a weekend by the campfire

as i'm working my way through the piles of "campfire" laundry, the familiar smell reminds me again of the way i feel when we're camping... like everything is right, in spite of the work and effort that goes into it... like we're in our element somehow, even though the experience is so different than our regular day to day. it really is wonderful and something our family enjoys.

as we were taking down camp sunday morning, the guy camping across from us came over and said it had been such an encouragement the night before to over hear our children reading matthew 2. moments like these make my heart swell up with pride because it was on the kids own accord that they sat around in the tent that night and read the bible together... and to think it was blessing our neighbor and none of us even knew it. i love how the Lord works!

we set up camp on site #16 at kings mountain state park

catherine is indeed my child... i peeked in one of her packed camping trip bags and found this pumpkin. when i asked her why in the world she was bringing it, she replied, "well mom we've got to decorate!" so even while camping, our table looked pretty with fall foliage from nearby woods placed in plastic cups nestled beside our perfect little pumpkin

a dog named rusty was camping next door with his family... anna was completely in love with him

benjamin dragging in a tree that he cut down all by himself

even rocks are more interesting when you're camping

catherine teaching mary scott how to play checkers

roasting marshmallows for yummy s'mores