Youth Camp!

Mike went to YC as a team leader again this year - and he loved it! Unfortunately I could not join him during the week, but I was able to go up for the weekend. On Friday night, Alex, Nathan Lee and I drove up to Camp Ladore. It was a long time getting there, and 476 proved to be the bane of my existence Friday and Saturday. I'm pretty sure we missed every turn possible. On the way there, it went something like this:
I meet Nathan and Alex at the Smiths.
I remember that I forgot (oh the cruel irony) my camera about 2 mins away from the Smiths.
Alex graciously agrees to swing by my apartment so I can run in and get it.
We then proceed to Wegman's. The long way, because I forgot the short way. (Alex was sweet and wanted to get Michelle some chocolate there.) We thought we would then pick up the turnpike near Exton and 100. Then we realize that what we really need is 476 (not 76) and that where we really need to go is KOP. (Not anywhere near Exton...)
So we jump on 100 to get to 202. 202 South that is. Because once again, my brain malfunctioned and I failed to realize the correct place to pick up 202.
So we get off at Paoli Pike to head north. And we miss the turn for North. So we turn around again. Finally we are going North!
Then we miss 76 in KOP (which would have taken us to 476...but we did not realize that.) We continue on 202N thinking we will eventually find 476.
Then we hit Norristown.
And Conshohocken.
Supposedly we are on a detour? We are very very lost.
So we call Matt and Meg, Ben, Gus, and many others - no answer from anyone but Meg. She tells me that we should hit 476 soon, and while I am sure she is right, we are so lost that i really don't understand what she's saying. I thank her and tell her I'm sure we'll find it soon. :) Finally Gus calls us back. And he figures out where we are. We are somewhere in Montgomery/Bucks County. Fortunately we get the directions to turn on Germantown Pike BEFORE we miss it. And sure enough, accourding to Gus's directions, we finally find 476!!! WOOHOO!!
And that is when we realize that between Alex and I, we have a whopping $2 for tolls.
Fortunately, Nathan had a 20 :) All this, of course, raised the question, "what does one do if you are on the highway, you hit a toll, and you have no cash?"
i know I'm going to find out that answer to that question one day. I am not looking forward to it.
SO, we finally arrived, very late. But Alex was a hero for driving us up so late on a Friday night, and we are very grateful :)
Saturday was amazing. Even though I was only there for one day, I could tell this Youth Camp was particularly incredible. God did amazing things, and it was so encouraging to see all that he did in the hearts of the teens at camp!! I don't remember the exact number, but I believe something like 16 kids got saved! In addition, 20 (TWENTY!!) teens made a public declaration of their faith and were baptized. It was powerful.
I wish I could have been there all week, but the next best thing was that Mike was able to be there. He had a blast, and on the way home he couldn't stop telling me all the ways that God had been faithful to reveal Himself.
Here are some pics from Saturday (all because Alex was so gracious to drive me back to my apartment so I could get my camera :)


Nick was bragging about how many people at camp were related to him, so Joel arranged for an epic tug of war between all the Rice cousins.





Apparently, whoever lost their bandana had to undergo a punishment of sorts. On Saturday, someone recovered Joel's. His punishment? His bandana was lit on fire and he had to run to the lake to extinguish it. He went the extra mile and just jumped in.





Mom and Rosalia


Outside after the Team Leaders Meeting









Jenny and me




Patience and Elisha. Patience was an honorary member of our beloved Pink Team.




This girl is so stinkin cute. Little Joy.




Tug of War




Reunited at last :)

Also, to complete the 476 saga, going home we hit construction (supposedly...they had an awful lot of road blocked off for what appeared to be very little actual "construction"..) and bumper to bumper traffic. I remember casually mentioning, "hey, we didn't miss our exit did we?" Mike emphatically reassured me "absolutely not. we're on this road for a while.."
Quite a while in to our traffic jam, Tom calls Mike and asks, "umm...so...what mile marker are you at exactly?" Mike tells him, and adds that it shouldn't be too much longer til we're through the construction zone.
Tom says, "Well that'd be great...if you hadn't already missed your exit."
Yes.
We missed it.
We drove right on by 476.
Again.
And we had 8 miles until we could get off at another exit that would bring us (in a roundabout way) to 476. And we were not almost through the construction.
So that is why 476 was not my friend this weekend. If it hadn't been so frustrating, I suppose it might have been funny. :)

Putting one foot in front of the other

Because God will make it clear where He's leading me in His perfect wisdom and timing.

A quote that is serving me well today (thanks to Mich's great care for my soul):
"Regardless of God's will for your future, and without eliminating the real possibility of future transition, you can be certain that God's will for you this day (and for the foreseeable future) is to serve Him with gladness right where you are." ~ C.J. Mahaney

"...for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:11b-13

I certainly am in the learning process. But that excites me, because I know it is God's will that I should be sanctified, and I know that He will finish the good work that He has begun. He has always been faithful, and He will be again.

Dinner with Andrew at Kooma

Last night we had Andrew’s going away dinner. We went down to the Wilmington Riverfront and had dinner at Kooma – it was VERY good! I was a bit skeptical, because the only other word I’d ever heard it associated with was SUSHI. And SUSHI and I do not get along too well. Thankfully, they had cooked options ;)

It is a beautiful place – it reminded me of Stephen Starr’s POD – you should all def check it out when you get the chance.





Here’s Andrew and Rosie – one is 18, the other is 9. You would never know it from the way they interact…..i’ll let you figure out which age does not behave the way you might think it ought to…




Rosie and Dad




Andrew boy





Mom and me



And then there was the food. It was oh so pretty and oh so good.
Dumplings of some sort….they were really good….



I forget what these were



But Dad liked them



My dinner – rice noodles with chicken and shrimp in a peanut coconut sauce.



Rosie’s dinner – tempura fried everything. She ate most of it too!



Mom’s scallop dinner that she created. No really….she did…



Mike’s dinner. I’m not going to comment on this because quite frankly, I can’t handle it….



Andrew and his sushi.



Dad encouraging Andrew



Dad almost crying…right before he did cry….



Mom almost crying….



Mom and Dad. Love them.




And then we went outside to take some pictures. It was a beautiful night






And then we headed out to Rita’s for dessert. Andrew’s pick. They were featuring the flavor Swedish Fish. None of us were brave enough to try it. Personally, I can’t see that tasting very good….




We are going to miss this guy. But we plan to take MANY trips up to PSU to visit him. Especially during football season :)

This is what we do......

when Michael the Husband is in far off lands such as England having oh so much fun without me.
No, I'm not bitter, why do you ask?
;)
So Wednesday night, Margie and Meghan came over and we destroyed my apartment. It is officially in transition. Boxes are everywhere, the kitchen is in disarray, and all the vacuuming that I did has been entirely negated by all the dust from our sanding project.
What sanding project? Oh, right, the one that involves me having no clue at all what I'm doing. That one. That is why I involved Margie and Meg. I bribed them with French Toast (this seems to be a theme...hmmm...) and they agreed to go with me to Lowes and pick up supplies. In particular, I needed them to help me pick out a color to paint my hutch and server to match my new kitchen. I think we will be going with a Mother of Pearl white - which we will then attempt to distress. Distress is the artistic word for making something that you just finished (aka, brand new) look years and years older. Although, I don't need any artistic words to describe my painting expertise, because anything that I paint is certainly guaranteed to look distressed.
So all we started on Wednesday was the sanding part. It was tough work. Margie's arms hurt it was so tough. I will keep you all posted as we begin the actual painting part. Because that's sure to be a circus if I ever saw one. I really have no idea how it will turn out.


Margie and Meghan with their sanding blocks. The camera was focused on the wrong thing....sorry it's blurry.




This was after, like, 10 minutes......





She regained her stamina...




And they're still goin.....




I do not know what this is officially called. But it was super fun. It was sticky and its purpose is to lift all the dust off of the furniture being sanded. It provided much entertainment.





These are some moving boxes, courtesy of the lovely Reenie Burke. I've gotten as far as packing the books. I'm gonna need to pick up the pace a bit if I want to move into this house by the end of the month....





all the contents from the hutch. Some of my china....





This is what my dining room currently looks like. It's not a pretty sight. The kitchen is even worse.





And this here has nothing to do with moving. This is simply a representation of the benefits of not having to cook while your husband is away. Because you can eat fruit and whipped cream for DINNER! Very little prep necessary. It's a beautiful thing. Although, my eyes proved to be a little bigger than my stomach.....aaaand whether or not this is light whipped cream, well, I'll leave that up to you to figure out....