Christmas 2002

O what a year it has been for us. Each year we look forward to life settling in a little, and each year it just seems to get a little bit crazier—with no end in sight (foreshadowing). God truly has a sense of humor in His efforts to thwart our complacency.

Last year about this time, Beth decided to try her hand at camp registrar. She has always been good on the office end of things, and we both figured that a little extra income would kind of help out, so why not? By mid July it became apparent that we had overlooked the ripple effect of this new venture. Summer is a very full season for us and we learned that adding a somewhat stressful job to Beth’s life made it overflow. Add to that a nice little medical mix-up between our doctor and pharmacist that put Beth’s thyroid level at 1/10 of the intended level and you have a fairly tumultuous summer for our otherwise perfect marriage. By August we began to identify some of these elements and things improved steadily.

Apparently things improved rather rapidly too because during Labor Day weekend, we discovered that Beth is pregnant. Yes, it’s true, on or about May 7, 2003, we will be turning our lives upside down yet again, and entering the parental phase of life. Beth is excited to see her toes fade from sight, and being the gracious husband that I am, I have decided to put on a few extra pounds myself just to be supportive! You may be wondering how her health is supporting this new demand on her body, and I’m happy to report that she is doing very well. She has some of the regular pregnancy discomfort, but is generally feeling good and everything appears to be healthy with the baby. She is reading all the parenting books, so I think we’ll be pros. I, of course, will be reading the Cliff notes (which I understand are now available online) and will otherwise wing it. In case you hadn’t calibrated your understanding of a camp-centered schedule, that means that our little one will be arriving just weeks before our summer season. Oh good. Yet another opportunity to grow and adapt to life’s challenges. I digress.

So back to the past and present. Other than continuing to work out the balance of life and camp, our 2002 summer season was incredible. Staff recruiting is the biggest and least controllable aspect of my work and last year it went better than we ever thought possible. We had an exceptional staff and the summer program went great. I had the added benefit of two of my staff doing internships while they were serving last summer and we learned so much that I can’t wait to implement it all next summer for what will likely be our first perfect summer ever. Can Christ’s return be far behind? I think not.

Exhausted by summer and continuing into fall with no break to speak of (except for the week in between when all the viruses from the whole summer ganged up on me and knocked me out completely), I hit my own personal wall. By the end of the fall season I found myself completely spent and had lost just about all of the joy that ministry ever held. I have steadily added new jobs to my life over the past three years and realized this fall that I can no longer do that. We have a lead on a possible new staff person who would take half of my job (hallelujah!) early next year if everything works out. There is, however, quite a bit to work out, so please pray for this situation. The possibility of another staff person and a few weeks of rest and catch-up after the fall season have dramatically refreshed my outlook on things. I am, however, committed to simplifying my responsibilities at camp with the reality of fatherhood coming soon, and I don’t know how I’ll be able to do so without additional staff.

All that is to say, God continues to be faithful. In addition to the true blessings of our ministry, our lives have also been filled with lots of good visits to and from friends and family which is always great. We are looking forward to the start of winter very shortly, and hope that all of last year’s missing snow will find its way to us this year. We hope to see many of you over the next few months, and would love to hear from you. I should also mention that we could really use assistance with our financial support, especially as we add a family member next year. We have lived on one-time gifts since we got here, and continue to trust the Lord for the funds needed to continue our ministry here at camp. If you feel that the Lord is leading you to join with our ministry financially, we would greatly appreciate it. Know that you are in our thoughts and prayers often and especially this Christmas as we look back to Bethlehem and celebrate the arrival of our Savior who is Christ the Lord. God bless you !

Love,
Guy & Beth