Camping Weekend

I've been trying to get on blogger forever but for some unbeknownst reason, everything in our account is in Chinese. I've been randomly click and cannot figure out how to get it back to English. There must be some cookie or something in here from when Tony was here but it's been fine for so long and then all of a sudden... everything is written in Chinese characters. Yes, we did learn some conversational Chinese for our trip to China and for Sam, John did learn how to read a few characters, but this is just crazy..... Do you think they guys from google who read all of our email see that we've written about China and naturally think that we're Chinese? A conspiracy? Ha. Oh well. If anyone reading this can read Chinese and call tell me how to look at the blogger dashboard in English it would be very much appreciated!

Okay, back to the topic at hand. A few weeknds ago (yes, I am behind as usual) we went on a faulous family camping weekend. We went to Cherokee Cove which is nestled in the mountains between North Carolina and Tennessee. The leaves were so beautiful and colorful! The camp is bordered on three sides by state forest and was truly awe-inspiring!

About the camp... it is a Christian family camp, conference center, and retreat center. They have cabins as well as tent platforms and "tree houses"---which is what we camped in. There was a little lighted path off of the main thoroughfare that wound back into the woods to our "tree house". We pitched our tent up there and had plenty of room for 6 person's-worth of stuff. (It is virtually impossible to pack light with 6 people!) It was so neat being back in the woods all the while staying warm and dry off of the ground.

The food.... oh the food! It was absolutely fabulous! We're not talking beanies and weenies folks... The owner of the camp, a wonderful servant of Christ, is a chef. His wife, also a beautiful example of servanthood, is a licensed dietician. They are into healthy and organic and anything crunchy..... right up my alley!! We had fresh organic greens and veggies, exquisite home salsas and sauces, home-made breads, the freshest and healthiest ingredients, and some very healthy and yummy smoothies! Last but not least, there were also s'mores to be made!

They had activities for us during the day: hiking, crafts for the kids, a marriage seminar, scavenger hunt, nature walks. At night there was singing around the campfire, games, s'mores, and awesome fellowship.

Did I mention that we went for FREE? Yes, the folks at Cherokee Cove have such a heart for families that they offer a FREE family camping weekend on the first weekend of every month from May through October. How do they afford this? Throughout the year they host numerous retreats and conferences, concerts, etc. They do nutritional cooking classes for teens and adults, youth retreats, women's spa retreats (that's what I'm talkin about!), Father-son and Mother-daughter weekends, and Marriage retreats. They also receive donations from individuals who have been so blessed by and want to help give back to their ministry.

Cherokee Cove camp is not advertised so they rely on word of mouth to get the word out about the camp. I can highly recommend it for church functions, retreats, and personal get-aways. These are genuine people who love Jesus and love families and have a passion to minister to them. Please check out their website and plan a trip!! I cannot say enough awesome things about it.

One other cool thing was that the Scott family from Sparkle City met us there. It was great to see them and enjoy God's beauty and with them in sweet fellowship. Hey, let's all go together in the spring!! Wouldn't that be fun?!?!? We (us and the Scotts) are definitely all going back again... to camp and to serve. We can't wait!