Niedern Camp Update

We had fun during our 12 days here at home,too. Helene, Danika's friend (and Kay and Susan's oldest) spent the first Friday and Saturday with us. We had saved our t-shirt painting for that afternoon. We had the pool out the first three days, but emptied it as it was raining on Saturday night. We had also planned to have a "Jungle Night under the Stars." We wanted to sleep on our deck, but that didn't work out either, because we had rain every day and/or night from there on out. So we set up the tent in our school room instead, and each little group of two got to spend two nights in a row sleeping there. We got in visits to two large playgrounds in Magdeburg. We went down to the Matthia family's backyard and harvested fruit: apples for applesauce which we enjoyed with a favorite German dish called milk-rice, and Mirabellen, a tiny yellow plum which were "grounded" through the break of a heavily-laden branch. We made yellow plum butter with those. The kids cut out all the seeds. We even found some plums that the wind had brought down and made a combination apple-plum cake. In the evening we enjoyed a special book of missionary stories which the kids read. They were true stories with good applications. We also had fun singing together, and Danielle practiced sitting still on her little yellow chair during devotions and did a great job. She really can wave her little arms to "Rolled Away." She holds her little finger up on "This little Light of Mine," and even gets out a "No," albeit about two beats later. :) We learned the camp verse in German and then switched to working on it in English. It was on the place-card. We also started working on Psalm 37. We got a good start on it. The kids had lots of fun playing together. Doreen, Lynette, and Danika played dolls and took the dogs on walks. The boys played Lego, Playmobile, and some on the computer. If the sun came out for a little while, they would find their way to the trampoline. All of them did a lot of coloring and enjoyed finding jungle animals on some coloring sites. Our bulletin board was flowing over. Eddie and Lynette took some of theirs home as welcome-home signs. Some of ours were posted on doors of returning family members as well. In our own yard we did some yard work. The ground was so moist that it was ideal for pulling weeds. :) Mommy and I worked on getting the laundry backlog taken care of and were successful! That is a huge blessing. In fact, as of today even the dirty camp clothes are processed. Well, that gives you a little idea of what filled our days here at home. On the last morning I drove down to an airport about 2 hours south of here to pick up the adult ladies and the babies that had flown down and back again. Lavonne and Donia came back on the bus. The Lord gave safety again, which is such a blessing every time.