Russell, Ruth and I just got back from visiting two camp sites - TWO POTENTIAL SITES! Yea! Both sites are in East Texas about 2 - 2 1/2 hour drives from Dallas.

Camps Visited:
Timberline Camp
Pine Springs Baptist Camp

On the way back to Dallas, Russell, Ruth and I discussed the pros/cons of each camp. We ask that you pray with us for the Lord's leading on which camp to go to in 2008.

Major prayer decision rests with the date of camp. Right now - no camp facilities are available the week we promoted of June 8th - June 14th. So two available dates are June 1st - 7th or August 3rd - 9th. The major reason for the availability is the end of school dates. So Ruth is going to research school districts to see when school is out in 2008 and then we can decide if the first week of June is best for us OR if we should move it to the first week of August.

PLEASE send us your comments on the dates - let us know from you whether these dates work or not - and give us insight to your school district and the end date.

Will blog soon....

Evening everyone!

Camp Pictures
Well I have heard from a few of you in regards to camp and one person mentioned the camp pictures. THANKS FOR THE REMINDER! Since camp was over, it slipped my mind since we are already working on Camp 2008! So know that I have been in contact with Russell & Ruth (who took the photos) and they will be getting those downloaded soon and off to me. I hope that we can post them on the website - I will keep you updated on our progress.

Pastor Jeremy-
Has made it safely to Russia with his luggage as well! For those of you who don't know but his luggage got separated from him as he arrived to camp, and there was one trip to Russia that he was without his luggage for a couple of days. But this trip went very smoothly for him. Please keep him in prayer - he has sent word that he is exhausted and needs some rest. I don't know if there is a jet lag to deal with - but when you think of him - lift up a prayer for his rest.

Camp 2008 Facility -
Please keep Russell, Ruth and I in your prayers as we visit a couple of camp sites this upcoming Saturday. We hope to determine this soon so that we can let you know and we can begin promoting Camp 2008!

Peace...

Neen

Good morning everyone! Russell, Ruth and I met a couple of weeks ago to go over camp and what we liked, did not like, go over the surveys, and see what changes need to be made.

Over the next several months as we prepare for Camp 2008 - we will be sending out communication on some "tweaks" that we will be doing in the future. Currently we have discussed doing some different exciting things with the Varsity Camp.

As I was sitting there this year following the old Awana pattern of the Camp Bank - I kept thinking to myself that if I was in Varsity Camp I don't know if I would be doing this or not. So one thing that we thought about changing was making the Camp Bank optional for Varsity. The Camp Bank is a good idea especially since our JV'rs can be so young, and it helps those to keep their money instead of losing it at camp. But if you are in Varsity you should be given the option to keep your money in the Camp Bank or to hold onto it yourself. Of course, in the Camp Bank you can be assured that you won't lose it or whatever, but maybe we should give you that freedom to determine that. Send me your thoughts on that idea...

I won't let everything out of the bag right now - but we were at Celebration Freedom last weekend and ran into someone who had been to Awana camp in the past. She mentioned that she wanted to come to our camp next summer and be on the rec team. We did like the idea of the rec team being young adults 20+ to keep it fresh and exciting. She brought up an idea of night games for Varsity...something that we will do after the last evening session...hmmmm

In addition, we want to continue the tradition started with this camp of our camp bonfire on the last night - followed by a pizza party for Varsity. We are still discussing some ideas, and in future months those ideas may or may not be revealed. We do want to leave some type of "unknown" factors for camp!

We have approached some leaders in ministry to be our camp pastors for next summer but no word on that yet, so when something solidifies - I will let you know. I will also find out about our band for next summer probably in September.

Don't stop sending suggestions or feedback on camp through the blog or just email me. We really do look at everything!