warning--written by julie mostly after midnight

The longer it goes, the bigger the job gets...catching up on this blog, I mean. I wish I had something ~*W*ND*RF*L*~ to share. Such as our S*LL*NG our H**S*, if you know what I mean...!

Okay, so here is our July so far if you want to know what's been going on in and around the Tippy and with the Tippyites. (Good thing you can't see the T*M* ST*MP on this P*ST, hee hee.

the first weekend of july we went out to illinois for a Young Brothers Picnic/Reunion where our dear second daughter rachel met many differnt cousins just was dark and beautiful as she is and she was amazed while our boys had lots of fun with about 14 other little youngites playing in grandpa and grandma's wonderful pool. i think reed and three others ran and jumped off the deck about 167 times each all in one hour. our oldest daughter had fun figuring out who everyone belonged to and who all their children were and where they fit in and what a lot of cool names to write down! we all had fun reconnecting with aunts, uncles and cousins. it is always fun to get together with all of my dad's brothers, their wives and kids. what a neat bunch of younguns and olduns as the case may be! (lots of grandpa youngs there!!) it was especially nice to see darwin and laurie. laurie is my age and we lived together at college. it was a beautiful day with perfect weather and we cherish the memories and look forward to many more! (just one more benefit to being in Indiana!)
the next weekend we were at family camp with many from leo and also other churches. sometimes, i feel like rip van winkle, waking up after almost 20 years away from central illinois... i met so many people there that i had known when i was still in high school or college. it is just weird to meet so many people all at once that are all 20 years older now especially if they were little kids and now are married! we camped at family camp and it was the first time since we moved to GA that we did. we had always meant to camp down there, but somehow had never figured out the right time. they said fall was the best time, but then we were busy with school and just never went. we put up our tent and then used the campsite shower room. it was funny on one morning when four of us women were all running hair dryers at the four sinks when they all clicked off simultaneously. something had gone wrong with the breakers or something, so we all had to figure out alternatives. I ended up using a plug outside of joe & heather's popup camper to finish my hair, looking into the reflection of their van window for a mirror. of course, joe got a couple of good pictures of the process, but he was repaid the next morning, when he realized that he only had an electric shaver--and it was dead and he had forgotten to bring the cord. hee hee.
family camp had started with teen camp, where all the teens and counselors loaded up and went a day early for devotions and activities that none of us could begin to keep up with and then the rest of us sane people went the next day. i think it would be fun to be one of the girls counselors, but i'm not sure i could survive it. i don't think they make coffee that strong. (miranda said she had 11 hours of sleep the whole weekend)
singing, games, meals, visiting, campfires--it was all good. a few things that stand out--it was abby's last weekend in indiana before leaving for japan where her parents are missionaries. it was so hard to see her go, because we will miss her so, but also because she is the youngest in their family and won't have any siblings to be with her at home. she is homeschooled (you don't want to go to japanese school/bootcamp) and will be able to spend very little time with kids her own age. the girls were all able to spend some very quality yet emotional time with her.
then on saturday night, two girls came to the teen campfire very emotional after a phone call from their dad. their brother-in-law's cancer was back and it was very bad. everyone stopped visiting and gathered around them, laying hands on them and praying together. i had come over to talk with miranda and rachel for a bit and check in with them, and i wept at the love and faith and caring that flowed from those kids' hearts.
Praise!--one young man simply asked another at one point if he knew the Lord Jesus as his savior and when the reply was negative, asked if he wanted Him to be. when that answer was positive, he was able to confess with his lips, and the angels rejoiced--cameron is a new joyfilled child of the King!
during singing on Sunday, the parents all stood and sang to their children, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." then (gulp, big lump in the throat) the children all rose and sang this to us, their parents. it was an awesome moment to see all those teenagers so serious and so full of enthusiasm for the ways of God.
we feel like family camp was a blessing to enable us meet many from other churches, but esp to really get to know some of the people from leo that we only see on Sundays. we stayed late on Sunday afternoon, letting the kids swim to their heart's content, and when they were good and worn out, we fed them ice cream for supper and brought them home and put them to bed. what a great ending to a great weekend...

this week, we were able to go blueberry picking with leanne and her kids. we didn't check the weather before we went and it was perfectly clear... but as we were picking clouds started building (see, i didn't put a comma there and you thought it said picking clouds but we weren't picking clouds we were picking blueberries if you read carefully and yes my friend if you are still hanging on through this long wearisome tiring sentence--it is a run on. Are there any other languages that have a thesaurus?) and it was looking pretty ominous, but we could see blue sky right behind them and thought it would just be a quick shower and then over. we kept on picking. it began to rain, just a little. we kept on picking. it rained harder, then let up. oh good, it's going to pass. then a big clap of thunder. reed came on the run. Mom! We gotta get outa here! then lightning. okay, i think it's time to leave. then the rain really came and we ran. by the time we got up to the building and under the eaves, we were soaked. we paid for the blueberries, plus bought some already picked (shoot, i didn't want to have to do that), and then waited for the rain to let up. i think that was a fun time but i'm nut sure... (that was a typo, i think.)
this week, gary and mary get here on tues to pick up luke, the privileged child who gets to go to the ball if he finishes his work--no, who gets to travel to OINC with grandma, grandpa and cousin clint. we made up for his getting to go early by giving him the detested job of vacuuming out the van, but don't feel sorry for him.
the rest of us leave on friday at noon. and we are hoping to have all of the wash done before then, however with our dryer--you know come to think of it i'm not sure it can even be called a dryer, maybe it's a wetter or a damper--no, i know, it's a tryer--but anyway, the plan is to have the wash done before we leave and take clean clothes with us. however if that doesn't happen because our tryer doesn't cooperate, then we'll either come in dirty clothes or wet ones. but i promise we will have some on.
we also plan to bring lots of food to Ocean Isle, because that's what we do there. and games. and swim suits. that's about it, i think. i don't know why packing always seems like such a hard job. or writing this blog. tonight it's just kind of flowing don't ya think?