honey camp meets November

So this is the last of the missing posts. I had partly put this one together before the news of Seth's death came and thought today was as good a time as any to finish it.

You guys know what Honey Camp is, right? If not, you can be brought up to speed by reading here. Every year is fun...they make so much great stuff. Last year they made ceramic Christmas trees one day and this year, they made pumpkins. How sweet. Remember the pumpkins? And now, they don our mantle for fall along with some of my favorite fall pictures from when they were littler. Love these pumpkins. I also love that our kids will have tangible treasures from their childhood memories with their grandparents. If they don't break in the meantime!

They also made these sweet turkeys out of straw hats. It may be silly, but I thought they belonged in the kitchen window. They make me smile. :)

So there you have it, Honey Camp meets November. Quite fitting...and quite fleeting I might add. Though they were only out for a few weeks, Christmas decorations have taken their place and these pumpkins are turkeys are safely stored for another year.

I'm grateful that as I sit here in a different state with family, getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, that my clean and completely decorated home awaits our return. I'm tired, though I've done nothing for the last few days. Exhaustion has taken hold of me both physically and emotionally. I'm sleeping so much. But as strange as it sounds, I'm excited to move through this season and all it has to offer. As healing has taken the place of sickness for Seth and contentment in His plan is slowly taking the place of anger and questioning for me. I've got so far to go. But today, this day before Thanksgiving, I'm pondering the greatest gift ever given and how we are undeserving recipients. This Gift continues to sustain me especially and though my thoughts consistently drift to our missing boy, Jesus is meeting me in my grief and showing Himself faithful and true.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. May we worship the giver of all good things. And may we continue to rest in His steadfast love.

Ten Years of Honey Camp

So I must be slipping...or really busy...maybe a tad lazy, because I am just now getting around to posting about Honey Camp 2011. And really, y'all, it was probably the best one ever. It marked the 10th {TENTH} year of HC! Crazy! If you're unfamiliar with HC, you can click here to catch up. My mom's sister, Jill came everyday and brought her grandkids who are similar in age to mine and her other sister, Stacy's daughter was in attendance for the third year I believe. Jase was in Costa Rica and we were at mom and dad's for a solid week...two days of pre-HC fun and then five days of crafts and water slide and pool and painting and dancing and eating!

Mom covered the table like she does each year ...it looks so nice and neat on Sunday night and by the end of the week...it's a disaster! The kids pick their seats, write their names on the table to mark their spot and that is that. We began each day around 9:15-9:30. But Friday, I think we were 10am getting started! lol. Honey Camp can wear an unsuspecting adult slap out! The girls would roll out of bed right about 9:10...you can tell by Syd's hair in the first few pictures! Hysterical. But who cares?

I usually break up the HC posts here by day because of the shear number of pictures. I didn't take as many this year for some reason. Don't ask me why. I haven't the foggiest. Many of the ones here, my mom took with my camera. I just didn't do much of it this year. But as you can see, we had tons of fun. The kids painted ceramic pumpkins {they are being fired...I'll post pics this fall!}, painted wooden trays and put their initials in them, made ribbon trees {girls} and insect catchers {boys}, among many other things. They roasted marshmallows for smores and ate dined with the new HC chinaware...Mickey Mouse plates/utensils/cups/reusable ice cubes. It was stellar. See what I mean?

My mom is just the best. She works so hard to make HC wonderful for everyone. I think she's a little sad that this was the tenth year...time is flying by and that means that the Pook is aging out of Honey Camp. Mom said she needed to recruit some campers! I teased her that Kennedy could come back next year as a camp counselor! lol. But in all probability, Kennedy will begin going on youth trip with her daddy that we plan HC around each year. I think this just breaks mom's heart. And mine a little. Even though I'm so excited for Kennedy right now. She has so much to look forward to in the coming days and months. I need to do a post about her soon. So it was bittersweet at HC. But Sydney and Joel still have several good years to go!