Club Med (aka Girl Scout Camp)

Well... I went to Girl Scout camp when I was little. No... I did not get my toe nails painted and cucumbers gently placed on my eyes while I laid back in relaxation. I had to sleep in a tent with bugs (a platform tent to be exact). I thought that was a fancy type of tent before I showed up to camp. Platform simply means a tent that is a foot high. Big deal... bugs can crawl and air conditioning didn't exist.

Kendall and Waverly left Sunday to go to Girl Scout camp at Camp Meriwether about 1 1/2 hours south. They will come home tomorrow. It is only a 5 day camp but I have missed them terribly. They are staying in a new air conditioned cabin with adequate storage for each camper. They each had a friend or two going to camp with them so loneliness should not be a problem. We are able to e-mail them each day. I have sent them both about 5 e-mails a day. Addict...
They are not able to e-mail us back but can send snail mail. I guess it would be hard to get an e-mail such as this:
Dear Mom...... I hate camp. They are so mean here. I have to scrub all the toilets this morning. They are only feeding us bread and water. Please come get me. Hope to survive this prison camp. I love you and promise to never complain at home again if you will only come get me. Love, desperate camper

We are able to see photos that are posted throughout the day. I have snagged some of them for a slide show. It is hard not to see the photos and judge the manner in which your daughter is grooming and dressing... I carefully packaged shorts and shirts in a ziploc to help with matching clothes. I can tell you that my children did not seem to care about the careful clothes placement one single bit. I think Kendall wore 4 outfits her first 24 hours if the photos on the web are an accurate indicator. I guess the important thing is that they are having fun, growing up a little, making friends, blah blah blah.. . Not that they are not brushing their hair, wearing mismatched clothes and have only written one short note since they have been gone. We will the girls up tomorrow. We miss them terribly (even Grant after day 2). We are bracing for the tired grumpiness tomorrow on the way home and will try to keep the 'it's wonderful to see you' feeling through that adjustment period.

Girl Scout camp

Serve others wholeheartedly...

If there is anything I have learned from going to West Ridge Church the last 5+ years is to 1st: Love God and 2nd: Serve others. West Ridge has a fundamental belief that you are to serve others unselfishly.



As some of you know.. our daughter Waverly, has started a foundation: A Fresh Hope. Her foundation is now non-profit. Boy is that complicated...... But, she is now officially non-profit. She wants to serve others by providing back packs, school supplies, shoes, toiletries items and clothes to less fortunate children in Cobb and Paulding County. Waverly received the Janet Street Grant from the Jr. League of Cobb County. They are graciously making a donation to A Fresh Hope. She attended a banquet. It was awesome as a parent to watch other adults validate your child's dream. The Jr. League has been so supportive. West Ridge church has been very supportive too, thank you Pastor Paul and Pastor Rodney! Thanks to Waverly's grandparents.. they do more than you could imagine. Also thanks to Jim and Pam Duryea for their very generous support. Mt. Paran Christian School did a school supplies drive in May and donated a ton of goodies.... Thank you all!

Waverly has the gift of compassion which is a struggle at times. She read a book on AIDS in Africa (without our knowledge) and cannot get it out of her mind. We hosted 2 girls from Uganda last September and she cried for 2 weeks when they left. She still carries their picture in her backpack. We know this gift will be her driving force through life and we selfishly hope she stays close and we are not visiting her in the jungles of Africa one day for the holidays.



Coming soon:
A Fresh Hope is partnering with West Ridge Church for a Back to School event on August 9, 2008. It will be great.. The goal is to hand out 1000 back packs, school supplies, new underwear and new socks to children from Paulding and Cobb County. She is collecting money and goods now and boy does she needs the goods to meet the 1000 back pack goal. Please visit her website if you would like to make a donation: http://www.afreshhope.com/

Also, if you are a business owner and would like to put coupons of any sort in the backpacks, please contact Waverly: waverly@afreshhope.com

Love and Marriage, Love and Marriage...

Skip and I attended a marriage seminar at West Ridge a month or two ago. One idea we took from the seminar is a Because I love you card... This card is designed to show your spouse that you do things for them simply because you love them. It also serves to make you think of nice things to do for your spouse (I needed help in this category). You are suppose to pass the card back and forth. It is a little bit of a game and challenge. It causes a little bit of sneakiness which I am very good at. Skip is not and gets caught all the time.

Skip and I have been passing it back and forth.
I will leave it with a tube of chapstick... Skip is addicted to chapstick.. he calls it 'chappy'. He will get my car detailed... I will leave the card on a carton of ice cream.. He will give me an iTunes gift card.. I will leave the card on a package of Cheese Its White Cheddar.. He will run a bath, candles, music and put the kids to bed.

Are you seeing a pattern here? I really think I need to pick it up a notch. I welcome any ideas.....Keep them G rated if you comment here.

This card has been very fun for us ( I should probably speak for myself as noted by the pattern above). You can find more about the Because I love you card at www.intimatemarriages.org

Donde' Esta? Cozumel....

Hola Amigos... we just returned from Cozumel. Our family went with my dad (aka trooper) to Cozumel for a week. We have been to Cozumel numerous times and even stayed at the same hotel over 5 times. It is not fancy and would not be considered luxurious by most standards.. but... it is our home in Cozumel. The doorman, Rudy, knows our names. It has been 3 years since our last stay and he remembered us.. I know what you may be thinking.. of course he remembers you.. you guys were too rowdy...



My dad went with us this year and stayed in the same suite. He took the room with 2 double beds and kids included. Skip and I had the master. He watched the kids, helped with the kids, etc. It was great to spend time with him. My dad has been to Cozumel over 30 times so this trip was definitely a homecoming for him.



Kendall and Waverly learned to snorkel. Grant tried but the adult size snorkel and mask combined with his inability to swim independently very far did not provide a very successful attempt. We had to rent the snorkel and mask for Grant and adult sizes are a bit large for a 6 year old. He pouted quite a bit when this didn't work out.









I don't know when we will be back to Cozumel. I hope we are able to go back again one day. Our kids just seem to have a special place in their heart for the little island.



Here is a photo of our family with my sweet dad. We ate at a restaurant called Casa Misson. It is a large mansion with a porch around the outside. The restaurant is on the porch. The grounds are beautiful with fountains, birds, etc. There used to be a lion and monkeys but they were MIA.

Testing

Testing this blog.. Can't stand the pressure of being a non-blogger anymore... gettin' in the game.