Halloween Lunch #2

of 5 Halloween lunches, maybe??  We'll see!

This was T's lunch today.  He was so thrilled!  (I think it was mostly the sight of cookies!)

Bats!

• two bat-shaped sandwiches
• Cheetos Puffs
• two Halloween Oreo cookies with a bat design
• lowfat peach yogurt sprinkled with Betty Crocker Cupcake Gems (black only from the Goblin Pearls mix)
• orange juice
• napkin with a bat design
• black placemat

The Oreo cookies have orange-colored creme!

Linked to:
   Mommy Moments
   Titus 2 Tuesday

Halloween Lunch #1

of 5 Halloween lunches, maybe??  We'll see!

This was T's lunch today.  He was so thrilled!  (It has been so long since I have prepared a special lunch for him!)

Pumpkins and Jack-o-Lanterns!

• two pumpkin-shaped sandwiches
• Cheetos Puffs
• Little Debbie Pumpkin Delight
• candy corn in an orange mini muffin tin paper liner
• milk in a jack-o-lantern cup

Since the meal didn't require eating utensils, I put a drinking straw in that section of the tray...however, T didn't want to use it.

And in case you can't tell, that's a pumpkin stencil-cut placemat under the tray.

Linked to:
   Mommy Moments
   Titus 2 Tuesday

Brasstown Falls

This is another postcard I purchased (at Sunrift Adventures) yesterday afternoon while letterboxing.

Brasstown Falls is considered a hidden gem in Oconee County in South Carolina. Some hikers might consider it a drawback that each falls has to be viewed separately...Little Brasstown Falls, Brasstown Cascades, Brasstown Veil, Brasstown Sluice.  Pictured above is the Brasstown Veil and Brasstown Cascades.

The trail is steep and rocky, and supposedly it takes an hour or two to climb into and out of the gorge.  I'm not sure; I haven't been here, either!

Wildflowers

This is another postcard I purchased (at Sunrift Adventures) yesterday afternoon while letterboxing.

Oconee Station State Park is located near Walhalla, South Carolina.

The Oconee Station Falls (a.k.a. Station Cove Falls) trail is 7/10 mile on a wide, mostly flat, old logging road.  I guess at least some of these wildflowers (pictured above) can be seen along the trail?  I'm not sure; I haven't been to this park.

The wildflowers pictured above (from left to right, top to bottom) are:
     Bloodroot
     Canada Violet
     Sessile Bellwort
     Dwarf Iris
     Toadshade
     Foamflower
     Yellow Trillium
     Rue-Anemone

At the end of the trail, the Oconee Station Falls trickles over the edge of a 50-foot high ledge.

Of note, the park features several Revolutionary War-era structures.

Whitewater Falls

This is a postcard I purchased (at Sunrift Adventures) yesterday afternoon while letterboxing.

The Upper Whitewater Falls (pictured above) is located in North Carolina.  Some consider it to be the highest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains with a drop of 411 feet.

The Lower Whitewater Falls is located in South Carolina (about two miles downstream).  It drops another 400 feet.

India

On Friday, I received this postcard from India.

It shows Mirjan Fort, located in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka.

Mirjan Fort was known for its strategic importance.  Spread over ten acres, the fortress has been the site of several battles and was ruled by several dynasties.

Built of laterite stones, the fort has high walls and bastions.  The fort has four entrances and is surrounded by a moat which played a crucial part in its defense.

The sender wrote that the fort was built in the early 1200's and was repaired in the 1600's.  He also wrote that the longest ruler of this fort was called "Pepper Queen."

After exchanging 133 postcards (not including direct swaps!), I was happy to receive my first postcard from India!  :)

Dog Boxes

My husband, T, and I went letterboxing this afternoon.  For T, it was a "treasure hunt."  Both letterboxes we attempted to find today were dog-related.

The first box was "Man's Best Friend" and was located at a business where one would take a dog that wasn't feeling well.

Here is T, getting ready to stamp his "logbook" with the treasure we found!

The second box was "Saving Jimmy" and was located at a dog park near this business.

Here is T, who "jumped" in front of my picture of the dog park!

Here we are, on our way to look for the letterbox.

My husband and T relaxed while I stamped my logbook.  (T blew a kiss to me!)

Here is T, getting ready to stamp his "logbook."  He likes to look at the treasure before he stamps!

The owner of this letterbox carved the stamp from a drawing she made of her dog, Jimmy.  She and her family saved Jimmy from an animal shelter.

Linked to:
   Mommy Moments
   Titus 2 Tuesday
   Wonderful Wednesday

Sparklers!

Here are some photos from July 4th...of last year!...about which I never blogged....

They capture T's first experience with sparklers!

He had such fun!!

Here he is, posing as the Statue of Liberty...his idea!

Happy Independence Day!  Have a fun and safe day.  :)

Camp Hope, Day 3

Wednesday (May 27th) was the third day of camp.

After cabin clean-up each morning, all of the cabins were "inspected."  The girls with the cleanest cabin had the honor of hosting Mrs. Mop for 24 hours...and the boys, Mr. Broom!

During morning chapel on Wednesday, Mr. Nate introduced the children to another friend of his.

Earlier in the week, Mr. Nate had offered to let T interact personally with some of his puppets after one of the chapel sessions.  Wednesday was the day!  He showed several of them to T, made them "talk" to T, and allowed T to put his hand inside one of them!  It was all so special!!

A game called "Steal the Bacon" was played during the morning games time.  The campers divided up into their four teams.  Two teams played against each other, so there were two games going on simultaneously.  The campers lined up and numbered off.

When a number was called, those two campers had to run to the middle, grab the piece of bacon...from breakfast...something to do with a shortage of food during nuclear winter  ;-)  ...which was sitting on top of an orange cone...

and run back to their team without being tagged by the player on the opposing team.

Here is T, waiting for his number to be called.

The games director was so thoughtful and kind to think of a way to include T and make it fun for him.  He arranged for one of the counselors to have the same number as T...who then let T get the bacon and run back to his team without being tagged.

When I saw what was happening, it truly warmed my heart.  I felt ever so grateful to the games director.  Without the "arrangement," T would not have even made it to the orange cone before the other player was back to his team with the bacon (which, by the way, had to be replaced with a bean bag less than halfway through the game)!

We had some unexpected entertainment!  ;-)  The players were waiting patiently and expectantly for the next number to be called...when T spontaneously trotted toward the cone to retrieve the bean bag.  The team leader returned the bean bag to its place on top of the cone and helped T back into line.  Again, the players were waiting...and again, T trotted toward the bean bag!  It was so funny.  :D

After lunch, the nuclear winter themed skit continued.

Skills I on Wednesday was archery.  T enjoyed that!  However, he seemed just as happy to "throw" the arrows toward the target as to try and get the arrows to the target using the bow!

Skills II on Wednesday was time for the campers to practice memorizing their Bible verses.  T knew his, so he "recited" them to the nurse (who was in charge of listening and keeping the records).  We had worked on the verses for 2-3 weeks before T's week at camp.  I wanted T to learn the verses...so he would not let down his team.  (Do you remember that I mentioned the teams competed for points, which were given for Bible verses memorized...?)  Also (and more importantly), I wanted T to learn the verses so he would have God's Word in his heart.  :)  These were the verses he learned:

     "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'
     "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
     Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"
     Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?
     "Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.
     "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
     "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
     "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
     "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
     "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
     "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
     "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
          John 3:7-18 (NKJV)

I wasn't able to take a photograph, because I was helping T.  I learned signs for many of the words.  (I'm not fluent in sign language, so I had to use a sign language dictionary to look up a lot of the signs.)  When we were learning the verses, I left out some of the key words as I said the verses...and T "filled in the blanks."  Also, I signed most of the key words...and T said the words for the signs (and sometimes signed the words, too).  Actually, he did memorize parts of the verses...from hearing them so many times...and said the words with me, instead of repeating the words after I said them.  T is not very verbal, so it was a huge accomplishment for him even to repeat the words!  There are a lot of words in those 12 verses!  ;-)

The afternoon game was a nuclear winter themed version of kick ball.  The playing field had some added obstacles!

Before the game began, someone was on the field, looking for campers who were not wearing their "radiation protection"!  (Some of the campers hid their name tags on purpose, hoping to be sprayed with water!)

Here is T in the outfield.

Eventually, it was T's turn to kick the ball.  Another camper, Anna Grace, helped him.  Here is T on home plate.

There were cones set up and lines drawn on the playing field between home plate and first base.  The players were supposed to run around the lines on their way to first base.  If they ran across the lines, they were out.  T "ran" across the lines.  I was standing on the sidelines, calling "T, you're out!"  The games director was standing on the sidelines, speaking through his megaphone, rallying the other children to encourage T by cheering him on...which they happily did!  It was very precious...and it so reached the depth of my heart that it made me cry.  What an amazing man that games director is!  What an amazing God we serve...who blessed me and T so abundantly through that director!!

Here is T on second base.

Here T is navigating an obstacle as he was heading to third base.

Anna Grace and a couple of the other girls decided to play a game of their own...
which brought the kickball game to a temporary halt.  Ooops!

These three girls took a special interest in T and gave him lots of attention throughout the week.

Mr. Nate gave an object lesson during evening chapel using a bag with many "secret" pockets.

                      ♪♫     Jesus loves the little children,
                                  All the children of the world.     ♫♪

T slept soundly....

Linked to:
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   Wonderful Wednesday
   Reflect