Psyching Myself Up for Youth Camp

*Recalling things about our kids at church that make me smile*

Shortly after accepting our assignment from God at the small church where we now serve, I noticed things are a little different here. Homier, maybe. Despite all the problems that these teenagers have (and they would rival the problems of inner city kids), they retain some of the mannerisms of hill country upbringing.

One evening, I offered a bowl of chili to a 13 year old boy who had been sitting on the table, legs dangling over the side in constant swing motion, and chatting with me while I cooked. (If I remember correctly, he was telling me how to clean fish and gut deer.) His response? “No, thank y’ma’am. I’ve not been feelin’ all t’myself today.” I wanted to pinch his cheeks and tell him how cute that was, but 13 year old boys don’t take too kindly to such things.

Updates & Repairs

Sometimes projects around here take a long time. For instance, my "Mother's Day gift" last year....I asked Scott to remove the old tub & surround in the kids' bathroom and replace it with a new one. He wasted no time in purchasing the new tub and tearing out the old. However, it soon became apparent that we were in over our heads. This week, we hired a friend to complete the project. This is what it looked like for months.

And this is it today.

It still needs some trim around it, but it is now functional.

Another "before and after":

If You Give A Kid A Camera...

He'll take a photo of his face.

Seeing his face will make him realize how funny his self-portrait can be, so he'll take another one.

And his favorite candle.

And Mom coming to take the camera away.

Planning Ahead

As we sat admiring the fire last night, my oldest son began chattering about a variety of things. The stuff most 11 year old boys think about, in my world, anyway. Things like: how to make ink, good building sites on the property, how many 8"-16" diameter trees he would need to cut down to build a "standard-sized one room cabin", etc. This morning, I found the notes he was making as he chattered.