I'm Back

Yesterday, the kids and I returned home to a clean house...from top to bottom. Sam hired Jasmin to come and clean while we were camping. It was so nice to come home to that. He also did all the laundry I sent home with him on Thursday. He missed being with us. Maybe next year he will come with us again. He hates camping, but I think he missed spending time with us even more. I know we all missed him, even though he came out most evenings to spend time with us (the camp was only about a half hour away).

So here are some drawings from my journal. I actually really had hoped to get more drawing done, but well when you are trying to keep track of three kids and know where they are, it's hard to focus on doing much drawing or doing it well. I have to apologize about this first drawing of our campsite. It's really bad, I know...I tried to make it better in Photoshop...it didn't help. It's way off, so just forgive me for how bad of a drawing it is...the point of it was to show what our campsite looked like. By the way, there was way more toys than this drawing shows.

I should tell you that my friend Cary also came along with us. She and her two kids, Abby and Jake. Her husband hates camping as well. Last summer during family camp she ended up coming out every afternoon to swim and hang out and we came up with the idea of doing this together. We seemed to be able to manage the five kids pretty well between the two of us and so that's how it came about. We borrowed this trailer from some very generous friends. It was such a nice accomodation for all of us. The air conditioning was wonderful. It even had a microwave! We had a great time hanging out and doing all the camp stuff. The nice thing about family camp is we can drop off the kids in the nursery tent and bible school tent and we can be with adults for 2 hours. Each morning and evening there were services to go to. Our new superintendent (of Southern Michigan Conference of Free Methodist Churches) was the speaker. His talks were really good and inspiring. Sometimes, I got out my journal and drew during the services...the above drawing was one of those. There were many days however, that the only chance I had to draw was after the kids were in bed.
I painted this picture in the dark one night.The drawing on the right was done inside the camper from my bed, after everyone was tucked in. (Jake and Cary slept in the big bed behind mine).
I have been looking for a journaling bag for quite sometime. I haven't had much luck, finding something that suits me. At camp they were selling some bags, purses and such that were made in Africa by African women. They use the the money to support their families. It is a really neat ministry. Anyway...I found a great bag. It's just a bit bigger than my journal, but I can also fit in several other things. It has an inside pocket, for money or whatever...and I just love the patterns on the fabric. I tried to draw it here. I am really loving this bag. It's perfect. And it's so me. It actually is not as green as it looks in the painting. It has lovely shades of greens, teals, blues and yellows and the patterns are printed in a dark brown...the bag is trimmed in black. It is really cool and I am so glad I found it. $20.00 is a small price to pay for something you really love...plus it went to a good cause.
Probably the most exciting thing that happened was we discovered a Luna moth near our camper one morning. There had been a bad rain storm during the night and we found him under a tarp we had covered the toys with. He was so badly injured and moved very little. His wings were wet and he had lost parts of them probably trying to fly. When he did fly he could only get a couple of feet at a time and then he would rest for 5 minutes or so. So I drew him during one of those times. The kids were amazed with it, and chased it around. He really was beautiful and I don't think I have ever seen one in person before. Actually I didn't know what it was until the eight year old camping next to us pulled out his insect guide and identified it for me.
Savannah's favorite part of the week was riding on the paddleboat with me. We all had a lot of fun and the kids loved being outside so much. I am glad we went. I am sure we made some great memories. Even though I didn't get to draw, record as much as I had hoped, I still enjoyed the times I had relaxing and drawing. But yesterday, when I got home...it was so nice to relax. I mean, my kids were all inside and for the first time in a week I did not have to worry about what they were doing or where they were. It was great. And I am so glad to be home with my whole family in my clean house.