Party on the weekend!

This weekend was our adopt-a-counselor family night. Our family grew by three at the beginning of the summer when we "adopted" three counselors for the summer. Every year we are assigned counselors by random drawing of names and every year I find that God has blessed us with wonderful "kids."

Anyway, we went in with the Fersters, Jon-Michael, and Nick for our meal and called it a block party. We had BBQ ribs and plenty of fixin's to go with them. Matt made homemade ice cream -always a big treat- and I made three milks cake (Pastel Tres Leches). Abbie helped in a big way to clean the house and Carina and Naomi picked two hundred strawberries -yes, they counted- for topping the pieces of cake.

Conversation was lively and certainly interesting for the evening. We talked about cows, college, motorcycles, missionaries, explosions and chickens to name a few topics. Of course with a combined seven children ages 11 and under(4 of ours and 3 of Fersters), there was a generous peppering of, "_______ don't do that," "______ put down that stick," "_______ get back from the fire," "Ellie, come back," and "Where is Ellie?"

I guess I wanted to write about the evening because it was fun but also because the adopt-a-counselor thing is such a huge blessing/opportunity for us. We are given the opportunity to build into the lives of adults who are on the threshold of serving God as an adult individual. To me, this is an incredibly important and exciting ministry.

Drivers in the family

Last evening we played outside. Ok, we play outside every day but yesterday we got a special treat when Dwight, the camp mechanic, got out a go-cart that he fixed so the staff kids could drive it. They were nearly falling down they were so excited. Well, Ellie wasn't totally excited at first anyway. She stood in front of me but so close that she was just about behind me saying, "keert." (that means scared in Ellie-talk) She got used to it though and got to the more important business of trying to feed Nilla, the dog, a blade of grass.

I have gotten off the subject. No comments, please! :-) Back to it...Seth got in the cart and drove the three laps grinning all the way. Carina came around the first lap apparently concentrating on driving but she looked like she was about to fall asleep at the wheel. I kind of missed watching Abbie drive because that was when Ellie was trying to disappear into my legs.

I am trying to learn how to post pictures. I did take a couple last night. No, really I did. I will prove it when I figure out what happened to the one I thought I uploaded into this post!

Countdown already?

Ok, the countdown has begun. We leave camp in 22 days. Yikes!!!

School is fairly well planned out but I need to plan for math and finalize science plans. I have not begun to think about what to pack...which clothes still fit the children?which clothes should be packed for the trip?which clothes should be packed for Haines?which clothes should be left here at camp? How many books should the children take along?...toys (which ones)? Should we take Seth's guitar? What am I going to do for knitting projects on this trip?

Beyond that there is the powerpoint presentation(s). Maybe Bill will do that. He did last time. What should we do for a display? That's my territory. :-)

Oh yeah, camp is still going on, too. Today began the last Bronco (age 10-11) camp of this year. Ninety-two of them came today. It was interesting as Abbie pointed out about 8 campers that she has met at camp previously. Carina saw a few, too. Abbie will say hi to them; Carina is too shy. I guess I can't blame her --she is her mother's daughter.

Please pray that I, we, all of staff will keep focused on why we are here at camp rather than get distracted by what is coming after. On the other side of the coin, please pray that I will be ready for this four-month road trip!!!!

Rain, rain, rain...

Will it ever go away? We have had so much rain in the last week. I know, I know -- what can I expect from a rainforest? But this has been heavy showers, not the usual misty, light rain we are used to in the summer. Also, except for yesterday, it has been constant for more than a week.

Now yesterday was a different story. It was absolutely beautiful with a light breeze that kept the bugs away. As soon as Ellie got up from her nap we checked on the baby chickens and went straight to the beach. The big kids were playing in the sand so she joined them and I got to visit with counselors a little.

Bill went out fishing for halibut with several other staff members. They had a good time catching a few fish and a lot of rays, after which they checked the crab pots. Yummm. Crabs for supper.

Today we are back to the rain again for the first day of this summer's teen camp. Our numbers are slightly up for attendance of this camp compared to recent years. Perhaps the jr. high crowd is advancing into the teen camp age bracket now. Anyway, it looks to be a fun camp this week with a "Gillian's Island" type theme and a speaker who is a seminary student from Master's College in California.

That's all for now.
Have a lovely day, Michele

P.S. Ellie is not complaining one bit about the rain. She rides in the "baby backpack" as she calls it to the dining hall and stomps in every puddle on the way home again. Tonight Seth and his friend played in the road throwing dirt bombs (balls of mud) and watching them explode on the road. No, they didn't make it a target practice, but Seth did end up with mud all the way up his arms!

Hello, New World!

Well, here it is! The first post on the first blog for the Diggins family of Alaska. I feel like I have just entered a new world...or perhaps I have just begun to enter the 21st century! Anyway, here is a short update on what is happening here:

Maverick #2 (Jr. Hi) is this week. With 105 campers, we have a good amount of energy around here. The sky trolley is getting plenty of use and the tubing is very popular with this group. They are out and about all over camp in spite of the downpours we are having this week. Yes, downpours...there is hardly a break between them all day long and night, too.

Jon-Michael is the camp speaker this week and he is a very popular speaker among the jr. highers. He mentioned to me earlier today that a camper this week has been very angry with him. When he spoke the truth of Jesus in chapel it didn't match up with the teachings of the cult this camper is involved in. He had no clue someone was here from that cult and he did not address any issues directly regarding any cults. He simply spoke Biblical truth. Could the Holy Spirit be awakening a heart? We all hope so. That is why each member of our camp staff is here.

Ok, I am closing for now. I want to see if I can actually get this to post properly, etc. Until next time...

Safely in His hands, Michele for the Alaska Diggins family