Green Lake

Every year, our whole church does a weekend trip together to Green Lake, Wisconsin.  Families stay in tents, cabins, houses, or hotels, and we gather together for a pancake breakfast, church, baptism at the lake, and a couple of evening activities.  It is such a blast to look around your campsite and see people you know all around you.  The kids get to play with friends for four days straight, and the adults chat and laugh and relax and cook.  It is always such a sweet time for fellowship and community, and this year was no exception.  

We camped with friends, and it was super fun to do meals together and share supplies and food.  Hours were spent around the campfire late at night, hours were spent sitting around and catching up, and I was blessed to connect with many different people from our church, some old, some new.  The weather could not have been better, and the grounds where we stayed were beautiful.  

This was truly one of those, "it takes a village" type of weekends.  People watch each other's kids, hold each other's babies, share food and drinks and blankets and cups and tables.  It is truly awesome.

One of my favorite moments was a dinner where four families joined together to eat.  There were two pots of chili to share, someone held a baby, someone else grilled some burgers, everyone put their stuff on the tables and shared it, and someone did dishes.  The kids were coming and going, eating and playing, and the adults all worked together to enjoy dinner and clean up for an event that was starting soon after dinner.  It was a really neat picture of community, and I treasured that moment.

I love, love, love our church family.  We have the coolest people there, and it is an honor to do life together. It is such a safe place to share joys and struggles, laughter and tears, celebrations and sadnesses.  I am feeling very thankful to have found our church home.

(And if you are ever looking for a church home where you can be yourself and learn about God's love for you and do life with other people, please, let me know!!  We'd love for you to join us!)

Some highlights for me that I want to capture...

• Micah running around at night with his glowstick around his neck (so we always knew where he was by looking for his green light)
• talking theology around the campfire
• a family walk to breakfast on some beautiful roads and trails
• sitting in camping chairs in the middle of the day, with nowhere to be and nothing to do, catching up with friends
• playing frisbee with my hubby
• cooking dinner on the fire
• hearing testimonies of God's work in people's lives over the past year
• getting pulled up on stage for an Improv game (very intimidating and out of my comfort zone, but fun, nonetheless)
• watching the children play in the sand and the dirt and the bounce house, sword fighting and playing hide and seek
• eggs and bacon for breakfast, chili for dinner, and smores for dessert!
• watching Micah and Sammy dance in the children's song at the beginning of our evening show (Sammy's first time on a stage!!)...Video at the end of the post, if you'd like to see!  (Disclaimer: awful videotaping as I was trying to watch my children dance and record at the same time...not an easy task for me...)

Here are some pictures from the weekend...I guess we were too busy having fun because I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do.  Here's a glimpse...

And here's the video of the boys...