R & R and Fire just 2 miles east of us....

 We decided that we needed a little R & R (rest and relaxation), so we headed out to Merritt Dam with our tent and grill and burgers and easy chairs.  It was a lovely setting and we fully enjoyed our stay.  After a big breakfast the next morning.....eggs and bacon and toast we headed south and then west ....making our way to Chadron, NE.

 This was a view south of Merritt that would make EVERY deer hunter drool all over himself!!!!! SEVEN mule deer - all bucks and some with huge racks!!  They allowed us to fly past --- stop -- back up and snap two pictures and never moved.  

 We found a motel in Chadron and then went to Fort Robinson.  A spot FULL of history.  Fort Robinson was a very busy fort in its day......10,000 horses, 6,000 mules.....5,000 K9 dogs....German prisoners of war and a lot of history with the Indians of the area.   Plus there was a museum of Mammoths that have been found in the area. Very interesting.

 We arrived home just before noon and at about 3:00 we received a phone call from a neighbor -- Rick Vander Wey....and as his call would break up...I could get out of it that there was a fire 2 miles east of us at the Gregory and LaCosta place....".can....Gary...."  and then it went dead.  So I ran out to the shop and told Gary and Dan T.  It just happened that Don Schelhaas had just showed Gary how to use his fire rig.  Don wasn't home but we got him on the phone and he said...."take it". 

 When we got there every other fire rig in the neighorhood was arriving ......3 fire departments were coming in --- but most headed south where the fire was moving thru the prairie grass.  We saw a GREAT need where fire was burning in the trees very close to Greg and LaCosta's home.  So we went in there.....Greg was almost exhausted from fighting with a shovel....so with the tank that you see in the picture above we were able to get the fire out in the trees ....it was MUCH too close to the house!!!  Gary is using the hose, Dan is driving and I was on foot - stomping the left over 'restarts'.

Here is a picture of the burned out area to the east of the place - and it also went about 1/4 mile to the south...burning approximately 20 acres.   It was such a good feeling as people continued to arrive to help.  A tractor with a disc, pickups with water tanks, someone with water for the firefighters.  It only lasted about 1 1/2 hours but it really made the adrenalin flow!!!  As you can see in the picture above we even had helicopter support.  It seems that after the HUGE fires we have had in the area  - that they are on stand by.......and were there almost immediately.

Good to be home again  = and able to help keep a tragedy from happening.
Gary and Barb

PLYC Day 5

The sky this morning was glorious!!!  A beautiful sunrise shining through the clouds. 

 HOWEVER.....the skies on the way home were treacherous.  Smoke from several fires were all around us.  East of Valentine - Sparks..... Wood Lake...... Kilgore (which I believe was put out quite soon),......Beads Dam area......Iron Mt..... Ghost Hawk Park /  Grass Mt.  Areas were evacuated and others were on hold.   This is a picture from our driveway - toward St. Francis/Rosebud.

This is our group shot - taken this morning.

Buses are lined up to take the kids to the swimming pool in Valentine.  It is always a big process......

As you can see the kids had a ball....this is one of our girls - Christen

 

Mark did a lot of acrobatics.  He graduated from high school this year but has been coming back year after year.    We are always glad to see him - and others his age.  There presence makes a statement about Prairie Light Youth Camp.

THANK YOU so much for all the prayers.    We now pray that God will grant safety for all the volunteers that will be traveling home tonight and tomorrow.

Gary, Barb, John, Margo, Sue, and Gabe

Prairie Light Youth Camp - Day 3 and 4

 On Wednesday we had the kids color tee-shirts.  We found out there are some REALLY artistic kids out there....and the shirts were grand.   We had the design drawn on the shirts and they went from there.

 We got to sit inside in the air conditioned school room.   That was wonderful.....105-106 degrees on Wednesday. 

 Today we had the kids make a "Footprints" plaque.  I'm sure you all know what the poem says.   It went along with our lesson on Joseph very well.  There again.....I showed the kids what mine looked like....they asked if they could have markers and add some other designs to them.....  Really neat!!

The activity ( plaque) didn't take a lot of time so we got to play a LOT of games today.....and does it surprise you that we played with water balloons and wet shirts and more water balloons.  The kids loved it!!!  And we had fun too.

It's been good getting to know these kids.....seems like camp should still be 2 weeks so we could REALLY get close to these kids.  But that's not to be.

We thank God for the 1/2 inch of rain that we received late this afternoon.  We had gone to a cabin on the Niobrara River for a fun time in the water.   As we were about ready to end the day and go to Valentine for pizza --- we could see dark clouds to the north.  It seems that it was just a nice rain and no bad things - like hail or strong winds.   So - Thank you Lord!

Tomorrow we will have our Bible Lesson first --- then lunch ---- then we will ALL go swimming at the Valentine Pool.  I am told that busing has been a BIG headache this year - all because of the one van breaking down.  However, safety has been good and we pray for that for tomorrow - at the pool and on the roads. 

Thanks again for all the prayers!!!
Gary, Barb, John, Margo, Sue and Gabe

Prairie Light Youth Camp - Day 2

 We start out each day with a new Memory Verse.  We gave Gabe that assignment and he is doing a grand job. We are proud of Gabe!!  The rest of us each do a lesson - once  - one day......Gabe has to do a new verse every day!

 Today we let the kids create belts.  It's a BIG huge process..............     Most of the kids stamped their names into the belt and then chose different "design" stamps.

The kids also had to choose ---- do I dye it - or leave it "natural".  We had a variety of choices and they all looked nice.  You see some of the natural - with letters colored  - below.   Ashley did NOT do hers wrong - it's just upside down on the table.

 On this photo John is busy putting the snaps in place.....it was a LOT of noisy pounding  - so we moved him to the room next door    :)

Clayton really did a lot of work on his belt and it looked nice in the end.   He had a little trouble with those stamps  --- if you move while doing it ---it doesn't look so nice.  So he had some that weren't real clear.  But in the end he chose to color them with the markers and they looked terrific - cleared up all the "mess".  Good job Clayton!!!

We worked at the school -- so we were out of the hot sun (95 today).  We did end up in the only room that the AC wasn't working......but it was better than that hot -hot sun!!!  We gained 5 new kids today.

Tomorrow -- we do tee-shirts.  Yesterday - the van that we use all year for Release Time died on the driver and the mechanic in the area had to leave for Arizona because his mother is not well...... So we are short on the transportation end - - but everyone was still brought to camp.

We continue to appreciate your prayers!!!

Gary, Barb, John, Margo, Sue and Gabe

Day ONE of Prairie Light Youth Camp

 Today was the day for the Monkey Bridge ---- here we have Gabe, John and Gary getting it ready.

 We finally talked Taleah into walking the bridge.  Not everyone did it.   Some were just too scared and I think others were maybe just not in the participation mood.  Others did it a couple of times. And yes we did have a few feet slip off - but no one was injured.

 Here is Gabe - one of our helpers from Michigan - Overisel Reformed.  He's doing a great job with the kids!  While we were having the Bible Lesson - Gabe saw a "need" - the need to separate two of the "rascals" - and he smoothly stepped in and did the job.  THANKS GABE!!!

 This game was somewhat of a flop ---- not enough ice cubes...but we got them cooled off anyway.  When we got home this afternoon  - the temp was 106 degrees.  And we were outside all day - except for the Bible Lesson.

 We then got the "Trust Fall" going.  That is a scary thing to do.  You have to fall backwards into the waiting arms of the "spotters".  We were thrilled that some of the kids did it.  And I know that when they look back it will be a meaningful experience...... it was for me(when I did it - a different year) and so I know it will be for them ...........especially because they were successful!!!

 Clayton wasn't going to do it -  until his Uncles Mark and Tyler (those two in the foreground) showed up - then he had someone he REALLY trusted!!!  He did great.

 The kids LOVED this big Medicine Ball.....we played this for a long time.

We went into the church basement for our Bible Lesson.  I think we were all so hot that we heated the room up  to the point of being miserable down there in the AC!!!!  But the kids really listened good.  We are doing the story of Joseph all week.

We had a total of 15 kids in our group today.  We know that we could get more tomorrow.  So - thank you !!!!   for all the prayers.    I think the rest of the camp ( the younger groups) were all doing well also.

Gary, Barb, Sue, John, Margo and Gabe

BIG PRAYER REQUEST

Today, Gary and I met with Ed and Wendy - concerning the Youth Group.  We are hopefully going to begin this Thursday afternoon.  They couldn't get ahold of the "keeper of the keys" at the Catholic Church today - so that's why I say "hopefully".   We can use their room anytime that they (the Catholic Church) don't have something already set in place for that day.

So if you would all lift this up to our Heavenly Father we would appreciate it.  We aren't looking for huge numbers of kids --- just a nice group that want to know more about God , want to make changes in their lives and have fun all at the same time. We are sure of about 5 kids right now and will be making phone calls for about 10 more.

We are all (Ed, Wendy, Gary and I) pretty much on the same page as to what we want to do with the kids ----- so our prayer request would be for the room to be available at the time we would like it (Thursday afternoon at 2:00 - 4:00) .........and for the kids to come. 

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
Gary and Barb

HOME AGAIN

We made it home in good time!!!  Made it past DesMoines last night and then back in Valentine by 2:00 this afternoon.  Our "new" car did us great.....this last tank was 35 mpg.  NICE!!!

Had a wonderful visit with family, friends and our Overisel RCA friends.   Thank you!!!!

Looks like we had over 2 1/2 inches of rain while we were gone so everything is nice and green.  I now have to get all this STUFF that we took along again put away....AND the garden was busy "producing"!!!!  Peas and beans need to be picked.....all the radish is ready to eat.  Beets need to be "thinned" again and canned.  The weeds did their thing too and need to be done away with!!!  At least the lawn doesn't need to be mowed - it just looks nice and the HOLLYHOCKS are beautiful (my favorite flower).  As I look out of the window (as I type) I have a view of reds and pinks and whites --- love it!  

The "outside" garden (not the greenhouse) looks like it did good while we were gone too....weeds too.  The chickens look good and I found 2 eggs.  If you remember - our banty hen sat on those 2 "adopted" eggs.....well - those "chicks" are almost bigger than their mama.  :)  :)

So -- that's all for now --- I also have the usual laundry and things to do too.   LATER.......


Gary and Barb