You probably noticed my last blog was Memorial Day weekend. We live on a camp ground, my husband is the Executive Director, and our lives become totally wrapped up in the camp season...Memorial Day to Labor Day. Blogging goes on the back burner for a while.
We also do not take many breaks during the summer months...certainly not any vacations. Summers are our time to enjoy the company of the campers and guests, and most of all our grandchildren when they visit. This summer we were blessed to have them for a total of four weeks!! What an extra special treat that was for us! While one granddaughter was in Girls' Camp, the younger one was in "Grandma Camp". What a great week that was for all of us!!
Each season has its own delights, and now we are in the fall season. The leaves are starting to turn color and drift to the ground. We still have a mixture of warm and cool days. The grounds are much quieter, though we are having groups most every weekend. After our mulching season is completed, we will be winterizing, shutting off water, storing boats, buttoning down for hibernation. But before all of that begins....I NEED A BREAK!!
And so....
I leave for a Girlfriend Getaway Week soon. Four of us are heading to Williamsburg, Virginia...a territory I have long wanted to visit. We will go by way of Holmes County, Ohio...Amish territory. Then we'll cross the mountains of West Virginia, and then on down to the land of our early settlers. First time I've gone on a week long getaway with friends. Should be a fun time!!
My husband will pick me up in Williamsburg and we will go down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for a few days. Another couple will be joining us there, and we have tickets to Gaither Fest. Hopefully I will get a good dose of Southern Gospel music and ocean waves while there.
Nazarene Camping Association annual conference will be our next stop...out in Oklahoma this year. We always look forward to being with our fellow camp directors in this annual get together. Each year we go to a different camp, different parts of the country. We have much to learn from each other, and we certainly can relate to one another...being in the same "career" field.
From Oklahoma we travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico to visit our son and his wife, who just moved there in August from Columbus, Ohio. Our first time to go to that area of the country. Everyone says Albuquerque is beautiful. Certainly our son and daughter-in-law love it down there, and are very anxious to take us hiking in the mountains.
Then it's a three day trek back to Michigan. By the time we get back home, perhaps we will be glad to hunker down for the winter and stay closer to home. Our 2-3 week trip will cover around 5,000 miles...all in a van with no air conditioning and no radio. A van with 172,000 miles on it. But it has two new tires, and it's very comfortable to travel in. We are grateful to have the vehicle, and plan to drive it to its grave.
When I get back home from our fall vacation/getaway, I will be starting back into my study of First Peter. I started the study in April and got about three verses into it, and summer hit. I have been greatly encouraged this past month to get back to studying and writing. I was in a small accountability group (three of us) and we used material I had prepared for a women's retreat two years ago. It spoke to all of us, and my friends plan to use the study in their Florida communities this winter to reach other women. The basic theme is drawing closer to God and to one another...developing intimacy with Jesus and being open and real with one another.
Intimacy....in it's purest form...is so hard to experience any more...hard to find...hard to trust others enough to open up and share our hearts, our hurts, our loves, our lives. Having had a small accountability group for one month, I know what it meant to me, how precious those hours were together. Perhaps I will be able to find a winter group, but to be honest...trusting doesn't come easy. My position here at the camp also makes it more difficult. I have to be very careful what I share, and with whom I share. But I NEED such friends!! And so do you.
I wish I could hear back from those of you who understand this...how are you surviving? Do you have such a group? Are you experiencing intimacy in your spiritual relationships and close friendships with others? Or are you squeezed into a bottle about to burst the top off? Share. If not with me, find someone you can trust, and share. For your sanity's sake, share. And first of all, share with Jesus. He's always ready to listen to you. He totally understands like no other. Share.
