Family Camp.... the weekend where we dive deep into enemy territory

Last weekend Rob had the honor of being asked back to lead worship at a church retreat for another Methodist church here in the state of Alabama.

We attended this retreat last year and were thrilled to be asked back this year.

The people are wonderful, the weekend is inspiring and the fellowship is much needed.

There is just one little problem.

The church in question is AUBURN UMC.

That's right. For three whole days the Websters were plunged deep into enemy territory where we were surrounded by seas of orange and blue with nary a speck of crimson in sight.

And you know what? We survived. Mainly because these are some of the most wonderful people you will ever meet. We absolutely love this church and after spending two weekends with them now, I consider some of them dear friends. We were honored to be a part of their church family for the weekend and I pray God was able to use Rob to lead their worship time in a way that was pleasing to Him.

We did have to talk to the kids on the way there and explain that they wouldn't be able to yell, "BOO" whenever they saw an Auburn sweatshirt. And we told them that they couldn't talk about us being Alabama fans unless it was in a kind and respectful manner. They did great, better than I expected, until the final moments before we were about to leave. Poor Will had held it in all weekend and our car was loaded and we were just saying good-bye to the few people milling about when Will couldn't take it anymore. He turned to a 9 year girl wearing an Auburn shirt and said, "We do not like your team! We go for Alabama!"

I didn't stop him. I was holding it in all weekend too.

The other dramatic storyline of the weekend was Lainey bug. She hadn't been feeling well all week but we thought she could make the trip. We got to the camp Friday night and she was toddling to everyone and laughing and waving and was just life of the party. We went down the hill to the dining hall and got our trays of food. And then, in front of 125 people who were kind enough to bring my family in for the weekend, Lainey threw up everywhere. Every-where! Nice.

Needless to say, my sweet parents drove all the way to North Alabama the next morning and got Lainey and took her back to their house.

We didn't take many pictures at all. In fact, Rob never even got his camera out of the bag. Shocking, I know. We were mainly in the sessions. Rob and I stayed in the main cabin and heard the most wonderful sermons from Rev. Olu Brown out of Atlanta and the kids got to go to their own sessions in a different cabin. Not a lot of time for pictures. But here are a few cell phone snap shots I did get when we had free time.

 Not the best shot, but it is the only one we have with Lainey. See, she was there too! For about 16 hours.

And this was taken as we were hanging out on the back porch of the cabin during free time. Man, I love these guys.

Rob is setting up and testing out the sound before worship time. Looks like he had a little helper. Future worship leader, perhaps?

There were a few patches of snow laying around. You would think my kids were in Colorado. They were so excited! But then Bennett threw a snowball at Will and made him cry. It made me immediately grateful that they don't have another weapon to torture each other.

Daddy's leading the sing-a-long around the campfire and the kids are playing in the campfire. Sounds about right.

 Eno time!

Hiking with two of my favorites

Okay, I'm not sure how to articulate this. Will was the hit of family camp. He is, in general, the friendliest and most lovable little guy. He loves people and will go to anyone and just talk and talk and talk. Needless to say, the ladies of Auburn UMC ate him up. They adored him and I couldn't ever find him when we had group session. He was on someone's lap or chatting to someone in the hallway. They ate him up and it was really good for him to to get a lot of attention.

He was quite the trend setter as well. Everyone wanted his cool "party hat."

What a fun and refreshing weekend with an absolutely wonderful church family. Thank you so much Auburn UMC for allowing us to be a part.

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name,

 there am I in the midst of them"

Matthew 18:20