A Day at Camp

I am so far behind getting on the blog, but I have some fun things to share, so I'll try to catch you up on the last week and a half over the next few days. Last week my mom was here from Sunday until Thursday; Dan's sister Jane came on Thursday night and we left for WI on Friday afternoon. I have spent the last two days trying to catch up as well as see boys participate in sports.

A week ago Sunday the town was invited to go out to the Baptist Camp to spend the afternoon. Since it is not far from church, and they were providing lunch, we went out after church thinking that we'd stay an hour. We stayed the whole afternoon. There were carnival games, a hay ride, a few different type "dodge-ball"? games as well as the zip line, and rock wall. It was a gorgeous day. The camp is on the lake. 78 degrees with a slight breeze. Does it get better than that for a late September day in northern Iowa?

You can't tell, but this is me. Dan and I both did it.

We just didn't get very good pictures doing so.

This is Kirsten and her friend, Tori ready to take the "Leap of Faith".

Peirce is part monkey. It took his friend, Caitlyn over 15 minutes to make it to the top of the rock wall. It too Peirce 31/2 min. She was not very thrilled, but they had fun.

7th Grade Football

Mitchell had his first football game of the season last night. They run 7th grade on its own. They lost quite badly, but they were playing one of the bigger schools, so we are hoping that there will be some wins in there. We had a good time. The weather was actually warm for football, but we don't complain about that this time of year.
Mitchell is #75. It is so hard to tell with those helmets on!


Mitchell is the one with the dark curly hair facing toward the camera. He is one of the biggest kids on the team. He's working off some weight too as he played most of the game.

Parsonage Party

Sunday afternoon was another parsonage party. This one we actually remembered to take pictures of. For those of you who have not heard, we are dividing up the congregation by stages of life; college, young married, parents of elementary, parents of middle school and high school, empty nesters, new or nearly retired, senior adults. If they don't have children or are not married, they have just fit themselves in one time or another. We have had many people in. I make sloppy joes and lemonade, and they provide the rest. The last few have stretched our house a bit. Last evening was a little chilly, so we even had our basement ready to take people if needed. A few of the men used the porch for quite a while. I believe that we had around 40 there. I move furniture around and put up a few tables in order to make room for everyone. It has been a great way for us to get to know each other. What a blast we have had. One of the single ladies from church has come to a few to help me. She takes care of dishes and getting some of the things out while I get to talk to people.---How hard that is for me!!!!:)

Dan's Birthday

Saturday, Sept. 13th was Dan's birthday. We did not plan a huge day. He wanted to relax a little. Unfortunately he spent some it working on a vehicle. We are both claiming the camera that we are now using as birthday gift, so I didn't buy him anything special. I did make his favorite meal though. He did get a gift from my parents that will be enjoyed. A few years ago we bought him a hammock and stand. Since then it has gotten much use and the rope is starting to fray. (Your bottom will go through the holes in the rope many times.--not enjoyable.) So Dan got a quilted hammock. We love having it right on the porch. We don't have to worry about bugs, and it doesn't get rained on.

Church at the Lake

Sunday we had a beautiful service at the lake. The Lutheran church in town uses the band shell all summer for one of their services, but our church does it one of the Sundays in September. It was a cool morning that was calling for rain, but it held off and was absolutely gorgeous. We are hoping to do this a little more next summer. The park is right in the downtown area with the lake right behind it. I did have a hard time paying attention to the pastor when there were so many sailboats out there.

How beautiful is that?

Isn't he handsome?
I played with the praise band. Many years ago I got into the habit of singing while I play. It seems to keep my head with what I am playing. I worship so much better when I play. Anyway, Rod mikes me when I play since I sing anyway. Other times I am one of the singers on the worship team.

Mitchell's 13th birthday

Last Sunday was Mitchell's 13th birthday. Since church was in the park just a mile from our house, he and 5 other boys walked home from church. We had pizza, went miniature golfing, and goofed around for awhile. They seemed to have a lot of fun.
The cake is a lion for Clear Lake Lions. Mitchell's number is 75. He will play his first game on Tuesday, so we'll have pictures of that then.

Cross Country

Dan and I went to our first cross country meet today. Peirce is running JV cross country. He is more of a sprinter, but we had heard good things about the team and thought that it would be good for him. He has been sick since the beginning of school, so I don't know how much he has been enjoying it, but hopefully he will get to like it more. We were impressed with the way that the team encouraged each other. It was fun to see a lot of people from church there also (and our neighbors) as they have kids that are on the team also. Peirce is one of the slower guys on the team. At the end one of the guys on the varsity started to run with Peirce and encourage him. How neat to see! What a great example of how we should be running our race of life encouraging each other.