English camp 2010

Every year our family looks forward to English camp and the teams that come from the states to help us host this week for our Slovene students! It is a real highlight!
This year Blake and Becca went to one camp as campers with their youth group. They talked non stop about each person and what fun or funny things they said and did. Then they came home for one night and turned around and went right back to the same place and joined our whole family helping in putting on the Kranj camp.
It was a joy to work with pastor Drago and the student leaders there Tilen and Matic. This is a shot of Tilen who every night did a skit as a Russian at English camp. SO FUNNY! Same night I took this shot he also shared the story of Joseph in a 1st person narrative as Joseph's brother Judah. He is an amazing communicator and did a great job!
Blake is learning guitar and this was his first camp to play alongside Josh when we sang camp songs like "One Day Soon". He's really quick at catching on to the songs Josh teaches him.
10 year old Kendra had her hands full as she watched out for her brother Luke and Caleb Wynn. She's a great playmate and really enjoyed the boys and made it a lot more fun for them while their parents were busy!
The first day Becca felt a bit overwhelmed going from one camp to another but she quickly struck up a friendship with Kaja whose sister goes to our church. Rebecca really enjoyed Kaja and sharing with her about who Jesus is. I think she was special to Kaja too since Kaja just added her to her friends on Facebook and listed Becca as her sister!
I love camp! Such sweet friendship happen there!

A visit from my brother

My brother came out to help us with the house and for a long over due visit. It was great to have him here so he could picture our new place and also our life in Slovenia. At the time, I knew I was tired. The house had been put on hold while we focused on ending the school year well with the kids and Josh especially focused on upcoming summer camps.
It was so encouraging and invigorating to have him around. Since Josh and I got married I haven't spent more than a couple of days with my brother. He's living in Costa Rica now and I'm over here. We've both got kids and full lives and we just never seem to overlap quite right.

We drove to Venice one day and it is maybe one of my all time favorite trips! This is a shot of Matt at the place where we had lunch next to one of the canals.

Then, as we put our money in the folder to pay for our meal and were about to walk away we wondered, "How much was that bottle of sparkling water?" I opened the folder to check the bill just as a breeze came by and picked up the 50 euro and blew them into the canal! AHH!

We laughed and I screamed! But my brother called out to a guy in a water taxi on his way with a fare, "Buddy, can you help us out?" We got 40 back and chalked the 10 that sank to the bottom to a memorable experience!
All these years and there is no one who knows me quite like he does. He knew all the encouraging things to say. It's so easy to be me when I'm with him. He gets me.

I loved watching him love my kids. Gosh, they couldn't get enough of him! Kendra and Luka just hung on him. Not really able to say how much it meant to be around him again.

Camping season has begun!

For Luke's birthday Josh's mom and dad gave him a tent! We set it up on his actual birthday and he has played in it every day since! As we head into the camping season of our ministry it's a great reminder to be praying for the staff and students who are involved in English camps, performing arts camps, and our bible school program. The entrance tunnel has also added to lots of fun as well as scraped knees!