Genesis Ann

Many of you who know me and Mike personally know that a few years ago we made the decision to get (and stay!) out of consumer debt. It took a lot of hard work but this summer will mark three years that we have been debt free. It's a pretty big milestone for us, especially considering that there was a time when we genuinely believed that living without a credit card and a car payment was completely impossible.
We are thankful that God has provided for us in such a way that we have been able to build our business completely debt free. He has met every need our little business has faced, and then some. One of the biggest benefits to running a home and business debt free is that we are able to give more and one of the organizations we are thrilled to give to is Camp Gilead.
Camp Gilead has a special place in my heart. It was the first (and only!) overnight camp I attended as a child, and it is the place I remember making my first statement of belief in Jesus. My Senior year in High School I was working for a local bakery and I hated it. It was a small store so on my shifts I worked alone ... and ate. A lot. As the summer was drawing closer I remember telling my mom I just needed to quit my job; I hated it so much but I knew I needed another job to work during the summer before college was going to start. I'm not sure where the idea came from, but somehow I got my hands on an application to be a counselor at Camp Gilead and I excitedly prepared my letter of resignation for the bakery.
When the camp director called and said they wanted to hire me for the summer, I seriously felt like angels were singing around me! Two days after graduation my dad drove me out to Carnation and dropped me off. I was awkward and uncomfortable ( ... did I mentioned I'd eaten a lot at the bakery? I'd also been given a really terrible hair cut right after I graduated ... think buzz cut. Yes. It was that bad.) but I was excited to be back at Camp Gilead.
I didn't know anyone at the camp and as my dad drove away it began to sink in that for the first time in my life I was doing something completely on my own. I was terrified! It took a good week or more for me to break out of my shell, but as the days went on I began to learn people's names and I began to make friends. I realized that there were people outside of my own little world who loved Jesus, who loved having fun and who had a heart to do something greater than themselves with their summer.
That first summer as a staff member at Camp Gilead changed my life. I made lifelong friends and I was stretched beyond my physical, emotional and spiritual limits. I was blessed richly because of it. By the time I started college in the Fall I was a completely new person - and trust me, the world was better for it!

Mmmm...blurry photos! My fav!

Our son, Lincoln (left) and his two friends, Nate and Jack as we dropped them off for their first week of camp. I attended Camp Gilead with their moms so this picture is pretty sentimental for me!