HE RESTORETH MY STRENGTH!

     With the constant schedule of Girl's Camp behind us, we prepared for Boy's Camp.  We didn't have any assignments with the camp, just to restock and have everything ready for them. The counselor came in Saturday night.  The Mission Team from Alabama also arrived Saturday. They stayed in the two buildings up by us....the chapel and the bunkhouse.  It was good to worship with both teams on Sunday morning at Farmington Baptist Church.
    
  This was our "rest" week.  We all enjoyed sleeping late and just doing nothing.  Bob and I took Tuesday and went into the mountains.  I know he must have gotten tired of hearing "so beautiful" and "stop, I've got to take a picture".  Every turn was another fantastic view.  God's presence surrounded us in the beauty of the mountains. The mountain lakes were so tranquil, the streams bubbling over the rocks with such constant energy.  My favorite was Small Falls.  If you are on facebook, I know you have seen some of the pictures. We missed one of the falls on our way home, but hope to get back to see it this week. Kristi, Nichole and Ann took a late afternoon trip the same route in hopes to see a moose.  They also stopped at Small Falls.  Around dusk, they received their reward.....a Mama Moose with her baby.  Kristi said the baby was as big as she was!!!.  They (the moose) retreated into the woods so quickly, no one got a picture. We still have a trip planned to Moosehead Lake...a little further in to the mountains.  We plan to see and get a picture of the illusive moose of Maine. 
    
  Kristi and I went into Farmington and ate lunch at the Corner Cafe. Then we visited the little shops. One of our favorite shops was the Moose Outlet.  What a fun shop!  Anything you can think of with a moose theme.  They also had bear and wolf "stuff".  Just a fun store.  We, of course, found a great thrift shop.  We are ready to trade some of our cloths in. Check out the picture of Kristi's great repurposed skirt purse.  So Cute. We followed it up with an ice cream at Gifford's. That's becoming a wonderful habit! 
   
  Bob has been happy staying at the Center and working in the yard. It's really looking good.  He cleaned their big bonfire area and mulched around the bunkhouse. He loves messing around in the barn.  He has it pretty organized.  Hmmmm, he never could manage that at home!  Every evening he would drive the mower with wagon in tow down to the camp and empty all the garbage. Then spent a little time visiting with the boys down there.  
  
  I've been making some aprons...the shirt apron Kristi designed. Remember Beverly, the head cook from Girl's Camp. Her father-in-law had passed away the week before camp and her husband Don had brought back some of his father's shirts. So I am making some aprons for the family.  It was good to get back to sewing. I'm excited to see her face when she sees them. Pray for their family during this difficult time. They also have a son-in-law who has cancer and facing surgery.
  
   On Saturday,  the Mission Team and the boys left. That meant we had to go restock and get ready for the next group, The First Russian Baptist Church of Gorham, Maine  The counselors came in before we finished.  They busily readied the camp for the children who arrived in big bus at 4:00. They had a "ticket booth" set up and a man dressed in Biblical times escorted them to the Booth.  That began their week. I had to go into the kitchen later with some paper goods. Two women were busy preparing dinner. I sure would like to have stayed and just watched.  Neither of them spoke English.  Pray for the camp this week.
   
   Today, July 27th, marks three months on our journey.  I can't believe it's been that long, but at other times it seems longer. We are missing our friends and family, but God is faithful to put others in our path to encourage us.  Thank you for the notes you have sent and for the many prayers we know have been said on our behalf. God is faithful to supply our needs...physically, emotionally and spiritually.  We praise Him!

     Joyfully RVn4Jesus,
          Carol.....
                Bob and Kristi, too.

Small Falls

Windmills outside of Roxbury

Roots of the trees were the steps



View Kristi saw - sun beginning to set

View Bob & I saw



Kristi & Nicole

Kristi ~ Ann ~ Nicole on their moose hunt



The woods are so different here

It was too late for them to start the hike -
It really upset them, can't you tell?

GIRLS CAMP at Farmington!

EXHALE.....WOW WHAT A WEEK!  I went in saying I was going to be "Gumby" all week with all the stretching that God had for me....and I come out on the other side saying...PRAISE GOD FOR THE STRETCHING!!!

There is so much I could say and so much I'm sure I am forgetting.  I am just completely overwhelmed with so many amazing feelings and completely exhausted from the non-stop action packed week filled with LOTS AND LOTS of precious little girls!  But to look at the last week of my life, if I had to sum it all up in just a few words, I would say they would have to be "Our GOD is an AWESOME GOD!!! (Yes, go ahead and sing the rest...you know you want too!)

Miss Sandy <3

Where to start?!?!  Let's start at pre-camp, this is where all the staff arrived early for team building, training and preparation for the girls.  The theme for camp this year was "GOTTA TELL IT".  Love that, it is more than just telling our story, we must tell the story of Jesus for any of it to matter.  We connected it all back to Him, it was great.  So, they began arriving on Friday and were all here by Saturday.  From the moment we all got together it was very apparent that there was gonna be some really good God stuff happening during Girls Camp.  Of course we started with my favorite thing...ICE BREAKER GAMES...the introvert in me loathes those...lol...BUT...I got thrown into their world (because remember...I do LOTS of things for Jesus that I never would have done on my own...this would have been one of those things...lol...I never did girls camp as a little girl much less as a big girl).  It was really funny, because we walk in the room with the chairs in a circle and told to sit by somebody you didn't know...HA - easy for me...but God put two in my path immediately that would help me to be able to breath, One precious woman from Baltimore, Miss Sandy and another my Florida Girl (from Jacksonville and this would be her nickname until I could remember her real name) Miss Jessica who would later become Pheonix...poor girl got called three names in one short week...hehehe.  So anyways - these two helped me more than they would ever know, I was scared to death on the inside and Sandy just came over and just got me laughing and the rest is history...So this whole time we weren't told where we would be helping or what cabin you would be in and who you would be with - so it was really cool just mixing up with each other and getting to know all the women which their ages ranged from 18 to their 70's.  Everyone from the admin side to the cabin leaders to the kitchen - we were all together - ONE TEAM here to share Christ.  It was amazing to see the hearts for these little girls that these ladies have.  What a great staff that came together for Girls Camp.  Y'all are awesome!!!!  What a priviledge and honor that Momma and I had by being allowed to come along side of them to help.  My life is forever changed by this experience - Thank you God and Thank You Girls Camp Staff! 



Miss Sara <3

So we get to Sunday night and we are assigned to our cabin, BLUE CABIN - age group, 4th Grade - and to our partner...I was so BLESSED to have been roomies with Sara!!!!  SHE IS AMAZING!  She use to be a camper - worked up through the Training Track program (come as helper but train to be a cabin leader on staff) and then as a cabin leader.  I went in telling her that SHE was the leader and I would be her helper :)  Well let me tell you about this precious 18 year old girl!  What a heart for Jesus and what a heart for these girls....When she talked to them she just glowed, as she worked on doing the questions from the Bible stories, she shined!  She was wonderful!  Again, what a priviledge and honor for God to place us here for me to serve along side of her for the week!  LOVE HER!!!



Ms  Beverly!  Best Camp Cook EVER!!!

Momma of course got to work in the kitchen.  And how cool, the kitchen staff was all volunteer help that came from all over that love on these girls like crazy.  They always had a smile for the girls, a hug for them and always always loved on them every meal as they went through the line.  It was beautiful to watch the interaction as the week progressed.  AWESOME!!!!  And let me stop right here and take a minute to tell you about the food...Ms Beverly (head of the kitchen) is AMAZING!!!  We had some super d duper food - all that yummy don't eat like you did as a kid kinda food - you know the kind you limit...HA it was CAMP and WE GOT SECONDS!!!! (and yes even thirds sometimes...shhhhhh don't say a word...you woulda too if you were hear...you just couldn't help it!)  All homemade yummy goodness!  Let's just say, I will be going through some serious withdraws and detoxing this week...hahaha...Mom loved it, little girls everywhere and to get to cook, lots of yummy stuff...yea she was in her glory and loving her time here as well.

Mighty Mighty Blue Birds (Blue Cabin)

So the girls arrived Monday and from that moment until Saturday around 11 or 12 we were ON!  Following the schedule from one thing to the next.  Let me add right here as well...YES they ALL survived!!!!  :)  Sheww that was tough - as a mom of one having to keep up with all 5 at all times was kinda rough :).  They were the most precious little girls and I am soooo thankful for that.  They all came in with their stuff and immediately began chatting it up getting to know each other.  They all seemed to gell pretty quickly and it was really cool that there wasn't any issues - they all liked each other.  They listened, they did their stuff they were great!  They even went to bed each night with no problems - I mean they were OUT at night - it was great!!!  Now rest time, well lets just say - nobody except the two Sara's got rest...lol



 Our silly picture :)

Their week was filled with stuff from 7 AM until 9:30/10:00ish PM - we all slept amazingly well! As the week progressed the bonds between these girls developed into such sweet comradery.  Such sweet sisterhood.  OH and I gotta share their chant that they sang all the time, no, really ALL THE TIME - like EVERY TIME they went outside the cabin, no wait, they even sang it in the cabin to the other cabins that may have been passing by their window, so do ya feel me on this...lol...so here you go...you can chant it as you read it because I know their will be a lot of you that will ....

WE ARE THE BLUE BIRDS, THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BLUE BIRDS
WE GOT A STORY, A MIGHTY MIGHTY STORY
WE GOTTA TELL IT, SHOUT IT OUT AND YELL IT!
BLUE BIRDS - CACAW CACAW (gotta do a bird flapping wings motion here)

I think I will hear this in my sleep, forever...hahaha...and while I'm on this subject, how funny are the camp songs - those girls LOVED them - every tme they were outside, someone would start one.  As a female that has never been to camp, I gotta admit, think it was pretty AWESOME!! It was a kind of love hate thing going on...the girl in me loved it, the mom in me hated the 1000 times part of it...I have more songs in my head now than I ever thought possible...Now my prayer is that at night when I try to go to sleep that they do NOT come back!  :)

As the week unfolded there were times where we were able to fellowship with the other cabin leaders while the girls were doing an activity.  I was amazed at how quickly you can get to know the important stuff about people in such short periods of time.  I have been blessed to have met some really amazing women this past week and I have so many new Sisters in Christ that I can call Friends! Then there are these 18 - 20 something women that were here as cabin leaders, in love with Jesus and on fire for Him, it was great!  To hear their stories was wonderful - so excited to see what God has in store for them.  I will continue to pray for all of you as you walk the path that God has for you...To connect with the other women right off the bat was amazing.  It is times like these that I just marvel in how awesome God is to have pulled women from all ages and all over the place, bring them together, throw in a bunch of little and big girls (middle and high school age) and have soooo many of them with so many similarities and down right same stories...WOW - GOD's SOVEREIGNTY is so awesome to me putting just the right women in the same place to serve Him and each other.  As the family of God we are connected by the Holy Spirit, but as the family of God we are all so connected by what God has done in our lives and how we live it out.  You can't meet Jesus and not be changed!  SO it was just so special to be with these ladies who have been transformed by the power of the God we serve, from the INSIDE out!  And then to be able to share with these girls, our stories and to prayerfully have been able to be used by God to touch their lives and to see that a relationship with Jesus is a real thing!  It isn't just something you say, but a very real and intimate thing - that it is a Daily walk, it's  Daily work and must include Daily worship! (HA sounds like sermon highlights). Then in our reflection time once the girls were gone, it hit me.  I have such a heart for women, and their pain, knowing the one who can take that pain away and sharing Jesus with them.  So to work with little girls, well that was a stretch for me, if you know me you know I don't usually work with the children, but WOW how awesome to have been used by God at this girls camp in the lives of those that were in my cabin and beyond, but the idea of them meeting Jesus at this age instead of after life has beaten them down...WOW!  THANK YOU GOD for that privilidege and for that insight that I have never seen or thought of before!

Ms Christy sharing as "Natalie"

Sharing about Muslims at
our daily worship service

I know i need to wrap it up - but God did so many things this week.  I was so excited to see that there were girls that feel God is calling them to missions after being here, I mean how awesome is that?  OH, I so gotta share about Ms. Christy (yep another one...and yep she is...AMAZING!)  She and her husband served in Egypt and Sudan.  Hearing the stories and hearing her share, just moved the girls and especially me.  We take our freedom to share so for granted.  Just another reminder to be praying for the missionaries and their families that serve in countries that do not allow religious freedoms.  It just rings in my ears...If we as believers don't go and tell the story of Jesus, who will?  We are not saved to sit, we are saved to share the good news of Jesus Christ! 

OK, so this time I am really going to wrap it up and say, until next week...So long!!! 

Please pray for these girls, they were from 3rd grade to high school.  Pray that they were changed this week - that the commitments they made were real and that they would remain faithful for someone to water the seeds that were planted. Pray for their parents as they hear the stories from camp. Pray for all of the cabin leaders that were here, for rest and the same thing, that they were changed because they were here!  Pray for the kitchen staff, for rest especially.  Pray for the ones that put the camp together, organized it and were in charge, for rest and the ability do it all again next year!  So many were involved, so many were touched, so please just pray for all involved with Girls Camp at Farmington!

OOPS - forgot...Daddy...aka...Mr. Bob - got to ride the mower all over with the wagon to pick up the garbage each day - to deliver inner tubes for the river and to keep the place looking great!  He did a great job and loved the interaction with the kids!

My heart is again overwhelmed!  We are so thankful to have been asked to serve at Girls Camp.  We thank you and love you all!!!

Please keep us in your prayers as well - so thankful to the awesome God we serve for stretching me more than I ever thought possible, forever changed!!!

Kristi ~
Bob & Carol
Galatians 6:9-10



Having to keep the fire going on our
progressive cook out...this was more
stressful than a cabin full of girls! :)

One of my awesome
little Blue Birds! <3





Miss Sara sharing her testimony at worship

some of our awesome food...have you
seen or eaten RED hot dogs?  Hmmm
I'm still confused about those...

Ms Paula & Ms Patty :)

More yummy food...

Ms Dorie...aka...our awesome lifeguard
and Ms Melissa AMAZING camp staff and
she also organized and facilitated the Missions
Fair which was one of my favorite parts of the week!

They did a great job!

Blue Birds helping with the
raising of the flag.



mmm mmmm good :)



More awesome kitchen staff and
our wonderful nurse Ms Donna

Water break

I want it ALLLLL!

Getting ready to head to worship

Worship time

Ms Ann (camp director) sharing
one of her stories.

Kat leading us in worship songs -
she has an amazing voice too!

Camptivities - campers got to pick
what activity - these were my
apron girls...see my head? I was there :)



Ok - notice I'm the only one with
that does NOT have my hands on my
nose and ear?  I never got it either...

One of the many skits I was in...

Yes...that would be
homemade breadsticks - YUMMO

Mom doing her thang...

One of the teams from our life size
game of LIFE on Fun night!

Staff team for in our Life game -
We landed on an Uh Oh - had
a spoon full of peanut butter on
our nose with a huge marshmellow
Which we had to leave on until
our next turn!

Yet another skit....

Can you say homemade PIZZA?

Amazingly YUMMY!
Shhhh don't tell anyone
but I had fourths this night! :)

Ms Patty

Awesome huge slip n slide

Our awesome Miss Kat!!!

Check out that form....That would
be my Miss Sara!

Ms Beverly and her precious
granddaughter...Yep, one of
my little blue birds :)

Getting ready to eat...singing our blessing

Mission Fair - Disaster Relief
group - they all had either a country
or ministry they had to research and
present to the rest of the campers...
They all did a wonderful job!

Their poster and presentation table

Presentation

Sara did an amazing job with the girls!

Two of our birds getting ready to
leave the nest...

Momma with the girls...

Ms Ann sharing her last story...

 

THANK YOU GIRLS CAMP AT FARMINGTON FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO COME ALONG SIDE OF YOU AS STAFF TO POUR INTO THE LIVES OF THESE GIRLS! 

I AM FOREVER CHANGED AND PRAY THEY ARE AS WELL ~ GOTTA TELL IT!!!

 

 

Donations and Sponsorships are welcomed!
Giving is a blessing for others as well as a blessing to us.

 

Pay Pal account -

enter kristiskreations1@yahoo.com (my business account) and follow the instructions.
If you do NOT have a Pay Pal account there is a .59 cent fee for the transaction.



To mail a check - please send it to our home church ~
First Baptist Church Salt Springs
C/O Mary Beth Gervais
24100 NE Hwy 314
Salt Springs, FL 32134.

Either way, whether you choose to make a contribution or not, please know that your prayers are very much wanted, needed and appreciated. We are walking by faith and know that God will provide! Thank you and God Bless!