July is always crazy...

July always seems to be a crazy month for us...

it is the end of the school year,  our English camp begins the first week in July, and with our American and international community, we usually have to say some sad goodbyes.

This year a team from Seven Rivers came to help us with our English camp (Dan and Jen's home church.) We were so thankful to be in our new facility and to have their help!

 You can see more pictures HERE

Also here to help is our friend, Jeni...
She came last summer with a team from our home church, St. Andrews, and had so much fun, that she wanted to come back and help again :)

She did an awesome job of face painting every day! 

Mid-week we celebrated the 4th of July with the team and a few of our friends from church

Gotta love hamburgers on the grill, apple pies and flag waving while singing the national anthem!  It was a fantastic week of loving on the kiddos who came to camp- and celebrating with old and new friends!

And speaking of friends...

This weekend we began the process of saying goodbye to some of our dearest friends over the past 4 years. (They actually fly out on Friday) Yvonne and Whitney have been teachers at the school where our kids go, they have been actively involved with our church from the beginning, and we have shared life together in so many ways.  It is so hard to say goodbye- but we look forward to seeing what God has in store for them in the future... they will be dearly missed by our family and by our church!

Here they are being silly at a grill party that some friends threw for them this weekend! 

Luke will head to Florida this Thursday, to stay with my mom for a few weeks and attend a few camps, and we will head to Croatia for a few days next week to try and recover from all of the physically and emotionally draining events over the past few weeks!  :)


 

Day 3-English Camp

The camp starts at 8:30 and runs until 5pm. The day is sort of broken up into 3 parts. The morning has most of the English instruction, then we break for lunch and then the afternoon is spent playing games and going to the park.

The older group is referred to as the "sharks" and the younger group are the "minnows". Sometimes they do activities together, but most of the time they are separated. Today they discussed body parts and some of the miracles Jesus performed. (healing the blind and the lame) Everyone is doing a great job and we all are having fun...aside from being very hot (yesterday was 92 and remember we don't have air conditioning!!!)

Here is Liesl performing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes...


Here are the sharks working on a song...


Bethany is reviewing body parts...


Here Tristan is getting traced...


Abby is coloring herself in...


We celebrated Matthias' 5th Birthday...


Ewan and Levi...


5 of the interns breaking for lunch...

English Camp-Day 2

Each morning begins with "boarding an airplane" to America, so we can learn English. Brad is the pilot and Jeff, the co-pilot. There is always a funny skit between the two of them, with Jeff always forgetting his co-pilot's jacket...hence the silly outfits. The kids really get a kick out of them! Today the kids focused on learning about animals and the Bible story of Noah and the Ark. There is plenty of laughing, dancing, playing, crafting and learning going on!

English Camp-Day 1

This is our friend Christopher. He came home with us after English camp and immediately passed out because he was so tired. I think that is a good indication that our first day was a success! :)

Here are a few more photos of our first day...