Summer of HOPE w/ Juliet & Jaymark:
First, the KEY:
Jlt = Juliet
Jmk = Jaymark
JJ is both of them
Jny = Johnny
and
I'm deb
The kids really liked all four of us sleeping together in the tent. We only have 4 sleeping bags, but we had to give one to Chris, so we put old sleeping pads down, and a heavy blanket and the extra sleeping bag on top of them, but it seems through the night they took turns rolling the blanket around themselves, so when we awoke, we found Jmk shivering in a corner of the bag. After he went to the bathroom, which is what probably woke him up, we got him tucked in better. What I remember most about the evening, though, was the quiet beautiful prayers after the wild evening. There had been someone at the campground who had her 18th birthday party, so there was a live band for all of us to hear (whether we wanted to or not) which was actually pretty good, so many of the kids, including ours ran off to the dance while adults had the privilege of sitting around a campfire and visiting. As good as that was, the quiet moments we had with them as they prayed in the tent were even better. Jlt prays in English and Jmk in Tagalogue, such sweet voices they have ! How loving their words. They zonked out fast after that. A very full day. No tears from Jmk, as he was very happy to sleep with all of us together. We slept until about 9 a.m. this morning. I enjoyed sharing breakfast and lunch with everyone. There was no bickering in the car going home today. They were too tired and slept almost the whole way home. We saw Bald Eagles, and Canada geese and many kinds of bird life, but since they just slept through it all, Johnny and I actually stopped a few times and visited with each other. Since we came separately, we drove home in 2 cars, but to keep each other awake, we yacked on the cell phone along the way. What was really cool though, was how hard the kids slept, yet when we pulled into the driveway, they woke up, went up stairs, cleaned their teeth and went straight to bed. Here is video of Johnny going for a ride with Jaymark in his canoe in the morning.
