Oden Adventures

For the third week of July, I had the enormous honor of being invited to lead worship for the week of Family Camp at Black Lake Bible Camp in Olympia, WA, where I went to camp as a kid/teen and worked three summers on staff.  But I couldn't be that close to Oregon without also spending time with my family & friends, so I tacked a long week onto the front end of my trip to be able to see (most) everyone.  Unfortunately, Patrick had Latin class, so he couldn't come up 'til mid-way through the second week so we spent ten days apart.  This was the longest since we've been married and we hated it and don't plan to do that again.  But despite that, I (at least) still managed to have all sorts of fun in my time there.

The absolute priority upon my arrival was meeting new niece Margot (about 7 weeks old while I was there), and secondly bonding with her big sister Beatrix so that she remembers I exist.

Bea & Daddy (is this the cutest picture ever??)

Much to my delight, it was a baby-themed visit.  Other babies met for the first time: Avalinn Brown, Grace & Emily Chaney, Mia VandenBos...and I'm sure I'm forgetting some!


Other highlights: visiting Grandma Gustafson, fun with Rebekah & the Hsiehs, celebrating Vera's birthday, hanging with Mom & the Storeys, Saturday Market with the Blairs.





Then it was up to Black Lake for Family Camp, where I got to lead 8 sessions of worship over the week for a very kind & gracious group of fellow Black Lake fans.  It was a privilege to work with the speaker for the week Jerry Huson, from Irvine, CA and who's up to all sorts of cool things.  It was great to see familiar faces & meet some new people & to sing praises to God in the Tabernacle (one of my favorite buildings), as well as to see how God continues to sustain this place, sacred for so many.