Oh camp....

Two weekends ago, the three of us drove down to the lovely Hidden Acres in Dayton, IA to visit Jason's brother Michael and his girlfriend Bailey who are on staff for the summer...
It was delightfully sunny and hot all three days, and Jonas loved the horses most of all, the paddle boats, (yes, I know, the life-jacket is ridiculously large for him:) and pushing Daddy and Michael off of the floating dock....I personally loved watching Jason and Michael do the rope swing together:)Hidden Acres is a dear place to both my heart and to Jason's---you see, I went there for three summers as a camper with my cousin Julie---and I loved, loved, loved it---even did horse camp one year:) Jason was a camper for several summers (a few we are sure overlapped the ones I was there:) and he was on staff for 5 summers----so needless to say, going back is nostalgic for both of us....it is crazy how things change---new beautiful buildings sprouting up all over the place (we stayed in the new Inn for crying out loud----not very campish to me, but it was super nice:), however some things never change---like Lake Lechler, and the mud everywhere after it rains, and the u.n.b.e.l.i.e.v.a.b.l.e view of the stars at night---this place has the best view I have ever seen because it is out in the middle of nowhere, so nighttime is PITCH black, and the stars rule the sky. I even remember that as a camper, taking night walks and star gazing, and it is hard to believe that was when I was in 7th grade...my 12-year old self was just as stunned by God's glory in the night sky as my 26-year old self. And it is moments like this that just make me feel like I really haven't grown up yet. That is what camp does to you---you return to your kid-self---and all of the memories of hot, sleepless nights in your sweaty sleeping bag, of running through the woods during a big game, recklessly ignoring the accumulating scratches on your legs, of wearing your swimsuit all day (or week:), and worshiping around the crackling campfire with sticky marshmallow fingers come flooding back to you...and you miss it all like crazy.
We both shared how we missed this place and just the camp experience in general (as you know--I also spent 3 summers working at Covenant Harbor and Jason worked for one of those summers, the one where we got engaged!:) So, we talked again about Jason's big, long-standing dream---running his own camp. We love camp ministry and since both of us attribute so much of our spiritual and emotional growth to experiences and relationships built at camp, we long to be apart of this again, and equip others to grow in the Lord like we did. So here's to dreaming a big dream... It's good to know we have support too----everyone in this picture loves camp. And Derek and Michael have said for the longest time that they'd be up for starting a camp with us----so we're all dreaming, and we're all young, so who knows?... It could happen:)