Year 6, July 25th, 2021: Celebration Night 2021 Aka Keturah's Baptism!

Oh good grief! I don't know about the rest of my family but I had fun at Celebration Night! Ok, I was nervous, but a good nervous I think. And then yes, the party started and I had a blast. But my family, good grief, why are they such party poopers! Come on! Dance already! Sing! Move! Jump! Have fun with the selfies! Get into it! Don't be bumps on a log! Don't be such Debbie Downers! Now's your chance! Celebrate! Smile, for the love of Jesus, LITERALLY, for ALL that is GOOD and HOLY, SMILE! How can you stand there and do NOTHING?! I don't get it. Fine, Jared had a migraine and his nap didn't get rid of it. Abishai was overwhelmed by the noise. Keturah refused to go with group, BUT they all cheered for her when she was baptized like she was a celebrity and THEN she smiled. I think that's why she choose to do it tonight and with her small group leaders. It IS important to her that they do have a connection. And the other quiet girls were up there, but they weren't dancing. She just refused to be up there in the crowd. And praise God for the twins' mom who pointed right at her and made her go up there for a photo before the service started. Don't be an outsider. please, I was an outsider, I'm still an outsider. You don't want to be an outsider. Anyway, Justin sat wish his small group and had disappeared with them as soon as we had arrived. So I let him stay with them. Benaiah had a job to do so he was backstage of course. But then after the service all of the family scattered before getting a family photo. They know not to do that. Good grief! Wait for the family photo! Grrr.....

Anyway, the worship time was good. I wish the segments about each camp was a bit longer. It felt rushed. I wished we had time to feature some of the songs for the little kids because they didn't seem to really get a chance to be connected. And then the big kids got a very short time to talk. Maybe we can split it up next time. Do kid section in the afternoon like you would do a parent night for VBS and then have the inflatables outside and then let the big kids take over. There were huge lines for the food trucks, too. So if you juggled the two groupings of people, it might go a little better. It might be harder for people like me when you have kids in both categories though. I don't know. And it was hot and crowded and such. I get it. A lot of people just left and didn't stay for food or the fireworks. They did miss out on some awesome fireworks put on by Ava's Dad, Mr. Mike Thompson. I'm sure that's where Ava and Benaiah were this evening after the worship time. Ava had been gone on vacation until this afternoon, but I knew that Mike was in charge of this evening's fireworks. Maybe he had built some of it before he left on vacation but my oh my, was it a regular show for a solid 15-20 minutes, and in the hand, there was a huge fireball! Grandpa was watching from the high school parking lot and he texted asking if that was on purpose or not because he then heard sirens. Yes, it was on purpose. But, man, it's pretty cool to know a guy who does something cool like that!

Jared tripped on a bounce house plug and he thinks he pulled his back out to the point that he has to start all over again. I think he's being overly dramatic. He says he's light headed, yes, the migraine from earlier in the day, and he had nerve pain down to his foot again, yes, I get that, nerves don't always do what we want them to do if they get tweaked. But buddy, I simply switched a medication this week thinking it would do better for my neuropathy and I haven't had a full night's rest in 5 days. I've had more than usual the amount of melatonin to help compensate, I added the gabapentin back into the regimen because it's so bad, and today I tried Jared's compression stockings from surgery. I know what nerve pain is. I even wore my toe shoes tonight hoping that it would help me not have as much because I was going to be on my feet longer and now I have nerve pain in my opposite leg as I had been. I'm just as much a mess as you are. So stop being dramatic. You see the doctor on Thursday. Do what you can and talk to him then. Try some drugs that I take. It might be your own help to calm the nerves. End of story. Welcome to the club. But I'm hurting and have been hurting for months this year, too. Work around it.

Anyway, the rest of the day was normal. I took an ok nap and could have slept a ton longer. I'm exhausted myself. I am staying home tomorrow to rest and clean for the ladies and their kids to come over on Tuesday. And I still have to write the IAHE Newsletter I should have written yesterday. I just wanted to write down some things from today while it was fresh in my mind.

Pretty much, I get excited at fun events and I wish my family would, too. I like to do a lot of swaying and hand motions and clapping and I'm glad I get to go to places where it's encouraged. I like to party, just not with alcohol and drugs. Plenty of ways to have fun without the problems of bad habits. I don't know how we raised such "meh" kids that don't have a lot of passion and desire to really go after a certain thing. Let loose at church at least. Man, someday, I'd love to visit a church that did that. Pentecostal. Dance for Jesus. Have fun!

Some day I'll dance in heaven and I'll have rhythm and a great singing voice. Some day!

And Keturah will now have that, too! We are finished! All 4 of them have been dunked! Count them up! 1, 2, 3, 4! Done! What a relief! Our job is not really finished. Really, it's just begun. But, it feels good to have that initial step crossed off. Although, Grandpa mentioned we need to be praying for Everly and Nora to make up their minds about it, and he didn't mention the other cousins, Auggie, Rosie, and Eli. Hm, Everly has talked about it in junction with trip to Israel. And have you brought it up with her? It's not something their church emphasizes. They don't have a baptism class every month. Or an altar call every week. So, yup, we can pray for them. But they will get there when they get theere. And then I showed her the  plaque of my and my mom's baptism on my bedroom wall that used to be on my parents' bedroom and forgot that that date was July 31, 1994. I had just turned 13 years old, just like today. We got baptized by Pastor David, in a creek in Candia,NH. Pretty special that Keturah choose a date nearly exactly 28 years later. Love that connection. Easy to remember. But this part is done. And for that, I'm relieved, excited, and I had Jared pick up flowers, a card (which he didn't fill out),  and cupcakes. It's time to celebrate Keturah's spiritual birthday! Woot! Woot! Ok, maybe tomorrow when we aren't so tired and sore. Time to start gathering everybody's photos and videos and match them together. Fun times!

Camp Celebration 2021/Keturah's Baptism Playlist

Ok, ok, this one isn't quite about Indian Creek's celebration night, however, just as an example as to the difference on how people worship. Sometimes we white folk in the north are way too tight with our worship, and like I've said in previous posts, sometimes, I just need to go worship with some more Baptist or Pentecostals or Black folks or SOMETHING cuz I need go dance in the streets, y'all! I was watching the broadcast of the Surrounded event at Bridgestone Arena live album that Smitty did a few years ago and man, yup, looked like, felt like what we saw from some of the folks last night at church, which is WAY different than we see on a typical Sunday morning, and why is that? Why is that? I just don't know. I can't wait to hear this new album. It will be here before we know it and then I'm blasting it and dancing to it and the kids ain't going to stop me. No more "meh" faces around here, ya here!

My little rock star? Actually, put that little leather jacket on him and he'd look like a cross between Benaiah and Justin. Too cool for school this one.

Helping Grandpa with his Lego jeep.

I don't know why I can't remember my baptism date, but I was floored once again when I realized that a) I had just turned 13 when I was baptized and b) it was the end of July, too, when I was baptized. How cool is that? Keturah and I match again! She's going to hate it for awhile, but someday, she's going to like that she and I are alike in some ways, just like I think it's kind of cool when I see the ways that my mom and I are alike.  Once again, this plaque was given to my mom on our baptism date and hung in her and my dad's bedroom for years and years. Oh maybe she bought it for herself. The date is in her handwriting. She had perfect penmanship.

They gave us this wristbands, randomly, of three different colors that matched what was on the screen, kind of like when you play Rock Band, and it was a neat way to start the service. Watch the video in the playlist to see how it turned out.

All the lights and haze. I do wish they had pulled out some of the songs that the younger kids know. But it was the first time that we had combined all the ages together for a celebration. In the past it's just been middle school and high school.

Max Hittel got sauced with chili cheese sauce! What a good sport he is! Usually it's a leader. I remember when we would do this at the end of VBS week. I think they did do a leader, too. I don't know what was the reason, but how fun!

Just a small portion of Keturah's small group. 8th grade girls. Brave leaders. That's all I can say. And I can say, I'm grateful for them, that's for sure!

 

 

 

 

 

Keturah's fan club aka her small group! You should have heard them scream! The small groups were supposed to keep their distance a bit to let the families come in and out and be able to get close and they did a decent job. It's not easy to get 23 baptisms done that smoothly. There were a couple of other girls in their group that also were baptized that evening. There were many more that were baptized from all the camps, but they choose to do it on Sunday mornings or privately.

It was so quick! I hope I got some of the words on video because I couldn't hear a thing! Beth Dieckman on the left and Jennifer Bauer baptized her. She wanted to wear her Mix t-shirt and then wear her Transformed t-shirt afterwards. She had the hugest smile and loved having her small group there screaming at her. You wouldn't think that she wanted that kind of attention, but I think secretly, she really needed it. Deep down, there's just something about belonging. I still waver between making her try to contact the individual girls more and letting her figure it all out, but obviously the leaders include her a ton, too. The twins' mom motioned for her to join the group for a photo before the service when she realized she was trying to stay out of the photo. But as soon as Keturah joined the group, she had a huge smile on her face. She was happy. And that's what matters.

Beach balls are so much easier to clean up than confetti!

Gotta love my camp going crew!

What kind of face is that Abishai? Thanks goes to Ethan for being our photographer. Although my people had scattered to the four winds, literally, four directions of campus and I had to call/text them all to get them to come back. Gee whiz, guys, you KNOW THE DRILL, mama ain't happy until she's got her family photo! Then she will release you. Do you like my outfit? After looking for what to look for in dresses, I put some of those tips to the test with this outfit, and voila! Magic! Looks great!

Then the party went outside! Boy it was HOT HOT HOT! Justin played 9 square for the whole time we were outside, like for two hours! (Thus he slept in the next day). But he got to SPIKE his sister with the ball, so he was happy. He and Keturah both love 9 square. It's like the only sport they'll consistently play. Whatever gets those two moving, I guess.

The funny thing is, Justin's voice gets deeper when he plays and he starts to go, "Oh yeah! Take this!" and he grunts and starts to posture and compete. Good grief. Boys.

Still a good crowd for awhile. Food lines for an hour long. I think the organizers learned a lot of lessons that evening. Bounce house lines weren't too bad I don't think. I wish we had some other games or things to do outside. It was just really hot. A lot of people didn't actually stick around for the fireworks.

Fireworks time! Ava's dad was supposed to help put these together. They were out of town until this afternoon so I hope he still got to. They were awesome! And then, of course, as usual, the Franklin Township chat group on Facebook decided to start asking questions and complaining, although Alisha Caudill did give them a warning. "What's going on with the fireworks?" "They must have a lot of money in their coffers to put on a display like that! They should give their money to the poor!" But thankfully, many people spoke up and told them that that's exactly what they do and that the building is paid for, there was a ton of scholarships for the campers, how much they put into helping the school districts and families in the community with the food co op, etc. That shut down the conversation pretty quickly. And who knows. Maybe some of this was donated. It was a good 15-20 minute show!

Kaboom! Were we supposed to see a fireball?! Gary of course texted Jared, Benaiah and I right away. Yes, Gary, calm down. It was supposed to happen. Good grief.

I had asked for friends to send me photos and videos of Keturah's baptism, because you know, I have great friends and they know I love getting all the angles, lol. Plus, you can see in this photo of the screen, that they did put the name of the current person being baptized on the left, and then on the right, they put up the person who was going to be baptized next so the families could get ready. That made things go so much smoother! They don't do that in church anymore, which is such a bummer! Benaiah didn't join us because he was behind the stage doing the video switching job that he's the best at. Which reminds me. On Friday night, he said, in like 10 minutes, he had 4 people trying to tell him do 4 different jobs at once. He's in high demand at church, just like his Grandpa. Very talented young man, very versatile. He's indispensable, so he better not move far away any time soon, lol. It's a good thing he didn't move away to college!

And another view from a friend. The person who stayed in the baptistry that helped say all the confessions is Conner, aka the Corn dog. I think he was an intern or is an intern, and has stuck around, I don't know, but the kids all love him. I've actually never seen him before. I think he's one of Justin's small group leaders actually. He seems like a really nice guy, too, and has a good stage presence, not shy at all.

Aww, this photo made one of our other friends cry from Keturah's smile, to Conner's smile, to Grandpa's big hug, etc.

And now Daddy's big hug.

And this is where I was severely distracted, barely noticed the baptism itself, and Leah had to tell me to hug my daughter. Whoops! Sorry, I was distracted by the screaming girls to my right!

This is what happens when you send your husband to get a (spiritual) birthday card for your daughter. Bwahahahahaha!

It totally suits his style AND her style. Sweet and to the point. I also asked him to get flowers, and he got a dozen red roses, and we brought along the Happy Birthday mini balloon that's been floating around since her regular birthday, and some mini cupcakes. I thought we could eat the cupcakes and avoid eating from the foodcakes but the first thing out of their mouths were, "can I have money for the food trucks?" SMH Oh well, it didn't ruin my night. What a wonderful celebration of EVERYTHING God did at all the camps this summer for ALL these kids and adults and how He continues to work through Indian Creek from generation to generation to generation. Oh my word, one of my favorite little parts when Dan closed us out was when he was holding Addie, his little girl, and he got choked up when he said, "Now, when you all grow up, I want you to remember these youth leaders, who have poured into your lives, and I want you to pour into those coming after you like my little Addie girl here. She's going to need you to also tell her about Jesus. Her mom and I will be telling her about Jesus, but we will need your help, too. We can't do it alone." He gave these brand new Christians, these young people, a CHARGE for Kingdom Work. They problem weren't really listening, but still, it goes right along with the message of CIY especially, and the sermon series, and the changes the church has been leaning towards. Fun times ahead indeed. I'm still at peace from where I stand and my current role in Kingdom Work as a whole. I'm no longer feeling guilty or pulled. I know where I belong. And I know where my kids belong. I know they are home for this season. But this season will end someday. And the wind will change direction. It's only a matter of time.

The End