In My Pine Cove Era

Thirteen years later, we hold very dear the traditions, the predictability of the schedule, worship songs, repeated cheers, and most importantly, the relationships of family camp. But that first year, nothing was predictable. We had never experienced anything like it as a family.

2013

It was new for all of us, and I think that is one reason Pine Cove became an annual event for us. It was one of the few things that ALL of us experienced for the FIRST time TOGETHER. And it was amazing and fun and life-giving and faith-building. It was an opportunity to experience something like church camp, the place where I learned that God is so much fun, with my family.

First family photo at camp 2013

Breakdown of a week at Family Camp

The Monday of camp was when our kids got to be with their counselors (aka the hyped up college students that were surrounding our van upon arrival) doing all kinds of fun things throughout the day, including the most important, strongest part of the day, BIBLE STUDY! 

2017

2022

Moms and dads headed to Speaker Session, woop woop, Speaker Session. If any readers have been to family camp they will catch all of the references to cheers. You just can’t help it if you have been there! What I loved about the first day at Speaker Session was that it was a time we got to know other parents at camp on a deeper level through an activity called High-Low. For parents that had been to camp before, it was a chance for us to hear an abbreviated update of their year with the best and worst thing vulnerably shared. With new parents, I was always amazed at their courage to jump right in and entrust their high and low of the year with brand new friends.

My kids started connecting quickly with their counselors and new friends that first year (and each year after). Apprehension subsided and was replaced with enthusiasm that by the end of the week nearly matched the energy of their leaders.

2013

2015

2018

2021

2022

We shared meals around a table as a family, but many times, we found one or two kids sitting with other families to be next to their new best friend or favorite counselor.

Dinner time 2015

Monday night was also the first theme night. We didn’t know what a big deal this was and I don’t remember what many of them were, but we managed to kind of get in the groove with most theme nights by our 13^th year. Every year, The Bluffs would announce the 3 theme nights well in advance so that families could come prepared. Some of us tried harder than others if the theme was something we were excited about. When I say some, I mean most of my kids got into it and I usually found a T-shirt at Walmart the day before camp that would work. 

Ninjas and Night-Nights 2022

On theme nights, which took place on Monday, Wednesday and Friday night, counselors would go all out in decorating and planning games and activities to go along with the theme at dinner time and after. Some of my favorites were The Night at the Museum, Tacky Prom, and Rodeo Night.

Night at the Museum 2023

Rodeo Night 2013

Wednesday nights always included the best talent show you’ll ever attend. There was no bad act when counselors and families stood ready to cheer “G-double O-D-J-O-B, good job, good job!” after every performance. Even the most timid kid would gain the confidence to go on stage and feel completely accepted and valued. 

2014

2021

Friday nights included a cookout and carnival games and the annual Counselors vs. Campers game of basketball or flag football. According to my recollection, I have to admit that in the 13 years we went to Pine Cove, counselors always won.

2024

Two of the highlights of the week were at the beginning and the end. Counselors shared their talents as they would compose and perform the Opening Song that included all of the “guidelines for fun having” (rules) and other important info to the tune of songs like, “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” by John Denver or “Hello” by Adele. We always looked forward to what they came up with.

2023 Program Director
Singing the Opening Song
Wes served 5 summers at Pine Cove

At the end of the week, counselors shared CQs with their camper and their parents. CQs are Character Qualities that the counselor observed in the kids all week and then affirmed them verbally at the close of the week. I have saved every CQ card from every camp.

Next post is a little story about Jeremy providing some extra entertainment one Banquet Night...

The Gauntlet

We couldn't have imagined how spending the last week of June over the past 13 years at Pine Cove Family Camp would mark and shape us. As we come upon our first summer having officially "aged-out" of family camp, I'm inviting you into a glimpse of memories over the next few posts that make me smile and some that make me laugh out loud.

Our First Year

Big Blue was packed to the brim as our new family of 9 made the 3-hour journey from Tomball to Tyler for our first Pine Cove Bluff's Family Camp in June 2013.

We had NO IDEA what to expect. I only packed for 5 days not knowing that camp was Sunday through Saturday. About 10 months prior to our first time at Pine Cove, we were in Colombia completing our adoption. Going from a family of 5 to a family of 9 was something none of us could totally prepare for. It was much like my packing list for Pine Cove. I thought I had planned and prepared enough with trainings and reading all the books, only to find out I came up short. I didn't know what I didn't know.

While in Colombia, we were contacted by Pine Cove and told a generous family had gifted us a week at camp the following summer. The family that paid our way for camp wanted to remain anonymous, so we didn’t get a lot of information before piling in Big Blue and finding our way to The Bluffs.

When we arrived at camp, we were greeted by a couple of college-age counselors at the gate who had a rose for me and a cold root beer for Jeremy in hand. They kindly asked a few questions to get to know our family and offer a warm welcome.

We rounded the corner to find almost the entire staff of college-age counselors jumping and cheering, ready to escort our family to check-in and carry all our luggage to the cabin.  Later we learned that this welcome activity including a pack of jumping and cheering young adults was called “The Gauntlet.” We also learned that families lined up at the gate eager to enter before camp officially opened. Each year we made it our goal to be closer to the front of the line.

Surrounded by gleefully screaming Pine Cove counselors, we rolled down the windows as we pulled to a stop. The kids remained frozen in their seats. 

Our teens were terrified and didn’t want to get out. What was happening? What was this kind of welcome? Our adopted Colombian kids had been home 9 months and still only spoke Spanish. We tried to reassure them and coax them out of the van as a number of counselors were waiting patiently and excitedly for us to emerge from Big Blue. Our friends had told us that many families decorate their vehicles with shoe polish on the windows when they go to camp. We had invited the kids to write on the windows before we left home, but the happy faces and phrases painted on our van windows did not reflect the shock and fear painted on my kids’ faces once we arrived.

With all the unknowns it could have been a disastrous week. That first night as we were all going to bed in a one-room cabin, Jeremy asked the kids to just go into the week with an open mind and try to be grateful for the tremendous sacrifice someone had made for our family of 9 to be there. They reluctantly received his request with little response. Little did they know what this week would mean to them and to us.

How God sometimes answers prayers in the most unexpected way

At Omar and Savannah's Rehearsal Dinner, I took the opportunity to share a personal story with Savannah and our close family and friends about the way God answered a prayer of mine that started about 22 years ago.

In 2003 we lived at the back of a neighborhood called Stone Lake in Tomball. We started planning for our 3rd child but as each month passed, I grew more and more irritated with God. He wasn’t answering my prayers like I planned. 

During that time I went on a retreat and at that retreat we did an activity of picking a stone that had a word engraved. 

I chose the stone with the word “Hope” engraved on it because I had hope that God would answer our prayers and give us another child. I thought that if he gives us a girl, I may use Hope in her name.

Finally, after a couple years go by, we found out we were pregnant. But in September 2005 during the threat of Hurricane Rita, we lost that baby. It was devastating. It was not just the loss of a child but the loss of my dream for my family. 

However, the Lord in his kindness eventually led us to adoption. When we found out we were chosen to be the parents of a tiny baby girl, we had to decide on her name. A few years had passed since we first started the process and we had a few ideas for girl names. I loved the names Macy, Rachel, Savannah. Our adoption agency asked that we keep one name given by the birth parents. We had both agreed on giving our daughter the name Rachel by this time and planned to call her by that name. But when I learned that her birth mother had given her the name Savannah I felt like it was a wink from God, and we named our daughter Savannah Rachel. 

After we adopted our Savannah, we added 4 more children to our family, including Omar. And nine years later, God brought a young lady into Omar’s life who is now becoming his wife. 

This young lady was born in 2005, the same year we lost our child. When she started dating our son, we found out she lived about 100 yards from our old house in Stone Lake where I had prayed and prayed for a child. And her name? Savannah Hope. Her parents chose “Hope” as her middle name at the time I had a shiny little stone displayed on my desk, reminding me of the hope I had for my family. Now she will become my daughter-in-law. So I want to give this stone to you, Savannah, as a reminder that sometimes the Lord has a way of answering our prayers in the most unexpected way. 

 

Omar & Savannah's Rehearsal Dinner

We just got back from a beautiful wedding weekend celebrating Omar and his bride, Savannah. This is our 3rd wedding in just over a year and with the three celebrations we've had, I have figured out that the Rehearsal Dinner night is one of my favorite parts. We have a time of sharing where close family and friends get to stand up and share with the couple what they mean to them, how they appreciate their friendship, and of course, funny memories!

I am including what I shared about Omar at their Rehearsal Dinner (mostly because some have asked me for it) so in honor of the newlyweds, here we go:

Before we adopted, I had a recurring dream of a little boy with a round face and big smiling eyes looking up at me. I would wake up and think "That's my son" and say a prayer for him wondering where he might be. Now when I remember that dream, I see Omar’s face. I'm thankful God gave us you, Omar. 

Some of you may know we adopted Omar from Colombia when he was seven years old. He only spoke Spanish when he first came to us. Omar repeated a couple of phrases many times a day when we first adopted him.

The first was “Me acompanas?” “Will you join me?” Whether he was going out to the back yard or just to the back room, he would look up at you with his sweet round face and big green eyes, and through a smile ask, “Me acompanas?” He didn’t want to go anywhere alone. Not to play, not to school, not to bed and not even to the bathroom!

It was probably a mix of wanting the company but also getting used to his new family and new surroundings. A lot of change occurred in his first seven years.  

Omar’s phrase reminds me of someone else that has said something similar. Jesus invites us to join Him. We have that invitation every day multiple times a day when we have opportunities to love other people and serve those in need. 

The second phrase that Omar often repeated was “Mira! Mira!” “Look! Look!” Omar has always been able to pick up anything athletic quickly. He learned how to do flips on the trampoline and on the ground. He could walk a tight rope with ease. Jumping on a pogo stick, skate boarding, water skiing, tree climbing…Omar could pick up, climb up, glide on anything in a flash. He excelled in any sport he tried. Gymnastics, football, track, and he set swimming records in the 8^th grade as if he had been a swimmer his whole life.

Anytime we had guests at the house or when Omar learned something new, he exclaimed “Mira Mira” and ran out to show off what he could do or he proudly brought his creative work for us to admire. 

This phrase also reminds me of the times God reveals His glory for us to admire…sometimes a colorful sunset, a vast starry sky when we can get away from city lights, or the delight of cardinals calling from the trees close by…these are all times God is saying “Look! Look!” and we can enjoy His handiwork and marvel at His works.

Some things have not changed. Omar has found the one to join him in life and Savannah is the most important person for him to ask, “Me acompanas?” “Will you join me?” The day he asked her to marry him, he looked at her with those big green eyes, and with a smile, asked that familiar question to the most important person to receive it.

He will now have a lifetime to exclaim, “Look Look!” as they start their adventures together exploring all God has for them in the years to come.

Momaw's Handiwork

My mom has been making quilts for over 20 years now. It started with small quilts for each grandchild, carefully choosing designs, colors, and fabrics that felt uniquely theirs. In 2004, she surprised all of us kids and our spouses with quilts at Christmas—a gift I'm sure we didn't fully appreciate at the time, not understanding the hours and heart she'd poured into every stitch. 

And now, by God's grace, she's still at it, making quilts for her great-grandchildren.

Her quilts are more than personal masterpieces or cloth kaleidoscopes. They express her love and care in the most precious way as her prayers for her family outnumber the stitches on each quilt. Her patient, careful work is like the work of our heavenly Father who is creating something beautiful out of our lives. She carefully lays out all the pieces and decides how to place them in the overall design. She may rearrange them as she sees fit. She knows what the finished product will look like. She thoughtfully chooses the border to compliment the colors in the pattern.

As she has gotten older, her arthritis has worsened and some days it makes it nearly impossible to quilt. However, her determination to complete it before the great grandbaby arrives keeps her working through the pain and stiffness.

We surprised her for her 80^th birthday, adorning the living room with her handiwork. Everyone who could make it brought their quilt to take a picture with it and the main character. Jeremy and my brother held up each quilt as a backdrop to the photo with my mom and the receiver standing in front of it. I am not sure who was more grateful. The one who received the quilt or my mom as she stood next to each one arms around their backs and smiling. It was a joy to honor her in this way.

Our quilts are displayed on quilt racks in the corner of our rooms, used for extra warmth on our beds and couches, and have occasionally served as the main bedspread. When I look at them I am reminded of the lovely mom I have. She has mourned the times she has felt inadequate as a mom and for the times she wishes she could go back and do something differently…better. Her quilts are a picture of how imperfection can be lovely too. They show us that it is okay to be who we are and not always get it right. But when we display them in our living rooms or on our beds or wrap up in their warmth, there is so much more beauty and goodness and gratefulness. Her quilts are treasured gifts and so is my mom.