WHERE’S WALDO AND MRS. WALDO? Or in this case – Where’s Jim and Helen?

Since our last update at the end of June after leaving the Donnelly, Idaho project, we spent 10 days camping at Lincoln Rock State Park in Wenatchee, WA with a group of friends from the Washington area. Then we headed west to our next MMAP project in Auburn, WA at Camp Berachah. We have been on project at Berachah since July 6^th with a week break between July and August. We kept the RV parked at the camp during that week and spent a lot of time at our daughter’s house – just 30 miles from the camp. Since this is our old stomping grounds, we have also spent time visiting friends and family. The project here ends on August  23^rd, and after one last weekend at our daughter’s place, we will head south to Oregon for a 4-day MMAP R&R with about 50 other MMAP couples. After that we will slowly wind our way back to Arizona, with some Oregon sightseeing and a week-long stop in Grass Valley, CA to see our son and his family.  We should be back in Arizona by the end of September.

We hope you enjoy the following about our adventures in Washington. As soon as we get back to Arizona, we hope to get another blog update posted outlining the R&R and our trip back.

Driving from Idaho, through Oregon to Washington was a delight. As the countryside became greener and more beautiful, I couldn’t help but think of the old song that Johnny Cash wrote back in the 60’s called “40 Shades of Green”. Even though he penned it about Ireland, it made me realize how much I have missed the many shades of green and the beauty that is Washington.

 

CAMPING AT LINCOLN ROCK STATE PARK – For the 4^th of July week, we gathered with a group of 14 friends at Lincoln Rock State Park in Wenatchee, WA. This is the fourth year we have participated in this RV outing. (We are the “new kids on the block” as some of our friends have been celebrating the 4^th there for 20+ years!) We missed the gathering last year because we were on our trip along the east coast. It was good to get back together with all these great folks. We visited, played games, golfed, did a little sightseeing and bought a lot of seasonal fruit. The cherry harvest for that area was abundant and we took advantage of it. We also took a two day trip farther north to visit our Sun City neighbors, Larry and Sue who spend the summer at their cabin in Tonasket, WA (just 10 miles south of the Canadian border.) And a few days before the 4^th of July, others friends (Paul & Nancy) drove over from Tacoma and brought our granddaughter, Scotti Jean and her friend Maggie to stay with us for the remainder of the week. Since they are not “RVers”, Paul and Nancy stayed at the Enzian Hotel in Leavenworth, WA (a charming Bavarian-like town about 20 miles from Lincoln Rock). We had fun visiting them, touring the Applets and Cotletts Factory in Cashmere, WA, swimming in the pool at the hotel and shopping in Leavenworth.

 

The trees in the cherry orchards were overflowing with delicious fruit!

We loved it at Larry and Sue’s cabin. They are truly in the middle of “nowhere” 

deep in the woods. Larry built the cabin himself – he’s quite a talented guy!

Scotti, Maggie, Nancy, Jim and Paul at the Appletts & Cottletts Candy Factory. 

It was fun watching the candy making process - and of course sampling their wares!

Maggie and Scotti having fun in the Leavenworth Hat Shoppe.

Nancy had fun too…

And she just had to get this hat for Paul who had recently won First Place at his Rotary Club “Spam Cook-Off”…….PERFECT!

Here’s the whole gang waiting for the fireworks to start at the park in Wenatchee. It was a spectacular display. And we even had the added showing of a big full moon –

In July we started our seventh MMAP project at Camp Berachah, located in Auburn, Washington--just 40 minutes south of Seattle and 40 minutes north of Tacoma. 

We stayed on at Berachah in August as well – so when we finish at the end of August, we will have eight projects under our belt in the two years we have been MMAPers. In those two years we have become friends with 17 other MMAP couples and countless other folks working or volunteering at the various projects where we have had the privilege to be.

These are the other MMAPers we worked with these last two months:

Jim and Jennifer were the coordinators for the July project. He is retired from law enforcement in California, so he and Jim had a lot in common – even though he jokingly said Jim was a just a Highway Patrolman whereas he was a “real cop.” I didn’t let him live that remark down! This was the first time we had been on project with them and they were a blast to work with. They live in Roseville, CA which is not far from our son. We hope to see them when we head south in September – and look forward to working with them again.

                       Jim “cutting up” with Jim. (That’s the lobster hat Jim picked up last year in Maine.)

 

Gary and Vonda were with us for July and August. Gary took over as the coordinator in August after Jim and Jennifer left. We met them last year and worked on project with them last July and August in Pennsylvania at Miracle Mountain Ranch. Gary is a retired high school shop teacher and Jim loves to work with him. He learned a lot from Gary last year and again this year. Vonda is a joy and a dear friend. They are from the Dalles, Oregon.  

 

Rod (and his buddy Seth) were with us for July. Rod originally lived in the Port Orchard, WA area but went full time RVing a few years ago with his late wife. (Last September, she went home to be with Jesus only two months after being diagnosed with cancer.) Rod stayed on with MMAP as a single – but as of this blog update will be a “newlywed”! He and his new wife, Helen (A GREAT NAME!) were married after he left the project at the end of July. We will see him and get to meet her at the end of August when we attend the MMAP R&R in Turner, OR. I’m excited to meet her – but equally excited to see Seth again…..Zoe and I fell in love with him!

Bob and Rita, from Silverdale WA were with us for both July and August. We met them on our very first project at Island Lake Camp in Poulsbo in September of 2010. Rita and I had an instant sister-to-sister bond and we are thrilled that we were able to work with them on another project.

Each project location has its own unique memories for us. Camp Berachah is no different.

If you’re in the Washington area and want more info on the camp, check out their web site at www.campberachah.org 
  




 Following is just a bit of info on the camp: For over 35 years, this 160 acre facility has provided events and camps for thousands of youth, adults, families, and churches throughout the Pacific Northwest.  The retreat and conference center is host to over 300 groups and 20,000 people every year.  Aside from summer camps, they offer a wide variety of programs and facilities for Christian churches, non-profit organizations, and families with week-long retreats and conferences.  

Camp Berachah began in the sixties as a Christian “commune”; it later became a community of believers and their families, and in 1973 was purchased by Philadelphia Church in Seattle who began to use it as a Christian camp. In 1990, a new organization, Camp Berachah Ministries, was formed, and in 1999 the property was purchased from the church and became an independent ministry.  

Since 1986, the camp has also been the campus for Rainier Christian High School. The high school is part of a Christian school district in the area that additionally provides three grade schools and a middle school. During the summer, the school classrooms are used as extra meeting space at conferences for seminars and workshops, and many of the students and some faculty work at camp as counselors and support staff. In addition, the camp offers the surrounding community a before and after school day care program. It’s a busy place!

As with many non-profit organizations, the economic condition of our country has caused an impact on Camp Berachah. Because the facilities are so varied and large, there are many buildings to keep maintained. Part of the impact of this sluggish economy has caused a whole lot of “deferred maintenance.”  This has resulted in numerous unfunded or under-funded repair projects needing  volunteers like MMAP to step in and assist. The camp employs one “lonely” director of maintenance, and his “staff “consists of volunteer labor only. These past two months, our men have only been able to make a small dent in the need. 

Following are pictures of some of the work they have done:

Jim and Bob built an extension on the handicap ramp at the horse barn 

 

All five men replaced some serious wood damage to one of the staff houses

                            Rot in the siding and roof was extensive.

But the finished product was equally impressive

 

At the end of July, the five men started on deck, stairs and siding replacement on a second staff house, and then the three remaining men finished it up in August-

Finished job - WELL DONE!

 

Gary, Bob and Jim replaced some fascia board on the dining hall and built three large shelves in a linen room of the lodge-

Faschia job

 

 

Linen shelves

Then they rebuilt a flight of stairs and landing at another staff house-

These were the old steps –Vonda is amazed…..talk about deferred maintenance!

Bob and Gary cutting new risers

Jim bracing up the landing

All in all, these men worked (and “played”) well together –

In July,  Jennifer, Rita and I worked in the kitchen for the first week – helping to feed over 500 campers. After the first week, I had to bow out of kitchen duty because I wrenched my back trying to lift heavy boxes. (Would someone remind me that I’m not 20 years old!) After a few days resting my aching back, I helped Vonda with some camp mailings.

Jennifer and Rita “struggled” on without me

In August, Rita and I switched to office work with Vonda and we have worked all three weeks getting thousands of cards and letters ready for mailing-

MMAP ladies on all projects around the country always try to take time during the project to do at least one “Ladies’ Day Out”. In July, the four of us went to the small town of Sumner to check out the shops and have lunch at Windmill Farms. YUMMY!! There is a great tea shop there too – and we have gotten “hooked” on several flavors of Roobois tea. 

 

In August, Vonda, Rita and I went to Black Diamond for lunch and more shopping, and made a stop at the historic Black Diamond cemetery-

The City of Black Diamond was first established as a community in the late 1880s for the mining of coal. At the turn of the century the town was a major exporter of coal in the region. The Pacific Coast Coal Company in Black Diamond became the largest coal mining operation on the West Coast. Some historic buildings retain their original locations.

The city-owned Black Diamond Cemetery, founded in 1884, sits on Cemetery Hill Road, hidden by a row of trees and marked by a wooden sign erected by local Scouts. It has more than 1,200 graves, giving visitors a sense of the cultural diversity and tragedy that existed in Black Diamond when coal mining was at its peak. Tombstones mark graves of residents who came from Wales, Italy, Australia, Russia, Germany and many other countries. A Civil War veteran is buried there, as are many children who died in the early 1900s in epidemics of small pox and the flu. At least half a dozen graves mark those of mine workers who died in explosions in 1902, 1910 and 1915.

Our RV site at the camp is beautiful

And the campgrounds are lovely

 

 

Even though Jim and I lived in the area for several years before we retired, we still took time to do a little sightseeing with our MMAP buddies. We visited the LaMay Car Museum in Tacoma with Jim and Jennifer-

 

And we drove to Mt. Rainier with Gary and Vonda-

We also went on a crabbing adventure with Scott and Meleea. (This was an auction package for nine people that they had purchased at the Youth for Christ auction last fall.) We went to the home of John and Susan Frank, situated on the Hood Canal in Hansville. John took us out on his boat to bring up the crab traps they had set the night before, and then we went back to their gorgeous home overlooking the canal for a sumptuous crab dinner, including salad, Susan’s homemade bread and her homemade berry cobbler. (What a gracious couple for donating this package to YFC!) 

John’s boat – “The Steward Ship” (John is a development counselor to non-profit organizations-so it is well named. I had the privilege of working with him before retiring from YFC.)

“Cap’n” Jimmy

 

The “crew”

My nephew, Todd helping John pull up a crab pot. Son-in-law, Scott “supervising.”

GOTTCHA

              Susan showing me how to clean the crab

 

The best part…..feasting on more crab than you could ever imagine! OH SO GOOD!!

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Best of all, it has been good to take time to see friends and family. We’ve managed to spend several weekends with our daughter and her family, and connect with a few old friends. It’s been a great two months “back home”!  

A view from Meleea’s house looking across Commencement Bay with Mt. Rainier in the background.

   

                                    Meleea & Skyler playing catch in the neighbor’s yard

 

My niece, Dana having a laugh with Meleea. (Cute mask, Meleea!)

You look more like your father with each passing year!

Scotti Jean and Skyler horsing around

Skyler is one funny girl! (That’s a zucchini out of Meleea’s garden.)

Scotti Jean and her  proud Daddy! Can’t believe she’s not quite 13. (Load the shotgun, Dad – the boys will be coming around all too soon.)

 As we get ready to leave Washington, we dedicate the following song by Michael W. Smith to all our family and friends we leave behind, and to our old and new MMAP friends:

Friends by Michael W. Smith

Packing up the dreams God planted

In the fertile soil of you.

I can’t believe the hopes He’s granted

Means a chapter of our life is through.

But we’ll keep you close as always.

It won’t even seem we’ve gone,

‘Cause our hearts in big and small ways

Will keep the love that keeps us strong.

With the faith and love God’s given

Springing from the hope we know,

We will pray the joy you’ll live in

Is the strength that now you show.

But we’ll keep you close as always.

It won’t even seem we’ve gone,

‘Cause our hearts in big and small ways

Will keep the love that keeps us strong.

And friends are friends forever

If the Lord’s the Lord of them.

And a friend will not say “Never”,

‘Cause the welcome will not end.

Though it’s hard to let you go,

In the Father’s hand we know,

That a lifetime’s not too long - To live as friends.

If you’ve never heard this song, you can listen to it on YouTube by googling “Friends” by Michael W. Smith or linking to the site below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOCJAVlESEo