Work Day at the Chapmans

Last Monday, we were home in Illinois and had a different kind of work day than normal.  My brother works for a family in our home church.  They build primitive furniture and take it to craft shows and also sell wholesale.  They have quite the production!  I must say it is nice to start the work day at 10:30! ... Aaaannnndddd...take a swim break halfway through!  Although some people (who shall remain unnamed) enjoy terrorizing dunking people more than they enjoy swimming!

The Chapman's house-so pretty!

Their garage, where it all happens.  Brad Chapman designs and builds the furniture, then others paint, sand and stain it til it looks like something that has been around for a hundred years!

This is the piece I painted.  you roughly brush on dark paint.  That will show through a little after it is sanded later on

This is it after being painted.  It will be sanded after this and then stained with wood stain.

Rebekah and Angie

Brother dear

Ruth did some sewing...her specialty

I painted...my specialty

Addy and I.  She had the "football" stripes under her eyes too, but I think her grandma was worried the toxins from the paint would leak into her skin! :)

Cute little sheep Luann Chapman makes.  I may steal some of her ideas! :)

Andy and Hannah

Well, folks, the news is out...there is a new love relationship carrying on at good ol' Camp Joy!

I always get so excited when I see something like this blossoming..

                                                                       ...its a beautiful thing.

This beautiful thing involves Hannah Lange,...and (drumroll please)

Andy

I got to go with Hannah the first time she met him.  She had gotten a phone call from someone who thought they would work out well with each other, and I could tell after the first time seeing them walk down the driveway together...

It was meant to be.  

As appearances go, you know,...he's,...uh,...average, you know,...unusual nose, strangely shaped ears, slightly unkempt brown hair, but... as the old saying goes "It's what's on the inside that counts."

Anyhow, Hannah wanted me to do a photo shoot with her and Andy the other day, so I obliged her.

Here's a few candids of 

Hannah and Andy

Hannah, bringing Andy out of the corral.  Whoops!  Did I forget to mention that Andy was a horse?  Oh, how clumsy of me! :)

I took some of the pics that I likes and edited them.  I will probably play around with them a bit more.

Horse Love <3 

THE END

Surprise!

A couple of weeks ago, on a Sunday night, all of us basement Triplex girls were chilling in the living room, when we heard a knock at the door.

 A knock on the door of the Triplex means: #1: There's a man at the door (they don't barge into our house like all the camp girls do :) ) or #2: there's an emergency-police, fire department, rescue squad, Pizza Hut delivery, etc.  

In actuality, it was neither!

Ruth answered the door and said "You won't believe who's here!"  It was our friend, Becky, from Iowa.  I had talked to her a couple of weeks before and she had said she might come visit us, but then she wrote a letter saying she didn't know if she could come.  So, we were very surprised to see her at our doorstep!  She was glad we were not expecting her, as she thoroughly enjoys catching people when they least expect it! :)  

Monday morning, Ruth, Becky, and I went thrift store shopping in downtown Janesville.  Becky took her car and I "navigated."  Well, that is, I tried to navigate!  Needless to say, there were many erratic turns!  We visited some junk stores, and somehow ended up in the not-so-great section of town.  All, in all, we had fun.  People looked at us strangely, no doubt thinking "Hmm,...I've never seen the Amish in this section of town before."

After all that, we went to Culver's and Hobby Lobby.  We found these huge flowers on the sale rack...and just had to get one of every color...just kidding!  They were so attractive we just couldn't bear to get them! 

Ruth and Becky

Ruth and...er, Rosie :)

We had a great day!  Surprises are always such fun! (Unless, they are around the doorway, ready to scare you and make you let out a bloodcurdling scream!)

Nathan and Julia

Well, at long last the absent blogger is blogging again!  I'm sure you don't want to hear excuses why I haven't blogged in almost a month, so...I won't offer any!

One week ago, we had a very exciting event in our lives-

the wedding of Julia Hatchett and Nathan Houck.  

Julia and Nathan "re-met" towards the end of last summer, sensed the Lord bringing them together (with a little help from some matchmakers)...and the rest is history!  I am so happy for both of them, but I must say I will MISS her!  Julia was like a ray of sunshine here at camp, and I'm so thankful for the years I got to work with her.  Nathan got a good girl!  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the wedding, and I was very busy during the reception, so I'm posting pictures that I got from Angie, which she saved from my Dad's facebook.  (Thanks, Dad! :) )

Nathan and Julia <3<3

Another glimpse of the happy couple.  I'm sure their faces hurt from smiling so much! :)

So sweet!

Their wedding was sweet and simple.  It was encouraging to see the joy on the faces of a couple that had waited for God's perfect timing and God's perfect choice for their lives.  It has to be so worth it!

Julia and the camp girls, at Julia's wedding shower.

We will miss her tremendously, but as of the 22nd, she made Nathan Houck the happiest and luckiest most blessed guy in the world! (at least he seemed to think so :) )

A Belated Look at CJ Valentine's Banquet

 Natalie says, "you can't rush art,"...and many other people say, "Better late than never!" Therefore, I am finally posting pics of our Valentine's banquet.  This is probably the single largest event for the Camp Joy kitchen each year, and though we have capable help, and though it always goes off fine, I breathe a deep sigh of relief when it is over!

 

Nicole, a great friend and helper.  She sliced all these limes for the water pitchers, and we forgot to use them.  Oops!

Rebekah.  I can't even begin to describe how much of a relief it is to me to have her here.  She works quietly, with very little recognition, but she does a fantastic job.  Her specialty is salad bar.

Fancy food.  Fun to make...not as much fun to eat.

REALLY fancy food! (made more so by the addition of mold, I am informed.)  We got this huge wheel of Gorgonzola, so the banquet seemed like a good time to use it.  I haven't been able to work up the desire to eat something that smells like dirty feet! (however, I will serve it to campers, who must have more refined tastes than I do!)

Marinated Steak- my kind of fancy food!  Mr. Scott and Paul cooked it - 80-110 lbs of pure yumminess!

Hannah, whipping up two very large batches of broccoli salad.  We made it by the dishtubfull.

This is Mrs. Lange's domain.  When she's finished, there's flour over 3 states, but the results of her baking are unbeatable...'specially the chocolate cake!

The dining hall, ready for guests.  Angie does a great job of hostessing.

Table settings

Lovely flowers

For the centerpieces, we floated cranberries and tealights in the candleholders-very simple and pretty!

<3<3<3

Happy Birthday, Little Sis!

Happy Birthday, Ruth!

Today was my sister Ruth's 24th birthday!  We didn't make as big of a deal as I would have liked to, but after work, all of us camp staff went to McDonald's to celebrate.  I made a couple of cheesecakes-  far yummier than cake and ice cream!

Ruth is definitely one of my favorite people.  She suffered many years of Rebekah and I ganging up on her until we decided she was a fit human being to hang around with!  After the first few initial years of cattiness and cliqueshness, All of us girls decided we liked each other, and have gotten along pretty well since then.  We don't always agree on everything-we all have strong opinions that don't always jive, but somehow those opinions aren't worth losing a friendship over!

Ruth is a very wise and prudent young woman.  She has a lot of discernment for her age, and thinks things through carefully before making a decision.  She is consistent in her walk with the Lord, and I think that contributes to her stable personality.  She is a great blessing to me, and helps me to see the other (wiser) side of issues before I plunge in headfirst.  She reminds me a lot of my mom.  But, she's not entirely serious!  Her sense of humor, especially in writing, cracks me up!  Also, she makes the best slurping and smacking sound effects with the duck puppet in the nursery!  We were watching some little kids a few weeks ago, and Ruth picked up this fat duck puppet and proceeded to "eat" some of the other toys.  It was an attempt to amuse the children, but in the process, she cracked us both up!  The kids were looking at us like we were nuts!  I appreciate and love my sister so much!

"Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies."

The Three R's-THEN

The Three R's-NOW

My Little Brother Has a Fiancee!

On Saturday, my brother asked Angelique Marie Drew to marry him.  The first thing she said...

"What?"

Then, realizing what he was asking, she replied with a resounding 

"Yes!"

Rob and Angie <3<3

Angie is such a joy to be around, and she fits in well with our family, which is no small feat! :)  This is the story from the big sister perspective:

Approximately 3 years ago:

Ruth mentioned that she thought maybe Robbie had his eye on someone.  I had thought the same thing, only a different person!  Ruth told me that she thought he might be interested in Angie Drew.  Honestly, I've never met another girl who I thought would go well with him, and it really seemed like it could work out.  So, we started observing, and noticing reactions when they were together.  Robbie would come to camp and help out on the weekends, so they got to know each other in a work environment.  He picked on her, but that was nothing unusual, right?  Robbie picks on everyone!

About 2 years ago:

Robbie came and helped out for the Valentine's Banquet.  After cleanup, he asked me if he could talk to me about something.  Instinctively, I knew it was about a girl, and I was pretty sure it was about Angie, even though he had never said anything.  (Big sisters are pretty nosy observant of any romantic interests their brothers have!)  It didn't work out that weekend, because there were a lot of people around, so the next time we went home to Illinois, we drove to church together.  This is about the way the conversation went.

Robbie:  So...I wanted to talk to you about something...do you know what it is...

Me: Maybe

Robbie...Well,...what do you think it is?...(hesitates, face turning slightly red.)

Me:  You tell me

Robbie: No...you tell me what you think it is...

Me: You said you wanted to talk to me about something.  I figured you were either in trouble with the law, or were interested in a girl

Robbie:  Well,...do you have any idea which one?

Me:  The girl?

Robbie: Which girl?

Me: You tell me!

Robbie:...No, you tell me who you think it might be...

Me:  Someone I live with?

Robbie:....Maybe

Me:  Good choice-we were thinking the same thing!  I knew that's why you wanted to talk to me! :)

Then, we were actually able to talk about Angie without all the awkward pauses and such!  I respected him for choosing a girl who wasn't "out there" trying to attract men's attention, a girl who was a homemaker, a Godly girl with a meek, quiet spirit.  It was a relief knowing he wasn't going to be "shopping" for girls at college, but had noticed Angie as she went about serving the Lord, doing just what she was supposed to do.  Our whole family loves Angie.  Dad didn't know her very well, and said "Well, Angie, I like you until you give me a reason not to!" (so far, so good!)  My mom really liked Angie, and developed a love for her even before Robbie and Angie's relationship started.  All of us girls have worked in the kitchen with Angie for the last few years, and she's become like another sister to us.  We remind Robbie "We liked her first!"

After Robbie talked to Dad about starting a friendship with Angie,  He wrote and asked her Dad if he could begin corresponding.  Her Dad wrote a really sweet email, giving Robbie permission, and telling him how special his daughter was.  When Angie found out, she was all flustered!  Then, the day Robbie came in person to meet with her, she was REALLY flustered!  She was ripping up rags, and then when Robbie tried to talk to her, she went and hid!  She finally came out and they were able to kick off their relationship!

1 year ago:

Robbie and Dad met Mr. Drew halfway between here and Texas, and Robbie asked if he could officially court Angie.  Mr. Drew said yes, and so did Angie!

Aaaaand...the rest is history!

It'll be exciting to see what the Lord has in store for them.  I can guarantee one thing...their life will not be boring!

"To everything, there is a Season." ~Ecclesiastes 3:1

Sayings and Signs

I enjoy reading quotes, especially short-and-to-the-point kind of sayings. These are a few signs and sayings from our New Glarus trip.  They make me smile :)

inside: "And then I thought, 'Maybe this much awesomeness

 couldn't possible fit into a smaller size.' " :)

Yup!

We should post this one at the camp entrance!

If you can't read it in the pic, the bottom of the sign says "Cheer accordingly or shut up." 

tsk, tsk, those radical Packers fans!

Aww...

(it's amazing how many terms of endearment involve food: "punkin," "sugar bear," "lambie pie," "sweetcakes"...

This is a Hershey's chocolate platter.  I like chocolate, but I'm not sure it trumps meat!

Hmmm...unfortunately this one's not humorous-more like a scary reality!