Here is a pic of our 2012 Counselors.  They worked hard this summer to communicate the heart of God to each of their campers.  That is not always the easiest task to do day in and day out.  Counselors are on from the time campers get here on Sunday afternoon until the leave on Saturday morning.  Each week every counselor does a one-on-one with each of their campers.  It is during these deep conversations that counselors have the opportunity to share the gospel and give wise counsel.  We had 1,062 youth campers attend camp this summer.  71 of them accepted the Lord for the first time this summer. 

Our senior counselors…Amy and Isaac did a great job this summer.  Things at camp ran smoothly while I was at home with a new baby.  I was gone for a week when Isaac was born and I had no concerns knowing that Amy and Isaac were in charge.  No, we did not name our son after our Senior Counselor as much as he would like to think so…..

Enjoy a few of our favorite precious pics.  Special thanks to our friend, Jesse, for taking time to capture a glimpse of our little guy.  He truly is little right now….and we are treasuring every moment.

At just 8 days old Isaac went on his first hike.  We love getting out and going for walks, so now it is great that we can do that as a family.  We had some friends in town for a few days visiting…and we went to Hill of Beans coffee shop for lunch.  Afterwards we hiked to the top of Timm’s Hill, which is the highest point in Wisconsin.  Don’t worry it is not so high that we needed oxygen or anything…it is a mere 1,900 ft.  I like to think that Isaac is the youngest person to ever climb to the top…oh yeah!!!  Check it out!!!

At the Top of the Observation Tower!!!

First Family Hike!!!

Laura called me at camp Sunday night at 9:15pm and said, “Just so you know I am experiencing some odd painful sensations (otherwise known as contractions).”  These were the first contractions she has ever felt in her pregnancy, so I thought to myself, “okay this is not the real thing…this is fake” whoops!!  I told her I would be home around 10:00pm as I needed to finish up a few things at my desk since it was the first day of a new week.  I arrived home at 10pm and at 10:15 I did my husbandly job of timing contractions.  (Does that even really matter? or is that a way to keep the husbands occupied or engaged so they don’t drift into sleep.)  At 11:15pm Laura called the on-call nurse at the hospital and after a few brief questions she hung up looked at me and said, “honey get are things ready we are going to the hospital”.  To which my untimley question and response was, “is this for real…like are we really going to the hospital…is this really happening?”  My rhetorical questioning was not received well to a women having contractions.  Laura and I quickly talked about things that I was to DO and NOT to do during a contraction.  (I took good notes)  The car was packed and we were off to the hospital at 11:45pm.  We prayed on our hour long drive to the hospital that we would not hit any furry creatures crossing the road.  We pulled into the hospital at 12:45am and were checked into our room at 1:00am.

The rest of details most of you could care less about and so I will spare you all the details.

What you all need to know is that Isaac Jeffrey Hoffert entered the world at 6:28am on June 25th.  Yes we were at the hospital for a whopping 5 1/2 hours before he was born.  It was a great experience.  He weighed in at 6lbs 3oz and measured 18” long.  He is a little peanut.  We are so excited for the life that God has blessed us with.  We are excited to see him grow into a man of God.  In the meantime pray for wisdom, patience, and grace and we are sure to need it in the months and years to come.

Enjoy the pics…we will post more soon…and will probably post them for the rest of our lives.

Okay, okay, okay…....for any interested, here is a pic of our little guy.  We fondly refer to him as “Tiger” for the time being….

(the belly shot that everyone somehow thinks is “cute” 

(laundry time…at our house….) 

(our fab college leadership staff from CAMP decided to help set up our crib)  thanks guys…..now he’ll sleep tight for sure…

So these past few weeks have been a blur of activity….leadership staff have been at camp for the past week prepairing for the summer.  Counselors are in the second week of counselor training.  I had the privledge of working again with the high ropes course certification.  (No, folks…..don’t worry, I was not up on the course…..rather, I was supporting from the ground.  Yet, it reminded me how much I appreciate the course and working with groups.  I always have more to learn.)

And so the summer begins!  Yay!  I love it.  I love the excitement and energy about the summer.  I love seeing faces from the past who are thrilled to return. 

I love that new staff are pouring in TODAY for a full weekend of training.  It is a full weekend of re-establishing everyone’s various roles and verifying that we are all on the same page.  We are each reminded of why we are here and why we do this thing called “camping ministry.”  It is not always easy or as picturesque as it sometimes seems, but the growth in staff and campers is worth it!

(the high ropes team and Scott, our trainer from Signature Research)