Watermelon Contest and Joy Camp

The weekend of July 4th, I organized a watermelon carving competition. Below are the entries.

3rd place

2nd place

1st place

The watermelons I purchased for the contest.

More goodies from our garden.

I have the opportunity to sew with some kids for their expo projects which is always fun. 

The Expo will be CVE only this year because of COVID-19. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

I've been enjoying my second year as a buddy at our annual Joy Camp! There are two groups, older girls and younger kids. 

Joy Camp is a fun, relationship-focused, brain-training camp. We focus on building joy. The definition of joy is, "Someone is glad to be with me!" Which becomes extremely powerful when we feel that someone is still glad to be with us even when we experience the negative emotions of shame, anger, disgust, sadness, hopelessness and fear. Think about it? How many of the issues in this world are caused because we don't know how to recover from those emotions, how to respond to them, or how to act appropriately in the midst of them. And most importantly when we experience joy (someone glad to be with us) in those emotions, it becomes real to us that Jesus is glad to be with us in those emotions!

A few key aspects...the three rules are 1. Stick together, 2. No Hurts, and 3. Have Fun. There is structure (rules and a posted schedule) and flexibility (kids can use their words to ask for what they need and compromises are allowed). There is a big focus on appreciation and gratitude. There are activities to get kids excited and hyper and then activities to help them calm down. (A much needed exercise for most.) There are activities that train their brains to synchronize with the people around them, to give and receive care, to negotiate their needs, and to identify when there relational circuits are switched off. A lot of time is spent talking about the way our brains work and our emotions. 

Perhaps you can already tell, but these are the things I am passionate about! The concepts I have learned about the brain and relationships have changed my world in wonderful ways and I long to pass that on to other people!

With Selah in the younger group

With Lucy and Marissa in the older group

Thanks as always for your love and support!

A couple poems that relate to joy...

Love of my Life

Love of my life, watch over me.

Hold me and mold me more like Thee.

Teach me forgiveness, mercy, too.

And strengthen me Jesus, yea, all the way through

Joy of my life, sing in my heart,

Praises and blessings for who Thou art.

Lift my voice higher each day I live.

Thou givest me more than I ever can give.

Hope of my life, I come to Thee,

Asking that Thou my anchor be.

Tempest and waves may threaten sore,

Yet expectant and clinging I’ll watch for the shore.

I Rejoice

Oh, I rejoice and praise Thee, Father

Mighty Ruler; King of kings

The burden presses; I feel weary,

Yet my heart thanksgiving sings.

Though I know not what the morrow 

Holds nor know the way ahead,

I know my Father knows each sorrow;

He will lead as He has led.

At every Milestone we grieve and heal again...

Today, 10 years ago, my father passed away. He was 41 years old.

He had battled a Glioblastoma brain tumor for 18 months. I am forever thankful that our whole family was together by his side as He went to be with Jesus. 

I am thankful for a loving father who was present in my life for 15 years, something that so many have never experienced.

I am thankful for my mom who gave us a wonderful example of trusting in and clinging to God even through the hardest times in life.

I am thankful that by God's grace and with our mother's love, all my siblings continue to pursue Jesus and healing.

This year, my dad's first grandson will be born. (Congrats Mitch and Emily!)

At every milestone we ask ourselves what Dad would say if he were here, or what it would be like...at every milestone we grieve a little more and heal a little more...

I share a poem with you today that I wrote just before my mom remarried five years ago.

The Now that Slips Away

A quaint, white house and big red barn,

It seems like yesterday

That climbing up the cherry tree

I watched my sister play.

The sun and rain, our flooded creek,

Waking from dreams at dawn,

The days of carefree, childish play

That now have gone.

Adobe brick and stucco walls

Saguaros towering tall

The mountains rising from the brush

Across the border wall.

The two, sweet years in Mexico

Seemed then a lifetime long

But looking back, a puff of smoke,

An era, gone.

Have five years truly passed me by

Since Father’s face I’ve seen?

It once was “now” that is the past

When I was but a teen.

When folding laundry late one night,

I asked myself how soon

I’d know the reality of death.

Late day of June.

Now driving north to see a friend.

Now coming home again.

Now packing up for a new place.

Now unpacking therein.

In one “now” I am planning it.

The next, the curtain’s drawn.

I find each “now” hardly arrives

Before it’s gone.

A thousand years in Jesus’ sight

Are but a stroke of time

Upon eternity’s great clock

Whose hands e’er upward climb.

A nighttime watch, with sleepy eyes,

Each blink, a year has past

So soon the quiet, waiting ends

With day at last. 

We look forward to that eternal day when the tears will be wiped from our eyes and we will be together with Jesus forever!