Commission 2008

This may not be a thorough review of our trip to Idaho, but I wanted to note some things before I forgot them! Our camera batteries died and I never replaced them, so we have no pictures from our time away. That's OK, it's one less event to have to scrapbook, heh!

Friday, June 20
After a hectic week, we managed to leave town by 9:30 a.m. Not bad! We even delivered a meal on the way out to a friend and her family. We made it to Hill Air Force Base and decided to see if there were any TLF rooms available, though we hadn't been able to get through to try to make a reservation ahead of time. Hooray for God--there WAS one available. We all crashed after some play time at the nearby park and KFC.

Saturday, June 21
Made it to Idaho by lunchtime. Ted went off to do his thing with the production team (new this year to Commission--student-led worship team plus photography and power point) and Charis and I headed out to purchase costume supplies from the thrift store. Kenna napped at church and the boys played. Charis and I then went to John and Michele R's house, where we stay every year, to unload the van. We discovered that the van battery was in sore need of replacement...we still had the original battery in when we bought the van new in 2003! Praise the Lord we were at the R's house, as John popped it out, took me to Walmart, and put the new one in for me with no trouble.

Sunday, June 22
After church and lunch at the P___ Cafe, we were ready for students! Thanks to a child care staffer this year, I was able to take part in the camp a little more than in previous years. I was kind of a part-time Production Team staffer and did some signing and singing harmony during worship services throughout the week, which was very fun.

Monday-Friday
Our days were very full! Morning celebration time, Bible study time (I got to do this with the counselors this year!), then I'd pick up the kids from Backyard Bible Club, we'd all eat lunch together, and then I'd spend some time with the Production Team while Kenna napped in the nursery. Afternoons I tried to get the kids away from church a bit; we went swimming one day and hung out at the R's house other days. Then it was back to church for dinner with everyone else, followed by the worship service. The kids and I would head home so I could get them in bed at that point, while the rest of the Commissioners did the evening fellowship/game time. I look forward to being able to participate in that in years to come!

One neat thing about camp this year was that we kind of "shook up" the worship time a little. As I was preparing to write this year's study--which was supposed to teach students how to study the Bible on their own--I felt led to spend some time focusing on worship. It was a journey that the Lord had led me on earlier in the year, as I read and studied the Psalms of Ascent with Beth Moore as well as Stormie Omartian's book The Prayer That Changes Everything. So it was really cool to see Ted and his production students doing some unique activities every evening at worship time. I think our generation (and the ones after us) are quickly tired of the same format--we don't want to go to church and do the same order of service every week. We LIKE keeping things real and fresh, and the students and Ted did an awesome job of providing opportunities for us to spend time one-on-one with God as well as in corporate worship.

All in all, it was a fantastic week, as usual. We're excited by the opportunity in the next couple of years to expand Commission to reach out to some new locations. Stay tuned for more details! We're hoping to get our web site up and running before too long!

Saturday, June 28
This was our 11th anniversary!! We drove out to the Sand Dunes to say goodbye to the students and let our kids climb a dune before we went back to church to clean up. After a hearty lunch we were on our way back to SLC, where we once again stayed in the Hill AFB TLF. (Thank you, God!) Ted took the older kids swimming while Kenna and I got a nap, and we enjoyed dinner out at Red Robin before collapsing in bed that night.

Sunday, June 29
After too many "how much farthers" and "how many more hours" and a couple of extra potty stops, we pulled in to LV in enough time for me to head to Sam's Club to stock up on fresh produce, milk, cheese, and bread. Ahhh! Ted and the kids unloaded the van, and we got cleaned up and ready to jump back into normal life.

Normal?! Did I say "normal?!"