The end of summer :(

Tomorrow is the first day of school for both Nathan and Camden.  Camden will start kindergarten and Nathan will go into the 7th grade!  Life is going by too fast; just like the summer. 

We ended our summer with what I dubbed our month of camps.  We started in July with a mission week at our church.  Nathan spent the week at the church for this "trip".

After a two day break, Nathan left for music camp.  Dave was able to spend the last half of camp as his chaperon.  They had a great time during Nathan's fifth and last year attending music camp.

The boys of Music Camp

Music Campers at White Oak Conference Center

Music camp ended on Friday; we went to Columbia; spent the night with my parents; and left for Atlanta the next day.  Grammie Camp began on Sunday morning!  This year Grammie Camp expanded to include Declan, the 7 year old cousin.  Since the youngest two cousins are 5; this means in two years they all get to go!!!  While Nathan was away at Grammie Camp, Aunt Amy/Jennifer Camp had a full schedule in Charleston.  This schedule was even busier since the Olympics were on!

Grammie Campers 2012

Aunt Amy/Jennifer Campers

Grammie camp ended on Saturday, and on Sunday morning, Nathan and I left to go to Look-up Lodge for four days.  This camp was lots of fun, but also spiritually challenging. 

The Cow group from Charleston Baptist at Look-up Lodge

One of the topics that the camp Pastor brought up was something that I have been hearing about a lot in the past few years.  Why are so many children who are brought up in the church and profess to be Christians leaving the church when they leave home?  This is disturbing, not just in terms of church numbers, but ultimately in terms of lives that may or may not truly be saved.  A couple of reasons for this have been presented and both of them seem true.   The first is that these kids were never really saved to begin with.  The other is that these kids from "good" homes are being brought up by parents who do not live out their faith in their home.  Parents who say one thing to their kids, but do another.  This was also reiterated by our youth pastor during the new parents talk for new youth...yes, Nathan moved to the youth group today!

So this summer has come to a screeching halt with lots of new things happening and old things that will never happen again.  As I move into the school year schedule, I need to keep in mind the lessons I have learned this summer.  I need to make sure that Nathan and Camden do not hear one thing from my mouth and see me do another.  I need to love God more and let them see that in my life. 

It began with a chair

In college, I would buy a cool pair of tights and then have to buy an outfit to match.  Well, I also did this a year or two ago!  But this time, it was a chair!  Dave and I were at Costco one day and I saw this chair that I really liked.  I know he didn't like the plaid chair that came with the house, so I proposed that we get this chair instead.  We didn't make an impulse decision that day; but the next day, when I came home from dropping off the boys with my parents for the weekend, this chair was in the living room.  What a great way to start a weekend! 

But the chair did not go as well with the burnt red walls.  Chocolate brown would be better.  And the walls did not go so well with the reddish window treatments.  But Lowes had a perfect pair.  And the rod holders didn't fit the new curtains.  But Target had brownish metal rods that really look great with the new wall color. 

So after a week of painting and moving furniture around and getting rid of all that dust that accumulates under furniture, we have a new living room.  All because of a chair! 

SOS Week

Our church had an in-town mission trip this week called Serving our Savior-SOS.  The youth who wanted to, stayed at the church to be able to get away from outside influences and be ready to serve the entire day.  Nathan got to stay this year if I stayed some.  So I did.

I even got to cook breakfast one morning!  And I got pranked as noted in the previous post.  Other fun things that happened this week included

Camden finding a "girlfriend"

and Nathan being told by some kid on the street that he looked like a girl!  They both had fun serving, attending basketball camp, hanging out with the youth (both of them!), and going to backyard Bible club. 

Since it was a church wide emphasis, Dave and I participated by having a BYBC at our house and by being on the construction team for two days.  It was an awesome experience.  We both got to help paint a halfway house for homeless men, some whom are veterans.  One man was deaf and I got to talk with him a little.  He was such a sweet guy and jumped right in to help us paint, put the outlet plates back, and sand the wall.  He was a blessing to us with his spirit.















At our BYBC, we had a great storyteller, some fun crafts and exciting, even wet games!  But the best part, one of the families that attended, came to our church on Sunday! 

Nathan though, had the most life changing experience.  He volunteered to get out of his comfort zone!  And he did.  He spent most of his time ministering downtown or out in the country.  He showed love to kids in some of the poorest areas of Charleston.  He also got to not only serve, but to sit and talk with homeless people.  One man really touched his heart as they ate spaghetti together.  The man had lost his family, but still knew God loved him and that he had a friend in Nathan.  He even gave him the address of where he stays.

It is so important for kids to serve God when they are young so that they will grow up to serve God.  And it is a refreshing reminder of how we are to look at others.  My first thought when he said he had a homeless man's address was that "you won't be able to visit him".  But Nathan is only seeing him as God sees him.  Not as a person we want to avoid and be cautious of because they are only on the streets because of their addictions or poor choices.  Yes, this could be the reason; but in Nathan's idealist, albeit niave mind, this man is just a person who needs helps.  A person that God loves.  So maybe we will be going to visit a homeless man in our future.  Jesus would.

It was actually a good prank!

Our church is having a churchwide "mission trip" to Charleston this week, and the youth are staying at the church to be available for whatever tasks are needed of them.  Nathan is staying up there and since he is new to this whole youth thing, I have stayed up there a couple of nights at well.

The first night I stayed there was uneventful.  I had taken my Ipad in order to read at night, and of course some of the girls wanted to look at it and play the games.  So on the second night I stayed there, one of the girls, whom will remain nameless, was playing on my Ipad right before lights out.  I was fine with that because I figured I would get it back and still be able to look at it after lights out.  But when she handed it back and got in her bed, I found that she had put a passcode on my Ipad!  After fiercely whispering to her put the code in, she did so.  I thought I could then go into the settings and change the passcode, but to my surprise, nothing was in English!  I think it was French.  Even my Ibooks were in French!  I still figured that I could change it easily, but from the other end of the room I hear, "Ladies, put the flashlight thing away.  Whatever is shining on the ceiling, put it away now." Between my frustration and the barely uncontrolled laughter of the other chaperon sleeping near me, I gave up and went to bed.    

Of course the next day I still could not get into my Ipad.  I finally got someone to put the passcode in correctly, but now the language was Chinese, I think!  And it was very hard to figure out which button to push in order to change the language or the passcode.  But finally I was able to get to English and put in a new passcode that no one knows but me!  I guess you could say that I have been initiated into the youth.  Things have definitely changed since we last worked with youth.  Now I need to learn to think smarter! 

Helpful hints from Amy

That sounds like a cheesy newspaper column!  But I did find 2 helpful hints lately...well the latest was actually from Dave.  Ever since we got our new tub, or maybe since I started buying body wash with coupons, we have had the worst problem with getting our tub clean.  It would take forever to clean, and there still seemed to be residue on the sides and dirt on the bottom between the ridges.  After trying all sorts of bathroom cleaners, I had finally thought I had found the solution with Pine-Sol and a scrub brush.  This made it look clean, however, it still felt grimy.   Today, though, we finally got a clean tub again.  Dave was saying that it always seemed to feel greasy, so he figured we needed a cleaner that cut grease...dish washing detergent!  So he got out the Dawn and scrubbed for a short time compared to usual and the results were a sparkling white tub! The best part of this tip is that Dave did the cleaning :)

The other tip has to do with deodorant; and I hope I am not jinxing myself by saying that I have found something that works. Some people know that I have been complaining about the way my deodorant has not been working in recent years. So far I do not think I have smelled bad, but I have felt wet. It also has started ruining my shirts. And not after wearing them for a full season even! It has been very frustrating. I had switched from my lifelong Secret and tried Degree, Lady Speed stick, and even a brand named Tussy. I had given up on all of these cheap brands and moved to the clinical strength Secret, but this still did not do the trick. Until I read a tip on one of those slide shows on the Comcast home page. It recommended putting the clinical strength deodorant on at night in order for it to soak in. In the morning I put on regular stuff and this combination has worked!!! And it has been working in the hot humid month of July! Like I said, I hope I didn't jinx it. Other solutions have been temporary in the past, but I hope that this one works for good! My shirt budget can't handle wet pits!!

A Prom to Remember

Seven years ago I started working with a camp for children with multiple disabilities. I can remember the time well because I was pregnant with Camden! I have not worked at the camp for the past two summers because I feel like my children need me during the summer first of all. I do miss the kids at camp though, so the boys and I usually head up to the end of the camp celebration. This year it was a prom, complete with king and queen! It was a fun time and the kids enjoyed dancing with the counselors. In fact the counselors and parents enjoyed dancing too! Of course Nathan and Camden weren't shy about cutting a rug; although Nathan may have been a little embarrassed when I started dancing around him! At first he wouldn't dance with me, but after moving on to Camden, he cut in and decided it was cool to dance with his mom! All in all, it was a great prom and kudos to the organizers of the Pattison's Prom! It was awesome!

Hanging with my buddy Lamaun!

Camden dancing with the Prom Princess Haylie...she is the one who held his hand...she is so sweet!

Nathan was supposed to be the date of Bailey, one of the counselors and an old friend.  He was not sure of this situation.

So Bailey dance with Camden instead!

 Me and my handsome sons!

Camden always makes the goofiest faces in pictures!

Luke, one of the coolest kids I know, with his date, a daughter of one of the counselors.  Although his body is handicapped, his mind is not and he knew who he wanted as his date!

Another fun meal!

A very happy crowd...but what with the hair Nathan?

Over a year ago I met my parents at the Francis Beidler Forest, about halfway between our homes. Afterwards we ate at the closest restaurant which was a diner connected to a gas station off of 95. And it was my birthday dinner from my parents! As non-satisfying as the first experience was at the Home-cooked diner, because we had to meet again about halfway between Charleston and Columbia, we ended up at the same diner. To be honest, the food is not too bad, but it is a humorous place to eat! The waitress reminded me of someone on Restaurant Impossible. When asked how the chicken sandwich was, she replied that she had never tried it. When asked what she would recommend, she said, well, I really just like the salads. I got the french toast!

Camden was not too happy about the choices he had for dinner!

Grandaddy and Nathan looking forward to dinner...or at least just hanging out!