Home from Campmeeting

We arrived home around 3 am on Sunday night. I can’t tell you how good it felt to crawl into my own bed!

Campmeeting was wonderful – as always! We were gone for 14 days. I have been recuperating for the last three days catching up on sleep and housework. My husband and I teach the Primary class at our campmeeting. This year’s theme was “The Parables of Jesus.” We had sooo much fun! I was so excited during the Camp Pitch (setting up) that I couldn’t sleep for three nights straight! During one of those long nights I came up with my theme for next year! I am so excited I can’t believe I have to wait a whole year! We’ll be doing “The Church in the Wilderness” and learn about the Waldenses and different martyrs through the centuries. The set will be a medieval/ forest theme and we’ll wear medieval costumes.

Anyway, so for this year the set was a Bible Marketplace. It turned out even better than I had hoped. I really hated to tear it down!

Here are some photos of the finished set:

Here is a photo of part of the “marketplace.” You can see the beautiful donkey cart that was built for me. My husband built the booths out of small tree trunks.

We had a food market in the donkey cart and the little table behind it. There was also a spice/herb shop and a basket shop. On the other side of the donkey cart is a blanket shop. My four girls painted the amazing “stone” floor for me and they even did the “stone” wall and sky on the backdrop!

This is a photo of the front of the room. The well has real water in it!

When the children first came in the room they walked right into this tent which housed the registration table.

We had a mountain and cave that the children had to walk through to get to the bathroom. We put a glowing purple light inside the cave.

Some of the highlights during the program – we learned the Jewish “Hora” dance.” The kids signed up for a “Talent Show” for the last Friday afternoon after learning the parable of “The Ten Talents.” On the last Friday night we had the parable of “The Wedding Feast.” Afterward we had a real Jewish Wedding feast. I spent the afternoon making:

Matzo Ball Soup
Lentils
Potato Latkes
A Wedding Cake

We had a blast working with kids. I am looking forward to next year!

Here is a slideshow of us setting up the stage. I took the photos, so you won’t see much of me!

Horse Club

Today was our 4-H Horse Club meeting. I was so sorry Sarah and Emily were gone and didn’t get to go! Hannah and Laura had a wonderful time! Here they are riding Train Wreck:

They even got to ride bareback for the very first time:

I think I found the perfect horse for my daughter Sarah. He is so gentle, well trained, and just gorgeous! He was a Wild Mustang from Nevada. I hope it works out!

Isn’t he beautiful???

A Day in Nature

Okay, so on Friday morning (last week) I took my daughter, Laura, to speech therapy. Hannah was with us, too. the parking lot was really full so we had to park quite a ways from the building. I pulled into a parking spot and there was a tree right in front of the car. Hannah says, “Mom, look! There’s a robin sitting on a nest!”

Sure, enough, there was a mommy robin sitting on a nest! We got out of the car, very excited. The nest was just above my eye level. The robin was startled when we got out of the car and she flew away. I couldn’t see into the nest and didn’t want to touch it, but I did hold my cell phone up above the nest and took a photo. There were no eggs on Friday.

So, this morning, we went back to speech and since we were running a little late, we didn’t stop to look at the robin’s nest until after the appointment. On our way back to the car (I brought my camera for the occasion!) we saw the mommy robin again sitting on her nest:

I stepped up on the curb (about 4 feet from the tree) and she was again startled and jumped up out of her nest, but stayed very close by on a branch. I held my camera up and took another photo, and this is what we found:

Are those not the prettiest little eggs you’ve ever seen??? We can hardly wait to see babies!

You know how much we love all of God’s creation – even snakes. But birds are just about our favorite. That is, if you don’t count horses.

This afternoon, we saddled, er, Emily saddled Ladybelle for the first time. (I took the photos.) Isn’t Ladybelle beautiful?? We lover her!

Side Note: In case you are wondering where my other daughter, Sarah, was… well, she is staying at our Middlesboro Church with a group of young people who came to work in the community doing literature evangelism (magabooking, canvasing). She loves the work! I am so proud of her. And in case you are a member in the Kentucky-Tennessee Conference, be sure to check out this month’s Connection newsletter – Sarah has an article in it!!

Anyway, while we were up with the horses, I took a photo of the apple tree. Wow, look at those blossoms! I hope we get that many apples!

The Best Birthday Cake Ever!

Well, today I am 34 years old.

I know. sigh.

However, despite the fact that I really don’t want to get older, this is sooo the best time of my life!

Today, my two youngest children, Hannah and Laura, surprised me! They got out their Easy Bake Oven and made me chocolate covered apples and chocolate cake! I forgot to take a photo of the apples, but they were really delicious! And the cake was really good – for real!

Our White Squirrel

In Search of a Horse

My four daughters and I have been anxiously searching for a horse for a long time. Earlier in the year we had looked quite a bit and even made a few calls on horses we were interested in, but then the year became so busy and full that it was pushed aside.

About two weeks ago I was in Dollar General with my little girl, Laura. She was wearing a shirt with a horse print on it. The cashier commented on the shirt, and said, “I just love horses!”

I responded by saying, “Oh we love horses, too. In fact, we are looking to buy one soon.”

Then, she said, “Oh, I know a lady who has a horse for sale.” She gave me her name. The woman also worked at Dollar General. So, a few days later I went in the store to see if this lady was working and she was. I asked her about her horse, and she informed me that she had already sold it, but she knew of another woman who was selling a horse. I went home with her phone number.

I finally got ahold of this lady on Sunday afternoon. We made arrangements for me to come out to her house on Monday evening. By the time we got out to her house, it was pretty much dark outside, but the horse was there close to the house. I ,er, the girls are so excited! Nothing is for sure yet, but I think it will all work out. It seems almost too good to be true!

First of all, the mare is a Tennessee Walking Horse, which I never thought I’d be able to afford. Secondly, not only is she a Tennessee Walking Horse, she is a Racking Horse, so she has a smooth gait – in other words, you don’t bounce as much in the saddle. And thirdly, she is a black and white paint horse which happens to be my favorite – exactly what I was hoping to find! Oh, and the lady is only asking $700.00 for her which I think is a steal! (She had originally paid $1500.00 for the horse.)

Oh, and not only that but the horse currently lives just a few doors down from where we plan to keep the horse which means we won’t have to worry about finding a horse trailer to borrow – we can just walk her down to her new home!

But wait, there’s more! She also has a miniature pony which comes with a saddle and is the perfect size for my littlest girl, Laura, to ride and is something she had been asking for, but I had thought we would not end up getting! So, this coming Sunday, we will head out to visit the horse and pony again to give them a good once over, to watch them interact with their current owners, and see the owner ride before we make our final decision. I have a good feeling about it. I think we are the new proud owners of a horse and pony!

Here is a picture of the horse: (It was dark outside so I will have to share better pics on Sunday)
And a picture of the miniature pony:

Summer Adventures: Part 4

Nathan Greene

One night during the Camporee, a famous artist, Nathan Greene came out on stage. I caught my breath because I just love his work! He was wearing his Pathfinder uniform (lots of patches!). I wispered to Laura, “That is the man who painted the picture of Jesus that is in your bedroom!”

I had framed a postcard of one of his painting and placed one in each of the girls bedrooms. Laura loves art and paints and creates daily. She was so excited to see him on the stage and we learned that he was teaching a painting and drawing class in one of the hangars! Laura begged to go meet him the following day.

So, bright and early, after breakfast, we headed across the air field to the hangar where he was located. By the time we got there, his class was booked for the entire week. I was disappointed! But I was able to introduce him to Laura and told him how much she loved art. I told him how she had a framed picture of Jesus that he had painted in her bedroom and that when she found out who he was she was sooo excited and hadn’t been able to stop talking about it!

He told her that as a young child he was very shy. He said that when he was 4 or 5 years old he started painting. Laura got her picture taken with him. He was very nice!

I was so thankful for Laura. She was so happy! If you are not familiar with his work, you should be! He has the most beautiful painting of Jesus I have ever seen! You can read more about Nathan Greene here and view his painting here.

Tiny Tots

Not only did Laura get to meet Nathan Greene, but she got to to be on TV, too!

About two weeks before the Camporee, Laura wrote a letter to “Auntie Linda” from Tiny Tots – one of her favorite television shows. She asked Linda if she could be on Tiny Tots. I was so afraid that her heart was going to be broken if it didn’t work out!

Two days before the Camporee we were watching Tiny Tots and as usual, at the end of the program, Auntie Linda pulled two letters out of her basket to read. Well, she only read one of them! Laura looked at me, crushed and said, “That other letter might have been mine!” I said, “Oh, no, honey. I am sure Auntie Linda hasn’t gotten your letter yet.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her that particular show had been taped a long time ago! But I knew she was really wanting to go to Tiny Tots!!

Well, at the Camporee, it just so happened that Kids Time and Tiny Tots had a booth in one of the hangars. We went over to check out the free coloring books, and while Laura was busy, I said to the man behind the table, “I know this is going to sound like a really silly question, but my precious little girl here REALLY wants to be on Tiny Tots. Is there any way?”

And he said, “Why don’t you ask Linda yourself.” She had walked up behind me and was talking to another lady!

So, I waited patiently (and anxiously). When I got my chance, I said, “Linda, I don’t know if you remember me – we came last year and volunteered for Kids Time. My husband, Mykal Ringstaff…”

Anyway, to make a long story short, she did remember me. I explained to her the situation. And she said, “Well, as a matter of fact, I had a little girl cancel on me for Monday. Can you be there?”

SO, when the camporee ended late Saturday night, we tore down our tents, packed our trailer, and pulled out of there at 12:30 am. to head to Louisville, KY to drop off Julina and the babies (her husband met us there). Talk about a long miserable fight to stay awake! Then, we headed back up to Thompsonville, IL to the 3AN television studios. We arrived around 6:00 pm on Sunday night.

Laura got to be in 6 or 7 different episodes in the Nature Walk segment. So, if you are able to watch tiny tots in the next few months, you’ll have to look for her!

It was so cute because after we had intially talked to Linda Johnson, Laura looks at me, shrugs her shoulders and says, “How did that happen. Here we were standing there looking at the coloring books and she just appears!”

I told her that Jesus had answered our prayers. When we got back to the tent, she said to her daddy (who had tried to explain to her that just because she wrote the letter didn’t mean she would be on Tiny Tots just days before…), “I told you I’d be on Tiny Tots!”

You can watch Tiny Tots on 3ABN (channel 9710 on Dish Network) or on the SonBeam Channel. You can watch 3ABN online here – Tiny Tots comes on during the week at 4:00 pm.

There are more adventures for the month of August I want to share… so stay tuned for Part 5!

Summer Adventures: Part 3

What can I say about the 2009 Pathfinder Camporee other than WOW? I knew that we were traveling 13 hours to Osh Kosh, WI to campout with 36,000 other Pathfinders. I knew that that was a lot of people. But I had no idea what to expect! This was my first Pathfinder Camporee and that of my children as well.

We left around midnight on Sunday night. The Camporee was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, but we had decided to get there a day earlier to set up camp. There were ten in our group: My husband and I, James, Sarah, Emily, Hannah, Laura, and then Julina (my husband’s daughter) and her two children Jacob and Jenna. It was a long night.

We arrived in Osh Kosh around lunch time on Monday. We stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a few camping supplies before actually driving into the air field. Who knew that out of 36,000 Pathfinders half of them had the same idea???

Every where you looked you saw cars and vans and buses with words like, “Osh Kosh or Bust!”

As we pulled into the gate of the air field, we were suddenly surrounded by thousands of people. It was so exciting to see! Kids were pitching tents and setting up camp every where you looked. We didn’t know that most of the conferences built fantastic displays to signify their region.

We got our tents pitched, and then I organized the food bins. It rained briefly (poured for several minutes) and then that was the last of the rain for the whole week.

Tuesday was a flurry of activity. We knew before we went that bathrooms and showers would be an issue. Imagine 36,000 people and only 500 showers and only porta potties available for use? And to get water for cooking and washing you had to walk quite a ways, stand in line, and carry back buckets of water.

The beating of drums was heard “througout the land” and all week long! I am a “new” Pathfinder and I never knew that Pathfinders played drums! It was a wonderful sound. I love, love, love the sound of drilling and drums!

Like I said, I had not really known what to expect. I understood there would be honor classes to work on during the week, but it was not until after we arrived that I really understood what that meant. The campus (air field) was so large that it took me 30 minutes (one way) to walk over the the hangars where the honors and other activities took place. I am soooo glad that we weren’t even further away as many were! I guess we walked about 10 miles a day. (Talk about exhausting!)

There were so many activities and classes and fun things to do – it was not possible to do them all! From BMX Bike shows to Motorcycle shows, to the 24′ rock climbing wall to dozens of honor classes to art classes to the bushcraft village to the prayer tent and the Messiah’s Mansion (life size tabernacle/ sanctuary) to the exotic animal shows to the very cool obstacle course to the community service opportunities to the puppet shows to the Native American display to the off site trips to Six Flags, Noah’s Ark Waterpark, water skiing, and so much more. They even had a booth where kids could just come and make crafts for fun! (see below)

There were booths where ministries displayed their free goodies and Advent Source had set up a store (very exciting to me!!)

There were food vendors – every kind of vegetarian item you could think of was available! I didn’t even realized there would be food vendors – I would have skipped cooking a few meals. It was like a Seventh-day Adventist wonder land. Sooo much fun!

And then there was the Trading Pins. Who knew that you needed to bring a collection of trading pins to join in the fun tradition? (see the photo of Hannah in the pink hat up above.)You’d think since I am married to a pastor who has been to Camporees before that he would have clued me in! But as the week progressed we had a nice collection of pins and in 5 years at the next camporee (if the Lord hasn’t retured by then) we will be ready!

And in the evenings there was the Worship Service. Oh my. It was fabulous! The theme of the camporee was Courage to Stand based on the life of Esther. Worship began with a puppet show and song service and talent show and more. But the highlight of each night was the play.

Oh, but I didn’t tell you about the stage! It was a fantasical stage built to look like Ester’s Palace – beautiful! And there were three huge screens so that everyone who was not close to the stage – which would be most of the 36,000 people – could get a good view.

Oh, and as you entered seating area, you had to walk through gates with guards and torches – very cool.

And then there was the exciting music that played while you sat and waited (and waited) for the program to begin. It was like a combination of Egyptian music and Adventure music – wonderful!

Going into the camporee I was thinking that it would be a cheesy church play – you know the kind. Well meaning church members act out a story to the best of their ability and everyone looks past their lack of talent out of love? That was not the case. The actors and actresses performed beautifully. It was so well done and professional. I was so proud! And the musical score for the play (which was really a musical) was very, very well done. I bought the CD and the kids just love the music!

On Sabbath (the last day of the camporee) over 550 young people were baptized – Praise God!

On the last night, after the program ended, we had a special surprise! All of a sudden, just as eveyone was standing to leave, fireworks began. It was a true delight and when they began I thought there would be just a few. They played some of my favorite songs as the fireworks exploded in the sky. But then they kept coming and coming – for at least 30 minutes ending with an amazing display for the “grand finale”! It was so special and as we left the service, my youngest daughter Laura says to me, “I am going to be sad to go home!” That pretty much summed it all up for the rest of us.

August was such an exciting time for us – I will share more of our adventures during the month in Part 4!

Summer Adventures: Part 2

August was such a fun month! It started off with a few days at Indian Creek Camp for the yearly minister’s meeting there. The speakers were fantastic. It was wonderful to get to chat with friends I only see a few times a year. There are several pastor’s wives in our conference that are dear to me. The kids got to spend time with some of their best friends. I am always grateful for that.

And the horses… My girls and I love horses and riding the horses at ICC is one of the highlights of our year!

Hannah – thrilled to be at the corral!

Laura riding the new horse – Pilgrim. Here, Jamie is leading her. Laura can hardly wait until next year! She’ll be 7 years old and allowed to lead her own horse and ride on the trail with the rest of us!
This is Hannah riding really well all by herself!

I have more photos of my other girls on the horses, but they were taken on my husband’s camera and I have not downloaded them yet! I’ll have to share those later.

This is a picture of Hannah and Laura with their good friends exploring nature – bugs!

For our Shepherdess Meeting (pastor’s wives meeting) we learned a bit about Photography. I love my camera and can’t wait to be able to afford a super nice (read expensive) camera. I take my camera everywhere and take hundreds of photos every month! For practice we went outside and took some nature shots. Here are some of mine:

Pretty flowers outside of the chapel.

I liked the way the light shone in through the tree leaves.

This is poison ivy. I thought it was a pretty good shot.

And last but not least, our pet Fowler’s Toad – aptly named Prince Charming. We let him go a couple of weeks ago. I am glad I got this nice shot of him.

When we got home from ICC, I had two days to prepare for the International Pathfinder Camporee in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin. Actually tho, I took Thursday to “recuperate” so that left me with Friday – which meant I had to take Sunday and finish packing – which meant we didn’t leave for Wisconsin until 12 midnight…. to be continued in Part 3!

Summer Adventures: Part 1

Wow, today was our first day of homeschool- more about that later! I am so glad to be back into a “normal” routine! But this summer was wonderful and filled with lots and lots of fun and adventures. I have been gone out of town for most of the month so I have lots to share with you over the next few days.

For now, however, I want to share some of our nature “finds” over the last three weeks.

This is a sweet little green caterpillar. I am not sure yet which kind it is. It is a type of silk worm, though.

Here is another sweet little caterpillar. Soft and fuzzy white – so pretty!

This is one of the biggest Praying Mantis’ we have ever found! It was at least 6 inches long. It is now happily living in our garden! My daughter, Hannah, who has eye as keen as a Hawk’s, saw this way up high on a Wal-Mart window as we were driving past! We had to stop, and climb to get it!

This is one of the most amazing bird nests we have ever come across. It is suspended between two branches and is like a little sack!

Here is another fun bug – the Walking Stick Bug!

A nice big grasshopper!

Some very interesting mushrooms. I need to get a mushroom field guide soon!

A toad hiding in an old cistern.

And finally, a bat just inches from our heads! So sweet and so tiny! Much smaller than the bats we found in our house. The bat, the toad, the nest, and the mushrooms were all spied at the Morengo Cave we visited last week in Indiana!

I can’t wait to share more with you!

Next Page »