Day Two!

We have had quite the adventure today! After Erich and I blogged last night, we went back to our cabins to try to catch some sleep. The door to the girl’s cabin was propped open with the garbage can because they thought it would be cooler. Now I have been camping a million times, and know better than to leave our door open with no screen, but since 23 other women/teens didn’t shut it, I just went along with the crowd. What a huge mistake. At some point in the middle of the night, I hear a scurrying sound. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I actually heard anything because I was sleeping pretty soundly, until I hear “L-l-l-l-o-o-o-r-r-r-i-I”! Maureen heard the scurrying also, but neither of us were about to get out of bed to check it. We gave it a few minutes and it walked back out the door. We don’t think it was a raccoon because none of our food was taken, and the cooler was right inside the door. It was probably a skunk, but we feel better believing it was Jack the dog coming to make sure we were ok. (Although, we don’t think Jack actually stays at camp at night, but that is our story and we are sticking to it.) J

We meet up with the boys for breakfast, and the first thing Daniel and Brady say is, “MAN, were we cold last night with all the fans.” I tried to protect them, but sorry Bernadette and Debbie; the girls threw them in the lake. (Ok, I was just kidding about the lake, but the girls had no sympathy.) We ate our pancakes or biscuits and gravy (which were surprisingly good since they are feeding over 200 of us) and met up with Kelly and Promise. After we loaded up our lunches and the magic truck, we set out for Blue Ridge, Georgia. (It was only about 30 minutes away, and the scenery is gorgeous!)

We met the Kimsey family, and their granddaughter, Breanna was there and wanted to help. She was eight years old, and reminded me a lot of my girls. (Very cute and helpful, and loved hanging out with teens!) She was mad because she had a dentist appointment and couldn’t help us paint! (Although, when she came back, she had the Sara(h)’s paint her face with “war paint” so she could look like them. I think she wants to be a Sara/Sarah when she grows up. J)

Mr. Kimsey took to us right away. So much so that he tried to hook up Megan with his fifteen year old grandson. (Can you say awkward for Megan! J) He would take each of us aside and tell us a new story. We heard all about his stay in the hospital with meningitis (which he felt the need to show us a picture of. . . .there is a reason I went into ministry and not nursing. . .just saying.) J He told us all about his rusted 48 pickup truck in the front yard because he wants to paint it and make it a ‘gorgeous lawn ornament’. He was so endearing, you just had to love him!

Once we took a survey of what needed to be done, the teens split up and delegated jobs to one another. In the course of the morning, we did all of the jobs that they had for us, and had to go looking for more. The leaders stated that they hadn’t seen a group so dedicated to getting the jobs done and finished correctly!

Between all of us, we fixed their leaky roof, cleaned off the paint that last week’s group left on the windows, moved the furniture off, cleaned and painted three decks/porches, fixed, painted, and hung the eaves on the trailers, disassembled old telephone wires from the box on the house, weed whacked their whole yard, and hauled it all away. An awful lot of their house was covered in lattice work that we painted by hand. (It was awful, and we all agreed we never want to see that color blue again. Hehe) I AM SO PROUD OF THE TEENS!!! The other groups came back at three, but ours chose to stay and finish the house they had been working on for the past three weeks. (Did I mention how proud I am of them?) It was a really hot day, but we had Alanna be our ‘H2O’ teen, and Caitlin led us in prayer at lunch. It is fun to have the teens take responsibility and watch them shine.

Our team effort counselors are lots of fun. After meeting a lot of the other ones today, we think ours are the best! Promise goes to North Georgia College State University during the school year, and loves to crack practical jokes. He split the group into two teams for a water fight at lunch, and would make up silly names for their ‘mission’ to get a certain person on the other team. (Names like Operation Bluebird, etc.)

Kelly goes to Charleston Southern and is the organizer. She knows what is going on at all times, yet lets the teens lead the day. She found us more to do, and called back to the outpost to get us more supplies. She loves all kinds of music and thinks Megan is her little sister, because she reminds her so much of her real little sister. (Emily agrees that Kelly and Megan are a lot alike) She was shocked that I knew the words to popular music. . . .hmmm, was that her way of saying I’m old? Jk.

We stopped by Dairy Queen on the way back to camp and treated ourselves to some ice cream. (It was only an hour before dinner, but I promise that everyone ate well at meal time. J) (Peach cobbler and sweet tea for dessert. . . again, just saying.)

Worship time was a lot of fun tonight. We started with a skit that was actually funny about blind dates, and then they called out that they were going to play a game and needed two volunteers. Caitlin got picked to go onstage and they played a game from the “Minute to Win It” game show. She rocked with a box tied behind her back filled with ping pong balls and had to jump around any way possible to get all ten balls out of the box. She wasn’t allowed to stand on her hands though. J She won and gets to go to the outpost and pick up her prize later. (We are so proud. . .hehe).

After the game, they had a musician from Australia named Chris lead us in worship music. It was very upbeat and a lot of it we knew. (Some even had hand motions that we could do.) During the entire music selection, he would break into spontaneous prayer and it was a very uplifting experience. The witness talk tonight was on building our foundation on the ‘rock’ instead of on the sand. They talked about listening for God’s call and acting upon it, no matter what your friends or society think is cool. They asked us why we were here, and not one of our teens said, “Because our parents made me”. (I say this because a lot of the other groups had teens who said that. Our teens put a lot of thought and effort into the question.

After worship, we got to break down the day as a small group. We did our Hey Gods, Yah Gods, and Mad Props. (Mrs. Asbrock, the group gave you the biggest Mad Prop for the cookies! Thanks a bunch!) They are a quiet group, but seem to be opening up more as the day goes on. (Ok, so they talk all the time, but when it comes to prayer, they are opening up more and more.) They are working on their devotionals and seem to be taking everything seriously. Thanks for the continued prayers from home. Please know that we are praying for you too! We love and miss you!

We arrived at Copperhill!

The teens did great and were quiet for a lot of the drive. (What is up with that?!) John’s magic truck needed to stop for air in the trailer tire (Thanks for the heads up Brett) but other than that, we didn’t have any issues.

We stopped around noon for lunch in Mt. Vernon and of course, had to stop at eight different restaurants. Everyone seemed to be happy with their choices, and we even did a little people watching. (We think we saw a wookie. . . .) Olivia spewed her soda all over, when we went to sit at a hot picnic table and John pulled a huge beach umbrella out of the magic truck. His new nickname is Mary Poppins. Hehe.

Samantha and Gertie (our garmin gps systems) worked like a charm and kept us all on the same path, even though the truck and the trailer fell a little behind going through the mountains. After lunch, the teens perked up and played some word games, talked, and sang along to the ipods. . . .no mountain music for them. J

After an extremely fast dinner at Hardee’s (because we thought we were running late), we arrived at the base camp and unloaded our van/truck. All of us are sharing cabins with other youth groups, so it is really really tight. The cabinet, I mean cabin we are sleeping in is very small. There is an overhead fan and that is it for air in the girls cabin. The boys had John’s magic truck to get them two other fans, and rope to rig them up to get the air circulating. (I see a stop at Walmart in the girls future.)

We met Promise and Kelly, our team leaders, and they seem very enthusiastic and fun. They told us we would be working in Georgia in the morning painting, working on a family’s landscape and patching their roof. Apparently, they have been working on this house for two weeks, and are hoping to get it finished tomorrow morning. (They said they weren’t sure what was wrong with the roof, and all of us immediately said, “John will fix it.” Poor Mary Poppins.)

After an initial walk around the camp, we met in the outdoor chapel for worship. (It is a walled, yet open wooden cabin. There are over 180 people here this week with us, so the beginning praise music was very loud and exciting. They did a skit to go over the rules (which made Erich and I very happy about our 20+ past skits. . . .ours were much better. Jk) They even have a dog named, Jack for a mascot. He hung out with Maureen and I during worship. He is really cute, but covered in white paint. Apparently, they work him like a dog. Haha.

They showed a video by the director of team effort that talked about scaffolding and how that will be our theme for the week. We need to use Jesus as our scaffolding and let him strip away all of our blemishes and fill us with his goals, and his love. It should be an interesting topic to work on this week. After the worship session, we had our small group time. It went well. We gave them each a folder to put their devotionals in and talked about the day. We discussed Hey God’s (prayers asking for help), Yah! Gods! (prayers of thanksgiving), and Mad props! (affirmations that we give to each other verbally for all of their great work.) It was hard to see because of it being so dark outside, so tomorrow we will move our group time to a lighted area. The directors said they would get us tiki torches if we wanted. We’ll have to see how it goes.

I am kind of disappointed in the devotionals because there isn’t much room for the teens to journal, and we all know how much I love to write, so I want them to have the opportunity to reflect on the gospel and journal if they want. Never fear, Erich and I came up with an idea to give them each colored construction paper to make their own notepad. Some may write, some may draw, and some may just use it to doodle while they reflect. Whatever way God touches their heart works for me. J

Before I forget, apparently Cincinnati Bell doesn’t have a cell tower around so my phone is not working. It was one of the numbers listed on the emergency contact page. If you need to get a hold of us, please call Erich’s cell. (Or Whitewater Express in Copperhill, TN) If you have lost the paper, contact Bernadette A and she will get it to you. If it isn’t an emergency, and you want to post a comment here, we would love to hear from you! I let the teens know every morning who has posted a note for us. J

It is getting late, and I want to get to the outpost and get this posted. Before I go to bed, I wanted to let you know how proud I am of our teens. They were respectful, took their hats off during worship, listened (even when the other groups weren’t) and participated fully. Thanks to all of the parents who have raised such loving and caring teens! Please know that we are keeping everyone who reads this in our prayers this week. We love you and miss you and will see you soon!

P.S. Hopefully we will have pictures to post tomorrow. I am sleepy. J

Getting Ready to Depart

Hi Friends!


We are so glad you stopped by! Saint Michael Parish in Sharonville is getting ready to send a team of missionaries to Copperhill, TN for a week of service, fun, and adventure! We leave this Sunday, June 20th after the 8am mass for the 6 1/2 hour drive to Whitewater Express; the outpost where we will be staying. We are getting excited about the trip and ask that you continue to pray for us as our journey continues. (The people going are John C, Brady E, Emily E, Daniel K, Megan L, Olivia M, Caitlin M, Sarah M, Sara P, Alanna S, Maureen S, Erich G, John A, and me!)

We are attending a mission camp through a group called Team Effort. There will be over 200 teens there from many denominations. Our teens are looking forward to meeting new people and doing God's work in the Appalachian community. While they are not 100% sure what we will be doing when we get there, Christina and Will (the camp directors) asked if we would be willing to put on a roof and a couple of decks. (A little scary for someone not so sure of heights. Maybe I will just hand up the tools.) The teens are thrilled and will be great at it!

The outpost where we are staying has a satellite computer and assures me that I will be able to get on and blog about our trip, so stay tuned and feel free to leave us a message. (I will make sure the teens get them on a daily basis!)

Thanks for all of your support in getting us to this point. Please know that you are in our prayers every day.