I get to lead this club with 2 of my favorite people: Mr. Angel and Ms. Maxine. With the 3 of us it is never a dull moment! Can you tell we are looking down at a little kid taking our picture? :-) I am now spending 2 of my afternoons in PID clubs, 2 afternoons meeting with individual kids, and in January I will begin a Good News Bible club in a Chicago Public School with Ms. Maxine.

Sneak Trip to Boise

2010-11-19T18:50:00.001-06:00

One of my very best friends, Beth, flew me to Idaho for a visit in September. After my whirlwind-record -breaking visit at Christmas (breakfast at 6am? sure! come over at 11pm? of course!) Beth told me that if she was sending the ticket then I was staying at her house so she could actually see me! It was a wonderfully relaxing trip and I loved spending time with her sons. It's sad to me that I don't live next door and get to keep the boys! We had a great week together! Moral of the story :: You too can sneak me to your house and I will stay put to visit you! :-)

Brycen (almost 5), Megan, Beth, Jace (almost 3)

I also got to meet the Blakesters while I was home, my friend Dawn's baby boy.

Brycen and Jace have like a dozen stuffed puppies. We piled all of them together to take these pics. There's nothing more endearing than a well-loved, scruffy stuffed animal!

My princess Keyauna (3 yrs) came to the house to visit me while I was in Boise. I am her barrette supplier from Chicago and I brought a suitcase full of balls and barrettes. She was TOO EXCITED to see all her new accessories, lol.

My sister, Sarah, drove up to Boise to see me for the afternoon. :-)

I snuck out to see Jonas and Merari. (Notice I have pictures of all my friend's kids but not necessarily my friends, lol. It's just that I like kids so much! And most grown ups don't want to be in pictures unless they know about it ahead of time, myself included.)

I saw my friend Britany for a quick minute also. If you're reading this post that means you've been reading my blog for a good long minute since I am updating all at once... but Britany writes the BEST BLOG EVER: http://biggerthanshamu.blogspot.com/2010/11/tale-of-two-cities.html

We went shopping for the boys' Halloween costumes while I was in town. Look at baby Blake's face! :-) There were a lot of distractions with the leaves and pumpkins, so looking at the camera was a real act of will for him!

For the Strong of Heart!

2010-11-19T17:18:00.007-06:00

You know how they say that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree? For me and my mom that's true in a lot of ways:

* because of my mom I am very organized. I could easily put my hands on my high school transcripts or my "lost wallet file" or that letter you sent me when I was 16 (I also got a little bit of the sentimental pack rat gene :-). As a shout out to my mom's impressive pantry, both of my vegetable jars are facing label-side forward.
* because of my mom I love big open windows with cheery sunshine bathing the room in happiness.
* because of my mom I love, love, love pictures!
* because of my mom I believe in clean and uncluttered spaces. Like inside my oven. And I don't have a junk drawer because those items have a designated location.

But when it comes to athletics I am more like a watermelon ... apparently I never made it into the tree in order to fall close by in the first place! I don't like to sweat, I am scared of the ball, I'd rather be competitive by thinking than by moving around, and let's face it: I am more than just a bit lazy.

My mom, Alice Schenk, is an IRON WOMAN! She has now completed 3 Ironman triathlons! This involves swimming 2.4 miles (often with ocean waves), biking 112 miles, and running 26.2 miles ... ALL IN A ROW! My mom's record time for this event is 13 hours 34 minutes and 19 seconds! Some days I have a hard time just staying awake for 13.5 hours. Can you imagine swimming, biking, and running for that long!?!

One of mom's friends, Cindy Singleton, took these professional pictures.

When I was a kid my mom was the Awana game director. She did this event for the "strong of heart and stout of stomach". After recruiting 6 volunteers she opened a can of dog food and spread it onto crackers ... whoever ate their cracker first was the winner. My dad walked by during the explanation and popped one into his mouth on this way through. You've never seen kids nibble so carefully around the edge. How could they have known that my mom had steamed the label off corned beef hash and replaced it with a dog food label?!!! lol

Well, the Ironman is an event especially designed for the stout of heart. In the back of the picture is the 2500+ athletes preparing to enter the swim. They just jump in there all at once. Mom says its a lot of jostling and the lead athletes who are competing for the win just swim right over the top of you! You might also notice that the crowd watching is dressed like it's winter. So, as you can see ... the Ironman is definitely for the strong of heart and stout of spirit!!

Mom's other latest adventure was climbing Mt. Borah to a height of 12,662 feet!! Imagine going up 12,662 stairs! I'm not real impressed with the 3 flights to get into my apartment! But I think you'll agree with me from this picture ... the number of steps wasn't really the main concern on this climb!

This part of Mt. Borah is called "Chicken Out Ridge". I have to grab ahold of something solid just to LOOK at the picture!

Mom at the top of Idaho! Only those who are strong of heart would attempt such a frightful adventure! Good job Mom!

Grand Opening of the Lakeview Lodge!!

2010-11-19T13:06:00.001-06:00

After 8 years of prayer, giving, and labor ... the LAKEVIEW LODGE is complete! This summer we officially opened for use and had a celebration on Oct 2. With capacity to serve 300, this building is a much needed space to serve campers and retreat groups. The building also offers additional meeting spaces, storage space, and programming areas. We are exciting to be expanding ministry opportunities through the use of this building!

View from the lake. The lodge has a wrap-around porch including 2 covered porch areas for rainy days.

Bob VanDyke (right) is our Director of Site Development. He sold his contractors business to become a missionary with Camp Beechpoint and has now been on staff for 12 years. "Uncle Bob" drew up the plans for the building and provided oversight for the teams of volunteer workers. Bob Bakker (left) is one of the many volunteers - he has come to camp a couple days a week to serve ... for the past 7 years! Since we have a Bob the Builder on staff I always call him Bob the Baker, but somehow it hasn't caught on yet, lol.

The building was built with the help of 900+ volunteers, many of whom dedicated years of service to this project. Many volunteered professional skills such as plumbing, electric, carpentry, roofing, and contractor skills. There is an estimated 1.5 million dollars in estimated savings because of those who gave their time and talent to this project!

The Lodge will allow us to host multiple and larger retreat groups, which is one of the ways we fund camper scholarships. We also gain more flexibility in our winter programming with the added indoor space.

The view of the dining room. It has already been utilized for meals, banquets, weddings, retreats, seminars, trainings, and (of course) the grand opening celebration program.

The commercial kitchen on move-in day. Our old kitchen was the size of the kitchen in my parent's home. Great for a family, but super tricky for 3 meals a day for 200 people!

The dish room might not typically be a highlight. But for anyone who's done dishes at Camp Beechpoint this room is a mecca of air conditioning, solid flooring, bright lighting, and space!

One Giant Wrestling Match

2010-07-31T17:57:00.002-05:00

The summer is the best time for blogging because of the limitless photos and stories. It's also the most challenging time to blog because of the nonstop schedule. I am consoling myself with the promise that I will share many summer camp pictures in the fall. Here are a few quick shots from the past couple of weeks - in no particular order or relevance. :-)

This summer Phillip Turner has been working as a cabin leader at camp. He's my best friend's brother and from my hometown in Rupert, Idaho. He's doing a great job engaging his campers and making an impact in their lives. Every week we have theme chapel. Cabins win points for the most creative theme. One week Phillip's cabin only had 3 boys in it. So he had them be the 3 Blind Mice. The kids were really hamming it up, wish you were there. :-)

I love, love, love that camp is multicultural! It's such a healthy experience for our campers. Here is Jenessa, Christina, and Love.

The 2 boys in the front are friends from my church in Kalamazoo, Preston and Jordan. With this job I inherited a lot of relationships and community connections and I love the many places I have friends. I also love all the older kids that I know at camp from previous summers.

Boys Swim Time = Giant Wrestling Match, LOL

Diamond, me, and Tamia. Haircut Wednesday is always a good time for pictures. :-) We have one more week of summer camp, can you believe it?! Pray for our summer staff to finish strong and for great spiritual impact in our last set of campers.

Mustache Tuesday

2010-07-10T16:20:00.000-05:00

Every week we have mustache Tuesday where one cabin wins for the most creative mustaches. Phillip Turner creating a mustache for Julian.

Me with Diamond.

A mustache made out of AirHeads.

Each camper gets their picture taken for the end of the week thank you letters. Last week I didn't get the pictures taken before mustache Tuesday. We print the letters in black and white so you can't tell that this mustache is purple marker. So Cameron's sponsor is going to wonder why this 8 year old boy has a grown man's mustache. :-)

Here are a couple of quotes from this week's thank you letters:

"My cabin is called Fiery Furnace and my cabin leaders are Philip, Zack, and Dan. These guys are the nicest guys I ever met in my life." - Mark, age 13

"I had a wonderful time doing everything. And finally I have something to say, drum roll please ... Ba bababa ba ba ba boom, I GOT SAVED!" - Kiyah, age 10

"Zip line was FF: fast and fun. And the petting farm was fluffy. And cookout was yummy." - Emilio, age 10

4th of July 2010

2010-07-10T15:57:00.002-05:00

I took a quick weekend trip to Chicago for the 4th. This summer I kept my same apartment for the first time in 8 years! I'm believing God that my season of such transient living is over and that I will be at home in my new home on the South Side of Chicago for a long time! I had some concerns with leaving my apartment for the summer but all is well!

I got to see a handful of my kids and go to my Chicago church while I was there for the weekend. This is Tavaris at the park. He doesn't get to come to camp this summer because of summer school - pray that he hates it so he'll work hard this next school year.

My friend Jessica came along and we went to visit on of her previous campers, Ella. We only got to see her for a quick minute, but we found out that Ella just graduated from high school and plans to go to college in the fall!

I went to the JAYs for the family bbq. This is Jireh, Demans, and Jabri. Poor Jireh doesn't really understand "I'll be back from camp in August." Her mom told me the other day that they were all sitting around and Jireh said "What did you guys do to Miss Megan that she doesn't come to the house everyday anymore?!" lol

So, speaking of the family BBQ ... I'm not very good at eating meat with bones in it. The thing is, I REALLY cannot put a bone in my mouth. And you can't really eat ribs with a knife and fork. I have some friends who won't even allow me to eat ribs and their house because I make such a pitiful attempt at it. My people are always tryna talk about me for this (you know who you are)..... This made me laugh because apparently lamb ribs are tough to get apart - hence the hammer hitting the knife!! Funny to me.

Me an Lil Courtney, who doesn't let just everybody pick her up :[)

Fun in the Sun

2010-07-10T15:32:00.001-05:00

Camp is rolling right along - we now at the official half way point! Enjoy these snapshots of our summer fun!

Quite possibly the cutest sisters ever! Elanah, Emily, and Elise

Me and my little buddy DeQuan. Why the yellow ribbon? Well, what had happened was I was giving instructions during table games and just when I was trying to get everyone's attention my chair totally broke and I fell under the table. At camp we have a Boo Boo can and during chapel the kids vote for which staff member had the best boo boo. The "winner" has to wear a yellow ribbon for the next day and the kids spend the next day asking them "why the yellow ribbon?"

Cabin leader Justin with Rodney, DeQuan and Sam

This was the pose Michael picked for his camper picture. :-)

Make your own balloon animal lessons with Anty'Shae and Imari.

"I wish I had sent his father to camp too!"

2010-06-26T19:52:00.002-05:00

Summer 2010 has gotten off to a great start! The kids are eager, excited, and busy ... and somehow there are a thousand things to do that no one can quite remember how we did it last year, lol.

This was Kazmari's (*name changed) first time at Camp Beechpoint. Each night at fireside we give kids an opportunity to stay behind and talk with a leader. The fireside lesson includes an invitation to receive Christ, and through the years I've seen God work mightly during this time of stillness. Something about a camp fire is ... enchanting enough to strip away pretense and distraction. Hundreds of children have responded to the voice of God sitting around the fireside at Camp Beechpoint.

When Kazmari stayed behind I asked him what he wanted to talk about. With big tears rolling down his cheeks he said, "I've just never heard about God like this. I'm starting to think this might be serious." As we sat I told him the message of God's love for him, of Jesus' sacrifice to pay for his sin, of God's offer of forgiveness to all who believe. As we talked about sin and forgiveness, Kazmari wept into his hands. He told me that he was thinking about something really bad that had happened, something too bad to tell me, something that he knew Jesus couldn't forgive.

Sometimes its hard to imagine what our children have seen and the burdens that they bear. (One child came to camp this week with the pain of 3 family members' drug-related deaths just the week before.) As I told Kazmari that God is powerful enough to forgive anything, I prayed God would use me to make his love clear. And as he prayed to God, I prayed - rejoicing in his new faith. After he prayed I said, "What just happened?" and he said "God forgave me because I believed that he could pay for my sin and I asked him to forgive me. He said yes to forgiving me because he loves me." We spent about 20 minutes together after fireside, and he cried the whole time.

When we told his mother about the decision that Kazmari had made this week she said, "Praise God! Now I wish I had sent his father to camp too!" Pray for Kazmari, that he will be a light for God in his family that cannot be ignored.

This summer the boys have been busy playing a game called Kung Fu. You start like this:

And then everyone assumes their beginning stance, like this:

The point of the game is move in such a way that no other player is able to touch your hands. Play goes around the circle. When someone moves to touch your hand you are allowed one defensive move to avoid being touched. Then you get one offensive move where you try to touch another player. It's a lot of fun, especially for the boys. :-)

We've been having some some heavy rain and mild flooding (i love thunder!). Anything that's fun is sure to be even more fun in the water, like this:

Another new addition to camp is our GaGa Pit. It's Israeli dodgeball, a fast-paced game with any number of players where you are out if the ball touches you below the waist. Players are only only allowed to hit the ball with their hands, the ball must not go outside of the fence, and you can only touch the ball once without it touching the fence or another player. It looks something like this:

Or this:

This match is down to the final 2, but matches start with as many as 40 people in the pit together. And again, anything that much fun is sure to be better in the water:

And one bonus photo:

De'Ja and Justice and Callie

"Jesus made my whole house different."

2010-05-31T11:41:00.001-05:00

May was full of wrapping up events in the city so I could head to camp for the summer. Super busy but lots of fun!

We had our last Good New Club for the school year. Praise God for faithful volunteers like Sis. Allen who made this afterschool Bible club possible. Kortnea (the child with the white beads in her hair) to us at the last club, "Ever since I believed in Jesus my whole house has been different. It's like Jesus is all through my house now." What a great testimony of how one child's faith can spark change in a family. When we were closing out for the day the principal was saying how she was thankful for the adults who had volunteered to teach the children, for being willing to come into the school. Omarrion (the little boy in the front) said "And for all the love they have." Omarrion knows he can work some nerves, but even with all the drama he was able to see that we were there every week because we love him.

We had a girls day with some of the Chicago PID girls. They came to the house and we did nails and learned about hair care, and had a Bible lesson about inner beauty... and an interesting discussion about modesty. The girls felt that if a person was skinny they could wear revealing clothes and look cute, but if they were bigger then they shouldn't be dressing like that. The culture has a lot to say about how girls see themselves, and we spent a lot of time talking about how God sees us and how he wants us to present ourselves. We ended by creating center pieces and having a fancy dinner to learn what to do when there's 4 forks - and how to have polite dinner conversation, always a challenge. :-)

My friend Pneurissa graduated with honors and I was able to go to her graduation. I'm so proud of her accomplishments and vision for the future!

Rissa's nephew Jakarri (and one of my favorite campers) at graduation. He is definitely part of her vision for the future and she pours herself into his life in very purposeful ways, making sacrifices for his future.

I thought of a way to braid hair into a flower! She had 8 petals and then pink beads and pink flower barrettes. I've also thought of a way to braid a bow into her hair and then she can have beads and bow barrettes. :-)

Look at how beautiful camp is - being in this place is restorative for my soul. I'm here now for the summer, the new staff are arriving tomorrow, and I'm ready to start my summer tan since I am currently glow-in-the-dark white!

Camp goes to the White Sox

2010-05-31T10:23:00.002-05:00

A friend from my Boise church, Deacon Mapp, grew up in Chicago. He's "assigned" me a long list of must-dos in the city, which I am slowly accomplishing. The other day we took the PID kids to a White Sox game. I can't remember if he told me to go to a Cubs game or a White Sox game.... but it's all baseball, right? :-) Truthfully, I was just real happy to be with my friends so I had someone to talk to. Which is why I'm not the girl you want to take on a hunting trip... At the end of the game the guy behind me said "What a great game - the Sox had 2 homeruns." Oh. Really? Good to know.

This was my first time at a professional baseball game. Look how big the outfield is!? Baseball is a lot of work!

David Brown is the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Beechpoint, and he mentors Gordon and Elijah each week. He organized us to go to the game. The kids and their parents or mentors came to the game. Gordon's already got plans for us to do a Bulls game next year. :-)

This is my friend Nakeisha. I love her smile and her sense of humor and the way she's welcomed me into her family. I mentor her daughter, Tamyra - so Keisha and I get to see each other every week. We were walking in the park most mornings for a while there ... until I lost interest.

Boys will be boys. Jakarri, Tavaris, and Tavontay. I wanted to eat ballpark food since it was my first game and they were closer to the isle so they kept asking the people how much for cotton candy and hotdogs and such. Then they shouted down the row "$4 for a beer and $5 for margaritas Miss Megan!" Lol, I did not ask for that. :-)

Javier with his girls - Rachel, Abi, and Ivelisse. They've been doing Partners in Discipleship for 2 years now.

My friend Demetrius. We were having too much fun sitting next to each other and bein loud. Well, as loud as I can be. I feel like I have this big voice but the kids are forever teasing me "That's you yelling!!?" I have to ask some other mother at the park to call my kids cuz they'll never hear me calling them. Or I make some kid at camp call the other kids, cuz they have LOUD voices!

I could never attend a ball game by myself... it'd be like going to the DMV where you're just enduring the wait until you can go. But with the kids and some friends it was a lot of fun!

My sister came to visit!!

2010-04-19T13:26:00.001-05:00

My sister Sarah came to visit me last week for 3 1/2 great days! We got to do some sight seeing, some catching up (I hadn't seen her since 2 Christmases ago) and lots of laughing, since Sarah is funniest one in our family.

We went to the Science and Industry Museum... where we bought matching shirts! The shirt says Pluto: 1930-2006. Revolve in Peace. Get it?! hahaha. I also ordered a math T-shirt, but you'll have to wait in eager anticipation for that one.

The museum had a whole agriculture section. This display talked about uses for manure. The pile shows city kids how much a cow can poop in one day. Notice the floor.... 2 days of poop... 3 days of poop.... I'm not sure this is the best recruitment strategy for luring people into agriculture!

Sarah bought some dehydrated astronaut ice cream. It was terrible. Just in case you have the itch to try out being an astronaut you should maybe taste this first.

We ate some Chicago-style-deep-dish pizza. I don't actually love it (and you know I love me some pizza) cuz it's kinda cassarole-ish.

Sarah and I took a guided tour of downtown on a bus (with fur!) where you can sit outside on top. It was like 75 degrees and the perfect day to walk around downtown. We got off at Millenium Park, Navy Pier, the Chicago Cultural Center, and Water Tower Place. Sarah tried on some shoe inserts at Water Tower place and the person was like "There is DIRT in your shoe?!!?" It was only like a tablespoon's worth, but I suppose people who walk around downtown all the time don't really have much opportunity to get dirt in their shoes.

This is a sculpture in Millenium Park called "the bean". You can see yourself and the skyline in its reflection.

These flowers were out downtown. Last weekend I went to an urban youth workers conference and one of the presenters said "It's not very many flowers in my neighborhood. So whenever I am at the grocery store I try to make sure I stop and smell the flowers."

Sarah thought it was funny/sad that this dog's whole yard is made out of concrete. Poor guy.

This building is called Merchandise Mart - it's so big it has its OWN ZIP CODE! I learned this on the tour... it was really interesting, if you come to visit me I volunteer to go on the tour again with you!

City Lesson #83: Grocery Carts

2010-04-19T12:21:00.000-05:00

So I really try to appear like I know what I'm doing. (Who doesn't?)

Well, what had happened was.... the other day I was at the Burlington, and since I was alreay out I decided to go into a couple of other stores. I went into the grocery store thinking I was just gonna grab a couple of things, but then cases of water were on sale. And you know how it goes when you go into the grocery store listless....

So, when I came out I had my cart with $50 of groceries and 3 cases of water. But my car was about 12 rows down in front of the first store I had been in. An annoyance, to be sure, but not quite a crisis. Except that this store has electronic locks on it's carts. If you go a certain distance from the store the wheels will lock up - which I can understand. Nobody wants to buy new carts every week.

I found this picture online to make my post more interesting ... my store doesn't have any warnings like this. Just so happened I was trying to cross from the sidewalk in front of the store to the rows of cars when my cart locked up. I couldn't even drag it back toward the store! People were honking and trying to get past me.... so much for pretending I know what I'm doing in the city!

I was trying to find some kids I could pay $1 to help me carry my stuff to the car.... or a stranger who wanted to stand with my cart (in traffic) while I went to get my car... Then I saw one of the store employees standing outside on break who had already been watching me and was smirking. I told him I had no idea my cart would freeze up and could he please stand with my stuff while I went to get my car?

You know how people look when they want to roll their eyes but they can't because they work for the store? Yeah. But he sauntered over and stood with my cart - and even helped me load my stuff into my trunk while I blocked traffic.

So much for prentending like I know what I'm doing! :-)

Ready for Summer Camp!

2010-04-19T11:52:00.000-05:00

It's only 55 more days until summer camp!!!!

We have a petting farm .... most of the animals have resigned themselves to their fate.

Although they are not left weaponless! :-)

We gave Rosie the goat some tennis balls so she would look less alarming. As you can see, she doesn't go out of her way to appear inviting.

Cabin leader or jail wardon?

Easter and Traditions

2010-04-04T23:10:00.004-05:00

I love Easter! It's certainly my favorite Sunday morning of the year! And even though church was great today (I cried my way through baptisms and praise dances and the reminder that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in me!!) ... I was missing my family and Paul Baptist and the traditions of Easters past. Here are 10 of my favorite reasons to love Easter:

1 - Easter Nests
On Easter Eve we always made Easter nests. Us kids would get a kitchen towel and fold it up into a nest and place it by our bedroom doors. Then "the easter bunny" would come in the night and lay easter eggs and candy and toys and coloring books and bubble gum in our nests. We used to put fake grass in the nests until we realized the hassle of getting our jelly beans back out of that static electricity mess. Nevermind the fact that I had to be threatened out of bed on a school day - on Easter morning we were up and at em! I was mostly trying to see how much candy I could eat before we left for church. Now my mom even mails me an Easter-nest-in-a-box, complete with a new kitchen towel!

Easter morning: Sarah with her nest

2 - Ham, beans, cornbread, and deviled eggs
I don't know if there's a prescribed Easter meal, but many years we ate ham and beans with cornbread. I'm not all the way sure I even like this meal - but I like it on Easter Sunday. :-) My grandma Irene makes the best deviled eggs ever, so those came with every holiday meal!

3 - Sunrise Service
Churches in my community have an Easter Sunrise Service at the Paul Cemetary. We gather at 6 am for a time of interdenomenational worship - celebrating that the grave couldn't contain Christ! I loved this tradition, even though I never loved mornings. After the service we would all go to Connors Cafe family restaraunt for breakfast.

4 - Dying Easter eggs
In the comics today the Family Circus was dying eggs and one of the boys said "Daddy, how long do we have to help you with this?" hahaha. If you know the Schenk kids, then you know we can make even the most simple task complicated and competitive... so when we got older dying eggs was quite the process!

Megan and Matthew dying eggs

5 - Family Easter egg hunts
We would have Easter egg hunts for days when we were little. You'd be surprised how many places you can hide an egg in the living room! I remember being mad that baby Sarah had adult help. Pretty sure she'd be the best at this now though.

6 - He is risen indeed!
I was reminded of this greeting today ... when you see someone on Easter you greet them by saying "He is risen!" and the person responds "He is risen indeed!" Today especially I have been savoring the memories of this greeting - the truth that it affirms and the fellowship it provides.

7 - Canasta
Okay, so this is also kind of an every holiday thing for us. My grandma Irene taught us how to play Canasta when we were kids. She had a lot of patience - we would drop our cards all over the floor, lose interest half way through, be poor sports, and forget the rules of the game. It's something most everybody on my mom's side of the family plays ... and beating grandma is the general goal! :-)

Grandma playing Canasta with Sarah when she was in kindergarten

8 - Stuffing Grandma Vi's Easter baskets
I comandeered the job of stuffing Grandma Vi's Easter baskets. I love anything to do with organizing ... I could go to work everyday taking people's mountains of mess and putting it into logical and flexible storage solutions. :-) So this was an Easter highlight to be sure. And the baskets always ended up even ... minus the candy I ate while I stuffed.

9 - Easter Hymns
I've been walking around the house all day singing (the first few lines) of these hymns. 20 points if you can sing what comes next:
Christ the Lord is risen today, aleluia ..... _____
Up from the grave He arose! ... ____
Hear the bells ringing, they're singing that we can be born again__
He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today ... ____
The nice thing about hymns is that you can sing them even if you can't sing. Except for that one note in Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus ... ____

10 - Frilly dresses
I saved this for last on purpose because I found the cutest pictures! I'm sure these aren't all Easter, but you get the point. I'm glad my mom took a lot of pictures when we were young.

Megan

Megan, Dad, Matthew, Mom

Grandpa and Matthew

Megan

Keep your lips to yourself!

2010-04-04T21:14:00.004-05:00

Each year Beechpoint hosts a weekend Purity Retreat focused on God's design for dating, relationships, and sex - a message that challenges the cultural norms of today. Campers ages 10-18 attend with a parent or mentor, and there are 3 levels of sessions designed to challenge kids (and adults!) to choose purity. Please join me in prayer for the 95 participants who came to Purity Retreat - that the weekend would remain real to them when they are home and that they would live out the decisions they made.

"This weekend taught my daughter the importance of saving herself for the man God has for her. I realize the importance of the retreat. I didn't have this when I was growing up." - mother

All of the kids that I meet with every week were able to attend Purity Retreat! Jabri, Jabari, Tamyra, Tavaris, and Kenya. I loved being there with "my" kids!

"When I get home I am going to be more of a gentleman, be more respectful, and be cautious when I choose who to date." - boy, age 13

Dominique roller skating.

"I learned that God loves purity. After Purity Retreat I am going to change my attitude."

An object lesson on building healthy relationships.

"I learned that people should keep their lips to themselves." - girl, age 10

Andrew came to Purity Retreat with his father - a great opportunity for them to spend some one-on-one time together.

"This weekend I learned more about my student and the deep things he had been hiding. He shared about the pain and hurt of missing his father. God spoke to me this weekend about the need to understand and protect our youth because they are precious to God." - male mentor

The weekend ends with a ceremony where campers can choose to take a vow of purity. Scroll down and pause the music before hitting play on the video.

Purity Retreat 2010 from Megan Schenk on Vimeo.

The suit with the FEATHERS

2010-04-04T20:15:00.002-05:00

Someone told me I should get in the picture with Mr. Percy so you can be sure that I'm the one really taking his picture, not just finding it online somewhere. Which I could do ... just as soon as I am with someone I can hand my camera to. I rode past today hoping to catch the Easter suit. No such luck... but here's one from the other day!

I told you that he was happy to have his picture taken. :-) My friend called me the other day tellin me he had on a cheetah print suit. Sad to have missed that one!

Braids, Beads, and Pimp Suits

2010-03-17T22:54:00.000-05:00

Every week I meet with Tamyra for Partners in Discipleship. She is learning about taking responsiblity for herself - pray that she will desire to make good choices.

I've also been braiding her hair. Braiding is one of my favorite hobbies. It gives me an excuse to be in the home of camp kids and to have them in my home. And since it takes a minute it gives me an opporunity for lots of time and conversations with kids. It works out great because I see a chance to braid as a privelege and since just about everybody else thinks it's quite the chore there is always somebody's mama willing to let me braid their child's head.

This is Tamyra - she wanted a mohawk. I had to explain to some friends how exactly this is a mohawk, but just trust that it is. :-)

The top of the mohawk. We were all pleasantly surprised it came out like this! Hahahaa.

So anyway, the other day me an Myree decided that we were going to put letter beads into her hair. You can buy beads a dollar a bag, but we went to Michael's and bought $5 dollar a bag beads just so we could do this idea.

Of course, we had to plan ahead for what words we were going to spell on her braids. It was a little challenging since the design I did had 48 braids ... but we only had like 11 of the letter "e", which comes up a LOT. So we were trying to think of words that didn't have "e"s, but we wanted nice words like "princess" and "rainbow" and "Jesus" instead of just random words like "box" - we never did get an x in there. :-) And of course we had to use her brother's names, so she had a braid that said "Tavaris" and a braid that said "Tavontay" ... and a braid that said "MissMegan"!

It was a lot of fun and we loved how it turned out, but it definitely took us a ridiculously LONG time! She had 3 bangs with her first, middle, and last name on them. Tamyra said that people on the bus ask her if they can read her hair. :-)

When I go to do Bible study with Tamyra there is sometimes a man standing on the corner at the beginning of her housing community. I've only seen him a couple of times but I remember him because he has some spectacular suits. He walks up and down the same piece of sidewalk every day. So far I've seen him in a peach suit with gold strips and an all pink suit. And he always has all the trimmings.

Well, today was certainly the best suit so far. And since nobody believes me when I tell them about the kinds of things that I see in the city, I decided to try to take his picture. So I made Nakeisha walk to his corner with me so I could ask him if I could take his picture.

He introduced himself as "I'm Percy, the retired pimp". Really, that was how he introduced himself. We stood and talked for a few minutes about where he gets his suits and how he's retired and how he likes to still come out to this corner so everybody can see what a real suit is like.

I told Percy that where I'm from most of the suits are boring and some people don't believe me when I tell them that there are suits like this out there ... and would it be okay if I took a picture? I actually think I made his whole afternoon, cuz he started posing and pointing out details of his suit. He was very friendly and told me that I could stop by again for a picture of his next suit (which I will surely do). He has 283 suits and wears one every day.

Now I realize that in this case a picture really is worth a thousand words. But let me just point out a couple of details that are my favorite:

* His pimp cane has fur on it!!!!! Who has that?!

* His shoes, pants, jacket, and cane all have matching purple satin.

* Notice the white glove ...

* His hat has craft rhinestones on it, and there's red feather you can only sorta see.

But for sure my favorite part has got to be the glitter glue! Yup, that's a glitter glue butterfly! And just in case you can't read it his suit jacket says (in glitter glue): Percy, Top Dog, Chicago, and King. I really wanted to ask how much his specially-made suit cost, but since we just met and all.... So the next time I try to tell you a story about something that I've seen in Chicago I'm gonna need you to believe me. :-)

I've been trying to convince my friend to let me mail her a Easter suit from Chicago for her son. I wonder if I can get this in a little boy size 5? :-)

More Winter Blasting

2010-03-17T21:45:00.000-05:00

The second session of Winter Blast was great! We had the perfect weekend for winter camping. Which you wouldn't really think exists, but with almost 80 great kids, packable snow, and temps in the 40s we had a blast! Enjoy the pics!

This is my friend Nakeisha's son, Tavaris. He is every bit as sweet as he is cute. When I took this picture I told him that I was going to show it to his mom and she was going to be upset because he doesn't have on his hat and gloves. (I was right.) People here are constantly fussing at me for not having on a "respectable coat" and my hat and gloves. Little do they know that the fact I've given up my flip flops for the winter is a recent advacement!

The Great Klondike Derby. Teams pull a dogsled along a trail in the woods and do team building activities at stations throughout the race.

Autumn, me, and Jalayah

So... what do you do when your boots get all wet?!

There are a lot of great sledding pictures. Nakeisha's other son, Tavontay, is in the back. I'm not all the way sure she's going to let me take them to Winter Camp again since he's not wearing his hat either. But he is sure having fun!

This is me being unsure about sledding. It's a surprisingly big hill - and I doubt very much that Autumn knows how to steer any more than I do. But I had to go, cuz, well.... camp is for the campers. And Miss Jessica made me. Not to worry - we didn't crash.

My friend Elizabeth and our new friend Jamar.

Ivelisse and Jalayah at the park.

Winter Blast Video Clips

2010-02-06T23:58:00.022-06:00

Winter Blast 2010 got off to a great start with our January session! 60 kids were able to come and hear the Word through the story of how Daniel stood firm for God. Pray that children will remember commitments they made during the weekend as they are in their neighborhoods and schools.

I've uploaded a couple of short video clips from the weekend:

Winter Blast 2010 from Megan Schenk on Vimeo.

Winter Blast from Megan Schenk on Vimeo.

Enjoy these photos from the weekend.

Pearl made a heart out of snow.

Winter kick ball.

Reconnecting with camp friends and making some new ones.

As part of The Great Klondike Derby these boys found Easter eggs and then broke them open to make a "stew" out of the snow inside.

Late night marshmallow roasting.

Please pray for the expected 80 campers joining us for session 2 of Winter Blast in February.

Reasons not to fake illness:

2010-02-06T23:09:00.049-06:00

When I was a child there was one standard used to determine illness: green drops. While other elementary students could fake illness by appearing lethargic and unpresentable, the Schenk children had to pass the green drops test before being declared sick - an excellent deterrent to any avoidance schemes we hatched.

Green drops are a rather murky and insanely foul liquid "medication" used as a cureall - generously passed down to my parents from my grandmother. And since they are a cureall it naturally follows that if we were unwilling to take green drops then we just must not really be sick. (This might be a good time to mention that my blog apparently has no spell check .... and I'm not too sure about lethargic, deterrent, or cureall - apply this disclaimer to all posts.)

I'm quite certain the trick was in giving them to us when were young, but somehow we came to believe that green drops really do work - that if you take them you will feel better!  But the general agreement is that no one would ever take green drops unless they were quite certain they were at death's door. No death rattle, no green drops.  It's nothing like these gummy bear vitamins or electrolyte popsicles they have these days where kids are excited to receive medicinal relief. Nope. Green drops would gag a magot, and if anybody has a strong stomach it's gotta be those guys.

But of course they can't work unless you swallow them. When we were growing up we took green drops by the spoonful. Imagine our indignation when we discovered that our nearly grown cousins took them about 2 drops at a time in a spoonful of sugar! Or diluted in a cup of water (although all agree that prolonging consumption is a bad idea).

So, last night when I found myself sick enough to take green drops I read the label. (I might could have pushed through but I didn't want the death rattle to alarm the neighbors.) Here's an abbreviated explaination of the recommended uses for green drops:

* as a gargle for minor irritations of the throat
* as a refreshing mouth wash
* excellent for use with a toothbrush in cleansing the teeth
* relieves the stuffiness of a head cold - place 1/2 teaspoon in boiling water and breath the fumes (I just
   realized this says fumes instead of vapors. Hmmm....?)
* temporary relief of minor digestive disturbances - take 1/2 teaspoon saturated in sugar
* temporary relief of muscular aches and pains - gently rub the affected areas with these drops

I know I'm no doctor, but am I the only one who feels like this list is just a little bit, well... sketchy? First of all, anyone who has ever tasted green drops would immediately elliminate the first three uses from consideration. Secondly, does the same medicine generally help head colds, indigestion, and muscle pain?

It seems a little "mind over matter"-ish to me. Which is fine, because last night I truly did feel better after I took them. But if that's the case, I sure wish I knew the trick to reprogramming my mind to something a little more friendly. And if "mind over matter" works then I'ma start my kids out right by printing a label and sticking it on some ice cream or something. Cuz green drops'll make even a magot gag.

Home for the Holidays

2010-01-19T22:51:00.002-06:00

** If the music is distracting you can scroll to the bottom and hit pause - but the first 2 songs are my current favorite worship songs...**

I was able to go home to Idaho for the holidays and spend time with family, friends, and supporters. I was SO TIRED after 3 weeks of rushing around trying to see everyone, but I was also so happy to be with loved ones. My closest friends are still in Idaho and I loved being next to people instead of just talking to them on the phone! If I didn't get to see you this time I am sorry - but the good news is that I will be home again next Christmas! Here are some picture highlights:

In the picture: Grandpa, Dad, Me, Aunt Sherry, Uncle Ray. I spent 4 days in Yuma, Arizona visiting my aunt and uncle. We went to a museum with antique farm equipment and restored cars. There was a lot of stuff there! As we walked around dad kept saying "Hey! We had one of these! I wonder where it is??" I guess "antique" farm equiment does not mean "retired" farm equipment. Some of the stuff we are still using!

While we were in Arizona we drove around to look at Christmas lights and came upon this snowman. Someone had spray painted tumble weeds - a creative solution to an Arizona problem. :-)

In this picture: Wayne, Alice, Sarah (21), Matthew (23), and Megan (27). This year Sarah didn't get to come home for Christmas - we were all so sad!! It was the first year that we weren't all there - who would have thought that the baby would be the first one to not come home? (Don't tell her I called her the baby.)

So Matthew made a life-size poster of her and we carried her around with us for the holidays. We took her to church, the family Christmas party, the gym, out to lunch at Burgers, etc, to her old job, and anywhere else we went. We had everybody sign her and take a picture with her and then we mailed the poster and pictures to her in Florida (where she is doing really good at a Parelli horsemanship externship). So this family picture is going to go in a frame in my apartment as the 2010 family picture. :-)

Sarah's never loved kids quite like I do .... but this Christmas she decided kids were alright! She had a smile on her face for the whole holiday! (yup, we spent a week saying tacky stuff like that ... and yes, we thoroughly enjoyed our antics and thought we were just so clever!)

In this picture: Grandpa Rich, Uncle Alvin, Aunt Clara, Aunt Ardena. Every year at the family Christmas party the great aunts and unlces sing Christmas carols in German. Correction: Aunt Clara and Aunt Ardena sing and the guys hum along and smile. It was suggest by a member of the quartet that perhaps they should practice during 2010, singing in German once a year just doesn't seem to be quite often enough. :-)

In this picture: Megan and Ilise. So, what had happened was Ilise and I looked like right hot nuts on the last chance we had to take a picture together for the frame for 2010 .... and since Ilise had just taken me to get a pedicure I thought this would make a great picture. :-) I saw so many close friends while I was home and I am so thankful for the people that God has given to me! They encourage, uplift, inspire and challenge me - and I am a better person for them! Thank you!!

You might be a city red-neck if.....

2009-11-24T20:54:00.006-06:00

All of "my" kids are doing so great! I wanted to post an update on their progress and give you pictures with names so you can pray for them. These are the kids that I meet with weekly - we do a Bible study together and spend time talking about life.

Kenya is 12, beautiful, and inquisitive. She is really interested in learning more about God and shows a lot of motivation to complete her lessons. All of the kids in Partners in Discipleship (PID) complete Bible lessons/memorization on their own during the week and then we discuss what they are learning when we meet. Kenya asks really good, interesting questions. I enjoy spending time with her! She really wants to spend the night at my house, so we'll have to find an excuse for that soon! Pray for Kenya that she will get along better with her older sister.

I have no idea Jabri is almost 12, affectionate, and likes to talk. I've been meeting with her and her brother for more than a year now, and I've been able to see growth in Jabri. She is learning to apply the Bible and values God's Word as the authority for her life. I get to spend a lot of time with Jabri and I love how comfortable we are together - it really doesn't matter what we do, we just like being with each other. Pray for Jabri that she will learn to have a right attitude toward those in authority over her.

Jabari is 13, funny, and creative. He is Jabri's brother, so I get to see a lot of him too! Jabari is incredibly insightful - he notices a lot of things that everybody else misses. Whether it's in our Bible study or in his observation of life he pays attention to details and makes lots of connections. Jabari loves to draw and constantly carries around like 12 pencils - which is funny to me! Pray for Jabari that he will value education and be self-motivated to work hard at school.

Last week I posted a picture of me with Tavaris and Tamyra. This is Mr. Derrick, a PID mentor who meets with Tavaris. Tamyra is 9, loud, and smart. She really cares about her little brother Tavontay and helps take care of him and make sure he is okay. She works hard at school and gets good grades. She likes to talk and eat candy!! When I first started meeting with her she always acted like she didn't care if I came or not and didn't care if we spent time together. Now she is super affectionate and always wants to be right next to me. Pray for Tamyra that she will be obedient at school. Also, pray that she will trust God with the safety of her brother. Tavaris has to ride the bus and train by himself for an hour and a half to get to school. Pray that Tavaris will be safe.

This is Kenya, Alesia, and Jenae. Jenae does not do PID, but she makes a lot of effort to include me in her life and enjoys spending time with me. I've been teaching my kids how to play Settlers. They are doing great! Pray for Jenae that she will understand her school work.

This bag came to camp in the mail from Ireland! Mark is camp's Executive Director and the bag has his last name and our street address - no city, state, or even country!!!! Can you believe it? And it's in like a gunny sack. (Hmmm - do people outside of Idaho use the word gunny sack? I don't even know what else to call is. A potato sack?) I've mailed some interesting things without a box: a hula hoop, an inflated beach ball, a cookie sheet postcard .... but even then I needed an address.

So, apparently Chicago particpates in deer season. Who knew? You might be a city red-neck if ..... you tie a deer to the bumper of your Expedition. I was trying to follow this SUV through traffic to take a picture but I was not going to pay a toll to go the wrong way just to get a picture. Then, at the last minute, the truck cut across all lanes of traffic to take the same tollway I was headed for and I was able to get this close up while we were stopped. I am interpreting God's intervention on my behalf as confirmation that He is interested in the irrelevent observations provided on my blog. :-)

Welcome to My Home!!

2009-11-18T19:15:00.021-06:00

I am finally ready to post pictures of my new home! My dad came to visit from Idaho this weekend and we spent part of each day hanging things. We are still not 100% sure what the wall is made out of, but nothing has fallen down yet.

Now, you might want to brace yourself - this post has a ridiculous amount of pictures. But since some of you are not trying to come visit me (you know who you are!) I figure I'd better give you the whole tour. :-)

Every month Aunt Jan (my co-worker in discipleship from camp) comes to the city for the weekend. I was tryna get us to play a game and she was just so insistent that if we washed the windows they'd look better. I'm SUPER THANKFUL we did - they were filthy!
Megan and Wayne

On Saturday Jabari, Jabri, and Jireh came over so that we could play Settlers. It's the best game ever but you need more than 2 people. I've been teaching my kids how to play so I'll have friends in Chicago to play with. Dad and I also went to my Michigan church and for a quick visit to camp on Sunday.

I think this is my favorite wall. I got the letters on sale for 8 dollars - but heads up: they are HARD to apply!

Bedroom: People have been trying to make fun of me because I have a little bed. But after sleeping all summer on a camp bunk I'm here to say that this bed is excellent!

Bedroom: The bathrooms have no counters, so we created a vanity in my bedroom - complete with lights. I spent like 7 hours at IKEA one day (only because I was with a friend who loves to shop!) and we found lots of cool, helpful, and affordable stuff. I was telling dad that "there are 3 great things about the papasan. Well, 4 if you count the fact that it's bright pink!" He laughed and said that he would hold the pink against it, personally.

Dining Room: Can you believe I have an apartment with a dining room?!?!? It was only 10 dollars a month more than the other dining-room-less apartments I looked at. And since I work from home the extra space is especially nice. My dad bought curtains this weekend, which definitely helps the room feel more homey - thanks dad!!!

Dining Room: This is my office. It's proving to be much easier to work from home without roommates. :-) Also, between discipling more kids, hosting retreats and other camp obligations, I've been home a lot less than last year. Moving to the south side has saved me hours and hours of driving time! I love it!

Entryway: (I have an entryway!!!). It's my memorabilia from my mission trips to Brazil and Papua New Guinea.

Bathroom: Not very exciting, I know. But I said I was giving you the whole tour.

Kitchen: This room definitely got the biggest make over! We added that very practical shelf over the stove, took all the doors off the cabinets, and put the microwave up to free up the only counter space. I love efficiency and am very pleased with how it turned out.

Living Room: I had a hard time getting started to match that couch, but we are on our way now! Dad went shopping for a whole afternoon with me to get the curtains and he carried a couch cushion and the smaller wine colored rug into about 6 stores so we could try to find something to match. What a good sport!
Living Room: This is it's like when the curtains are open. I must be God's favorite to get an apartment with this much light (the dining room is just like it). It also has great ceiling lights - not real common in apartments out here. And I am my mother's child - I like light!

Living Room: I have a kid corner ... since I have a lot of kids. It helps to have stuff to keep them busy. Trust and believe that the yellow bookcase is temporary. The idea is to have the kid corner coordinate with the rest of the room.

The view: from the front. I live on a pretty quiet block, close to the expressway, an hour closer to camp, about 20 minutes from most of "my kids", and so far my stuff is still here when I come home. I'm half teasing cuz somebody moved into a neighborhood next to me and all their stuff was gone when they came back the next day. So far I'm enjoying living by myself, although I may recant in a few months.

Tavaris and Tamyra - 2 discipleship kids who've been to the house. So far I've had 7 overnight guests and 17 day guests. I am happy to live close enough to people for them to come over to my house, and happy to have a home to invite them into.

Rake 'n Rock 2009

2009-11-12T17:57:00.009-06:00

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!

Over The Hill ... but not through the woods yet!

2009-10-14T18:45:00.025-05:00

On Oct 10th, Beechpoint celebrated it's 50th Anniversary with an afternoon alumni event and an evening banquet. Over 300 guests joined us to remember what God has done ... and to look expectantly toward the future.

Praise God for:
* 15,000 children who've come to camp in the past 50 years
* 3,000 children who, to our knowledge, have received Christ in the past 50 years
* more than 100,000 retreat guests served over the past 50 years!
* the recent matching grant of $50,000 dollars was met to provide funds for our new dining hall, commercial kitchen, and retreat facilities

I got to be on the committee to plan for the event - and one task was selecting a "50th tag line". In one late night brainstorming session with a few co-workers, these sarcastic ideas were proposed (and rejected):

**Over the Hill ... but not through the woods yet!
**50% and Content
**The Glass is 1/2 Full
**50 is the new 30
**(Beech)Pointing the way to Jesus!
**50 Cent
**Golden Years
**Gold 'n Silver have we none
**Aged like a fine wine
**There's no end in sight.

Here's guessing my name's going to stay in the hat the next time we need a slogan writer! ;-)

This picture feels like camp more than any other!! These are my camp friends: Nurse Karla and Mrs. D. We currently have a kitchen that's smaller than the kitchen that I grew up with in my parent's home. From that kitchen we cook for 180 people each meal during the summer and hundreds of retreat guests throughout the year. Because the lodge seats less than 100, we host our banquet in the gym. The kitchen staff is incredible - they can cook for 300 out of a kitchen with 2 ovens ... and transport the food across camp to the gym, all without a glitch!! Please continue to pray for the completion of our new dining facility - we are getting close!
For dessert we had a "chocolate trifle". In this picture I am being my triflin' self. There's a wide variety of readership who endure this blog ... so if that makes sense to you you should laugh twice to make up for the ones who don't get it. :-)

Dr. Melvin Banks, founder of Urban Outreach Foundation and keynote speaker. Dr. Banks challenged listeners to engage with children's ministry as an investment in the future.

More camp friends: Jess F. (some of these are her pictures and she often supplies pictures for camp's promotional use) and Miss Crissie (who lives in Chicago and loves me!)

More camp friends: Mark Davidhizar (camp's Executive Director and my boss) and camper Jakarri who spoke during the banquet about the impact that camp has had in his life. Jakarri is 12 years old and I was so PROUD of him - you'da thought he was my baby for all of my tears and loud clapping. :-) He wrote his own speech and delivered it with poise and articulation. He even incorporated something a speaker before him said into his speech! When Jakarri grows up he wants to be a cardiologist - and we all think he can do it!

More camp friends: Pneurissa (faithful camp volunteer and Jakarri's aunt), Aunt Jan (camp's Director of Discipleship and the co-worker I work most closely with), and Jakarri's mother and grandmother. On Sunday Jakarri's family went with me to my Michigan church and then we all went to Aunt Jan's for lunch.

Aunt Jan and Kiyasia, Jakarri's little sister, who thinks she can play that piano!

The following video was played during the banquet - it's a radio interview of Mr. D and all the slides are from this past summer. I placed it at the bottom of my blog on purpose because you will need to click pause on the music by scrolling down to the purple box at the bottom of the page. If the video keeps cutting in and out you can help it "buffer" by clicking pause and waiting until the grey line reaches then end of the timeline, then clicking play again. Enjoy!

The great thing about being single ....

2009-10-08T19:24:00.009-05:00

The great thing about being single is that I don't have to get anyone to agree with me. I can just do whatever I want or decorate however I want or cook whatever I want ....

The terrible thing about being single is that there is no one to agree with me! And increasingly I am just not all that confident about what I want. Hence the following story:

This is my new dining room table, which I bought from craigslist .... twice. What had happened was I went by myself to go look at it. And I have never seen a tile table (although my friend assures me they are real common). But if I didn't find a table before the BIG MOVE then it would be ever more complicated and expensive because I wouldn't have my friends to help move it. And this table is really stable and comes with 4 chairs and the coolest bench. Only thing is .... it has TILE on the top.

But I needed a table. So the man agreed that I could give him $100 that day and then the rest when I came back with a friend and a truck to pick it up. Which I felt okay about right until I drove away and had a fresh realization that the table has TILE.

So I sat in a parking lot about 5 minutes away from the guy's house and then called him and asked (sheepishly) could I have my $100 dollars back and then see how I feel about the table later? Would you believe he said sure?!

And would you believe that the next day - after showing several people this picture and getting some agreement that it would work fine - I called the man back and bought his table. I would have felt vindicated, if he didn't have to spend half an hour helping us load it into the truck.

This is my friend Jessica driving her boss's truck to help me move.

I've always had my dad to help me move, a blessing I apparently took for granted. I've definitely seen less hopeful rigging jobs than the one done here, but

a) we didn't actually do this - the people I bought a couch from insisted that it would be in our best interest to borrow their bungee chords and got us set up

b) I've never actually tried hauling things using bungee chords. Apparently they are stronger than they looked.

Even though we got it done uneventfully, as we were driving down the road the conversation went something like this "Hmm. What do you do if the stuff falls out of the back of the truck? I mean, you can't just leave it all in the middle of the highway.... Huh." It would have been easier if it wasn't 11 pm by this point.

These friends helped me move into my new apartment. Mr. D (my boss), Kathy (a Chicagoland CEF missionary), Aaron (camp's program developer) and Daniel (summer waterfront director). We had to move my stuff down 3 flights of stairs from my previous landlord's attic where it was graciously allowed to stay for the summer and then up 3 more flights into my new apartment. They were troopers for sure - THANKS for helping me in such a big way!

My new apartment a one bedroom with a living room and a dining room - a special blessing since I will again be working from home and this will provide an area for office space.

I have no roommates, except for whatever this is. It greeted my the first time I tried to take a shower. Mercifully I have not seen any of it's friends in the past week.

You'll have to wait until next time to see pictures of my apartment because it is just too pitiful to be seen at the moment. I have a couch that is comfortable but an undefinable shade of green. Apparently my decorating ability does not reach beyond appreciating other people's success to creating my own. However, I did decorate my entry way (I have an entry way!!) with my Brazil and Papua New Guinea mission trip stuff.

SIDENOTE: IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO HANG THINGS IN PLASTER PLEASE REPLY TO THIS BLOG!!! Apparently I only know how to make HOLES in plaster.

Random Sidenote: I'm not much for skulls. But I think I would buy this for my daughter just because the skull has a bow. Kinda cute, don'tcha think? :-)

See you at the big chicken!

2009-09-23T15:09:00.013-05:00

Hello all -

I have found an apartment! I will be living in the Chatham neighborhood. It's a one bedroom, second floor apartment with a dining room - a blessing since I will be working from home again. I can move in around October 1st, so I will be sure to post pictures when I get settled in. Praise God for His provision and thank you to all who prayed for my new home!

I joined Kiva today! It's a website that leverages technology to create a global community where lenders participate in micro-finance opportunities throughout the world. Lenders can lend as little as $25 dollars to an entrepreneur who may otherwise be denied funding. As the loan is repaid the lender may retrieve his money or reinvest in the life of another person. I loaned money to Ahmed, a father of 4 in Lebanon who needs money for an auto repair shop. You can read about it and get involved by clicking on his picture at the top of this post (once his loan is fully funded the post will show another entrepreneur).

Camp Beechpoint participated in the Allegan County Parade. To those who have been to a small town parade, this one would have fit right in. To those of you who have not, you're just going to have to come with me next year to really understand. There was a semi in the parade. Not advertising anything, just ... there. :-) I somehow let the event pass without posting pictures, a clear violation of my blogging ethics, so here we go - a picture tour of the Allegan Fair Parade:

This is Beechpoint's 50th Anniversary. We'll be celebrating on October 10th. Go to http://www.beechpoint.com/ to learn more and rsvp.

The parade provides an opportunity for local exposure. I passed out postcards with information on camp and retreats. Now, I've been in a lot of parades (most notably as a blood drop for the Red Cross) - but this was my first time as a postcard-passer-outer. It definitely involved running to catch up to our float.

We had about 30 staff, cabin leaders, teen leaders, and campers join us to walk the parade. People dressed up in gear from camp activities.

The go carts rode behind the truck and boat, definitely the best gig. I'm putting my name into that hat for next year
Tubing. Yup, that's what I thought too. :-)

This sign was spotted along the route. Funny, considering it's posted next to a trail.
The entrance to the Allegan Fair Grounds, and most common meeting place for the event. As in, "I'll see you at the big chicken at noon". So, to all of you who thought you were sending me to the big city and worried that I would lose touch with my upbringing - this post should alleviate all concerns.

**Thanks to Jess Furrow for photographing the parade.

"How many guns would Chicago buy if Chicago could buy guns?"

2009-09-10T15:43:00.017-05:00

Well, I am back in Chicago ..... an still apartment hunting. I have been looking for the past 2 weeks and was really hoping to have a solution by this weekend, but alas.
This will be my 7th apartment - and I hope to stay there for some years! There's a lot to consider when looking in the city, here are some of the things I've been looking at:

* how many buildings on that block are boarded up? on the surrounding blocks?
* how is parking? will I have to walk a long way to and from my car?
* am I close to a school, bar, or church? cuz that will FOR SURE affect parking
* if parking is sketchy now, what will it be like in the winter?!? (they don't really plow the side streets, and if they do it's more likely that they plow your car in than really help you get it out! :-) and there is NOTHING glamorous about parking in Chicago!
* how long will it take to get to the expressway?
* once I do get to the expressway, how long will it take to get anywhere else?
* how will I adjust my budget to afford rent without a roommate?
* do I have bars on my windows?
* does the block have an active block club?
* how many police have I seen in the past hour?
* how many flights of stairs am I going to have to walk up?
* is there laundry facilities in the building?
* will I have to buy my own stove and fridge to live there?
* will my friends in Chicago "let" me live on this block?
* what does the area feel like at night? In my previous apartment hunting I didn't have to roll through at 11:30 to see what all was going on before I signed a lease.

Please continue to pray for the perfect home for me in Chicago. I'm believing God for a perfect and long-term housing solution!

Right now I am staying with my friend, Miss Demetrius, while I am looking for a place to live.

These are her kids, and 2 of my PID kids - Jabari, Jabri, and Jireh ..... I feel like for all the times they are on my blog everyone should know who they are by now :-) Since I'm at their house, you know we have to take some pictures! And I taught them how to play Settlers (which they are REALLY good at) and Carcassonne (which I'm sure they are going to be really good at), so now I have me some board-playing friends in the Chi!
Also, since I'm at the house I got to learn how to straighten, curl, and style hair. It's not as much fun as braiding, but Jabri is a little tired of braids. I'm happy to learn something new!
I found some gold beads for Jireh ... this was her idea for a pose. The baby has taken too many pictures - she was positioning grass where she wanted it and talking about "let's go over here where the light is better". Chicago just finished it's 2009 gun turn-in campaign. On August 15th, people could take guns, no questions asked, to 27 locations in the city (primarily churches and community centers, one location was 3 blocks from my previous apartment). For each gun turned in the person received a pre-paid MasterCard: $100 for assault weapons, $50 for guns, and $10 for bb guns.

People here are skeptical that the gun turn-ins make a difference. They say that it's rusted out guns that are being brought in, that the city is paying to destroy evidence for crimes, and that there's probably a better way to spend tax payers money. They point out that a person who actually uses an assault weapon is not going to turn it in for $100 - even if it was broken! This year, a little over 1,800 guns were collected ... but people wonder how many of them were from gangbangers - and if such a small drop will make a difference in such a big bucket.

One reporter for CBS said, "As long as gangs control hundreds of millions of dollars by selling illegal narcotics here, they'll always be able to buy big firepower. Now think of that. Here's the mayor of the city of Chicago asking people to turn in assault weapons. Mayor Daley said, 'We're not in Iraq. We're not in Afghanistan. We're in America. We're asking them to turn in assault weapons. What do we need an assault weapon in America for?' [Mayor Daley] bragged that, since 2005, the city's gun-buying program has led to the destruction of more than 18,000 guns. Still, that's small comfort to the thousands of Chicagoans who continue to get shot each year."

The 08-09 school year saw more than 500 Chicago Public School children shot! You can click this ridiculously long link to view a map of shootings over a 4 day period in April 2008 - something about seeing it makes it seem even more alarming. http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=104675750739697697598.00044b65dec162187f984&ll=41.81892,-87.695618&spn=0.228741,0.466919&z=11

The increase in violence since last year is a reminder that the city - and the children of the city - need God! Pray for wisdom for the government, safety of the citizens, and boldness of the church.

My favorite quotes from the gun turn-in campaign?

"ALL GUNS MUST BE UNLOADED" (ya think?!?!!!)

and

"MasterCards can be used at any of the 25 million locations that pre-paid MasterCards are accepted, except at gunshops." (Now how, exactly, are we going to monitor that?!)

Picture Perfect Summer

2009-08-15T20:25:00.006-05:00

I haven't blogged in weeks, perhaps months .... It was my intention to update everyone throughout the summer, but that proved to be unrealistic. We had 811 campers (a new record for us) and program from 7:30 am to 11 pm, so the days are full. :-) 120 campers made first time decisions for Christ and another 66 made recommitments! Praise God for all He has done!!

I am at the end of a 12 week stint: staff training, camp, and 2 weeks of hosting retreats. I am going to catch my breath, catch up on the shockingly large pile of paperwork awaiting me, and then head to Chicago. Please pray that I will find housing that is convenient, safe, and affordable.

One of my summer roles was "chapel media girl". So I collected everyone's photos every day to do a slide show at chapel. Some of the kids at camp do not routinely see themselves in pictures, so they love this opportunity. Also, they are incredibly loyal to their family and love seeing siblings, cousins, and "play cousins" on the big screen. By the end of the summer my computer didn't even have enough memory to say it's own name, so I've started the long process of deleting unnecessary photos. I've already deleted over 6,000! So there's plenty more pictures where these came from! :-)

Me, Tashonya, and Liz.... Tashonya is a camper who's family I was able to get to know this summer and she goes to my Michigan church. Liz was my roommate last year and is the newest full-time Beechpoint staff member.
Aaron at the field trip to the dairy farm. Each week I took 20 boys and girls to a dairy farm about 20 minutes from camp and gave a tour. Mostly, they think it's gross - smells gross, looks gross, feels gross, and "I ain't never drinkin' no milk again" is gross.
Since the last time I blogged I have had visitors! Nick and Beth Duffel came to see me and attend a preaching conference in Grand Rapids. Nick with Cheyenne.

Beth with Jireh. It was so encouraging to see them, to share the ministry of Beechpoint with them, to spend some time being together .... I just miss everyone so much!!!

Also, Lanae Linard and her friend Michael Shae came out for a week as teen volunteers. They worked hard and really got to see what camp is like! This is us at Giordanos - Chicago-style deep dish pizza - with LaJuana, another teen volunteer they met at camp. I loved sharing my new life with my Idaho friends!

Directions: Using one large, flat sheet of cardboard, one roll of duck tape, and a box cutter, assemble a cardboard boat large enough to hold campers. Points are awarded for design, number of campers in the boat before it sinks, and number of laps between docks the boat is able to do.

ALWAYS a lot of fun and great pictures.

Good thing there are points for design, because I feel like this boat is going to take on some water quickly. :-)

This is Danielle. We took the picture right before the bus left, when she said "I wish someone could keep me so I could stay here." Wow.

On Weds nights we had theme chapel. These girls are dresses as roosters, because the cleanest cabin wins the rooster award - and bragging rights for the day. Clearly these girls were going to make sure everyone knew they were the roosters! We also had "mustache Tuesdays" where everyone on campus got marker mustaches. Pretty sure I have a picture of me with my handlebar mustache somewhere ....

Riflery - one of many activities to keep kids busy during the day. Campers have 5 Bible times each day: morning devotions, Power Hour, chapel, fireside, and night devotions. In between those times they do activities with their cabin groups.

Horseback riding - all campers 11 and older participate in horseback riding.

If one more of these climbs out from anywhere, then I'ma quit this camp!!!

Full Speed Ahead Summer

2009-06-30T15:39:00.006-05:00

Hi all! Sorry for the long break in blogging. Summer camp is up and running! I want to share some pictures and stories from this summer so far. However, this will be in no real order since that takes time - something I don't have much of at the moment. :-)

My friend who took this picture thinks it is hilarious. Mostly cuz kids are pushing to be in the picture and you can see one boy's fist! Hahahaha! - just what does he think he's going to do with all that? :-)
One of my summer roles here is to coordinate the adult volunteers who come to camp. Some weeks there are just a handful of volunteers and some weeks there are a bunch - I enjoy meeting them and building relationships with them. Often the experience that the group leader has is as much a part of deciding how camp went as the experience that the campers had. This was Miss Vanessa's first time riding a horse - I think she liked it!

This year I got to participate in staff training as a facilitator. The summer staff is doing an excellent job at building relationships with campers and running activities safely. Last week we had 7 kids recommit their lives to God and 18 kids make decisions for Christ! For the past 8 years I've watched God work in kid's lives through camp, but this year there is just an urgency in the kids - they are hungry for God! At the end of the week the kids write letters to donors who contribute to camper scholarships. One kid wrote:

"It was so amazing of you to do this for me. This has been a life-changing experience for me. And this week was especially good for me because this week was the week that I finally accepted Christ into my life.” – Nathan, age 13

Kids who come to camp are 8-14. These tweens were some drama - but turns out Jesus loves 13 year olds too! :-) Quiana, Alize, Electra, and Velma spent last week together at camp.

I'm not sure how we are going to use this picture .... The oldest 2 cabins go on an off-site bike trip where they drive to a trail and then bike 7 miles to Lake Michigan to have a cook out. This cabin staged this crash.

At the beginning of training we take our summer staff into Chicago to help spread the word about camp in various neighborhoods. I ran into Shayana and Teniah while we were there.

We build cardboard boats during Splash 'n Blast and then see how many kids we can get into them before the boat sinks. Usually not too many.

Taleah - cutest kid ever!

Last week Austin came to camp. When his mom picked him up she told him that she felt bad because she couldn't afford the $10 to buy a T-shirt. As she was talking she began to tear up, and told her son, "I just wanted you to have something to take home from camp." 10-year-old Austin said, "I do mom! I don't need a T-shirt to remember camp, cuz I believed in Jesus this week and I am taking him home with me!"

Praise God for the kids and families who have been impacted this summer! Praise God for the 120 campers here this week. Pray for spiritual impact in their lives. We have 4 weeks of summer camp left - praise God for the last 2 weeks which are full. Please pray for the next 2 weeks - we have many openings that we hope to fill so as many kids as possible can come to camp this summer.

Thank you all for your support and encouragament!

Prayer and Green Eyes

2009-05-16T16:46:00.013-05:00

SUMMER CAMP IS STARTING! I have packed my stuff and am on my way to camp for the summer! Moving is officially NOT glamorous. For the next 13 weeks, I will live at camp to help run our summer program. I am feeling equal parts of excited and overwhelmed. Please join me in prayer for the summer:

PRAISE REPORT:
* My landlord has generously allowed me to store my stuff in his attic for no charge. This is a multiple blessing because it means I will be able to save some money and I only have to find a truck and strong friends one time when I move in the fall. Thank you, Nathan!
* I don't know anything about cars, but apparently it's not okay for the steering wheel to shake. I am thankful that God provided an honest and respectful mechanic and the funds to replace parts on my car.
* I was able to see friends from Bible school (DeMarces and Painters) and friends from Idaho this weekend (Jerry and Ouanda Walton - here for Tyler's graduation).

PRAYER REQUESTS:
* We have capacity for 1,000 campers this summer. Pray specifically that God will give favor in overcoming the many challenges of getting kids to camp and that the summer staff would have unity and focus.
* Pray for my transition into this summer. There are a lot of details and dynamics to sort through ... and a few decisions to be made. Pray for my priorities and that I will have insight and perspective.
* Pray from my fall housing needs. I want to move in somewhere and then stay there indefinitely. Pray for clarity, opportunity, and timing to intersect.

Something you should know about me ..... my eyes are turning green! When I was little I had blonde curly hair and chocolate brown eyes. Now I have dark brown hair and green eyes. For some reason I am happy to have green eyes. My mom's eyes have turned blue but she is in denial. While I was looking for a brown-eyed me, I found these other great childhood memories:

We used to collect caterpillars. When they hatch into butterflies they need a minute to dry their wings before they can fly.

We used to build giant tents in the front room. All we needed was every blanket in the house, every chair in the house, and a pile of rubber bands. We would have multiple room tents, slumber parties, a lot of help from dad, and a lot of patience from mom.

Grandpa's always been a good sport.

Um.... why is no one holding onto me?!?!?! Ya'll know I do not like animals.

Look at that tan.... and cute little brother!

This is a truck full of beans. We used to get to climb up in them during harvest - it's like a giant sand box. Filthy.
Sarah in dad's gear to move wheel lines. Who would have thought that I'd go from this fairy tale childhood in a small town in Idaho to living in inner-city Chicago? It helps that I go out to camp throughout the year. Michigan doesn't exactly have "wide open spaces" but at least I get to be in the country for a minute.

Overwhelmed by God's goodness!

2009-05-06T14:16:00.016-05:00

I am moving to Michigan next week for summer camp! To help you feel the excitement I made a summer camp slide show!!!

So many things have happened over the past few weeks that I am officially behind in telling you about it. I will try to be concise .....

2 weekends ago we had Purity Retreat at camp. Campers must have an adult chaperone to come to the weekend. Kids between the ages of 10 and 19, parents, grandparents, uncles and mentors came - this year we hosted 90 participants and had 3 levels of curriculum.

The purpose of the weekend is to teach kids the biblical perspective on relationships and sex. We unashamedly teach abstinence as God's desire for the life of anyone unmarried.

The adults who come as mentors attend sessions with the kids. It is our prayer that the weekend extends in the lives of kids (and adults) as they make decisions - and that it gives parents a platform to speak with their child about sex.

One adult who attended said, "I wish someone had told me this years ago. I need to make changes. I plan to keep my purity ring on and return to my church to repent."

The weekend includes a couple of great activities .... but Glow-In-The-Dark-Volleyball was my favorite. All the kids got glow in the dark bracelets and necklaces. And then we put glow bracelets on the nets and inside clear beach balls..... Mom - you could do this!

The weekend had 2 big events: a banquet and commitment ceremony. Everyone dressed up and we decorated the chapel formally. (I am using the word "we" very liberaly. I did what I was told, but don't actually have skill in this area! Wow.) We think purity is important enough to make a big deal about it!

This is me and Ms. Parker - a long time Beechpoint advocate and volunteer. The longer I work here the more every event becomes a chance to spend time with my friends!

"Because of Purity Retreat I feel more mature and will be able to make wise decisions." girl, age 11

"Purity Retreat helped me because people at my school treat girls wrong and if I tell them what I learned they might listen. This really helped me a lot." boy, age 12

"My eyes were opened and I realized how wonderful it is to save my virginity for my wife. A lot of people my age need to hear this. I thought this would be lame and awkward, but I really enjoyed it." boy, age 14

Last weekend we had Beechpoint's 5th Annual Steak Fry and Auction. About 300 people atteneded and $42,000 was raised! Praise God for his provision for the ministry! Because of matching grants we will receive another $30,000. The most poignant moment of the evening was when we "sold" camper scholarships. A few people sponsored an entire cabin - $3,000! In less than 10 minutes, $22,000 was given toward camper scholarships! To give you an idea of Beechpoint's financial needs .... each summer we give approximately $120,000 in camper scholarships, and need around $300,000 to finish our new dining hall. Many contributors invest in eternity through Beechpoint.

My Daddy Came To Chicago!

2009-04-28T11:33:00.013-05:00

After a few weeks of uncertainty due to Idaho's spring weather, my Dad was able at the (very) last minute to fly out for 3 1/2 busy days with me in Chicago! He's going to need to come back because we weren't able to see it all - but we sure made the rounds.

I made him take about 30 pictures with me so we could be sure we got a good one, even though he thought the first one was just fine. But he did it any way ..... cuz he LOVES me!

Megan and Wayne, April 18 2009

This is an anti-climactic view from the top of the Sears Tower, it has 103 stories. It was a little overcast the day we went, but nice just the same. We walked through downtown - a new experience for both of us, really. My job doesn't have me downtown much .... and 3 blisters later I can't say that I am sad about that.

This is the entryway to the Sears Tower. Chicago is a bid-city for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, along with Madrid, Tokyo, and Rio de Janeiro. I don't know when they decide, but this is a big topic here right now. It mostly comes down to an economic question (will this help Chicago or create a new/big debt for Chicago?), a social justice issue (the buildings that will be built have the potential to displace people, and it won't be weathly people moving), and a practicality issue (is Chicago safe enough to host an international event?).

We went to the Field Museum for a day. These are the man-eating lions from the movie "The Ghost and the Darkness". They would have been bigger in real life because the person who killed them made them into rugs. Then when they were sold to the Field Museum and stuffed the rugs wouldn't cover them at their original sizes.

You could go the this museum every day for a month and still not see/read everything. This was a display on the country of Benin, Africa. My friend Laura Ziulkowski is a missionary in Benin with Mercy Ships and she writes an incredible blog. We grew up together, did ministry together, went to camp together, and dreamed of being missionaries together. Well, we never really saw ourselves together in the same place, just together in ministry. I was commissioned by Paul Baptist Church on the same Sunday as Laura and for me, it was "picture perfect" to start full time ministry the same moment as my childhood friend!

p.s. Did you know that a thirsty camel can drink 30 gallons of water in 6 minutes?! Seems like he would have to hold his breath. Or that his tongue would get tired.

This was from a display showing various mammals. It is funny to me that they felt they needed to label this doll as "model: not life-size". In case what? A jelly fish reading the display assumes people are 4 inches tall?

Last night I was driving back to Chicago from camp in a torrential downpour. I have decided I don't love driving in rain because even with my wipers on high I can still only half see. There are these electronic signs on the expressway that typically tell you how many minutes to downtown, etc. But last night, through the blur of the water on my windshield, I read "Caution: Wet Pavement". Hmm.

Perhaps the guy who labels exhibits at the museum also works nights for the department of transportation?

While my Dad was here we walked around my neighborhood and drove around various neighborhoods that I do ministry in. My mom would have loved it because there are lots of old buildings, but she wasn't able to come because she's teaching classes at CSI. This picture is from Sunshine Gospel - we helped out with their after school program for part of an afternoon. I can send home all the pictures I want but it's still not the same as being here and getting to see places in the city. He didn't make me fly home with him (although I suspect part of him wanted to), so I guess that means it get to stay. ;-)

The highlight of the trip for me was that my Dad got to meet my Jabri and Jabari. These children are beautiful and sweet and I love them! God always gives me people, and living here is no exception!

We also went to a coin dealer - dad's new hobby is coin collecting. It was .... interesting. Some really little coins sure do cost a lot. The dealer had a penny for $4000. Imagine putting that in your pocket and then accidentally spending it to make tax for a hamburger. Probably not the hobby for me, eh?

Dear Daddy,

Thank you for coming to see me! Thank you for finding a way to make it work, even at the last minute! Thanks for being a good sport about taking so many pictures. Thank you for giving me a reason to have ice cream at the house. :-) And remember - St. Joseph, MI is right down the street and Money Magazine called it one of the 6 best places to retire.

Love you, Megan

My new church in Chicagoland!

2009-04-06T17:18:00.005-05:00

A couple of weekends ago I attended a conference for urban ministry leaders called RELOAD. It was nice to be with people who love what I love - and to attend sessions specifically geared toward what I am doing and want to do. The conference also highlighted the violence in Chicago. Last school year, 26 Chicago Public School students died violently. A slide show commemorating the now 32 Chicago Public School students who have been killed this school year - with 3 months to go until summer break - was shown at the conference. This video cuts out part way through, but you can read the article as well. More than 500 students have been shot in the last 18 months, and this number does not include teens who have dropped out from school. This article is about a month old, but definitely makes you stop and think. It is jarring to see how extreme the violence in this city is. Please pray for the families, neighborhoods, and schools affected by violence.

This is my shirt from the conference. I love it! And I wore it to my new church home in Chicagoland! (Sidenote: Chicago and it's suburbs is referred to as 'Chicagoland'. Someone told me this is because people who live actually in the city scoff at people who live in the suburbs but try to say they are from Chicago. Funny to me, since there is no Boiseland. Or Rupertland.)

I have been praying, really even before I moved, that God would lead me to a church in Chicago. I've never really had the experience of looking for a church before. I grew up at Paul Baptist, and I think St. Paul Baptist was the second church I visited in Boise. So the past 7 months have been, well - long. I am both excited and overwhelmed to begin to develop relationships within my new church home.

I've been praying that God would make it clear where I am supposed to fellowship. Specifically, that I would walk in and feel like it was my church, like this was where I was supposed to be. On Sunday I went to Christian Life Center in Tinley Park, Illinois (this is a suburb of Chicago - hence my new church is in 'Chicagoland'). I've been there before and I have visited about 4 times.... because I like it! But it is 34 miles from my house! 34 miles in Chicago ain't no punk - especially in traffic. I can make it there in 45 minutes on a Sunday and in about 2 hours on a weekday evening. The distance had been my big concern - but last Sunday God was like "Really, you don't think you can drive to hear the Word? Really?" My preacher in Michigan taught me that when God talks to you like that He's not really looking for a reply. The good news: once I move in the fall I will be potentially 18 miles closer to church!

The moment that really confirmed it for me this past Sunday was the baptism service. The preacher preached on water baptism and then said (this is a definite paraphrase) 'If you heard the Word today and want to walk in obedience in response to God - then you can be baptized today! Some of you are thinking that you didn't come prepared. But we are prepared for you. We have dark colored shirts and dark colored shorts and flip flops and private changing rooms and make up remover and make up and blow driers and curling irons and boxers for the men and underwear and sports bras for the women and the children's ministry will keep your child after service. Maybe you are thinking that you want your family to see you be baptized. We are going to take a picture of everyone who is baptized today and next week we will give it to you and you can give it to your family. So, you could be baptized today!"

About 12 people left to be baptized. Now, presumably some of those were already planning to be baptized this Sunday. But as the baptism service continued more people decided to be baptized. One man didn't even change clothes - just got in the baptismal with his church clothes on. It was a beautiful half hour of praise and worship as people were baptized. Now, not everyone's hair gets wet easily. And to see people abandon appearance in favor of obedience made me want to be home at this church. I love that they thought ahead to create an atmosphere of instant response!

So, when YOU come to visit me in Chicago ...... you can come to my church!

Hawaii: Are you brave enough?!

2009-03-23T17:37:00.015-05:00

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 .....

2009-03-01T19:56:00.014-06:00

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.

Heat Wave

2009-02-10T12:59:00.016-06:00

It was 58 degrees here today! We are having a heat wave! In celebration I found this flip flop background for my blog, put on a pair of flip flops, and walked (strolled) myself to the library. Fall is my favorite, but I could agree to some spring right now. :-) Some of these pictures are old, but I was busy at Christmas so I didn't get to post them.

These are "my" babies. We had a whole photo shoot as our Christmas gift to their mother. They are SO beautiful - and sweet, affectionate, secure, confident. . . I love this family (and I'm so thankful they love me!) We're a good fit too, because the kids are almost as excited to have their pictures taken as I am to take their picture. The other day when I was leaving after Bible study Jabri stopped me at the door and was like, "wait, we didn't take any pictures tonight!"

This is how grandpa came to the house on Christmas morning! The roads were bad so he didn't want to get stuck, and he helped pull some people out off the ditch on the way down. People read my blog from my home in Idaho and from my new home in Chicago (and other places) - so some things that would be common in one place are odd in another, and vice versa.

Like this picture. In my neighborhood many people park on the street. In the winter that can be tricky, because the snowplow doesn't do side streets. Not that I really know how he would, since people are always parked there. So, when there's snow it helps to shovel out a parking spot so you won't get stuck. Not everyone has a caring landlord like me who will help you get unstuck - thanks Nathan! You can mark your spot by putting chairs (or a couch, or pieces of wood, or trash cans, or whatever) in the street. Then when you get back you put them on the side of the road and park in the spot. So if you live here and this is old hat to you, just keep in mind it's new to me - and that tractor is old hat. :-)

This is my family at Christmas. My dad and mom - Wayne and Alice, and brother and sister - Matt and Sarah. Matt just graduated from college with a degree in film/ graphic arts/photography/communications/ish. He drives a gondola in L.A. right now. Sarah is working on a horse ranch in northern California training horses. Which sounds terrible to me because I feel like you'd have to touch a horse and they are, well, dirty. But to each his own, none of them are tryin to move to the city!

This is my attempt at making Jireh tall enough for me to braid her hair without hurting my back. A little ghetto to be sure, but as long as she sits still it's fine. So far, so good. I won't be posting any picture if she tips over, though. . .

These are my friend's girls - Analise and Aniyah. Their parents come out to camp in the summer for a week to volunteer and their mom disciple's children in camp's follow-up program. Their family has really made me feel welcome in the city and in their home. God's provided a lot of people who love and support me. Their dad wants to come check out where I'm trying to live when I move in the fall - his protectiveness probably encourages more people reading this than just my dad! :-) It's nice to have people here that I feel connected to and who love and accept me! God is good!

This is my new car seat! I got it on sale and it even half matches my car. This will be a great tool for ministry because I can take small children with me. The focus of my ministry is on campers (ages 8-14) but I am priveleged to get to know their families as well. I'm sure I will have abundant opportunity to use my new car seat.

By the way - note my clean car! Those of you who have been talking about me and the disaster I call a car can stop now. I have been cured! Mostly cuz I'm not tryin to have 5000 things sitting in the car so that my car is the obvious target when Ms. I'ma-Steal-A-Car-Today is walking down the street trying to choose one. There's a car was in my neighborhood that will hand wash and vacuum and dust and clean the inside of my windows. All this for only 8 dollars if I make it in time for the early bird special - before 11 am. Since I grew up with the "Idaho farmer early bird" job of moving wheel lines at 5:30 (shudder), I can most definitely make it in before 11. Last time I was there they dried my car with 2 leaf blowers, but that's hardly the point.

To Multi-task or Not To Multi-task?

2009-01-29T10:46:00.012-06:00

It's been a minute since I've last updated my blog . . . Christmas was great! I was able to spend 3 weeks in Idaho seeing family, friends, and connecting with supporters. It was encouraging to see everyone and talk with people about the ministry of Beechpoint. I cried leaving, but after one day of being back in Chicago I remembered that I like it here! We had our first Winter Blast for this season last weekend and are preparing for our second winter camp in Feb. Pray for the kids who will attend - that their hearts will be open. Kids come Friday night - Sunday lunch and participate in outdoor and team building activities and attend 4 Bible lessons.

These girls are MaKaylah and MaKylah. They are super cute, affectionate, and competative!!!
These twins are Devin and Damien. (Okay, to tell the truth I am still not sure which is which.) They attend my church in Michigan - Christian Life Center - and so I get to see them once a month during the year and also throughout the summer. These boys are so affectionate to me and always innitiate hugging me and saying hi when they see me. They are great! They are 14 and are transitioning into the camp's teen leadership program. Hopefully they'll be a part of camp forever!

We do a big race through the woods called the Klondike Derby where kids pull a dog sled through a trail and do team building activities along the way. Apparently the kids aren't real familiar with dog sleds - cuz they'd having something to say about being used as dogs for the sled if they knew! Anyway... we give them hot chocolate after to try to pacify them about being so cold. I told these boys to "look over there and pose like you are in a magazine". Hahahahahaha!

Me and my friend Javier. And yes, that is me in the purple/pink/black get up. It was too cold to be worried about lookin' cute! I spent most of the weekend loving the littlest boys. The theme for the weekend was "Marks of a Hero" with lessons from the lives of Ruth, Caleb and Joshua, Daniel, and Esther. I love love love teaching Bible lessons! This weekend 3 campers accepted Christ and their Savior! 3 more campers made decisions to follow Christ more closely. Praise God with us for these young lives!

Late night sledding! If you live in the city there aren't really places to do this. The hill is a beast to climb up - but the kids LOVE sledding! Okay, maybe not the girl in the middle! :-)

Alejandra and me. Jala is in camp's Partners in Discipleship program. She completes a Bible study and memorizes a couple verses during the week and then meets weekly with a mentor to discuss what she is learning. Jala is EAGER to learn and loves Jesus and others. She receives opposition from her older sister for being nice to people and talking about God. Praise God for her faith and sweet spirit!

To multi-task or not to multi-task? Apparently that IS the question! This picture is HILARIOUS to me! I'm sure the first problem is that our friend here was tryin to wear his snow pants half way down in the first place. But really, this is a little much in the name of "style". I kept my camera ready in case he tried to walk and fell over. No such luck.

My new friend Thaddeus.

Tatyanna - Jala - JaKaila

* I've also updated my playlist with a couple of new songs like I am loving.

"Be Blessed" - my favorite line is "I see you in the future....and you look better!" and another praise and worship song called "Rescue". You can click on the playlist at the bottom of the page to pick songs...

No clever title . . .good thing there's pictures!

2008-12-18T18:25:00.009-06:00

All my blog titles sound like news headlines. . . perhaps it's because I wait to blog until I have 12 things to blog about . . . so I'm going to write about last night before anything else comes up.

Last night was the Christmas Program and dinner at the Agape Center. Children's programs are the same everywhere - the kids aren't sure they really want to be there. Mary and Joseph were 2 tweens who definitely didn't want to be there! :-)

These are the 3 wise men - Montrell, Corey, and Kijuan. When they went to give their gifts to the baby Jesus they realized that they had forgotten them under their chairs. So they went clamoring (?) across the stage and over their chairs to get their gifts. The things that you try to rehearse away are always the best part of the show.
MarKayle and Porshe.

Danielle and Megan

Kenyetta

Corey and Trevon

Trevon put his crown on me just as they took the picture. . . :-)