Christmas at KMBC

We had our Christmas program at church tonight. Here are some pics of the evening:

 The high school choir sang a few numbers,

             led by Mr. Dan Bernschien

The elementary choir. 

 Mrs. Tricia Traxler led this group

The littlest kiddos-The shepherds and angels

(I wonder if their parents see this angelic side often :)

Savannah and Delia Bungert led them in "Away in a Manger", with the motions-too cute!

The adult choir, led by Mr. Swaffer.  Everyone put a lot of time and effort into this.  Ruth and I got to sing in choir (No solo parts this year :)) 

Mr. Landers and Beth read portions of the Christmas story in between choir songs

All the adult choir songs were played by the incredibly talented Miss Michelle Clater.  She is one gifted woman! (And, I'm sure she practices...a lot!)

What a blessing to know the Christ of Christmas, and to be able to publicly worship His name!

What a very fine day!

So,...you're having a bad day, and it's only 7:30...The stove goes out while you are trying to cook your breakfast oatmeal...You burn your forehead with the curling iron, again...The dog pukes on the floor, and you STEP in it!...and then,... you go out the front door, and you see...

This:

 Aaaaand,.... it brings a smile to your face, and you realize that somebody loves you, and you think, "Maybe it's not such a bad day after all!"

My point being : 

A little show of kindness or gesture of "I'm thinking about you today" can go a LOOOOOONG way towards making someone's day just a little bit brighter!

Here at camp, our thoughtful gestures are not expensive or time-consuming. They are simple, and they bring a smile to your face when you see them, like...

...a little orange guy.  So adorable, you can hardly resist the temptation to eat him up! :)

...a little "alligator" key chain a kid makes for you (You couldn't even tell it was homemade, could you?)

 ...writing on the fridge doors from the overactive imaginations of the Housekeeping staff

...or just a little handwritten letter someone leaves in your box...

It's all special!

Do something nice for someone today!  You'll never have this day to live again-make another person happy through a little, thoughtful gesture...you'll be glad you did!

A Relic to Relish

This is so cool!!!

A lady from Illinois donated an old pump organ to camp.  The manufacturer is J.G. Earhuff, who produced it in St. Paul, Minnesota.  There was no serial number or date, but an online site said that the specific place this one was made was in operation from 1888 to 1906, so it's a little over a hundred years old.  It still works fabulously.  We've been having fun tinkering around with it. :)

We parked it in the Heritage Room for the time being.

 



 

Only one of the keys sticks...the very lowest one. Pretty good for being over a century old.  It's refreshing to see something that wasn't made in China!

These little knobs pull out, and each one gives a slightly different sound.  This is probably where the expression "pull out all the stops" comes from!

 



You pump these pedals like a bicycle while you play.  That provides the air that the organ gets its sound from.  It serves double duty-you get a good workout while you are practicing!

 

Ruth, the virtuoso, playing our new favorite relic. :) It's so much fun!  And loud, too!

 

 

"Sun of My Soul"

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Guess What?...It's almost

CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!!!

This Monday, I put up the tree and a few decorations.  I usually don't go gung-ho on Christmas decorations, cause then in a couple of weeks, you have to take them all down, and that is not fun!

 

This year, I made some homemade decorations

 

This is a paper snowflake, made out of an old book

For this tree-topper star, I cut 10 thin, straight twigs and tied the ends together with twine

 



 

This is just an old flat wooden box, filled with pine branches swiped from the motley array of evergreens growing behind the camp kitchen :) (They're especially motley now!) Then, you just stick a few candles in it and viola! Cheap Economical Christmas decorating at its finest!

I love this time of year!

 

Memories from Christmas's Past

 

I remember being a kid, anxiously awaiting Christmas, when we could run down the stairs, dash into the living room and tear open our presents.  Except,... in the Logan house, it didn't usually work that way.  Every year from the time we were little, our first present was a clear plastic candy cane filled with M&Ms or some other candy.  Dad would hide one for each of us, and we would spend the first part of the morning searching for it.  Looking back on it, I realize that Dad had ulterior motives...he wanted to sleep in!  I remember one year, he told us kids that if we all teamed up and lifted him off the bed, he would get up and come downstairs so we could open presents.  No matter how hard we tried, grunting and heaving, we just couldn't budge him! 

 

I also remember another "special" Christmas memory- when I was little, I wanted to be a doctor or a nurse.  One year, Dad got all of us girls those little plastic nursing kits, with the little plastic knives, syringes, sticker bandaids, etc.  Dad was sleeping on the couch, and as I watched him, I realized in my little kid mind that surely Dad would be much more healthy and better off if I gave him a shot!  Quietly, so as to not wake him up, I went up to the couch and jabbed that surprisingly sharp plastic syringe into his arm and gave my Daddy his vaccination!  For some reason, he was not as concerned with his health as I was.  I offered to remedy the pain by giving him one of the sticker bandaids that came with the kit, but he decided he needed that as much as he had needed the shot!  I never did become a nurse-maybe it had something to do with my bedside manner?

 

All that said, looking back now, I don't think I really realized the significance of Christmas when I was a kid.  I just got excited because I got to open presents and get more stuff.  When I got saved, I realized that Christmas is the celebration and remembrance of the beginning of Christ's life on earth.   The gifts are a symbol of the gifts the wisemen brought, and a symbol of generosity, not of covetousness.  We Americans are very commercialized in our outlook on Christmas, but though the gifts are nice, parties are fun, and the food is good, our main focus should be on Christ.  He is the perfect son of God, who put himself in the form of pathetic man and came to earth to die for us...to die for His very creation that would spit in his face and reject him. 

What will you do with the Lord Jesus Christ this Christmas season?

So Much Hurt

Every time I go out to town, anywhere where there is a lot of people, I am reminded...

 

There is so much hurt

 

People smile, try to act happy, accomplished, successful,

 

but...it's still there

 

In their eyes you can see their pain, though they try to mask it.

 

Going through a messy divorce, Losing your kid to drugs, Watching someone you deeply love waste away due to disease, Feeling your life spinning out of control...

 

It all contributes to the pain of your heart.

 

Some people try alchohol.  That helps for a while, but as the pain gets worse and worse, the alchohol consumed becomes more and more.  Some commit suicide.  That ends the misery here, but only opens a whole new world of misery for the ones left behind, and for the eternal soul who has chosen a real Hell over the hell of his life. 

 

 But, most endure it, experimenting with one thing after another,

 trying in vain to find meaning in life. 

 

What's the answer? Is there an answer? Will the pain I feel ever go away?

 Does life have any meaning? Why can't I find that meaning?

 

I humbly submit...God is the answer

 

He says "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and

I will give you rest..." (Matthew 11:28)

 

Jesus Christ is the answer for the sin sick soul.  There is no other rest,
no other refuge from the pain and the agony.

 

If I accept and follow Christ, will my life be easy and carefree?

 

There is a cost.  Verse 29 of Matthew 11 says, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me..." There is a yoke for each Christian, but as the very next verse says, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." The life of a child of God cannot exactly be called carefree.  There is a high price to pay.  Yet, in comparison to burdened life lived by the majority of the population, the Christian life is a life that can be lived victoriously.  The trials of every day life may still be there, but so is God. 

 

He will never, never leave or forsake you.  He will never let you down.  He will never fail you...ever.

 

My prayer as I go out and about is that God would help me to see and minister to these hurting hearts.

"...and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you...

a heart of flesh." -Ezekiel 36:26b

<3



The Janesville Jets

 

Saturday evening, some of us camp staff went to watch the Janesville Jets play the Eagles (don't remember where they were from)

 

 

The Eagles' Team

 

The Janesville Jets

A cute little fella, who skated out with the team and waved the flag for them :)

 



The Jets won the evening, 4-1. They had home court advantage, and a incredible goalie!  It's amazing to me how fast and gracefully these guys skate.  It takes so much energy, they only play a couple minutes at a time before they get a replacement.  Hockey can be a little brutal, but tonight there were only a couple of almost-fights! 

 



 

Robbie and Me.  Even though he doesn't know how to pose for pictures, he is nice to go to games with :) He answers my questions ("Why are they doing that? What's that line for? Why did he just get a penalty?" etc.) patiently, and doesn't get irate and yell at the refs!

Lefse is Beautiful

"Lefse is beautiful"...so says the lefse cloth

 



What is lefse? It is a traditional Norweigan flatbread made with potatoes. Aunt Carol has some Norweigan relatives and wanted to make lefse for them.  She also knows a few other people who like it, and somehow, ended up with orders for 9 dozen!

 



The table is ready to go. You use a pastry board and a grooved rolling pin with a cloth cover. There is also a special, thin wooden stick used to lift the dough onto the griddle.

 



 

Aunt Carol, ready to roll...She was the "cooker" of the day!

 

 

 You use a piece of dough only about the size of a golf ball...

 

to make a lefse this big! Ours were about 12 inches.  I've heard some people get them up to 14 inches. When the dough is rolled out, it is so thin you can read the writing on the cloth through it.

 



Then, you use the lefse stick and roll the dough onto the griddle.

 



 

This is what it looks like when it is almost done-just takes a couple of minutes to cook.  You roll it up, spread it with butter, and eat it.  Aunt Carol likes to sprinkle it with sugar.  I like to melt cheese on it.  One website I read said "It is an abomination to eat anything other than butter on lefse."  

Well, I guess I'll go and be abominable!  We Wisconsonites sure like our cheese!

 



 

Anvilarm! We rolled and cooked 9 dozen lefse!  (Aunt Carol declared that was about 4 dozen too many.)  It took us about 6 hours to finish it all, and boy, it was GOOD!

 

Lefse...is beautiful :)