LIFE CENTER CHURCH FAMILY CAMPOUT

We headed up to Big Bear this past weekend for our annual church campout. We were really blessed with great weather - nice cool days and even cooler nights!! It was high alert for fires, but they did let us have them, so everybody got to sit around the campfire and have their smores in the evening! We did have a little rain yesterday and it was soooo cool! It was getting darker and darker, a little windier, thunder rolling. It rained a short time and then it was over, the sun came back out and it was wonderful!

I love the campouts because people come together - it's more than us passing each other in the foyer of church for a quick 'hi' on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to camp at the site because they didn't have electricity (can't sleep without my CPAP!) - so we rented a house on the other side of the lake from the camp grounds. But we did spend time at the campground during the day and evening and watched people help set up camps for the others - people sharing food - people making themselves at home at others sites - kids playing with each other - parents taking a break and going for a walk/bike ride leaving their kids with other adults and not having to worry about them. While we were all having our picnic lunches around noon on Saturday Dan and Terri got a call from Dan's mom that his dad had passed out and was on the way to the ER, his blood pressure was 60-something over nothing - the bottom number of his BP bottomed out. It was pretty serious. He asked that we pray and we all stopped what we were doing and gathered around to do just that. Then the 'family' kicked in. Pam and I told them we'd take the girls while they drove to Riverside to see his dad (who was helping family move in the Riverside area), Darren handed over our GPS, and Ron, Darren, and several others went to work on their camper, zipping it up, etc., preparing for the rain and Dan and Terri headed down the mountain. It was so awesome to see the family pull together like that. We took the girls into town and spoiled them as best we could, arcade, shopping, and junk food!! We got a call that his Dad was conscious and alert - praise the Lord. Then we get another call - he may need to stay a day or two for observation, but he's fine. Praise the Lord again. And then came another call - He's going home!! A HUGE Praise the Lord!!!!! We were so thrilled to get that call. We were in K-Mart and we stopped right there and we thanked the Lord for healing Brittany and Brooke's grandpa.

So that's why I love the campouts - our family comes together in so many ways!! Below are some fun pictures!!


This is all of us being spiritual - some of us are raising our hands in praise and some of us have our heads bowed in prayer!! Are you convinced?? :-)


Group picture of the campers!!


Here we are this morning - Sunday morning - at 'church.' Pastor George did a quick devotion - it was short and sweet, but really good! He had people share about what they were thankful for, for the weekend - it was great to hear the blessings - "laughter," "more bonding," "renewed friendships" "prayer in time of need" "helping first time RV campers set up." Very cool!


We rented a pontoon boat and spent part of the day on the lake - here's one of our sailors at the end of the day!


Captain Brooke guiding us through the waters!!


Have you ever seen a floating outhouse?? We were joking as we were coming up on it that that's what it was, then we pulled up next to it and oh my gosh - a floating outhouse!!! How fun is that??!!


Here's a group just hanging out!!

A great time had by all!!!