A Camping We Will Go With My Own Burning Bush

Has it truly been a week since we began our camping journey?  It was a packed weekend and the younger kids had a wonderful time.  

There are pros and cons to camping close to home.  We encountered one of the cons:  too many trips back into town to get something we forgot.  The whole point of camping is usually to save money, however, we killed that idea with our gas bill.  The pro involved bringing one of my children home in the middle of the night after he had an accident so he could calm down and get cleaned up and have a good nights sleep.  Figuring out how to get out of one's tent in the dark can be difficult and the ensuing accident was very hard on his soft ego.  So, down the mountain came mom and two of her children (one was the babe too young to be without me).  The baby did wonderfully and slept like a champ.  He was the cleanest of all of my children at the end of each day.  I am amazed at how dirty they can get.  


Six kids and Dad went for a three hour hike.  They had a marvelous time and Mommy enjoyed having a short break from all the hustle and bustle.  I am not able to hike this summer due to an ankle injury but I enjoyed hanging out with Lydia and playing Yahtzee...well, except for her getting three Yahtzees and scoring 500 points.  WOW!!  I didn't even have a chance.  

We got a new tent because we were in need of a bigger tent.  I was nervous about a 12 man tent being too much for me and my 13 year old to put up on our own, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Once we figured out the directions, it was a breeze and breaking it down was even easier.  I am in charge of setting up the campsite without the help of Dear Old Dad because he is at work when the rest of us are looking for our favorite spots.  Camping seems to have become all the rage and we have to leave earlier in the week in order to find a spot.  Thankfully, several of my kids are quite helpful and seem to enjoy helping me set up camp before they break loose into the wilds.  

I have a HUGE PRAISE about how God showed His loving attention to detail in my life...On Friday morning, I was organizing my covey before leaving the tent so I could have someone watch the baby while I traipsed to the restroom and started the fire.  Dear Hubby was gone and I was on my own to get the morning started.  As I stepped out of the tent, I was blown away by what I saw.  Our fire was started.  I know the cynics are going to declare that we hadn't put out the fire all the way the night before, but that is not the case.  We had.  We even poured water on the embers to ensure that they were out.  When Hubby left at 6, there was no fire in the pit.  When I came out of the tent at 7, there was a fire.  There was only one small piece of log from the night before and it was ablaze.  I was so thankful, overjoyed and touched.  I added more logs to the fire and called the kids out to witness our miracle.  We have such an amazing God that we serve and He is good all the time.
 
We are heading out again tomorrow to get in one more trip before the weather turns and school starts.  The kids are super excited (minus Keren) and we will be joined by friends this time.  I'm sure it will prove to be an exciting weekend.  


I'm off to start packing up the van so we can pull out early in the morning.  Have a wonderful weekend and may the Lord's face shine upon you and your family.