Horizons Camp - Day 4

Day 4 of camp was another busy day for the kids, starting bright and early at 8am.  Rod, Lanny and Butler left this morning to head back to Texas, so it was pretty quite around the apt today.  Michael met with the Dean of Business to line out a schedule, while I did some laundry.  It is SO nice to have a washer and dryer and be able to keep everything clean.

Rod and I before his journey home

This evening, Michael and I went to worship with the Horizon campers.  They had awards at 6:30, then worship at 7pm.  I am not how many were in attendance, but there are 750 campers here, and a lot of the parents came tonight.  I would guess close to 1000.

 Michael, Colton & Bryson

 Courtney, Cody and Courtney

 They awarded campers that have participated in Horizons for 5 and 10 years, as well as staff.  Horizons has been going on for 31 years, and there was one man who received recognition for 30 years!

 Courtney looking over her schedule to see when she could get her coke float

 We sang one of my favorite songs "The Greatest Command" during early singing

 We stayed and listed to the Horizons singers after worship service

Headed to Commons to get coke floats

Patiently waiting

Nice, real nice

 We had a few minutes after they got their coke floats to walk around campus before their 10pm dorm devo

Michael headed out to go to a Mixer tonight hosted by FHU Admissions for incoming students.  He refused to let me take his picture before he left.

The kids have one more full day before we head home on Friday.  They all still seem to be having a really great time!

Horizons Camp - Day 3

Day 3 of camp started out with Courtney waking up with a rash on her face, mostly around her eyes.  I'm not sure of she had an allergic reaction to the medicine I gave her, or what it was.  But as the day went on, the rash got better and then went away. 

The camper's activities start at 8am, so between 8am and 2:30 they are busy with sessions/activities.  They have dorm time from 2:30 to 3:15, and then free time from 3:15 to 5pm (this is usually when we get to see them) to participate in sports activities, swimming or crafts.  They then have supper at 5pm, and evening worship starts at 7pm.  At 8:15, the evening activities start and they have several options they can choose from.  They go to their dorms at 10pm for a devotional, and no telling what time they go to bed.  But I figure as the week goes on, they go to bed earlier and earlier just from pure exhaustion.

Michael had his "official" campus visit at 10am this morning.  His student advisor was Margo who seemed very nice and informative about campus life.  She took us to Bell's Drive In after the tour.  Bell's claims to have "the best hamburgers this side of heaven."  And I have to admit, they were pretty good.  The building in the background is the Business building, where most of Michael's classes will be if he comes to Freed.

As we were finishing the tour, we ran into these two kids.  They were walking to their next session.

Today, during free time, we had a surprise birthday party for Lanny.

Bryson on piece #2.  Camp makes you hungry!

Colton

Rod went for seconds too

You really don't want to know what Cody was doing to Bryson

One of the MANY power naps Bryson has taken

The Courtney's

Butler and Bryson (and Cody taking his power nap)

Brotherly/Sisterly love.  It always starts out good and fun...but then somebody gets mad or hurt

Butler woke up from his nap and enjoyed the festivities

Me and the Courtney's

For the night time activity tonight, the kids decided to go to the Clayton Chapel singing.  Since it is close to where we are staying, we snuck over to sing too.  It was AWESOME!!

I think the kids are having a good time, but you can tell the fatigue is starting to set in.  Two more days!

Horizons Camp - Day 2

Today started the first full day of classes, so the kids were busy all day.  Rod and I decided to take a road trip north to see some dear friends, Molly and Ryan Turner.  Molly's family is from South Fulton Tennessee, about 80 miles from Henderson, and they are up there spending the week.

I have misplaced the cord to my GPS and the battery was dead.  So I googled directions this morning before we left.  And apparently, I am not too great at copying directions down on paper.

It took us making a wrong turn and going here

before coming back to here

to find this little girl and her family

I think she was as happy to see us, as we were to see her :)

And these little rascals too

We ate lunch with the Hatler clan.  I had met one of Molly's brothers before, and her mom many times.  They are just as sweet and nice as Molly is :)

It came a shower while we were eating which cooled things down quite a bit.  78 degrees at 2pm is much better than 100!

When we got back to the campus, Lanny took us on a walking tour.  We have our official visit tomorrow and will talk to Michael's advisor and hopefully get answers to our questions.

The backside of the dorm that Courtney is staying in

Lanny introduced Michael and Rod to Brian Butterfield, one of the professors here,  who was at the tennis courts playing tennis.

And the night ended with an awesome fireworks show!!  I wasn't able to get pictures of all them, but they were as good as the ones we saw in Jackson on Saturday night!

 Cody, Colton, Bryson and Courtney S. watching fireworks

Unfortunately, my Courtney got sick and I had to go back to the room with her right after this picture.  She has problems with acid reflux, and tonight was a bad night.  And of course I left her prescription medicine at home in Texas!  Michael went to the store to get her some over the counter medicine that will hopefully cure the problem.  She is snoozing peacefully now.  I pray that she will wake up feeling 100% in the morning!

Horizons Camp - Day 1

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early  - Bible classes started at 8:30 and morning worship at 9:30.  We walked to the church right across the street from the campus.  There were close to 600 in attendance.  We had an excellent Bible class lesson and an excellent sermon.  The sermon was based on this years theme of Horizons "What's the Point?"  Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.  God is the point.

 

 Walking to services 

 Me and Butler hanging out in the room Sunday afternoon

 Courtney and Butler playing cars :)  Our apt is right next to Court's dorm, so it makes it very convenient for her to stop by during free time.

I was worried about Courtney since she was the only the girl that came from Blossom.  Courtney had invited a friend to come, but at the last minute that fell thru.  And I can not express how extremely proud I am of her for coming knowing she wouldn't know any other girls, especially the one she would be living with for a week!  She was a little leery at first about coming as the only girl, but she just needed a little encouragement to make up her mind!   She finally met her dorm mate Sunday evening.  Her name is Courtney too - and she is very sweet and outgoing - just who my Courtney needed!!  And I am happy to report that she is having a BLAST!

The Courtney's

 They ate some of Butlers snacks before heading back to their room

There are 750 kids here this week.  Court has already said she wants to come back next year!  Yay!

Freed Hardeman Horizons Camp

On Saturday, our youth loaded up in the church van and headed to Henderson, TN, to Freed Hardeman University for the HORIZONS church camp.  Camp didn't technically start until yesterday, but since it is about an 8 hour drive, we came a day early.

Colton, Lanny, Butler, Michael, Courtney, Cody and Bryson

 Cody was so sweet and gave his mother a good-bye hug.  I keep telling myself the reason my kids did not give me one, is because they knew they would see me later that night.   

I waited until Rod got off work, and then we headed to TN too.  We drove in to Jackson around 9:15 and found Lanny and the kids at outside of Pringles park where the Jackson Generals play.  The Generals are the triple A team for the Seattle Mariners.  We sat in the parking lot and waited for the firework show that started after the game.

 It was a really nice show, and from what I hear, much better than the one in Paris

After the show, we made the 20 mile trip to Henderson.  We went and saw Courtney's dorm room.  She was in her room alone on Saturday night, but there were a few other girls scattered up and down the hall that had come early too.  We then went to our room - which is a 4 bedroom campus apartment - and crashed!