Camp Moriah 2010

We spent this past week enjoying the beautiful campgrounds of Camp Moriah -- a church camp located in extreme northern Mississippi. It was very hot this year, but we still enjoyed our week. I thoroughly enjoyed the air conditioning that our camper afforded me. I also enjoyed my own bathroom and the fact that I didn't have to shower with bugs and frogs.

My nephew, Keith, spends time playing in the playground.

His brother, Seth, makes a silly face for the camera.

Arts and crafts for the girls this week included a knitting project. The girls had fun knitting together and visiting.

Every morning the kids and I participated in "The Challenge." This started a few years ago simply as a physical activity that began each morning. An incredibly engaging young man turned it into "The Challenge." Every morning starts with jumping jacks, push ups, and several other cardio exercises. This is followed up with running and often relay races. On Thursday of this week, he decided to get the camp canoes involved in the exercise. Everyone was supposed to help carry the canoes, but when he realized that some were not quite tall enough, he decided to put them inside the canoe. These smaller guys truly enjoyed the ride.

Next, he decided to have a race that involved jumping over the canoes. The kids really enjoyed this one.

Kirsten moaned and groaned every morning when I told her that it was time to get up and run, but she really enjoyed the challenge after she was done.

The next exercise was a race between teams carrying canoes. It was interesting because not everyone runs at the same speed and there was a lot of cooperation involved.

Alec enjoys a short ride in the canoe.

One day they played relay races and Alec's team won the first round.

Every year the kids paint t-shirts and it is one of the things that they most look forward to at camp. Kirsten poses with her shirt.

Alec really tried hard this year to make his shirt neat.

This is Kirsten's Bible study group.

Alec truly enjoyed his Bible study group.

Alec's quiet time counseling group (combined with Brandon's group) performed a skit about Gideon and his army of 300 men that defeated the other army with God's help.

Kirsten's quiet time group performed a song for the entire camp.

Two different days the younger kids were involved in water games. This does not always happen, but it was so hot this year, that we decided to let the little kids have fun while cooling off. This game was a pass the wet sponge over your head game.

Kirsten, Martha, and Margaret watch the kids have fun with the water.

After the games were over, the kids all lined up to get really soaked. The older helpers with the games just tossed buckets of water over the kids. I am really happy with the way this picture turned out.

Every year, the men play a softball game and it is always well attended and cheered on by the other campers. Some of these guys really play for fun while others play to win. It is always very entertaining.

Lots of volleyball is played every year. There are two different recreation periods and this court is never empty. I played two different days. I love to play but sometimes it was too hot to even have the desire to play.

Alec is being goofy in this picture. I think the heat was starting to affect him (just kidding).

On a totally different note, there is only one reason that I was sad that I was not at home this week. On Wednesday, Mitch texted me about a historic tennis match that was taking place at Wimbledon. At first I thought that he was crazy and had his numbers wrong. He said that this match was already over 10 hours long and the fifth set was tied 59-59. If you follow tennis at all, you already know about this match. I was so sad to know that this match is one of those never to be forgotten matches and I was in a location where I could not watch it. However, had I been at home I would have wasted three whole days watching this match. The game started on Tuesday and didn't finish until Thursday. The final score in the fifth set was 70-68 (are you kidding me?) That is a score for basketball, not tennis. There is no tiebreak in the final set at most grand slam tournaments and you must win by two games. The fifth set alone took over 8 hours to play which is two hours longer than the longest-ever entire match. All records of any kind were broken in this match -- most aces, most games, longest match, as well as many others. I have gotten to see many highlights since I have come home and have enjoyed watching these two players battle it out for the win. The players were John Isner (from the University of Georgia) and Nicholas Mahut. We will see many great things out of John Isner in the years to come. Go USA! Go Andy Roddick!! (He plays tomorrow).