Lots of stuff happening here!

Summer camp has come to a close so it is so quiet here compared to the last 12 weeks! I miss it already but am relieved for Joe who has put so much of himself into camp! It is tired and in need of rest to revive himself from a long, hard but wonderful summer! We couldn't say enough about our summer staff this summer! They worked so hard and made this one of our best summers! So now we still continue to work hard but at a different pace. We still have rental groups on a weekly basis and school groups are coming in for a day of team building.
Jake , Wade and I enjoyed all of our time out and about walking around the camp, having meals with the campers, making new friends, swimming in the pool, visiting my mom and dad north of Chicago in their new home, enjoying spending time with Joe's brother and wife who are moving here to work at the camp with us!
I have been working on Potty Training Jake this past week. He has done awesome! Everyone tells me how hard it is for boys but he proved the rumors wrong! In less than a day I had him peeing in the toilet and on day four was pooing in the toilet! I am relieved to be done buying him diapers, and with Wade in Cloth that means I spend a lot less each month! More money for our vacation to Puerto Rico this coming January!
Well this is short and sweet! I haven't had internet at my house for about two weeks, which in a way has been nice!
Blessings!

New Lives Reborn

Our second week of summer camp here at Rainbow is over and it feels like we are already a month into it. I am glad we aren't since I love walking over to the camp everyday and seeing the campers having the time of their lives! I wish I had grown up going to summer camp. I think I only went once when I was in 7th grade. If you live in Indiana or even the Chicago area look us up at rainbowcamp.org We have camps for kids K-12 and we aren't too far of a drive. I remember taking a coach bus from Chicago to Fort Wilderness Camp with my friend Melissa. It took 6 hours to get there so distance shouldn't be an excuse to keep your kids from coming to a place that could change their life! We are only about a 3 hours drive from the center of Chicago!
This week was a crazy one! We had 4 different weeks of camp going on at the same time. Princess Camp, Jump, Jungle Huts and Mad Camp! Let's just say that the cafeteria was full of rambunctious campers who were having more fun than a pig rolling in the mud!
Joe and I are so passionate about what happens here at the camp. It is so much more than a summer camp. Camp is just camp for some people. For Rainbow it is a place for kids to fall more in love with Jesus or to fall in love for the first time with Jesus! That is why Joe and I came here! It's not just about giving kids a good time, but helping them see God move and realize how much they need him! At the end the week we had 6 campers take the plunge in our pool to commit their lives to Christ by Baptism!

To our Supporters:
God brought Joe and I here for a reason and before we left our previous homes and jobs I did not realize how much more of a mission we were going to be involved in. It is big! Thanks to all who support us by prayer and giving. We wouldn't be here without you! God has shown himself in some pretty big ways since we have been at the camp and has tested us in many as well! Blessings!

Where's the JOY?

I feel something pulling and tugging on my heart these last several weeks. It makes me uncomfortable and sometimes makes me cry. I can't help but feel my heart beat faster and harder and then this uncontrollable explosion of "I don't know what" takes place and I don't know what to do with it. Is this God speaking to me? Is it the Holy Spirit trying to get me to see something that I am missing out on? Is it perhaps just my hormones from having a baby a few months ago trying to find a balance? I don't have a response but I feel like I can put my finger on what I should put my focus and energy into.
Finding JOY!
Not that I don't have any. I have felt rather joyful lately, but do I have enough of it? Does my joy stand out? Would my friends look at me and describe me as joyful? I hope so but I doubt it. I have a few friends that I could describe as joyful and I love them for that because it helps me stay upbeat! They don't have perfect lives or perfect pasts. As a matter of fact their pasts are much less joyful than what my past was for me. I have never experienced any kind of tragedy, or any kind of loss. I have watched many others suffer from awful things that would probably cause me to fall into a deep depression. I can't say that I have ever been truly depressed about anything. I have been sad and angry about many things. I have gotten over them quickly because they were small things. Small enough that I should not have been sad or angry for any longer than a day. Am I lucky or am I blessed? I'm not sure I would be classified as either but in a way it scares me to view myself as lucky or blessed. The reason it scares me so much is because I feel too lucky sometimes and hope that there isn't some tragedy waiting for me to have to live through, to cry over, to mourn over, and have to find beauty in the pain. I don't think I would be strong enough so rather than worry about what could happen, I want to focus on the JOY that I have now!
The kind of joy that is so hard to understand! The joy that fills the face of the one who lost a husband to cancer. The joy that fills the faces of the children in other countries that lose both parents to a disease and find enough joy in them to pass their joy onto others. The joy that fills the hearts of a mother and father who hold their newborn twin baby boys long enough to say goodbye. The joy that fills the room with singing and dancing by a group of children who have nothing left but the love of Christ.
I don't understand it because I have never been in their shoes. I try to think about what it must be like. It pains me some to think about how a person must feel to go through the rest of life with the memory of someone they loved so much. Even knowing they will see them again one day in heaven, it can't be easy to find that JOY.
Last night I had the opportunity for the 2nd time to see the African Children's Choir sing at our church. They bring so much JOY with them. I am almost embarrassed by the amount of joy they have compared to what little joy I have. I wanted to get up on stage and sing and dance with them and share in the joy they have! To Celebrate with them in the joy that God gives them! Thanks to these kids so many people left last night with an idea of what true joy looks like in the smiles and eyes of those who have lost so much at such a young age.
Joy...I want more of it and I pray my joy can increase without having to experience the pain so many people I know have had to live through to find it.

Heaven Is For REAL!

I just finished one of the best books I have ever read today called, "Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo. It is a true story of a 3.5 year old boy name Colton who gets really sick and ends up having to be operated on to clean out his insides. He was near death and the doctors were sure he wasn't going to make it. After the boy miraculously pulls through and is sent home, months later Colton begins telling his mom and dad about meeting Jesus in Heaven as well as several other people related to his parents he didn't even know about which proved more that Colton really had visited the eternal place. Over the course of months and years, Colton describes Heaven and Jesus to his parents just as it is described in the Bible, but from a child's eyes and in his own words. It is almost unbelievable to me, but at the same time completely believable. I highly recommend this book! It is a quick and easy read! I was reminded of what a child-like faith looks like and made me look forward to getting to see heaven with my own eyes even more! I hope you get the chance to read it for yourself!

Mom's don't have one Title

Mommy's have more than one title! (No offense to all your hard working dad's out there who do a good job at many of these things too)!

Housekeeper - if it doesn't get done by mom it probably won't get done at all and then you will end up living in a heap.

Nurse - I loved playing nurse when I was little and I am still doing it now. Alwaya trying to figure out and diagnose the symptoms and how I can fix it before go to the doctor

Chef - a love/hate title for me but again, who else is going to stuff those little faces with good food to eat.

Comforter - Kids fall down a lot and it's MOM TO THE RESCUE!

Friend - I like to think that my kids will look at me as more than just the person who says "NO" all the time but a person they came come to with anything and trust that I will love them no matter what

Peacemaker/Judge - My time is coming when I will settle my boys first fight over something.

I'm sure you could add some of your own to the list. What are they? Love to all my mom friends. You have all impacted me in some pretty amazing ways!

My blue eyed boys

Sorry some of the pictures are sideways! I am too lazy to go back and change them for ya!

God Loves Terrorists Too!

Okay, so maybe not the post you will REALLY want to read today. I certainly didn't want to make a big fuss over Bin Laden's death but I was also not affected by the horrible event that was caused by him on Sept 11th, or all the other crappy things that Bin Laden has done. He was an evil man and thankfully he is no longer on this earth to harm anyone else. However, as a follower of Christ I look at his death as a lesson to learn to forgive our enemies because Christ died for Bin Laden too. We are called to forgive our enemies just as Christ forgives us for the evil things that we do. Thankfully God is a gracious and merciful God so long as we are willing to except it and repent. I truly hope that I see Bin Laden in heaven when I make it there one day. Of course the things he did was cruel and he should be punished for them, but I hope he had the chance to make a change of heart. I don't wish Hell on anyone!
As I write this my oldest son is sitting on the couch laughing at Looney Toons. He is so precious to me! I can't imagine the pain and even more, the hate I would have to deal with in my heart if one of my family members was killed as a result of a terrorist attack. I would have to dig real deep to find forgiveness for the person who could do such a crime so I am not saying that those Bin Laden has hurt should have an easy time forgiving the guy cause I would have a difficult time doing so myself. Though I can't ignore what Christ says about forgiveness.
As too how I feel about our countries response to this happy and yet sad event in time:
I am proud of our country for finding the guy and doing a great job of protecting us from more harm, but sometimes I wish America would get off it's high horse and realize that we aren't better than everyone else. We are a strong country and I am thankful to live in it, but we have a lot of garbage in this country that needs to be cleared out too. I am not so sure about how we celebrated the death of a man who God loves just as much as he loves the rest of his people. Evil still prevails in our country. I am indifferent about executions that take place in jails. I am not saying I disagree with them, I am not sure where I stand with them. They seem cruel to me, but at the same time I don't want people like that to roam the streets with the potential to do awful things. Bin Laden was a very sick man that needed to die. I am glad he is dead, but sad for him as well.
In conclusion, yeah God for wiping out our enemies and also for the grace you give to those who don't deserve it!
"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.