What a Great Week!

Maybe I should say, "What a great summer!", but let's just focus on the past week. I had the opportunity to go to Iowa for a couple of days. When I arrived at my friends, the Mains, we had a very happy reunion with many friends and some of my Iowa kids. Wow, they grow a lot in 10 months! Good food, lots of laughs, pictures, hugs, stories, new babies, new babies on the way...you can't get much better than that. I'm so thankful for Amy! She has been a faithful, supportive friend from the moment we met. I spent Tuesday and Thursday nights there.

Wednesday, I drove to the Iowa Assemblies of God campground, Sunstream Retreat Center. The weather was picture perfect! It was an awesome day of reunions with old friends, kids I've met at other camps and JBQ, and the best part...spending the day with Keaton. Can I just say how proud I am of our son? He has been working like a mad man for months preparing for all of the camps for youth and kids. If I had one person I had a hundred tell me what a great job Keaton has done for the Iowa Ministry Network. It was so fun to see him in action. Check out his "crazy hair day" pics! That's dedication! I got to hear him preach a chapel and it was annointed! The boy can flat out preach!

Keaton gave me a tour of all the updates and additions to the camp. WOW! It is amazing. They've added three zip lines, zorb balls (the official ground zorb hill is in development and will be ready next summer), go carts, remodeled the sanctuary, game rooms, snack shop, gym, many of the sleeping rooms, the cafeteria and gave the whole grounds a deep cleaning. It took months of clearing trees and heavy construction but it was sure worth the end product. One very nice addition in my opinion was the Starbucks coffee! Now that's doing things with excellence! :)

I was honored to be able to do a chapel service for the kids. It was a personal blessing...somewhat of a gift from God. Last year, when I was at camp, someone had said some very hurtful things to me and I left on the last day on a bad note and a hurting heart. I knew in my heart that I would be leaving Iowa and I was so sad that my last Iowa camp had ended on a sour note. Yes, the person apologized later but it was still sad to have 15 years of Iowa camp end that way. This week, was a full circle event. I am so thankful to the Lord. The chapel service went awesome as God spoke a message to the kids about their uniqueness and purpose in Christ. We spent some time listening for the voice of God. The kids responded so well and I hope they all remember our Big Idea, "I am a flake!" You had to be there. :)

As awesome as it was, I'm glad to be home in Tennessee! Thanks to all who made it a wonderful few days. Got the Character Connex kit and I'm excited to get going on scheduling school assemblies!