Family Camp 2020

Another year of Family Camp has come and gone!

We signed up many months ago and the anticipation had been building…we were so excited for camp!

My crew had been watching the weather closely the week before camp, and much to our dismay it was NOT looking good.

It did not deter us, but we did have to scramble to make sure everyone had warm things to wear that fit them!

The day we left for camp it was literally pouring rain and 48 degrees.

We were so thankful we had a house on wheels!

And that it had a good heater!

We arrived at camp at 3 p.m. last Tuesday.

Soon after the guys got us all set up we had visitors!

Our favorites came to camp this year too!!!

They were camping in a camper next to ours!

The grand babies called our camper “NaiNai’s house,” which made me smile very big.

They loved to come and play at NaiNai’s house!

We also brought dear friends with us to camp this year.

I am so thankful they joined us.

It made the week SO MUCH BETTER!

As usual, we took all of our own food.

Tuesday night I made a baked yam bar.

It was yummy and warmed our freezing cold bones!

After Chapel that evening, I brought the littles back to the camper for some hot cocoa and read aloud time before bed!

The older kiddos always stayed out later playing volleyball and spending time with their friends in the gym.

The mornings found a routine quickly!

I tiptoed over all of the sleeping bodies, got myself ready, and then had something warm to drink while spending some time in my Bible.

Bible time with a flashlight worked great!

I would get everyone moving and while they headed to the lodge to get ready I would make breakfast.

I always let the littles wake on their own and they would stay with me!

There was a lot of food that went through that tiny kitchen!

Speaking of food – this is one of my favorite photos!

One afternoon we made s’mores for snack – inside the camper – because RAIN.

This shows my son-in-law to a tee.

He is always serving others and always having a blast while doing so!

He is a KEEPER!

Family Camp is run by three families.

They organize Chapel time in the morning and evening, and also a mother/daughter and father/son time in the morning.

Chapel time is filled with singing, scripture memorization, teaching, skits, and music from different talented families who share their talent with us!

IT IS ALWAYS AMAZING.

It rained non-stop ALL week until Saturday at 2 p.m.

We had two breaks in the rain before Saturday, and we used those breaks to the fullest!

Camp watched the radar too and made sure the schedule got changed so we could be outside when the rain stopped!

Everyone from my crew wanted to ride the horses.

So we did!!

It was FANTASTIC!

These guys took a trail ride.

The littles got to have riding lessons!

How cute is THIS?!!

On Saturday they planned our annual game of Mighty Mighty Scoop Noodle Challenge for the afternoon after the rain stopped.

It is like a giant game of capture the flag!

The big kids played!

Grant even came and joined us at camp on Saturday!

We were SO happy he was there!!

While that game was going on, the little guys played on the playground and jumped on the trampoline.

Pay attention! To the photo of Eliza jumping! There is some blue sky peeking through there!

We spent a lot of time in that gym!

There was a game room too.

And bunnies to love on!

The littles participated in a coloring contest and Eliza got third place!

Her picture is the one by her shoulder.

I do not have photos of SO many things.

The constant games of volleyball, the people who shared in teachings and music, the guys when they went trap shooting, our friends…I wish I did!

We have attended Family Camp since 2011, making this our tenth year.

Three years of those ten we just visited for one day, but the other seven we stayed the entire week.

IT IS THAT GOOD!

Iron sharpening iron!!

Blake and I both had very vulnerable, deep conversations with dear friends – friends who challenge us and encourage us and stand by us in love and prayer.

We feel refreshed, energized, encouraged, challenged, and on a spiritual “high.”

But as the speaker said on the last morning, once we are home is when the “rubber meets the road.”

YES.

ALL that we heard and learned needs to be APPLIED.

Blake and I are purposing that very thing, and I see some kiddos doing the same thing too.

To every single person who made Family Camp 2020 possible, thank you and bless you!

You are helping us press on in this race!!

To not grow weary!

But to run OUR VERY BEST all for the glory of the Lord!!

We have already started our collection jar to save our money for next year!!

We can’t wait till next time, Lord willing!!!!

August Stuff

August is gone!

Our summer like weather is gone too!

Hopefully not for the rest of the fall – I am hoping that we will have some warmer days yet.

August was wonderful!

Full of so many wonderful things as you can see on previous posts.

We also had a lot of normal life mixed in with all of those activities!

One afternoon Chad was off work and I took him and my trio to town to get Chad some clothes.

If you haven’t noticed, he gets taller in his sleep every night!

I am still reading chronologically through the Bible and listening to a podcast each day called The Bible Recap.

It has been challenging but VERY good!

Lately I have been finding that my morning quiet time needs to be a devotional and prayer time, so I do my Bible recap at all different times during the day.

One afternoon I had the three youngest try on most of their winter clothes from last year.

Silly, huh?

Of course nothing fit them!

Ok, well maybe a few things did.

Then I made a list of the needs and Addie Mae and I spent an entire afternoon on a Sunday selling their old clothes and shopping for the new ones!

We found SO many nice things at the second hand store!

While we were out the guys rented a rug cleaner and cleaned the rug.

Bless them!!

They put our clear laundry soap and thieves household cleaner in that machine.

The rug (and the couches!) came sparkling clean!

The bugs have been bad this year, especially the flies!

Sometimes on Instagram you learn about some really useful things!

My friend showed these continuous water mister spray bottles and how she put her bug spray in them.

(They are the water mister spray bottles that hair salons use.)

GENIUS!!

The bug spray comes out in a fine mist, the nozzle is NEVER clogged, and you only have to squeeze the nozzle one time to cover most of the area you are trying to spray!

Our air conditioner broke one evening.

Of course it was over 100 degrees outside, a Saturday night, and kind of late.

Of course.

Thankfully when we called our furnace and air guy, he came to our rescue!

Can you believe there was a dead bird in our unit outside that had decayed and caused the wiring to fray?

We are the Moschels, after all!

When Blake and Grant were trying to diagnose and fix it before we called for help, the transformer blew up in their faces!

Scared a certain someone who is typing this post to pieces.

They are fine.

All is fine!

We were so grateful that the repair guy had what he needed and had us up and running again really quick.

Here is Tate keeping cool downstairs while the repair guy was there.

This is the steam on the sliding glass door the next morning.

It was SO hot outside!!

At the beginning of August we had our church baptism service in our yard and pool.

It was AMAZING.

The testimonies literally had me in tears!

What a blessing to see a public proclamation of people’s love for Christ!!

One of our dear friends who was there that day brought their pup with them!

He is adorable!

Ruby is sharing her bone, but I am not sure she wants to based on the look on her face, ha, ha!

Ruby is one loved pup!!

So is Sadie!

I need to take more photos of Sadie obviously!

These are the only two I have.

Here she is looking at me like that because while we were watering the garden together she ran into the woods.

Naughty puppy!!

Here she is trying to stay out of the rain instead of doing her business, if you know what I mean.

Silly puppy!

I seem to take a lot of photos of Ruby Jane!

She is THE BEST DOG!

I know we will miss all the wonderful freshness of summer…but I have already started soup season here!

We picked up our beef in the middle of August!

SO thankful!

Since then we have also picked up our chickens!

We ordered 60 whole chickens and they are tucked in our chest freezer in the garage.

It is a blessing to have the freezers stocked up!

Someone is brushing her own hair these days.

It was photo worthy because when you have sensory challenges hair is just a very hard thing!

I am SO very proud of our sweet girl!!!

In case you missed it the other 1,342 I have mentioned it here, we love books!

And love to read.

Sometimes I cannot get them to set their books down!

We had lots of company in August too.

A FAVORITE THING!

It meant lots of food prep and some good helpers – they are always good helpers!

Here Eliza and Ruby are waiting for friends to show up.

So cute!

There have been a few times lately where I just wish I could snap my fingers and that menu plan would be done!

I end up finding a way, but I am hoping to carve out some time to find some new recipes.

There are some things that may never change though!

Like making waffles every Saturday morning and freezing a bunch of them for later!

Don’t you just love this old, old waffle maker?

It was my Mom’s.

I am excited when our monthly Young Living order arrives!

We are so grateful to have these wonderful oils and products in our lives!

I am also excited that so many of our old books are selling!

August was a huge selling month for me!

Fridays.

Do I dare talk about Fridays.

They are BUSY – a pace that is crazy – but it is working and so we keep it this way.

I leave our nest at 6:15 a.m. to head to town for grocery, a work-out, and errands – in that order.

Sometimes it’s nice to be the only one in the van so no one else can hear you singing but God!

I cannot sing!

But I love to sing!

Saturdays are usually big kitchen days!

I have cute helpers though!

The big kiddos are usually mowing, or doing other big kiddo jobs!

This weather has been SO beautiful, so my cherubs washed up the tables for us to eat outside a lot!

Lunch time outside was bright and windy!

The weather has been great for evening fires and smores as well!

I still love the sky.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel God when I see His beautiful handiwork!

I took this photo to remember the BEST maple iced coffee I have ever had!

Made safe for me by the sweetest friend!

Last but not least, my first bird photo of the season ahead!

I am sure our bird restaurant will open up again very soon based on the temperatures right now!

Isn’t this a beautiful bird?

I think I feel God in the beautiful birds He created for us too!

Wow!

That was a lot of photos!

Memories made and memories now kept!

Bless you if you made it to the end!

September is here and we are excited about that!

Hope you all are excited for fall too!!

Such a beautiful season, isn’t it?

Happy fall, everyone!!

Our Vacation Day!!

About ten days before Grant and Addie’s birthdays, Blake and I had a conversation about how we should celebrate this year.

We like to have “experiences” over “gifts” – but quite honestly, I think the experiences are the BEST gifts!!

We gifted Eliza and then Lane with an experience for their birthdays this spring and then everything shut down and we still haven’t been able to fulfill our plans for them.

It took about two seconds into our conversation about the upcoming birthday duo for Blake to say “Let’s get a boat.”

I knew what he meant!

We had rented a boat on the river once before, years ago, and it was a GREAT experience!

Blake checked into it, reserved our rental and then I let Kay’s in on our secret so they could plan to join us!

On a Thursday evening, Addie’s birthday, we told them our plans – a vacation day on the river.

And here is my warning for the photo overload that is about to happen!

IT WAS THE BEST DAY!!

We headed out around 9 a.m. to pick up our rental at 10.

Of course we had to take two cars – we haven’t fit in one since Tate arrived!

Pulling into the marina I was already so thankful as it was such a beautiful day!

We loaded our stuff onto the boat and headed out!

I quickly took a round of photos and then threw my phone in the “keep everything dry” tote!

Isn’t the sky beautiful??!!

When they started tubing I got my phone back out to get photos and video each time!

Somehow I missed getting a photo of Lane tubing with Chad and they went more than once!

Gotta love Grant’s face here, ha, ha!

Let’s just say Blake tried and tried and tried to throw Grant off of that tube with his crafty driving skills, and it only happened one time!

I was SO, so proud of Tate and Eliza for trying this!

They both loved it!!

Eliza’s smile was BIG!

We snacked throughout the whole day, cruised around, fished, tubed some more….it was AWESOME!!

Here’s the captain and his co-pilot!!

We picked up Kay’s at 3 p.m.

The babies were excited but very reserved!

I have a feeling they were talked to about safety!!

We were SO happy they joined us!

They jumped on board and we headed to a different part of the river to find a sand bar.

What a GORGEOUS spot on the river!!

Playing at the sand bar was super fun.

I took some photos from the boat and then put my phone away again.

I wish I had taken it out there with me!

It was fantastic exploring that whole sand bar!!

It went on and on and on!!

Next we headed back to the first area we were in, and then it was time to let David do some tubing!

While David and Chad were being pulled on the tube, we…

ran…

out…

of…

gas.

I’m not kidding!!

DUH.

SO…14 people (15 including little squish!) on a boat with no gas and sunlight running out.

We yelled.

At the first boat we thought could help!

They gave us a number to call and the sheriff came.

Sheriff’s are cool.

They towed us ALLLLL the way back to the marina for free!

We ate some humble pie while we rode behind them, apologizing all the while.

They dropped us off and then went chasing after a stolen boat!

We saw them arresting the guy as we left there!

All in a good day’s work, I’m sure – towing people, arresting bad guys and all.

Although our day ended with a bang, we still cannot say enough about our vacation day!

It has been talked about ever since!

A day relaxing and enjoying a sport we love with the whole family was LIFE-GIVING!

We think this needs to be an annual thing!

Time will tell!!

I am so thankful for my husband!

For having such great ideas and for making them happen!

Vacation Day 2020, you WERE THE BEST!!!

Memories made and tucked very deeply in all of our hearts!!

A Birthday Celebration!!

The end of August brings two birthdays!

Grant Evan and Addison Mae!

I love this photo of them!

Grant still covered in dirt from being at work.

They were born 364 days apart and have shared a celebration ever since.

They planned what meal they would like to have, and Addie chose the dessert!

A burger bar with homemade fries, salad, and fruit – and ice cream tacos for dessert.

Kay’s came over to join us and the celebrating began!

While Blake grilled the burgers, we all played outside.

It was such a beautiful evening!!

Dinner was YUMMY!

The burger bar was a fantastic idea!

We had all the regular condiments, sauteed mushrooms, sauteed onions and bacon on those burgers.

See why it was yummy?

We played some more and then it was time for dessert!

Check out these ice cream tacos!

Another great idea, for sure!

Of course we had to sing to these two!

And then, like every single year, Grant blew out Addie’s candle before she got a chance to.

You would think she would remember to guard her candle!

It was a wonderful evening.

Filled my cup to overflowing!!

These kiddos and grands always do that for me.

It also was a JOY to celebrate Grant and Addie.

We are SO happy they were born!!

Happy, Happy Birthday G and Ads!!

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!