Tomorrow we fly home. It's been one month that we've been here in Big Lake, Alaska, serving the Lord at Camp Maranatha. What a month it's been! I don't know when I've ever worked so hard, and I have an extreme appreciation for what Becky & Terry Livengood do up here at this camp! I know that the Lord is blessing them and their sweet family as they are ministering to the needs of the Alaskan people. I admire them so much.
***
Victoria. Oh. My. Gosh! What a trooper she is! She has worked sooooo hard up here, and she has served her Lord well. NOT. ONE. COMPLAINT. EVER!!! Unbelievable, her work ethic is. If we had a 5 AM wake up time to get to the kitchen by 6, she was on it. No complaints. If we spent LONG days working in the kitchen, she did what was asked of her without ONE complaint! What 17 year old does that??? My kid, that's who!
***
Christy Conrad. My new friend. She and her husband Kevin live up here at the camp and help out Becky & Terry with the daily running of the camp. What a kick it's been to meet them and to work alongside them. They are adoptive parents of several children and have fostered many others. Christy has a heart for the children without parents. Recently, she had been fostering a baby named Joy while her mother was seeking treatment for some issues. Joy had been in Christy & Kevin's lives since she was a day old. Joy is now 7 months old, and just this past week, the paternal grandparents got their way in "The System" and were given the right to keep Joy until reunification with Joy's mother. It was hard letting go of Joy on Friday. Tough, tough time.... lots of prayer covering that baby.
***
What we've learned while serving at Camp Maranatha:
1. Standing on your feet doing dishes for 2 1/2 hours straight is HARD work.
2. Doing dishes for 2 1/2 hours straight ruins your hands.
3. Being on your feet for the better part of 14 hour days makes your ankles turn into kankles.
4. When you develop kankles and your skin has really swollen up, the sub dermal layer of skin breaks apart, giving the appearance of a nasty rash. :-/
5. Alaska is beautiful.
6. The Alaskan people are very down to earth.
7. Mosquitoes love me.
8. If you wear sandals because your feet and ankles are swollen, you WILL get mosquito bites on the bottom of your feet.
9. I can live a month without blow drying or stying my hair.
10. Alaska is gorgeous.
11. The view at Camp Maranatha never gets old.
12. Being Dead Dog Tired is a good thing.
13. 60 degree weather in July is a GOOD thing.
14. They don't really do much celebrating of the 4th of July up here, in the typical sense. Sure, they have the food & decorations, but no fireworks. The sun doesn't set.
15. Terry Livengood has willpower like none other.
16. Becky Livengood demonstrates Grace on a daily basis, like none other.
17. I should learn how to show Grace, by Becky's example.
18. It doesn't really rain hard up here.... it's just constant. Like all night long. Drip, drip, drip.....
19. Nothing tastes as good as freshly caught salmon.
20. Hard work really doesn't kill you.
Hourglass Lake
Vic holding elk antlers.
Vic & I near a river leading to Hatcher's Pass.
Time to serve DINNER!
FRESH SALMON!!! There is NUTHIN' better!
BELOW: Part of the teen camp was a symbolic yet heartfelt moment when they had written their sins, or what needs changing in their lives on a board, broke it, just like Christ did for them, and then tossed it in the fire. Prayer followed for each camper. Beautiful moment.
Moose meat burrito! YUMMO!
AHHHHHHH!!!
Becky & Terry Livengood. My heroes.
***
And that's my life so far...
I ache. Really ache. All over ache. From the bottoms of my feet to my shoulders ache.
I love being here in Alaska, but the work is definitely not for the faint of heart. I admire Becky so much for the grace & endurance in which she works. She is tireless. I'm sure she gets tired, but she never, ever acts like it.
These old joints just ache. And this evening, while working in the kitchen at the clean up station, I did something to my right ankle on the outside. Something snapped. Not sure what's up with that, but it nearly buckled me to the floor. My calves are so tight from all the walking, and finally, something gave way. I hope it's better tomorrow after a full nights rest. I hobbled back to the Lodge after the dinner mess was cleaned up. And I ache.
Victoria is doing very well up here.... she is loving working in the kitchen and is also tireless. I'm so proud of her! Her feet ache too, but after a short rest in our room, she's back out there with the teens. Good for her! Another night of Teen Challenges where they'll get all dirty.....They will clean off in the lake before getting back in our room at midnight to take a shower. She is definitely having fun.
I ache. Every joint from my hip bones to my toes ache. I wonder when I'll get used to this? Hopefully soon.....
Some random happenings & observances here at Camp Marantha:
1. It's beautiful here.
2. I brought Kansas City's hot weather with me.... it had to have been in the mid 80's here today.
3. Sunset tonight is 11:39 PM.
4. It never really gets dark here.
5. People are very friendly up here.
6. No need for air conditioning here.
7. A little boy caught a fish tonight and took a sharp knife & cutting board from the kitchen, with his parents, and gutted his fishy. I had to clean it up. Nasty.
8. It's peaceful here.
9. I took a nap today to the sound of children playing outside. It was serene.
10. Camp food is NOT for those who are trying to watch what they eat.... Not very healthy at all.... but it sure is tasty!
And I ache.
***
And that's my life so far....
This RAD mom decided to bring her RAD kid on a month long mission trip up to the beautiful state of Alaska! Since my RAD kid is headed down the pathway of becoming a missionary, I figured why not spend a month in Alaska, sorta getting her feet wet in the mission field and see how she likes it! So, here we are!
We arrived on Monday, June 30th at 3:02 in the afternoon, Anchorage time. The flights were long, but basically uneventful... which is a good thing! No delays, cancellations, or problems this time.... so yay for that!
We arrived at the campsite in the evening and spent the first night unpacking and settling in. It's sooo good to see my good friend, Becky & her husband, Terry and of course their kids. Becky used to be my Kaleidoscope Children's Choir accompanist a LONG time ago... we've known each other for years. She and Terry moved up here oh, about 10 years ago or so, to oversee the church campsite. They've done a marvelous job, and have turned the camp around in no time. Our job for the month is to help out in the kitchen, cooking for the masses.
This week is "Family Camp." Vic is making new friends and is having a ball! They are having a teen night of activities tonight and she plans to be out very late. I reminded her that that would be fine as long as she didn't give me any trouble about getting up at 6:15 in the morning... :) We have duties in the kitchen at 7:30.
The work here is exhausting and yet gratifying at the same time. I admire Becky so much for how hard she works when there is a camp going on. She is tireless... Ya start breakfast for 200 at 7:00 AM, feed them at 9, then clean it up and start preparing lunch.... feed them at noon or 1, then clean that up, have a bit of a break, then start in on the dinner preparations. Everything we cook is in massive quantities... which is so fun for me! I hope that the Lord allows me to be a caterer when I get to Heaven! I love cooking for this many people!!!
Case in point.... today I made a banana cake.... actually, about 10 of them! We only baked 4 and froze the rest of the batter. I mixed up 1 gallon (GALLON) of Crisco, 1 1/2 gallons of sugar, 3 gallons of flour, some vanilla & baking soda, 1/2 gallon of sour milk.... Do you know what that looks like??? Well, I definitely needed to work on my arm muscles to handle that one! I thought my arm would fall off! And then I topped the cake with a banana / cream cheese frosting.... it was so yummy. People raved about it. :)
Okay, here's the thing.... at camp, because of the cost of food, Becky makes a lot of food that is carb laden... and I have to be BETTER at not eating it... Starting tomorrow. I just don't like the way I feel when eating too many carbs. So, note to self: lay off the carbs tomorrow! You'll feel better!
Victoria is having a ball, as I knew she would! She's making new friends up here in Alaska.... She's doing a lot of the kitchen work with me and this afternoon, she was able to man the "Snack Shack" and had FUN doing it! She is such a hard worker, and I'm so proud of her, especially for the work ethic that's in her.
We have 2 more days of Family Camp this week. I wonder what'll be in store for us?
Oh, I was able to talk to a lady pastor named Barb today.... she and her husband were called to adopt a little boy from South Korea about 7 years ago. We talked at length about attachment disorders and we really connected! God is so good! I was able to share Victoria's story and again, God was glorified! I love connecting with other adoptive parents.... there is an instant bonding that happens, which is a blessing from the Lord.
Okay... jetlag is heavy with me.... Gonna go to bed, read a little and call it a night.
***
And that's my life so far...
