We Have Arrived!!!!

After almost exactly 12 hours of travel, including our stops, we have arrived with two uneventful stops at the boarder. Our ride up started out pretty dreary, it poured the rain until we got off 95, then the rain cleared up and we could actually see (HA) Joe, myself, ryan, peyton, and ali-kate were in one van. The second van include Betsey, steve, henry, james, tommy, katie and taylor. It was to my knowledge that that 2nd van was pretty quiet the whole way with lots of sleeping. As for our van, we each got maybe an hour of sleep except for peyton and joe. The trip passed pretty quickly i thought, we stopped at wendy's for lunch and then again at a tacobell/ kfc for dinner and of course several places for gas and potty breaks. Staying awake on this trip proved to be very beneficial for myself. I freshened up on some states and geography, (bc as everyone knows in my family maps, and states are NOT my strong point.) I learned about valley forge. But best of all I learned the game "Sheep-Bong" and when we got here i learned the game NINJA.. if you don't know either of these, talk to a youth!

I am not good at either one but they prove to make you known.

After arrival we got our room assignments (which to my understanding are the same exact rooms as last year) and met with Jim and Shirley McNair. The youth practiced the song they will be singing in church tomorrow and we made a VERY quick trip to wal-mart. The wamarts in canada do not stay open 24 hours. We had 30 minutes to get in, find snacks and get out. (apparently the whole place shuts down at 10) After getting back to the howard johnson, the youth went over to the wendy's next door for frosty's and a few rounds of SHEEP-BONG. The girl working behind the counter remembered us from last year and called us the "Sheep game people"

There is lots of work to be done at the matthew house and we have more children enrolled in the camp than any year before. (33) We are extremely excited to be here and even more so to begin the journey God called us on this week. We ask for your continued prayers for strength, dignity, patients, and love as we embrace the tasks and kids that come our way!

-Erica