Lake Yale 2008

This year, the BCM's State Student Conference was held at Lake Yale. Rahul had a big part in the planning, so he had to arrive early, which left me with the 3 kiddos and a pretty long drive! Thankfully, Sarah and Bill were able to join me on the never-ending and at times very confusing journey there! The kids were oblivious to the horrible Google directions, which was probably a life saver! At any rate, the weekend was amazing! Rahul led a seminar on Solarium and I taught one based on the book Gift Wrapped By God. Loy's wonderful wife Glenda and dozens of other Florida BCM'ers watched the kids while we were in our sessions. That was a huge blessing!

The boys had a blast getting to know other students and loved all of the outside time they had to run, play, slide and get dizzy on the merry go round! (Old school style!!) Eden however, got sick while we were there and was pretty pitiful! If it hadn't been for Sarah, Bill and Erica, I have no idea how I would have survived!!

God did some incredible things in the lives of students during those few days! The speakers were fantastic and so was the music! It was a phenomenal weekend! I have a few other images from the conference that I really want to share (my kids on stage)!! But for now, I wanted to put up some of my favorite images taken on one of many weekend walks, which gave me the perfect opportunity to hang out with my precious children at one of my favorite places of all time- Lake Yale!

You know, every time we end up there I think back to all the things I learned as a high school student over summer breaks. Those were great seasons of spiritual growth for me. I'm also reminded of God's provision, as I think back to that momentous occasion where we were interviewed by the board and voted in as staff following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Lake Yale is full of so many memories and I am so excited that my children are getting to experience it at such a young age!

One of my favorite places of all, right by the water. I've had many conversations with the Lord here!

It was beautiful outside for my hour long walk with the kiddos!

One of the best views!

The famous "fountain and bridge." The boys begged to play here forever. Thankfully, I convinced them otherwise!

I was so excited that I caught this moment when Collin reached over to hug on Griffin right after they walked off the bridge. It's one of my favorites ever!

Another view from our walk.

We saw this really interesting bug!

Collin took a little break! He was walking, while Griffin and Eden enjoyed being pushed in the stroller!

The boys spent a lot of time here on this merry go round. Collin always wanted it to go fast, while Griffin pleaded for a much slower pace! It was pretty comical! If you look closely at Collin's face, you'll see the battle wounds from his fall off the incredibly high slide!

Collin enjoyed riding from this angle!

Griffin only wanted to pose for the picture like this...

...but then he had to sit up for the ride!

Outside was about the only place Eden was happy, unless she was in someone's arms!! So, we walked and walked and walked! I love that she put her legs up like this! That's my girl!! Check her out- doesn't she just make your heart melt?