Junior Camp 2016~God hears our prayers

Back last fall, when we were first introduced to the idea

of a summer mission trip to New York City, I began praying about

and thinking through the details of such an undertaking.

If I were to go with my two oldest daughters, who would care

for our youngest four children?

I pulled out calendars and talked preliminarily with my husband

and mother-in-law about their schedules.
We thought about farming them out in pairs to friends.

But then, when I began looking at summer time opportunities,

I realized that our church was taking our junior kids {grades 3-6}

to summer camp the exact week my daughters and I would

be in New York City!! 

Thank you, Lord, for working out that detail for me before I knew 

I needed it to be worked out!!!!

For some reason though, this year held much more pre-camp anxiety and tears

for all 3 of my kids who were eligible to go.
They kept waffling back and forth about being happy about

this arrangement which was very unusual for my normally

"social butterfly-like" children.
It was very distressing for me to watch them shed tears every week

about being away from home or having to be around a younger sibling

or night-time fears.

We spent much time in bedtime prayers over this, and as the pictures

show, they decided to try and were very happy the entire week.

My older girls and I hopped a plane to New York City on Saturday.
My junior campers weren't leaving until Monday morning.
That meant I needed to supervise and locate enough luggage for

6 people to be away from home for a week before I left!
Just a little stressful!
Daddy was in charge for the rest of the day on Saturday, Sunday,

and getting the children to their pick-up point on Monday.
He had Monday and Tuesday off, and I had a marvelous plan!!!
In an effort to ease the transition for my anxious junior campers,
why not have Dad and the older brother ride along on the bus to camp,

spend the night, and then ride back home on Tuesday with the bus driver?

Perfect!!!!

This was a win-win plan for our entire family!!

Right in the middle of the week, after my husband has gone back on shift,
I get a call from the camp nurse.
Garrett seemed to have gotten himself into some poison ivy, 

was covered in an itchy rash, and was pretty upset about this turn of events.

He hadn't told his counselor about this the day before when it started itching

and had not slept well all night because of worry and itchiness.

So I'm in Queens, my husband is right in the middle of his work week

working at minimum staffing, and Garrett is miserable.

The last time he contracted poison ivy, his face swelled up like a pumpkin in two days, 

and he ended up on steriods with a steriod cream.

I was kicking myself for not remembering to send that cream to camp

with him for the "just-in-case!!"
I called home to our pediatrician and asked if we

should just take him immediately for a steriod shot at a local clinic,
but they advised me to have the nurse keep the benadryl flowing
and to watch him for dangerous swelling.
Right about that moment, as I'm sitting on the outside stair steps in Queens,
our team leader comes out to take a phone call.
He sees me a little stressed on the phone,

and asks if everything is ok.
After telling him what was going on and the conundrum our family was in
he immediately suggested that we pray at that moment for Garrett's healing!
In a few moments the camp nurse let me know she had given Garrett

some benadryl, put a steroid cream on him that she had, and that he was finally sleeping.

Remarkably, when Garrett woke up a couple hours later, the entire rash was

completely gone!!!!
Gone!!!!!
Maybe it wasn't poison ivy?
Regardless, we saw that as a miracle answer to prayer!!
We were in a bind and needed help!
Everyone around us was powerless to help us too!
We cried out to the God of Heaven to give us wisdom and 

answers!
Glory to God for answering our prayers!

Does Jesus care about the little things?
Yes, He does!!

Celebrating Two Decades Together

This past April, my husband and I celebrated our 20th Anniversary!
We wanted to splurge on ourselves this year, but a trip to Hawaii or a tour

across Great Britain just wasn't in our budget {we're keeping our eyes on that

last idea for our 25th!!}

So we decided to go back to "where it all began for us."
Our first apartment together!
Our first ministry!
Our first house!!

You get the idea!!

{Our first apartment in Grand Blanc, Michigan!
This is where we brought home our first baby!}

{Our first house in Flint, Michigan!!
I had to snap this picture as we drove past because the owners

were obviously there and we didn't want to look like creepers!
This is where we brought home our second baby!!}

{These kids were in our first youth group together but they

didn't even really pay attention to each other!  I had the privilege of

coordinating their wedding!}

{This girl was in our first youth group too, and she lived down the street from our

first house!}

{We were so excited to get to go back to our first church ministry and to see so

many dear, lovely friends with whom are hearts are knit together!!}

{This young lady was also in our first youth group at this church,

and she came to see us with her family even though

they attend another church now!!  What a blessing to see how God has richly 

blessed her life!}

{This precious lady was our very first Pastor's wife at this church,

and these are her kids!}

{This gentleman was my husband's co-laborer in our first ministry,

and he was also a groomsman in our wedding!!  His sweet wife took my hands

and prayed with me just before I walked down the aisle!}

{This lovely lady was a neighbor to us in our first house, and she is married

to the oldest son of our first pastor.  

She so graciously allowed my husband and I 

to stay in her home for the first night of our trip 

even though her hubby

 was out of the country on a business trip!!  

We had our first babies together and it was so fun to compare

graduation notes of our now grown-up kids!}

{We rented a car and drove to Ohio 

for the last leg of our whirlwind anniversary trip

and stayed in the gorgeous Inn where we stayed on our wedding night!
This is one of my favorite places on earth!}

{It was pure delight to get to share lunch with my Mom the next morning

at our favorite restaurant there on the Sauder Village Complex!}

{We had dinner down the street at the restaurant where our

wedding rehearsal dinner was held!}

{We capped off this day with a visit to the best soft-serve ice cream shop 

in the area that serves ice cream as tall as your face!!}

{We stopped in to see my sister......

......and we got a tour of the local Sheriff's department!}

{How fun to have my Mom's birthday celebration dinner while we were there

and to spend some time with both my parents as well!}

Best trip ever and so much fun reminiscing over all the blessings

that the Lord has poured out on our lives over the last

20 years together!!!