As of last night I am a grandmother! Little Shalom Adriel arrived somewhere around 7:32 p.m., weighing 7lbs. 10oz. and measuring 20 1/4″ long. Zachary is a very proud daddy. And the mommy… Audrey adores babies – loves to hold them, feed them, take care of them. She’ll make a great auntie. Justus kept checking his new little niece out. Was he marveling at new life, I wonder? First time aunts and uncle. The captivated Grandpa. Am I really a Grandma?? Shalom Adriel Shalom means “Peace” Adriel means “God’s flock, from God’s congregation” We are thankful for a relatively short delivery and a healthy grand-daughter!

I don’t know if I could survive more than 1 day in the woods with 9 kids between the ages of 7 & 12. They keep you BuSy! But it’s sort of like having a baby. You forget all the bad parts of labor and are willing to do it again just because those little precious babies are worth every bit of it. And that’s how I feel about these junior campers. I’m kept hopping pretty much from the time I get there till it’s time to go back home but I love seeing them getting out and experiencing nature and building friendships with each other. Here’s the group this…

Although I had wanted to share with you things that you can do with your small children as I mentioned here, I won’t be able to this week! I have family coming for the day and tomorrow is our annual kids camp-out. I’m not so organized that I have posts planned ahead – I pretty much write the morning of… I’d really like to change that but it hasn’t happened yet.   I like trying new camping food. Last year’s food worked out pretty good which you can see here. Some of it I’ll be doing again but I do have new recipes to try as well. My new recipes…

Last week was rough. It was a week that caused us all to reevaluate how we live our lives.  My 23-year-old nephew was in a small plane crash, along with a good family friend (age 22) and two other young girls. They all perished. The shock and denial that it had actually happened reverberated throughout our minds for days. How could this be? These were boys that lived life to its fullest. Good kids – all 4 of them who loved the Lord and served Him each day. It is painful. It hurts us but the grief that the parents feel is so much more than anything those of us…

I won’t be here this week. There has been a death in the family. Four wonderful people were killed this week and one was my nephew and another a very dear friend to our family. Please keep us in your prayers.