I apologize that we haven't posted in almost a month! With the holidays and new year quickly approaching, we have been quite busy in the office working to get our 2011 publications completed. The brochure looks great and we are hoping to send it off to be printed before the end of the week! We are excited for some of the new programs and dates that we have set for the 2011 season. Sorry, but you'll have to wait until the brochure comes out to see just what they are! We are planning on sending the brochures out before new years, and our registration should be open starting January 1st! The 2011 dates and information will also be up on our website in the next few weeks.
It's hard to believe that is already the second week in december. The fall seemed to fly by and a lot has happened. Many of you have already heard that Ptarmi had a house fire almost a week ago. She continues to meet with companies and insurance people to get her house put back. Please continue to pray for her. She probably won't be able to be back in her house until the spring, possibly closer to the summer, and soon she will be having to deal with the outcome of her belongings and clothing being cleaned and what did and didn't make it because of smoke and/or water damage. Once we have a better idea of what she needs, I would like to send out another email asking for help. If you haven't received the first few emails sent from info@campcedarridge.org, please email us to let us know and we'll be sure to include you from now on!
May God continue to bless and keep you in this Christmas season! Always remember the reason why we celebrate!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The perpetual "What do you do now" question...
From mid June through the end of August people know what we do! We do camp! The daily hustle and bustle up in the woods keeps us pretty busy as we have new programs start each week, new staff coming in and out, paperwork to log, inspections, campers to hang out with, and all the crazy campiness that goes on in the national forest.
And then we have the fall season when we travel back and forth almost every weekend for parent/child weekends and work weekends. Finally, in mid-late october, our site team blows out all the water lines so that the pipes don't freeze, turns off all the power, locks everything up, and closes camp for the winter.
And then we relax and take a vacation... NOT!!!
Although there is a bit of a lull in our schedule after all this happens, our work at the metro office is always keeping us busy. If you look back to last weeks post, we've got the fall newsletter to get out, fundraisers to execute (like the zoo walk) and communications to be made from the previous summer. One of the biggest tasks that is on our "to-do" list right now is the 2011 brochure. With that, we have to set our 2011 schedule, pricing, and programs. You're probably starting to get the picture that we still have work to do in the off season!
Then we have promotion. How are we supposed to reach out to new campers if we don't promote?! So that means creating a promo dvd, getting information about camp fairs and other promotional events, connecting with churches, and updating ALL of our forms so that they are ready come January to start registration!
All that to say....this is what we are doing now!!! I won't bore you with more details, but we just thought it would be nice to give an answer to that perpetual question!
Have a blessed week!
And then we have the fall season when we travel back and forth almost every weekend for parent/child weekends and work weekends. Finally, in mid-late october, our site team blows out all the water lines so that the pipes don't freeze, turns off all the power, locks everything up, and closes camp for the winter.
And then we relax and take a vacation... NOT!!!
Although there is a bit of a lull in our schedule after all this happens, our work at the metro office is always keeping us busy. If you look back to last weeks post, we've got the fall newsletter to get out, fundraisers to execute (like the zoo walk) and communications to be made from the previous summer. One of the biggest tasks that is on our "to-do" list right now is the 2011 brochure. With that, we have to set our 2011 schedule, pricing, and programs. You're probably starting to get the picture that we still have work to do in the off season!
Then we have promotion. How are we supposed to reach out to new campers if we don't promote?! So that means creating a promo dvd, getting information about camp fairs and other promotional events, connecting with churches, and updating ALL of our forms so that they are ready come January to start registration!
All that to say....this is what we are doing now!!! I won't bore you with more details, but we just thought it would be nice to give an answer to that perpetual question!
Have a blessed week!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
A lesson on the Lord's timing...not ours
This past week has been a good lesson on the Lord's timing at the Camp CedarRidge office. We have been working on the Fall Newsletter since the beginning of October, and had set October 27th as the date of mailing it out. But God had other plans!
The process of printing this newsletter involved printing both the newsletter page and our zoo walk page, which detailed that fundraiser and everything that went on that day. All together, we had to make over 4,500 copies! (since our newsletter is double sided) Our printer did pretty well with printing the single sided zoo walk page, and then as we were printing the front page of the newsletter, we started received the "replace toner" error from the printer. Thankfully, we had some toners ready to change out with the old ones! We made it through the front side printing, but then the "drum life" error showed up. This "drum life" error is not so fun! The image drums are what hold the toner and transfer the right amount onto the page. They have about a 15,000 page yield, and after finding out we hadn't replaced ours since May '09, it was no wonder why the drum life was gone! We were able to trick the printer into continuing to print, but when the image drum really began to fail we had to pause our printing until the new drums arrived in the mail.
All that to say, we weren't able to finish the printing portion of the newsletter until this past monday, 4 days after we were hoping to have it mailed!
The next step in the process is taking all our materials and stuffing, sealing, labeling, and counting our envelopes. Usually this process takes quite a few hours, and we normally dedicate a whole work day to this. But, as God's timing goes...it only took us 3 hours to complete! I think God understood our frustration from the previous week and blessed us yesterday with a quick finish!
The newsletter is now out in the mail on its way to you! What a good lesson on trusting that God's timing is best, and even though our expectations and desires aren't always met, He knows exactly what we need...exactly when we need it!
Blessings to you!
The process of printing this newsletter involved printing both the newsletter page and our zoo walk page, which detailed that fundraiser and everything that went on that day. All together, we had to make over 4,500 copies! (since our newsletter is double sided) Our printer did pretty well with printing the single sided zoo walk page, and then as we were printing the front page of the newsletter, we started received the "replace toner" error from the printer. Thankfully, we had some toners ready to change out with the old ones! We made it through the front side printing, but then the "drum life" error showed up. This "drum life" error is not so fun! The image drums are what hold the toner and transfer the right amount onto the page. They have about a 15,000 page yield, and after finding out we hadn't replaced ours since May '09, it was no wonder why the drum life was gone! We were able to trick the printer into continuing to print, but when the image drum really began to fail we had to pause our printing until the new drums arrived in the mail.
All that to say, we weren't able to finish the printing portion of the newsletter until this past monday, 4 days after we were hoping to have it mailed!
The next step in the process is taking all our materials and stuffing, sealing, labeling, and counting our envelopes. Usually this process takes quite a few hours, and we normally dedicate a whole work day to this. But, as God's timing goes...it only took us 3 hours to complete! I think God understood our frustration from the previous week and blessed us yesterday with a quick finish!
The newsletter is now out in the mail on its way to you! What a good lesson on trusting that God's timing is best, and even though our expectations and desires aren't always met, He knows exactly what we need...exactly when we need it!
Blessings to you!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Makeover for the barn
A crew of workers traveled up to camp on friday to take on the large task of cleaning out the barn and then moving some of camps things in to be stored for the winter. If you've been down to the horses, you know that the barn is fairly large and it is the best place in camp to store things over the winter since it stays dry and we can lock everything up. During the season when we are at camp, we are able to use it to house lumber, tools, the tractor, our lawn mowers, and many other things. As the years have gone by, things have become "lost" in the barn, unfortunately! But this weekend was all about cleaning it up!
It was a bit rainy on saturday, but the crew was able to clean out and organize the lumber, build a few new racks to store the remaining lumber we had from paneling the ridge cabins, and take home metal that we will be able to scrap for some money among other things. They also dug out the wall to put in a groundhog (or chipmuck) block in. Hopefully that will keep the critters away over the winter!
It's a good feeling to be able to clean and organize something like the barn, and now we're able to store what we need to this winter!
Hope this post finds you enjoying this fall day. May you be blessed!
It was a bit rainy on saturday, but the crew was able to clean out and organize the lumber, build a few new racks to store the remaining lumber we had from paneling the ridge cabins, and take home metal that we will be able to scrap for some money among other things. They also dug out the wall to put in a groundhog (or chipmuck) block in. Hopefully that will keep the critters away over the winter!
It's a good feeling to be able to clean and organize something like the barn, and now we're able to store what we need to this winter!
Hope this post finds you enjoying this fall day. May you be blessed!
Monday, October 18, 2010
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to spend some time with my family at a cottage near Muskegon, MI. It was a relaxed, laid-back weekend, with lots of laughter, playing stickers with my niece, and walking to the beach and through town. On friday, when we first arrived, we were walking through town and we went into a kite shop to look at what they had (a lot of the shops had sales because many close for the winter). When my brother was younger, he used to fly trick kites, and was pretty good at them! Anyway, the owner of the store let my dad borrow a kite for the weekend and so we spent a lot of time on the beach flying that kite!
As I have been reflecting on the weekend, I was blessed by the simplicity and joy of something like flying a kite. When was the last time you did something as fun and simple like that? We so easily get caught up in the busyness of work, school, kids activities, and running around all day long that we have forgotten what it feels like to sit and relax, and do something like fly a kite!
My challenge to you this week then is to make some time to do something fun and enjoyable! For me, it was flying a kite on the beach and spending time with my family doing nothing. May you be blessed this week as you find joy!
As I have been reflecting on the weekend, I was blessed by the simplicity and joy of something like flying a kite. When was the last time you did something as fun and simple like that? We so easily get caught up in the busyness of work, school, kids activities, and running around all day long that we have forgotten what it feels like to sit and relax, and do something like fly a kite!
My challenge to you this week then is to make some time to do something fun and enjoyable! For me, it was flying a kite on the beach and spending time with my family doing nothing. May you be blessed this week as you find joy!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Well, we just got back on Saturday afternoon from a few days up at camp, and I'm so excited to share some of the photos that we took so that you can see just how different camp looks in another season other than summer!
The fall colors are about a week ahead of what they look like downstate, but it still isn't fully fall up in Oscoda. The leaves sure are changing though, and that made for beautiful trees along the camp road!
We spent friday and saturday at camp working on cleaning out the kitchen, packing the van full of the craft cabin materials and other paints that would freeze in the winter, and enjoying fires in the lodge at the end of the day! : ) Not many people know about all the work that goes in to closing camp down for the winter, so hopefully you're able to get a little glimpse today! One of the main projects like I said was cleaning out the kitchen. If you didn't hear, camp lost power right before Mother/Daughter weekend in September, so that meant that the majority of our food spoiled. Ptarmi and I had the fun job of disposing of that food and giving the fridge a major scrubbing and wash down to ensure that it stayed clean over the winter. We also covered all of the dishracks (it helps keep the dust and other things out over the winter) and packed away any paper goods that our little mouse friends like to use for their homes! After we pretty much finished with those projects, we spent some time up the hill taking down the Outer Limits boulder wall, and other initiatives.
We were so thankful for the warm weather while we were up at camp. Hopefully only a few more trips before we will have everything ready for the winter! Hope you enjoy some pictures of camp in the fall!
The fall colors are about a week ahead of what they look like downstate, but it still isn't fully fall up in Oscoda. The leaves sure are changing though, and that made for beautiful trees along the camp road!
We spent friday and saturday at camp working on cleaning out the kitchen, packing the van full of the craft cabin materials and other paints that would freeze in the winter, and enjoying fires in the lodge at the end of the day! : ) Not many people know about all the work that goes in to closing camp down for the winter, so hopefully you're able to get a little glimpse today! One of the main projects like I said was cleaning out the kitchen. If you didn't hear, camp lost power right before Mother/Daughter weekend in September, so that meant that the majority of our food spoiled. Ptarmi and I had the fun job of disposing of that food and giving the fridge a major scrubbing and wash down to ensure that it stayed clean over the winter. We also covered all of the dishracks (it helps keep the dust and other things out over the winter) and packed away any paper goods that our little mouse friends like to use for their homes! After we pretty much finished with those projects, we spent some time up the hill taking down the Outer Limits boulder wall, and other initiatives.
We were so thankful for the warm weather while we were up at camp. Hopefully only a few more trips before we will have everything ready for the winter! Hope you enjoy some pictures of camp in the fall!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Fall is Here
Well it's been quite some time since we have updated the blog. Sorry about that! After finishing our summer up at camp, we moved back downstate but hit the ground running with the Labor Day work weekend, then Mother/Daughter weekend, and finally, our most recent event, the 3rd Annual Zoo Walk! All that to say, the month of September was pretty busy for us!
We're at the end of our fall season, which means we'll be closing up camp for the winter. It's hard to imagine camp in the middle of winter because most people see it in the summer. Everything is the same, just with lots of snow on it! (I know, I already said the "s" word!) Our site team will head up to camp in the next few weeks to winterize our buildings and clear all of the water out of our pipes so that they don't freeze and break. Hopefully next time we're up, we'll be able to take a few fall pictures of camp and post them so that everyone can see the difference when the leaves are falling!
Our 3rd Annual Zoo Walk was on September 25th. It was a beautiful day for the walk, and we had a blast! We were suprised to see so many new faces that morning, but we were grateful for all the people who invited friends and family to come along for this great fundraiser. Though we didn't reach our goal of $20,000, we still have pledge money coming in and are blessed by what people did raise through pledges and for all of the support that was given for this event. There were games (the kids loved playing the toilet paper toss), and breakfast food donated from Einsteins, Tim Hortons, Trader Joes, GFS, and Bagel & Bites. Also, we had prizes that we gave out for the top fundraiser, the person that traveled the farthest to come, the longest involved camp member, the youngest walker, and a few other prizes!
Talking about the zoo walk...if anyone is interested in buying a zoo walk t-shirt, we still have some available for $10. Let us know and we can get one to you!
I think that's about all for now. I apologize again that it has been so long since we updated, but hopefully we can improve from here on out! So check back soon!
Blessings!
We're at the end of our fall season, which means we'll be closing up camp for the winter. It's hard to imagine camp in the middle of winter because most people see it in the summer. Everything is the same, just with lots of snow on it! (I know, I already said the "s" word!) Our site team will head up to camp in the next few weeks to winterize our buildings and clear all of the water out of our pipes so that they don't freeze and break. Hopefully next time we're up, we'll be able to take a few fall pictures of camp and post them so that everyone can see the difference when the leaves are falling!
Our 3rd Annual Zoo Walk was on September 25th. It was a beautiful day for the walk, and we had a blast! We were suprised to see so many new faces that morning, but we were grateful for all the people who invited friends and family to come along for this great fundraiser. Though we didn't reach our goal of $20,000, we still have pledge money coming in and are blessed by what people did raise through pledges and for all of the support that was given for this event. There were games (the kids loved playing the toilet paper toss), and breakfast food donated from Einsteins, Tim Hortons, Trader Joes, GFS, and Bagel & Bites. Also, we had prizes that we gave out for the top fundraiser, the person that traveled the farthest to come, the longest involved camp member, the youngest walker, and a few other prizes!
Talking about the zoo walk...if anyone is interested in buying a zoo walk t-shirt, we still have some available for $10. Let us know and we can get one to you!
I think that's about all for now. I apologize again that it has been so long since we updated, but hopefully we can improve from here on out! So check back soon!
Blessings!
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