God blessed us with an OUTSTANDING Family Camp and we are sooooooo thankful. We had 6 saved, 7 sanctified, 3 filled with the Holy Ghost, and 5 healings. Praise God! And that's besides the numerous blessings that God poured out on the rest of us, the strength and comfort He gave, the refreshing and nourishment to our souls, and the good fun and fellowship we enjoyed. It was just such a wonderful time in the Lord. He truly knows what we need and when we need it! He's sooooo good to us and I'm so thankful for His continuing care and His perfect timing.

We were so thrilled to have Ray Adams and family come all the way from Canada to minister to us. They are, after all, some of our very own and it was another "family reunion" to have them there and enjoy the time with them. And God used Brother Ray to minister to us -- I hope their family was blessed as well.

As always, Camp was a blast. I missed out on a lot of picture taking opportunities due to being involved in the action, or in filming it (!), but I know Tammi Adams didn't miss a thing. ;-) I think we're going to hire her as our official Camp photographer. I'm anxious to see what all her camera produced. We're going to be compiling a CD of a whole bunch of Camp pictures and selling them (assuming someone is willing to buy them, that is!), so that'll be great.

Anyway, here are some pictures from our services. The young people really led the way in the altar and it was so beautiful to see them pouring their hearts out to God, and especially praying with one another and encouraging each other in the Lord. WOW. It was such a blessing!!!




 

How 'bout the face of self-deception?! Ha! I love this picture.

We were blessed with an OVER-abundance of musicians at Family Camp this year! :-) It was so great. "Auntie Em" (or "M&M," as Sam calls her) did a really fantastic job with music. It was so much fun -- and such a blessing, too. Thanks, Em! I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE. Go ahead, leave just one little itty-bitty comment to let everbody know you're really there! You know you want to!!!! It's just a click away! ;-)

And here's the happy, however orange-shaded couple -- Ray & Tammi Adams. The funny glow comes not from their radiance (however radiant they may be!), but from the light shining through the circus tent we were using as a chapel. Sounds strange, I know -- but it was so great! I loved it!!! (Even without the trapeze! HA!)

This is a kid named Dimetre, although I'm pretty sure that's NOT how you spell his name. That's okay, because I called him Pirate Boy most of the week anyway. -- Especially when he wore a black and white striped shirt! He is sooooo cute.



This was an interesting variation of the traditional game. If you'll notice, several of the bigger guys have their legs tied together at the knees. Brother Keven's team won two out of three, for which we were all thankful since he's not the most graceful loser in the world. HA! (Just wait, Keven will discover the blogging world and read that! YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU, KEV!!!)



I'm not sure exactly why I posted this picture, except that I knew Philip would enjoy it. This is him and Daniel Doerfler, "The Human Wheel." WEIRD. It takes all kinds, I suppose!


And here's a picture of me with BROTHER RAY. It's been years since we've had a picture taken together, so I figured it was way past time! (And doesn't Sammy look SO HAPPY?! Ha! I love it!)

 

Chris and Shanda Clarkson taught the Junior class. Cute crowd!

And Sam & Tammy Kaufman taught the littlest kids.

This is the first campground we've ever been to that had an archery range and it was definitely a hit! The kids had a BLAST, and a good portion of the adults as well. Chris Clarkson was so kind as to teach all of the little ones how to shoot. As you can tell from this first shot, his son has already had plenty of practice! And Cainan was nice enough to share his bow with the other short people since the larger bows were too hard for them to pull back.



Next up is Caleb. He'd never shot a real bow before (although rumor has it he constructs his own homemade version quite regularly), but he was a natural. He hit the target four out of five tries -- twice! AMAZING!



Joe LOVES the whole bow and arrow thing, so he was THRILLED with the opportunity to try the real deal! (He has a couple of plastic arrows with the suction cups on the end, and he uses a plastic hanger for a bow here around the house -- or the elastic bands on the wrestling ring of his Sumo of the Opera play set! Ha!) He was sooooooo excited.



And then there's Sam. He did quite well, too, for a little guy. If I thought somebody wouldn't get hurt, I'd set something up in the backyard for the boys to practice their shooting on. But I think I'd best wait another year or two for that -- especially with Sam! He's rather dangerous even without a weapon in hand! ;-)



Well, that's it for now. I'd best get busy again. Again, keep us in your prayers.

God bless!
~Becki~ 

I was going to post some pictures along with a report of our Family Camp (we just got home yesterday), but my camera batteries are DEAD and I can't get those pictures onto the computer right now. So I figured I'd try once again to post these ones that Blogger wiped out last time I tried to post them. Ggrrrr.

These were taken at the new addition to the Tennessee Aquarium on our way home from the last trip -- the last one before Camp, that is. Interestinlgly, there are no pictures of fish, or even water. Our family seemed to enjoy the butterfly garden more than all the rest. I've always thought butterflies were pretty, but rather boring. But this was soooooooo neat. So many different varieties and they were so people-friendly!


James was our "catcher" because the butterflies weren't the least bit nervous around him. (Probably because he moves soooooooooo slo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ow! Ha!) He could just walk over and pick up whichever one he wanted.



Nobody can strike a pose like Katie! She LOVED the butterflies.



Joe FINALLY found a butterfly that would let him hold it. Nevermind that the poor creature had been sorely abused by lots of careless little ones before us and was in no condition to fly away. Oh well. Joe never knew.



And here's Sambo. He is precisely the type of kid that is the cause of the previous butterfly's injuries! So we didn't entrust him with one of the fragile little things. But this one found a nice perch atop his hat, so we took a picture quick, before Sam discovered it. You'd never know to look at the brown and black markings on this side of it's wings, but when it spread them to fly, the top side of it's wings was a gorgeous, brilliant blue color.

Okay, that's it for now. My house is trashed and there's soooooooo much to catch up on. But I'm sooooooooo happy to be home!!! We had a FANTASTIC Family Camp and I'll be sure to post about it when I get the time -- and when my batteries are charged so I can add pictures! Until then, please keep praying for our family and especially for The Church of God. I know God is hearing all of the cries of His people and is already answering them. He loves us sooooooo much. I lean heavily upon that at this point!

Love you All!
~ Becki ~ 

Oooooohhh. That is soooooo frustrating. It's SO late and I'm SO tired, but I sat down and took the time to write a lengthy post and put several pictures on it, I went to publish and *WHAM-O* it's gone. "We're sorry, we were unable to complete your request." Somebody ought to be drug out to the street and shot. If only I knew who...

Maybe I'll make time to try again tomorrow, but for now, I'm going to bed. James did want me to post this picture of our family with the Pruitts though, so here it is. (Assuming this thing doesn't flurb out on me again, that is!) We went with Mom and Dad to visit them for a few minutes on the 4th of July. We had such a nice time with them and I'm so thankful for the precious moments like that God has blessed us with. Such wonderful, wonderful people.

Well, that's it for now. Got to try and get some sleep. Until next time, please keep me in your prayers. God has brought some pretty tough things into my life these past couple of days and I want Him to work His perfect plan in my heart through all of this. There is a reason for everything. I don't understand this, but I trust Him. Sorry to end on such a "bleak" note (!), but I really would appreciate your prayers. God knows.

Until next time -- which will hopefully be before Camp this next week...

~Becki~ 

After!!!

At the reception they played some crazy game where Hector had to try to "woo" Erika all over again, but he was behind her so she couldn't see him. From what Sam & Tammy could tell (it was all in Spanish, of course!) it was GREAT! Luis had to try to "woo" Keila as well -- they were trying to talk the girls into marrying them all over again or something like that. They said Luis was HILARIOUS and Keila about died when she finally turned around and saw Luis in his big afro and giant shades! How fun! Now really, isn't this how every wedding should be???