Camp New Hope

We had a great vacation at Camp New Hope last week. As mentioned in the previous post, Macayla laughed a bunch. Randy Brown is the director of the camp and she goes above and beyond to make sure everyone is comfortable and has what they need. We had planned on taking Jacob's fishing rods one of which is a Spiderman one. Jacob was very excited about it, but Dad forgot to pack it. So Randy ran to Wal-Mart and picked one up for the camp so Jacob could use it while he was there. One of the owners of the camp, Will Adkins, flew in on his helicopter and we got to meet him and one of his associates from the company. They brought a dog named Swiper which Macayla loved along with Randy's dog, Muggsy. The dogs got her laughing more than anything and it was contagious. Macayla's laughter quickly spread to all of the adults. Jacob enjoyed watching the helicopter take off and fly out of the valley. We got it on video so he could show his friends. The camp did some neat things to commemorate our trip. They had some birdhouses donated and they wrote Macayla's name and the date we were there on the bottom. Then we hung the birdhouse on a fence post on the mountain. Randy hopes to get a picture of it with birds in it and send it to us. Another amazing thing they did was they started putting trails in on the mountain and they were in the process of naming the trails like streets. The main trail at the bottom of the mountain was called Macayla Mtn. It was engraved on a wooden street sign and we got to bring the sign home with us. Each week that trail will be named after the child who is there. We met the nice couple who makes and donates the signs to the camp and they were a treat. 

One of the most powerful additions to the camp is the Chapel of Hope. What was a tool shed last year is now a small chapel for families to use. It has pews in it, a stain glass window, a kneeling rail for prayer, and some beautiful portraits in it from Stephen Sawyer. A young man named Joshua is a new addition to the Camp New Hope family and he was the creative hands behind the Chapel of Hope. His carpentry made the wood floors and beautiful wood ceilings possible. It reminded me of the story in the Old Testament where God gifted men like Bezalel and Oholiab to build the Tabernacle for the Israelites. Joshua's gift for carpentry among other skills were a blessing to us. The chapel is truly a sanctuary and I found it to be a great place of quiet and peace, not to mention a great place to work on the upcoming sermon I had. We are so thankful to the Adkins brothers and Randy for making a vision a reality. We are thankful that God brought Joshua into their midst and we are praying that all of the families that come there will experience the peace, joy, faith, hope, comfort, and love we have. It is truly a harbor for stormy lives.