A month ago we were up in Northern Minnesota enjoyed the Annual Jackpine Retreat. I am sure any regular readers will remember me posting on this before. This is a highlight of our year and something that is super important to our family.
This year was the 50th anniversary and we had a good crowd show up for that celebration. We had some beautiful (yes, chilly but yet lovely) weather and some awesome fellowship. There were good messages and times of worship too and I know that I went away feeling energized and so very grateful for all that God has done for us and for all the beautiful people that I can share life with. Being with all of these who are seeking God wholeheartedly too is a truly wonderful thing.
Here are a "few" pictures of our weekend....
My sister Keren holding Malcolm and her daughter, Lilly. Mara had made Malcolm a cute wool sleep sack for this camping trip. All of my siblings (unless they aren't in the area - My brother Peter and his family are currently out in Oregon and that is rather far away) and their kids come to Jackpine. We love the time to spend with family and friends too.
Mom and Dad don't camp anymore but they try to drive up and spend some time there on Saturday. Mom got in a little great-grandson holding. Jason, Michelle and Kayla Corder had driven all the way up from Louisiana to come (Jason was asked to preach he is the guy on the left in the photo above) and it was fun for all of us to catch up some with them. They lived in MN for a few years when they were first married and we all treasure our friendship with them.
My sister Anna and our friend, Sarah. Anna's family and ours always share campsites which is really fun because then we get to even share cooking and cleaning up time together. Sarah came over to visit frequently which we very much enjoyed. She and her family live in Southern, MN so we don't get to see them often. We did get to camp with them this year our at NYR so that was a blessing.
For times of singing and preaching we gather around a bit campfire. Everybody brings their own chair or sits on a log.
The kids usually enjoy the inner circle right next to the fire. One chilly evening I headed in to join their circle.
Malcolm has been eating table foods quite a bit now. He can be a demanding eater.
Emily, Michelle and Anna cleaning up after a meal. Michelle, Anna and I and our families all ate together but Emily just came over to visit and helped with dishes. We were glad to let her help. :-)
Since it was the 50th anniversary there was a time set aside for sharing memories and Bobby (who was the dean of Jackpine this year) had compiled a bunch of old pictures for a slide show. That was interesting and fun.
Napping babies are oh so sweet!
A special treat this year was that one of my very first friends, Jessica came up from Iowa to join us. We grew up going to Jackpine Retreat but Jessica hasn't made it back very often since becoming an adult.
It was a blessing to get to see her and visit a little bit. Jackpine was busy enough that we didn't get to visit as much as I would have liked but it was still neat to get to see her at all.
I thought it would be fun to share some pictures from the earliest days of our friendship. The quality isn't that good but they still bring back fond memories.
When we were babies our families actually lived together for a little while. I believe this picture is from that time.
Jessica and I with our friend Tara (front) playing a trio on the piano.
When our family was moving from the town house to our new place in the country I guess the two of us found a suitcase and decided to unpack it and get in it ourselves.
Jessica's family moved away from our town when we were around 5 or 6. But they continued to live in Minnesota and we would go to the same church rallies and Bible camps. Our families would visit each other and we were very close. None of our cousins lived anywhere near and they were like cousins to us. My friendship with Jessica and all her family has been a huge blessing to me and it is so neat that though we don't get to see each other often we are still very much bound together by our common love for Jesus and His church.
Spool racing was the next thing on the agenda for Saturday afternoon. This was at my request as we used to do this all the time but haven't very much in recent years. I figured with it being the 50th anniversary that some good spool racing was in order. Mary Locke did a great job of getting it organized.
The younger and less experienced had their heats first.
Gregory and DJ are off! Gregory had troubles with his spool breaking the first time so I think this is a picture of the redo.
If you fell off you had to get back on and make sure that your spool hadn't moved forward without you on it.
The ground looks fairly flat but there were quite a few bumps that can send you flying if you are going very fast.
There were around 20 or so competitors.
Aaron was the only one to use the really bit spool. We allowed people to choose the spool that they liked best.
Thomas walked alongside Mara while she competed. I am not sure if it was just for encouragement or if he was going to try to catch her should she fall off.
In the first heat I raced against Anna (who was probably the 2nd oldest competitor at 45) - I did win but she was good competition. Then I raced again Megan and Aaron. I was nervous about this race as I knew Megan was quite fast and Aaron is very athletic and competitive. Megan had some sort of hiccup right at the beginning so she was basically out of the race before we had even gotten going. I did beat against Aaron but he gave my a good run.
Several thought that Megan and I should have a rematch to see if I was truly faster. I doubt that I always am but I did win that one by a few inches.
Margaret and Gregory demonstrate how spools can be walked on as a duo. They did not try racing this way. Perhaps we could do team sports next year but that sounds like it could be a little dangerous.
With the lovely humor of Mary and Bobby there were awards for the winners. Huien won the beginner category, Cody was declared winner of the more intermediate and I took the prize for the "advanced" spool racers. We were presented with lovely ribbons made from (new) toilet paper and I was even given a fancy headwreath. I was also presented with a traveling trophy (the large spool that I am standing on) which I could take home and then bring back for the competition next year. Another option was to leave it at Jackpine. I choose that option. They did have me sign it and date it.
They totally cracked me up with their award ceremony.
Caleb and his family came to Jackpine and tried out camping for the first time. He and I built a little farm on the ground together. They loved it there.
My Mom's cousin, Roseanne (the one on the left) and her sister Carol were the ones that got Jackpine started 50 years ago when they were teenagers. She was only there a year or two and then moved away and hasn't been back for Jackpine Retreat again until now. It was neat to have her come. A dream of a couple of teenagers has been a blessing for many for 50 years now. In this picture is also Caroline a sweet friend of our who lived in MN many years ago and I got to be friends with some of her kids. She traveled with Roseanne to come. She was such a help whenever she had a chance. Gary is the third person in the picture. He is a huge part of my memories of Jackpine and other church rallies in my childhood. He was always there and he would bring pineapple filled cookies that his mom had made. He would give us kids shoulder back rides and is just an all around neat guy.
The 3 M's - Mara, Margaret and Malia. These girls have been a pretty constant trio at Jackpine for many years now. They have grown up a lot with two of them being married and one is working as an RN but they still love their time together. As a mom I am so grateful for opportunities for my children to be around others that encourage them in their faith.
Catching up with our brothers and sisters in Christ and encouraging them in their walk is such a blessing. Jason, Mathew and Travis are doing some of that catching up here. I think this may have been around the time that Jason and Michelle made some good Louisiana Gumbo for all of us to enjoy as Mathew was visiting with bowl and spoon in hand.
Michelle and Kayla at evening services.
Some of the young ones around the fire.
Saturday evening families were invited to bring something (a song, a verse, etc) to share. The Blanshans sang a beautiful song that was written by Dale (the dad of most of the singers).
The Lorenz's sang a fun rendition of "Joy is the Flag" They had written a fun second verse to it.
The Johnson clan sang a really beautiful song as well. I think it was "Soon and Very Soon" song in a neat version with echoing.
Luke led singing that evening with Derek and Aaron helping with playing instruments.
Malcolm enjoyed a nice nap on his daddy's lap in the hammock.
Travis led "Get right church and let's go home" with a nice train going around the campfire.
Jason Corder shared some really good sermons on endurance.
I didn't attend the kids' classes but I heard that they were very good too. Bobby taught those.
I am very blessed by this group of friends. These ladies were my bridesmaids many years ago and I am still incredibly thankful for all of them: Anna, Becky, Christy (then it's me in the picture) and Martha.
Carrie and her new sweet niece - Maggie were able to join us this year which was lovely!
The Davidson family! I am so happy that they make it to Jackpine every year.
Sunday afternoon we have a taco feed and all eat together.
Michelle visiting with Emil and Linda. Emil and Linda have always been at Jackpine in my memory and they have been super instrumental in keeping things in good shape there.
Megan and friends.
Mara and Malcolm. I love this picture of them!
I thought it would be good to get Malcolm used to the idea of spool walking.
I wanted to get a picture with Jason and Michelle and Michelle was being silly and got us all laughing.
Jason, Michelle and Kayla drove up from Louisiana to come to Jackpine. These two were a huge part of my college years and I am so thankful for the friends they have been through the years. They stayed at our house on the way up to Jackpine and typically for them, Michelle did my dishes while I worked on Wedding flowers to deliver and Jason finished up the electrical wiring the needed to be done to finish my basement. Then Michelle rode with me to deliver the flowers and up to Jackpine so that we could visit. That is an example of the Body of Christ in action. I am so incredibly thankful to be a part of that body.
Everybody is cleaning up to go home. Luke and Bea camped in one of the new sites that Luke and others had created this summer to prepare for more people coming this year.
Bobby, Isaac, Luke, Derek and many others put in many hours preparing for Jackpine this year and I am incredibly grateful for all the work they did. It was a blessing to me and many others.
I started this post weeks ago but it was a long one and my time has been very limited but here it is now. If you made it this far, congratulations! :-) There are many that I didn't get pictures off or speak of but that still were and are a great blessing. I just want to encourage you, if you aren't already, to make times for fellowshipping with other Christians. We are together - Christ's Body and we need one another. Christians are not made to walk this path alone. We need people that hold us accountable, that know our struggles and our hurts but love us anyway. We need to be able to work together. The church is a team and if you are a Christian you are supposed to be part of that. Together we accomplish great things for God.
