Mother Teresa's Prayer

I came across this prayer the other day and it truly is what I need to hear daily during these trying times right now. Mother Teresa was one of the most self-less people ever. I love this prayer!

Deliver me Jesus from the desire of being loved and accepted

Deliver me Jesus from the desire of being extolled

Deliver me Jesus from the desire of being honored, praises and preferred

Deliver me Jesus from the desire of being consulted

Deliver me Jesus from the desire of being approved and popular

Deliver me Jesus from the fear of being humiliated

Deliver me Jesus from the fear of being despised and forgotten

Deliver me Jesus from the fear of suffering rebukes

Deliver me Jesus from the fear of being ridiculed and stereotyped

Blessings to all~
Carla

Camp Photos

A little late, but here are a few of my favorite photos from church camp.

The Staff

The Campers

I really took more action photos then anything else and I surprised myself with how little photos I did take, which kinda makes me feel good! Less to stress about developing and scrapbooking!!! Lisa, Diane and I were the Craft Chicks - Monday was FlipFlop day for the girls

We even made a pair of flip flops for Kerry that he sported around Monday night at mail call when he showed off his new "do"
I love this picture, just as much as I love these girls! On Tuesday, I was awaken from an afternoon nap and told to grab my camera the Johnson girls were being baptized at the creek. Tears immediately came!
Courntey can be pretty laid back but when it comes to Family Feud watch out Trajan.
Emily and Jonah in Sweetheart Kickball
Courtney picks her brother the next time they play and I am not sure that Jonah was too happy, I think he was hoping Emily would pick him again, which probably would have happen.

Jonah and Emily in Family Feud
I never thought that I would see Courtney use her teeth to pull a sock off someone else foot.

Her cabin played truth or dare for their skit.
A few of staff members, including myself, put together a skit, can you tell who I was.
Let me just say, I had the BEST time at camp. It was great. The weather was awesome, the staff, the campers, you could have not asked for a better week. Diane, Lisa, and myself, did the crafts, cook grilled cheese for the senior high at midnight almost every night, did cabin inspections in the mornings and helped out wherever we were needed any other time. Kathy was the nurse and hung out with us when she wasn't pulled in every other direction.
Megan and Courtney - Clowning Around on Friday!

Weekend of Winterfest Fun & Challenge

We are now in North Carolina until tomorrow, then we will be heading to D.C. Praise God that we have had safe travels so far and I pray that we can continue to have safe travels. I thought that I would give a brief update on our Winterfest weekend. It was AWESOME! The pressence of God was felt so strongly.

Jonah and Courtney with the beauty of God in the background,

taken on the balcony of our chalet. It's tradition to get a picture of our Winterfest group on Sunday morning prior to leaving.

If you have never been to Winterfest, you are missing out on a great weekend. This weekend between both sessions (which were sold out) there were a total of over 13,000 attendees. It was amazing and probably the best one yet. The theme this year was "The Mission", it was awesome!!! There were several different guest speakers and as always the singing was great. Each session showed us how to take the following steps.......


step 1: KNOW CHRIST


step 2: BE CHRIST


step 3: SEE CHRIST

step 4: SHARE CHRIST

Mr. Mumps, was Harrison's name for the weekend. Yes, with a possiblity of having the mumps, I think that Harrison stilled enjoyed himself, even though he never made it out of the chalet. I wished I had gotten a picture of him with his mask on, but by Sunday, he was able to take it off and would not put it back on for a simple picture. Oh well! I tried to suggest that a cute picture of the group to recap the weekend would be a group picture of everyone with a mask and Harrison not wearing a mask. But no one would give in. It would have been cute!!!

The love of my life, the most wonderful man there could be.

Another fun tradition that we share each year, is to have our last meal before everyone heads home at the Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge. The kids always have a table to themselves and so do the adults. It just our way of having one final time together.

Kerry flipping Courtney upside down. I was so afraid that she was going to hurl up her lunch and she let him do it several times.

Courtney and Jonah are always up to something. Here, Jonah had his legs wrapped around Courtney and was not holding on to her, neither was she holding on to him. He is so his daddy's boy.

Only miles away from home can you let your inner child free and act SILLY!! After waiting for our food for an hour, we (the adults) learned a little more about each other, especially some of our unique middle names, like Steve's is Hargiss. So after we ate, I was standing in the parking lot with Sara, Courtney and Jonah when Steve came out. Well I told the girls what Steve's
middle name was so they took off running across the parking lot towards Steve and was yelling Hargiss. Well, none of us had never seen Steve move so fast. In fact for a moment, I thought that we may need to call 911 for Steve.

Then it was time for goodbyes........... I hated leaving and was teary eyed as we pulled away from some very close friends. But
I know that we will see them again very soon. During our goodbyes though I was able to capture some very funny shots of Kerry. Which is a nut close to home but even more of a nut miles away from home. Here he went to hug Phillip and Phillip picked him up. Then he went to hug Steve, don't ask me why, because they were heading back to Ky together and he wrapped his legs around Steve like he was a monkey. I know that everyone was looking at us pretty oddly
and wondering where that strange group of people came from.

CHALLENGE TO YOU.....
This was our challenge this weekend, well one of them, and I would like to pass this challenge onto my fellow bloggers. John 3:16 states "for God so loved the world....." Yes, I know, the majority of us know this scripture by heart, but the challenge that I am passing on, is to set your cell phone alarm to go off everyday at 3:16 in the afternoon. When your alarm goes off, then this is your time to pray for the world. You can specific or not, but use this time to pray for the well being of our world.

Lesson on Grace

Normally, I do not share religious thoughts with my fellow bloggers, I am not sure way, I should but for some reason I don't. Maybe that will be my New Year's Resolution. ANYWAY! I was heading to bed tonight and I started thinking about this morning's sermon and I thought of my Blog and I thought of my fellow friends, so maybe there is a reason I am now posting this blog instead of crawling into bed. I am not going to preach to anyone I just wanted to share these three thoughts with you.

• GRACE lifts us from a NOBODY status to a SOMEBODY status
• There is nothing you can do to make GOD love you ANYMORE
• There is nothing you can do to make GOD love you ANY LESS