FCA Camp 2012

I can confidently say that this year's FCA Camp was the best one yet. We are so blessed to be able to do this each summer.  We roomed with the Salyers family again and, since we've moved 4 hours away from these best friends of ours, we were so excited to spend the whole week with them!

 

This isn't the greatest picture to start off this post, but it happened the first night and I have to include it.  The coach and I have a long history with possessed smoke detectors.  As I was getting the kids ready for bed that first night of camp we heard the beep of a smoke detector.  After hunting around the 3 level apartment we realized it was in our kids' room.  Of course.  The apartment manager was out for the night and we had no batteries or ladder.  Keri was working on getting the schedule set for football camp that week, but when he finally headed home he stopped by and picked up enough batteries for the whole apartment, as we know from experience that when one goes off and you fix it, you can bet another will go off an hour later.  Just a funny night!

 

The kids slept through the beeping of the smoke detectors and the train at midnight.  In the morning (and every other time the train came through) we all ran outside to watch it.  Brock especially loved it.

 

Great minds think alike, Ashley and I both brought wagons to pull the kids to and from the cafeteria and the pool everyday. 

 

These kids had the best time together!  Rylan 5, Doak 4, and Brock 19 months enjoying a poolside dinner at camp.

 

The girls of the group.  Poor Addie is outnumbered by all the boys!

 

Cody and Keri have the best friendship.  I'm so thankful for the whole Salyers family.

 

We had a fun week!  The kids had 2 days of VBS in the morning while Ashley and I went to the women's Bible study.  The speaker was fabulous this year and I learned so much!  In the evenings we had dinner poolside as a family and then the kids went to childcare while Keri and I went to couples Bible study.  Again, the couple leading it was so gifted, and we learned so much about how to improve our marriage.  We also had free time in the afternoons.  One day Ashley and I took the kids to the aTm ballpark, where they recently built an awesome playground!

 

We got all the kids dressed in their patriotic gear on the 4th of July.  Look at these sweet friends!

 

I love that these kids are growing up together!

 

Here's a very blurry picture of the kids and Keri after breakfast at the cafeteria.

 

On the night of the 4th we parked our cars up on the top of one of the parking garages on campus.  The kids hung out in the back of Keri's truck and feasted on watermelon while we waited for the fireworks to start. 

 

Brock loves watermelon! 

 

Brock and Hudson, messy and happy!

 

One of my favorite parts of FCA camp is being around other coaching families.  There is a certain camaraderie among us and it's so refreshing to not have to explain why we moved again, but just to know everyone understands.  Bethany and her family have become some of our favorites to reconnect with each summer!  

 

Love spending time with my big girl watching the fireworks.

 

Brock is crazy about his Daddy.  He sat with Keri during the whole fireworks show.

 

My view during the fireworks. 

 

Our best friends, the Salyers.  Hudson, almost 3, Rylan 5





Keri always amazes me with how he can plan and execute this football camp for almost 300 athletes and 30 coaches.  I'm so proud of him and I love hearing all the other coaches and FCA staff brag on what a great job he does.  (His first year of camp there were around 50 kids in the football program.  This year they had 280+ athletes in football and the whole sports camp is now the biggest in the country!)


 

This summer it hit me.  We may never be able to go to Pine Cove or Kanakuk for family camp, but this is our family camp.  This is what our kids will remember.  I'm so thankful for that. 

 

Happy Halloween!

Doak aka Darth Vader, Brock aka Football Player, Addie aka Fairy/Princess/Ballerina



Monday night is FCA night at our house and we usually have 15-20 kids here for FCA. The sweet leaders of the group asked if we could have a little Halloween party and if they could then take the kids trick or treating. Addie and Doak were so excited to go trick or treating with the 'big teenagers'!



I had planned to stay home with Brock and pass out candy, but since he had a nice long afternoon nap and was still happy at 7pm we walked the neighborhood with the kids, Keri, and the FCA students.



The kids stopped to take a picture with sweet Darbie. We love this girl and her momma so much!



What a Happy Halloween!

FCA Camp

Last week we had the pleasure of serving again at the FCA Sports Camp. This year was amazing because we had 8 of Keri's new football players attend the camp. And due to lack of transportation for them-they even rode with us! On the way to camp we carpooled with the Salyers which made the ride much more fun for me and the kids! Cody was so nice to drive my car full of our players so I could ride with Ashley-thanks Cody!


Our family of four in our sweet apartment at A&M. It had 3 levels-1st was kitchen/living/bath, 2nd was 2 bedrooms/1 bath for the Salyers fam, and 3rd floor had 2 bedrooms/1 bath for our family. The kids had so much fun running up and down the stairs! But Ashley and I decided that we never want to have a 2 story house! We walked up and down those stairs probably 15 times a day!


One of the perks of the family apartments was the resort style pool. We swam every day and it was such a nice treat for us to relax in the pool every day! Miss Addie is officially a little swimming fish now and she loves to wear her goggles and just swim all over the pool on her own.


Doak enjoyed the water and really loves his new floaties. We were so happy that Keri got to join us almost every day. He would come straight from football practice and wind down in the pool with us before dinner.


My sweet boy(s) and me!



Hudson, Ashley, Cody, and Rylan. We love sharing FCA camp with this awesome family! This is our third year to work it together.


Our evening worship was held at Kyle Field. The first night the kids came with us and loved singing during worship time. This picture shows the kids "putting their hands up" for Jesus!


A view of the 800 campers praising God during worship-awesome!


Addie just loves Hudson!


Thank goodness for the computer-it served us well for a little down time for the kids and the adults. (Luckily there was a redbox nearby so I made a few runs to check out movies during the week!)


The kids are in heaven when we visit Keri at the indoor field. Just like last year, they aren't intimidated by the 280+ huge football boys all around them!


The kiddos love their Daddy!


Sweet Addie loved practicing her gymnastics, handstands, and dancing all over the field.


Coach Keri multi tasking like no one else can. He amazes me! He runs the whole football camp and organizes the week for 280 players and 30 coaches. What a servant.


Keri and Doak checking on all the huddle groups playing Navy football.


Look at that sweet face!


I think it's hilarious that Addie was doing ballet on the middle of the practice fields. Silly girl!


Yeah, I'm embracing the camera and it's not even Thursday!


The football players had a devotion time after lunch. This is Case Keenum sharing his testimony with the boys. Case is a talented football player who plays QB for the University of Houston. He's a Heisman Trophy hopeful and, more importantly, a man of great faith!


The football players and coaches


And here's "our boys" on the way home from camp. We took 8 boys and 7 made a commitment to Christ during the camp. What an amazing week!


This is our fourth year at FCA camp. Click here to see year 3, year 2, and I guess year 1 didn't get blogged!

playing catch up

It's Friday night and Keri and I are up to our elbows in laundry! So, like any responsible adult, I'm taking a break for a little Cherry Garcia and computer time!

The past 2 weeks have been quite exciting for our family! Last Saturday night we packed up the Tahoe like the Beverly Hillbillies and headed to A-town. Keri worked the HSU football camp while Addie and I spent some time with Cookie and Papa. The most amazing part of the week was, of course, the birth of Miss Ellery. She's almost 2 weeks old now and is still at Children's Hospital. She has made such great progress and should be sent home in the next few days- praise God!

Sunday after church we packed up (again) and made the trip to Waco for FCA camp. Even just driving the road brought back SO many memories! By the time we pulled into Waco we had Addie saying "sic 'em bears!" I had no idea what to expect of the week ahead, so I expected the worst. I was picturing my room in Collins Hall (tiff, was it 206?) , sharing community showers with teenagers, having nothing to do all day long while Keri worked with the kids, etc. Boy was I wrong. We drove up and realized we were staying in the new North Village. We had a 2 bedroom apartment complete with a full kitchen, dining room, and our own bathroom! It was fabulous! My next surprise was that during the mornings childcare was provided and a spouse's bible study was offered. Childcare was also available in the evenings so we could go to chapel and have some time alone. What an amazing blessing! The whole week was so refreshing and God taught me so much. I learned that when in doubt I usually expect the worst, I expect to be inconvienced, I expect to have to do things on my own without even giving God the chance to bless me! How different life can be when I come to God asking for help knowing and expecting him to have a plan for me so much greater than my own! We went to the camp with Keri's new head coach and his family of 5 kids. Let me just say that I'm so excited about being at South Garland HS and it has nothing to do with football! This family is amazing, being around them this week has encouraged us in our faith and in our parenting. Thank you God for this sweet family!

time with Papa

enjoying the spray park in Waco

Happy 4th of July!

Judge Baylor!