FBC Meridianville Children's Ministry Campout

Weather ... rain, rain and more rain ... caused a lot of cancellations for the end of February/early March, but the weather this past weekend was perfect!

The Children's Group from First Baptist Meridianville came out late Friday afternoon and got settled in the cabin. This was their second overnighter with us.  We had a fire going for them in the pavilion and the heaters turned on in the cabin! 

Friday evening they had dinner and a sweet time of Bible teaching . . .

Saturday morning was chilly, but they stoked that fire quickly and served breakfast.  From there they had a Bible study, did a little exploring and hiking, came back to the pavilion for more Bible study and then did an early lunch.

We hope they enjoyed their visit as much as we enjoyed having them out!

Work Day!

We could not have asked for a more beautiful day for a scheduled work day!  It's always rather iffy in February -- snow, sleet, rain, and painfully cold temps have all plagued scheduled days in the past -- but this year we had clear skies and temperatures that were just about perfect.

We opened the day at 8:00 a.m. with prayer and instructions under the pavilion.

We had right at 50 volunteers on hand that morning!  That's really exciting to see.

The work day was scheduled primarily to take care of the downed trees from Disaster Relief's Chainsaw Training in the fall.

That wood was hauled by tractors . . .

. . . to one of two locations and teams split and stacked (and restocked our firewood supply). 

We had one team at the pavilion and one in the main campground.

Other teams cleared brush and hauled it up to the field for burning.

Pavers were laid at the bottom of the deck steps. Don't they look great?!

Limbs were trimmed from the roadways, to make it easier for trucks and RVs to travel through easily.

The flag pole was cleaned up and repainted.

Cornhole boards were painted and sealed.

And a new sign was painted and readied for installing.

Lunch was provided at noon, and workers gathered and fellowshipped over hotdogs and chili.

Soon it was three o'clock and time to wrap things up.

We managed to stock about seven or eight cords of firewood!  We know that the groups who camp up here in the next ten months will *really* appreciate that effort.

We really appreciate all the hard work and time that each volunteer gifted to the camp that day!

Pack 391 Winter Freeze Camp

Pack 391 absolutely picked the right weekend for their Winter Freeze Camp.  Friday and Saturday were rather mild -- though wet and a little wild during the night -- but Sunday temps were expected to drop into the 20's!

Everyone seemed to have a great time, in spite of rain and damp.  The group stayed near the pavilion for the majority of their stay, and even brought additional tarps to hang to keep out the wet and cold! Lots of great time for all kinds of activities . . . 

And you know it can't be too bad when the kitchen crew is all smiles!

We enjoy having this group at the camp and hope to see them again, soon!

Winter Work Day 2016

The storms, wind and rain of the preceding year have taken a toll on the trees around the camp and there are downed trunks "ripe for the sawing", so to speak. Which is a good thing, since our wood supply has been well depleted since the last work day!

Saturday was 65-degree January day, which made it a *great* day to cut wood. We had fourteen volunteers make it out to the camp for the work day. Wells Johnston came with his tractor and Polaris and brought a young guy named Josh who did a great job. We put him with Chris Wilson's son and they were busy all morning. 

Dr. Carl brought up the Disaster Relief trailer and a crew. I know Ronnie Smith and a couple of others. Once the system is in place man can they cut some wood like a well oiled machine. Dr Carl was preparing the trees that were down so Wells could drag them up to the pavilion with his tractor.

Once the tree arrived, several were there waiting with chain saws, including Wayne Hillis from Union Grove Baptist.

The would cut the tree up into pieces that would fit into the hydraulic log splitter. Two guys were working the splitter.

Once the logs were split two or three of the guys were stacking. This went on until around 2:00 p.m. with folks rotating in and out of different positions and grabbing a doughnut, or some water in between. 

We have enough wood cut up for the year ! I am not clear on what makes a cord but I heard one of the men say it looked like about 4 cords. We can not thank this crew enough for all their hard work and dedication to the camp. God is good!

Trail Life Campers

Trail Life has been coming to the camp for several years now and we always love to have them. 

David Collier was among them doing some cooking and who knows what all else. I asked him about how he slept when I saw him on Saturday morning and he said, "Great!" (I am pretty sure David went home to sleep and came back..:) 

They had a great group for their family camp-out and I also got to see friend Ken Boyd. Ken will actually be running for mayor of Huntsville next year and already he had a crowd of folks around him. I am trying to remember...Ken did you say you had already received a million in donations and were a strong second in the polls? Not sure that is exactly what he said; I will have to double-check. 

Anyway the group seemed to enjoy themselves and we hope to have them back again soon.

Willowbrook's Father/Son and Father/Daughter Weekend

Willowbrook pulled off a great weekend of camping, starting off with their Father/Son Campout on Friday overnight into Saturday.

The guys came in and got tents set up in the main campground and enjoyed an evening around the campfire.

Saturday morning found them out at the obstacle course:

And also at the various stations, working on blow dart skills, archery, hatchet throwing, and air rifle practice!

At lunchtime, the father/daughter group came in and both groups enjoyed lunch and a very personable missionary who spoke to them all.

The fathers and daughters also took an afternoon of going through the stations, after setting up their tents.  They had a fabulous time and while the numbers were close, there were 75 in the father/son group and 80 in the father/daughter group!

We hope to have *both* groups back again soon!