June was a busy month, we had 16 kids at camp the week of June 12, and then had our 4 Belay Golf Outing on June 26th. I always love to watch the progression of camp week, Monday the kids are not sure about the whole camp thing, and by Saturday the don't want to go home. Talent show night is my favorite too and never disappoints, this year was no different. The golf outing was a great day as it always is and continues to be our biggest fundraiser of the year. We also spent a few days in court supporting a student and her mom, it was an emotional few days but justice was served. I was very impressed again with the prosecutor, child advocacy center of Ottawa county and have a lot of respect for all the people that work at the courthouse to help make it run each day. It is my hope and prayer that this student can move forward from this incident and not have it define her, and I am happy to report that we have seen some small steps towards that in just the few weeks since it has wrapped up.
July 4 was spent with my mom's side of the family at Abby's. We had a great day with beautiful weather and the food is always good (Crab/Shrimp Boil year 2)! Grandma Jackie would have loved it!
The week after the 4th I had the privilege of being the speaker for South Olive Bible Camp. It was a great experience, I love camp ministry and the impact that it has on students and this camp was no different! We had 17 students make a first time commitment to Jesus Christ that week. There was so much fun and laughter that week, I am sure that none of us will soon forget!
The week after camp we went to Michigan's Adventure for the day. Again beautiful weather, and it was a great day. The highlight for me was watching Grace go down a big black tube slide called the Snake Pit. Last year she wanted nothing to do with the slides, she just played in this kiddie pool while we were at that water park. She had told me she wanted to do this slide earlier in the day but I wasn't sure, finally she convinced me to take her up to it. We grabbed the tubes and hiked to the top, it's a one person slide so she went first. I told her if she got scared to close her eyes and I would be right behind her. As soon as she took off, I could here her laughing all the way down. What I missed because I was in the slide was when she reached the bottom and was in the pool, Tara panicked and jumped the wall to get in the pool because she though Grace was crying! When I asked Grace what her favorite part of the day was, she said in her Grace voice "the pitch black slide!" Never a dull moment with that one. I also love that Abby snuck Austin past the worker at the gate to the corkscrew to get him on. Poor guy he was just a little too short, but that didn't stop Abby, and Austin loved it. Can't wait till we go next year!
Grandpa Ed went to heaven July 29th, bittersweet because I know he was so ready. I had just told the story of Grandpa shooting the water snake to save Uncle Jim at camp, it was actually on the commitment night. When I got done speaking that night, Sarah (the camp nurse), who knew my Grandpa wasn't doing well, said "Wouldn't it be cool if your Grandpa got heaven and they were still celebrating the 17 who committed their lives to Christ at Camp!" I am sure that he heard all about when he got there! I got one of Grandpa's Fly Rods when we sold the cottage, and now I have a Small Mouth Bass that he caught in 1959 hanging up in my in my house to remind me of him, but I will never forget him, making us kiss the bait when we went fishing, hitting 80 mph baseball in the batting cage in Florida, and all the sand we had to spread every year at the cottage! Love you Gramps!
August has been kind of low key, other than our Back To School Night for Belay last night. It was a fun night and good to see the kids and their families again! Can't wait to see them on a regular basis again. We gave away about 30 backpacks and I am sure that we will give more away in the next couple weeks. Thanks to all who donated backpacks, school supplies, and $$ to make that event possible.
The theme for Halloween 2017 has been decided....Superheroes and Villains! Now to decide what to be...😀
2 comments:
Love it, Kate! It was a great summer and will be a great year at Belay! Mom
Nice Kate.. Grandpa Ed would be proud.. love you Dad
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