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Feel free to put on your flannel shirt and grab a mug of hot chocolate with 
marshmallows while you read my account.  The nice pictures were provided 
by Thom.  - NSmith..

Last weekend was a memorable one.  After a week of Fall rain, we were skeptical about
making it out to our annual church camping trip at Joe Wheeler State Park, on the outskirts
of Rogersville.  Pastor Lee offered to put up tents on Friday evening so Mark gave him our
tent a couple days earlier.  Due to some health issues and no willpower, Mark and I
cancelled out on Friday evening.  He left a message with the Pastor.  We unapologetically
slept in a warm and dry bed.  Early the next morning, we packed our car.  It was all
coming back to us - the clothes, tent, food, flashlights, cooking stove, and the essentials
off course - Smores ingredients and Pancake Mix.  As Mark and I trekked our way on
Highway 72, we felt like the car was moving in slow motion.

As we pulled into the park, we were greeted by a canopy and a carpet of irridescent 
autumn leaves. We dropped in at the pavilion and made our way back to the campsite.  
Boy, were we surprised! The whole gang was there minus the Olivers, Mark and moi.  
In the spirit of Daniel Boone, they had apparently braved the natural elements to keep their 
appointment with nature.  We were impressed.  We found our spot and claimed it.  We 
were glad that Pastor Lee did a superb job putting tents up.  Maybe, he could put that in his  
resume.  Mark and I felt like city slickers when we had to follow the Stroms and the 
Lopez (including the kids) on their bicycles.  

As we all pulled in, we were met by Edward and couple other members.  A pavilion 
typically is a shelter.  But, in this instance it did not provide much warmth from the biting 
cold temperatures and the wind.  We were up on a hill that overlooked the picturesque, 
swollen Tennesee river.  The autumn breeze ushered in cool air into our makeshift church.  
As members trickled in, we all moved closer to the hearth which housed a warm fire.  Mark 
and Randy put up our dirty tarp as a shield.  All the stains on it brought back memories 
of the warm summer days in Nebraska when we used the tarp for our deck treatment 
project.  I think that Randy provided another tarp and ingenuity with the shield.  That 
seemed to make a big difference! 

I would have to say that we were a cold church last week.  (Laugh!)  Ms. Fleta had 
all the kids meet at another vacant pavilion and they had an activity.  Our service was 
graciously led by Darlene. Jerry Jones provided the talk.  I should not forget that the 
Pastor was honored for Clergy Appreciation.  He and April earned the recognition.  
To be honest, I don't remember much else about the service other than some 
testimonies and some of us huddled together.  Oh yes!  Raphael provided a beautiful 
praise through an acapalla psalm.  The service was  fine but I think my body was in 
a fight-or-flight mode.  When lunch came, the smiles went up when we saw the hot 
chocolate and hot cider containers.  Ramona did a great job organizing our haystack 
lunch.  The crockpot beans hit the spot.  We enjoyed each other's company.  We 
even had couple families visiting with us.  But, we  missed rest of our church family.  

After the meal, some of us basked in the sun.  The kids did exploration along the 
shorelines for pretty shells and rocks.  We chatted and took short hikes.  We were 
all excited about closing on our new church property.  I could hear ideas and dreams 
buzzing.  As Jerry, Darlene and I were talking to Dennis, he suddenly left the table to 
stoke the fledgling fire.  He came back with two big logs.  That's just like Dennis!  
He has such a big heart.   After a while, we made our way back to the campground 
with a few of our church visitors.

Mark and Greg setup our tent on a spot that was not too far from the rest of the 
gang.  We were next to a Canadian traveller in a motor home.  Why is it that we 
always pick the cleanest people as our neighbors? He was out there washing 
down his motor home.   Apparently, he and his wife were migrating to Texas 
for the winter.  I chuckled when I saw his satellite dish mounted in between our 
lots.  Come to think of it, I saw quite a few satellite dishes out there.  Yes,  they 
must be all watching 3ABN or SafeTV.  For the next couple hours we all just hung 
out.  We walked back forth and checking out the tents, and the latest camping 
equipment from Dick's Sporting Goods.  The sportsmen of our group did their 
own outing on bicycles.  Some members hung out by their tents.  The Olivers found 
a cozy place to park their tent.  I believe that Jeff wins the prize for the coolest 
camping ecoutrements.  Mark and my jaw dropped at their seven person tent 
with a place for dog entrance and a welcome mat.  It was neat!  I could tell that 
Fleta and the kids were excited about camping.  

I believe that the highlight of last weekend was the Campfire by Pastor Lee and 
April's site.  We all came together including the remaining church visitors.  We had 
a nice visit around the fire.  As Sheela, Greg, and Hollie left they left behind Jon-Jon 
and Lindsay in our care.  Mark and I were determined to take this parenting thing 
seriously (for the next 24 hours).  Wayne and Pastor led out in the vespers against 
the back drop a few hungry kids.  On cue, all of the skewrs came out of the shadow 
claiming the white silken marshmallows and the juicy, Big Franks.  I believe our church 
kids have mastered the fire cooking.  Adventurers and Pathfinders have served them 
well.  Neelam shared some passion fruit with the group.  She is definitely the Martha 
Stewart of exotic food.  The kids and adults sang campfires and enjoyed each other's 
company.  Michael, Darlene and Shushanna led out with some campfire songs.  

I brought two fire gadgets.  One was for cooking smores, sandwiches, potatoes, 
and etc.  That's what the label said.  The other was for popcorn.  I tried the first 
and it didn't work too well.  So, I ditched the Smores maker.  Wayne helped me 
with the cast iron Popcorn maker.  In the dark, he poured the oil and I poured 
Mr. Orville Redenbacher's kernals.  After a few attempts, the popcorn tasted pretty 
good.  The kids and adults alike enjoyed it.  Mark and I originally considered bringing 
a portable microwave and popping corn.  Yes, we are definitely seasoned outdoors 
people.  April played an integral role with this outing.  SHE PROVIDED THE SALT 
FOR OUR POPCORN.  She guarded the salt with her life.  We had a lot of fun!  We 
bonded with Jerry, Joyce and Pearl over the hot dogs and marshmallows. 

In the shadow of the night, the teen girls had their pow-wow while the energetic boys 
as Jonathan and David freely roamed around.  Lindsay asked me three times about 
going back to tent with another friend.  I said no!  She was trying out all the permutations.  
It was definitely time to call it a night.  April urged us all to take our food back so they 
would not have a nocturnal visitor.  As we made our way back to the tent, Lindsay and 
Jon-Jon were excited.  They have never slept in a tent before.  So, Mark and I made 
sure that they were comfortable. We prayed and told a few stories.  Soon after, the autumn
night took us captive.  The temperatures dipped without much warning.  We all huddled 
together.  I made sure that all the zippers were closed.  As we woke up early morning, we 
felt dew in the tent.  We thought it rained outside.  But that was not the case.  Mark said 
that we created humidity over the night since we did not have a little vent.  Jon-Jon 
responded that "someone breathed too much last night." 


On Sunday as we got ready for breakfast, Thom had created a wonderful fire.  Tatiana 
was generous in sharing the fire with her peers.  I wonder what they were chatting about.  
We had one more event.  That was gold panning with Angelika and Gary.  They are truly 
a gem (no pun intended).  They showed the kids how to pan for gold.  It takes a lot of 
patience.  The kids loved it.  I heard Darlene urge Isabella to pan harder to cover her 
future college semester at Southern.  When the tents came down we realized our trip 
was over.  We all had mixed feelings.  We realized that we were going to miss each other.

Since then, my brains have thawed out.  I get it!  The cool air brought us all together.  
We huddled in the pavilion and around the campfire.  Nature came to us.  We spent time
 together in fellowship, sharing, caring and listening.  The kids witnessed cooperation, joy 
and laughter.  Our camping trip has given me a taste of Heaven.  I understand better 
Isaiah 65:21 -" And they shall build houses and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards 
and eat the fruit of them."  Imagine that great day when we will be walking the streets of 
gold and inhabiting our Heavenly dwellings.  Perhaps, Gary and Angelika would help 
us with the panning of pure gold from the street of Gold and the Pastor would help us 
with building our mansion.  

I wished I had time and space to mention that Kelseys, Burrows, Aaron, Lilly and others
 who joined us at our outdoor church.  I wish  we had one more day to hang out.  
It turned out to be a nice outing after all!


See the rest of the pictures

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