Als ich wisse das Morgen der Erde enden wuerde, immernoch wurd ich mein Apfelbaum pflanzen.

Even if I knew the world would perish tomorrow, I would still plant my apple tree. - Martin Luther

"Factory work's easier on the back, and I don't mind it, understand, but a man becomes what he does. Got to watch that. That's why I keep at farmin' although the crops haven't ever throve. It's the doin' that's important." Madison Wheeler in Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon

Saturday, September 28, 2013

A week apart

I'm still working my way through all of the posts I meant to put up this summer. 
 
 
Did you send your kids to camp this summer?  You know, in some ways, it's the longest week of the year.  I miss them so, very, very much.  There are really only two weeks out of the year when we have absolutely no contact with them - camp week, and the week they go camping with my parents.  If I were a more selfish person I wouldn't let them go.  The house is quiet and quite empty while they're gone. 
 
But oh, when you see them again and they have a hundred million things to tell you.  And they speak their own language (because it's camp lingo that you just don't share).  And they still - months later - break into God songs at all times.  I'm so glad they go.
 
Camp shaped who I am today.  I grew as a person and I grew in my faith because of my counselors, and then later because of the counseling I did with my own campers.  Camp brought me The Woodsman - if someone loves you even when you come back in after a week long out trip they'll love you forever.  I learned to be independent at camp.  I refined my wilderness skills and increased my confidence.  We also made some lasting friendships - really camp people become family.
 
I'm so thankful for the young men and women who choose to spend their summers nurturing the small flame of faith in my children, and in all of their other campers.  Can't wait to send them back next summer.
 
 
Caroline Furnace Former Staff (back row) and Future Staff (front row)

Love these people... I'm in the second row third from left (I think I look pretty much the same).  The Woodsman is in the back row (the only other one with a beard).  You know, he's a lot the same too. 


Pure joy on this face during the closing worship on pick up day.

A counselor she'll remember (and love) forever. 

I think this pose and face were part of their post camp dance routine which involved something called "The Cheese Stick Song" 

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