This year’s trip to Northern Pines was different. I knew this from the get go. It ended up being a very good different. Our normal 7 hour trip took about 8.5 hours after being caught behind a wreck just north of Springfield, Illinois on Highway 55. I will never forget the city at the next exit being Atlanta. Who knew there was an Atlanta, Illinois?

When we got to camp, we found out that there were two young ladies who were injured during first week and who were now walking around with crutches. One was the girl we were scheduled to bring home and the other belonged to the couple who we would soon become close with, as they were the other half of our transition team, Todd and Janelle Rau. Both girls were off of crutches by Monday so that was good.

It was nice to see some of our friends Friday night and Saturday morning that were there for the first week of Northern Pines. Our work was just starting when they all left. The first thing Todd and I did was get some of the kids luggage moved to where they would be staying that night. Where that actually was changed a few times from that morning to late afternoon thanks to God’s hand at play and some fine negotiating skills by Todd and myself. The Green Lakes staff was wonderful to us on the changes and they were really accommodating. We got the kids fed, got them a makeshift set up to watch a movie and off to bed by 9:45 pm. I had all of the young men in my cabin so there were 22 of us on beds and mattresses across the cabin. They were great guys who caused no trouble and most slept to around the 9:30 am wake up call. After worship service and lunch, Todd and I moved more luggage and then both families helped with the check in or greeting process. I waved to many friends standing by the side of the road and was able to help some camp first timers. Lyn got to help with check in.

Lyn and I got to our rooms and Josh got all taken care of in his accommodations and our week at Northern Pines had officially begun. During the weekend transition time we worked with some old friends who we thought were only there first week but stayed for both, so that was fun to discover. God knew what he was doing some time ago planting the idea of giving back to the Raus and myself and then into the director, Dean Jaderston on the formation of our ‘Transition Team’. Both of our boys play baseball and we are all huge Disney Freaks.

The pictured attached to this blog is from the end of the week’s celebration dinner. Stay tuned to a future blog to see how the week went.