the green spot blog

Huzzah!* The building has commenced! Last Saturday, October 10, Kevin & Jen & kids, Andrew & Lisa & kids, Matt and Richard joined Dave in the RV sites to begin work on Cabin 1! Actually, it'll probably be Cabin 12-14 or 16, because those puppies will be the first to go. Kevin, Andrew, Richard, Matt and Dave made a good start on the cabin. Lisa, Jen and I cooked ... deliciously pre-cooked food (thanks Ken!). Andrew managed to find time to take some photos as they built, so check it out! Left: The build site, with just the skids on the ground. Right: Skids. Right: Hammer time.* Left: Land of many drills. Left: Kevin and Richard weren't cold at all (it was only -15 with the windchill, after all). Right: Fortunately, to offset the cold, a coffee break! Left: Richard and Jesse measuring. Right: The first wall is up! The second wall is up! Left: Frame of the back wall. Right: Our handsome building crew. * "Huzzah!" is actually a play on words, be...

We had an anonymous comment on our Impact post that I'll paraphrase -- "the blog makes it look like the only important thing that happens at Evergreen is summer camps." It's not a question, but a question is implied, and it's a fair question and I'd like to address it! Through July and August, summer and family camps aren't the only important thing that happens at Evergreen: they are quite simply the only thing that happens at Evergreen. As part of summer camp, we have an A/V crew that's on hand to capture the summer's progression: all the crazy games and cute kids and fun activities and chapel times and firesides and whatever else. In addition to taking sweet photos, they make weekly DVDs that campers can take home at the end of each week. Our campers' parents also sign a waiver that allows us to take their kids' pictures and use those pictures on our brochures, in newsletters and here on the blog. From September 1 - June 30 (or there abou...

Rise Up!, our annual Senior High retreat, was this last weekend. We had a special visit from someone who's usually just present for Rise 'n Shine (our Junior High retreat) ... the snow! On Sunday (the snow really arrived Sunday), there were snowball fights galore and I took a picture through the kitchen window of them. It was cold. I was a chicken. Ashley and Sandi interpreted the snowfall as an opportunity to take crazy pictures. We played Bible Smugglers again on Saturday night. I was canoed our teams of smugglers, and on one of my return trips from the hidden dock, as I was approaching the main dock where the smugglers meet for their trips across the pond, I was met with a huge splash. My first thought was, "that's super mean, smugglers! It's cold out! I don't want to get wet!" But, as it turned out, the smugglers had not thrown rocks into the water to splash -- rather, there was an angry beaver swimming around my canoe. It was pretty excitin...

Well, I can't really say anything other than that I'm inexcusably behind in posting something for Impact. Impact (grades 9-12) was ridiculously fantastic. Our speaker, Mike Perschon, was challenging and great. It was just really, really, really fun. Bible Smugglers, chosen skill, Homemade Jam, Blue Cows, the Book of Esther, the story of Mary the girls' morning at the creek, dinner on the airplane, dinner in a pirates' ship, You are My child and I love you! (Psalm 91), the version of "Christ in My Vessel" with missiles and stuff, Mike's stories, moose, fireside, and on and on and on ... Cabin 14 boys (Chad and Alex) ... I don't really know: Cabin 3 girls (Denine and Emily) with their intense cabin decorations: Homemade Jam, aboard the HMJ Revenge There are mountaintops and there are valleys in our lives, in our faith, and when we hit the valleys, don't stop moving. God is still on your side. He is still with you. Don't give up.

Ignite 2, our second junior high-aged camp for the summer, ran from August 10-15. (I write that and think, "I need to come up with snappier introductory sentences ... did I learn nothing in university?") Travis Padgham, our speaker, was my youth pastor so I definitely had many flashbacks to grade ten. Good times. Travis talked about a bunch of stuff over the course of the week, including the armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-20) and David and Goliath. To demonstrate just how gigantic Goliath probably was, our kind, hardworking Assistant Maintenance man Colter (he's 6'7" in his bare feet), bravely clomped around the Activity Centre on a pair of drywalling stilts ... which made him 9'1"! It was craziness! Here are some of the sweet things that campers shared at fireside on Friday night: "I learned that even at the times when I feel alone, I'm not because God is with me." "So what I'm thinking is that I have some pieces of armour ...

I am very much remiss in my blogging; I apologize. Explorers & Sparks 2 ran from August 5-8 and Jenny Chell spoke. Jenny talked about how God loves us in a never-ending, can't-escape-it, bigger-than-we-can-imagine way. At the beginning of the week, the skies were bleak and gray and it looked like we were in for a coooold week. Thankfully, it didn't last: we saw sunshine; we got to wear our shorts and tee-shirts! There was even an enormous water fight at the end of the week! There were just too many cute photos from Explorers & Sparks 2! Fun at the Barn And at the Climbing Wall ... Playing Field Games (Apparently shots of Alex at Jug 'n Jog are standards ...) And so much more ...