Friday, February 26

We had a work day last Saturday. A small group of guys came up from Living Hope Church. While Chrissy and Jo were preparing lunch for the entire crew, George Caylor painted the ceiling in the second dorm room. Dave Detloff put up tongue and groove on the walls, and Brian Reynard was working on electrical stuff. Jen, McKenna, and some girls from Able helped out by moving all of the paint, stain, and finishes from the nature center (where there's no longer heat) to the dorm (heated). Then they primed the bathroom that Tim mudded last week, and then moved on to hanging sheet rock in the second bathroom. On Monday, 5 guys from Silver Birch Ranch came again to help out. They finished hanging the sheet rock that was started previously, then they sheet rocked the entire central furnace room. Rick Bub, from Athelstane, also came out again with two add'l guys from Cornerstone Church. They installed more tongue and groove and had the not-so-fab-pleasure of moving many 12' sheets of drywall from dorm 1 to dorm 4.

Over the weekend, Tony and family, joined by the Cleereman's, took advantage of the kids having Monday off of school, by going "up north" to the family cabin. They had great winter weather to enjoy a walk to the lake and an adventure to the bottom of Bond Falls.
Since returning, Karol and Tony have been working hard on camp stuff. The schedule has taken on many changes and is almost finished. For those of you who attend camp, you may be interested to know about theme night changes: German is out for this year, and a tailgating party has been added. So you now have lots of time to get a jersey or NFL t-shirt. I think it'll be a great addition to camp! Tony has the camp theme logo done and t-shirt color picked out. He's also been spending a lot of time searching for a much needed minibus or large van. The blue diesel one that I blogged about a few months ago is no longer available, so we're trying to find another vehicle to fill that need. Karol's been researching new two way radios for camp. The ones we've been using are ancient (in two way radio years) and because of a change in FCC rules, will no longer be usable. A lot has changed in two ways since we last purchased them and there's a lot of choices to sift through. Karol and Tony have also been spending many an hour on the plans for the kitchen/dining room. The kitchen, which will be in the existing garage, is pretty well laid out, now we're focusing on the 4,000 sq ft addition that will be the dining room. Floor plans aren't so hard, it's the third dimension that gets tricky. That's a whole lot of roofline to make work.

Yesterday, Tim, Marceaux and the guys mudded the seams in the attic. This means that it can now be used for much much much needed storage.

Last weekend, after leaving the Weidners, Molly went home for a visit with the folks. We look forward to having her back this weekend.

Jen and the Able Attack had a basketball game last Tuesday evening. Jen has been working some in Pound, plus she and Marceaux have been putting in a lot of hours on wedding arrangements. Marceaux worked on a van with a wheelchair lift that we have, but aren't currently using, for a possible trade for a vehicle with more seats, with someone that Tony's been talking to. Marceaux's now on the hunt for a used fuel pump for it.

Wednesday, February 17

Well, over the past week, Tim has been plastering like a madman. He, the guys and Marceaux plastered both dorm rooms. In the below pic, you can see the detailing of the ceilings. Both rooms have two coats of plaster. Then, during the work day last Saturday, the one room was primed and painted, while Tim finished the plaster on the second room. During the work day last Saturday, Jen, Molly and Crystal pitched in to get one bathroom sheet rocked. In the below pic, you see Tim plastering the ceiling and upper walls. (We'll be tiling the lower two thirds of the walls)

Tuesday, Rick Bub brought 4 guys from Cornerstone church in Athelstane out to start the tongue and groove on the walls. They are doing a beautiful job, and will be coming back next week to continue this large job.

Karol's still plugging away at Annissa's room. The closet doors are now done, so that completes the painting, and now it's on to other projects in the room.

Last Friday, The Able Church had a spaghetti dinner before the service that was attended by over 100 people. Guest speaker from camp, Larry Campbell, preached.

Molly's still going to the Weidner's every week. I think they're falling into the groove now. Be sure to check out Molly's blog. (Revolutionary Love)

Chrissy's sent out emails to announce the work days. If you didn't get one, and would like to be on the list, just email info@campdaniel.org. We need all the help we can get!

On Tuesdays we continue with our weekly "Family Meeting" or Camp Daniel staff meeting. It is an opportunity to go over the weeks events, plan the coming days, weeks and months, share our triumphs and burdens, and grow in our prayer and devotional time.

After the family meetings Tony, John, Jen, Tim Mandich, Molly and Marceaux have a second meeting for the Able Church. They have been picking sermon themes and discussing how best to present them to our group with mental disabilities. The time is entertaining and educational as it becomes loud and discussion ensues on theology and presentation. The group has also been working towards translating the book of John into an understandable form for the culture of mental disability. Tony and John met with Wycliff in Flordia 2 years ago about the need and getting help with this project, so this is the begging stage of that.

Tony and Tim have bee working at LHC installing some new equipment and redoing the entire sound system for MEGA and the Able Church. Tim and Chrissy have been putting in allot of ours of preparation the Kenya Missions trip. Just getting 25 plane tickets has ben alot of work! Tony and Tim Mandich will be with them on the trip, so they have been meeting regularly for that as well as starting their first round of many shots and getting their passports in order.

LT, Karol and Sr. Have been working on camper and counselor applications this week. they will be back from the printer Friday and then will b folded and labeled for mailing next week. Also Tony has been working on the Camp Logo's and speaker packets while karol has worked on the schedule and details of camp. Chrissy has begun this week,writing to kitchen volunteers and planning the menu.

The Able Church Attack BB team has played its first tournament, they scrimmage at Aspiro next week in preparation for the regional tournament coming up. Jen, Marceaux, Jon and Molly are all working with Coach Roger Wied to bring it all together.

Tony and Karol have also been working on the plans for Camp Daniel's dinning hall, it is a big job to include everything needed yet keep the building affordable but interesting.

Jen, Marceaux and the guys are in charge of our recycling program, one of the many jobs to keep our small community going. Papa Tony and Jo oversee the office which is the central point for everyone at Camp Daniel. Making sure there is propane in the tanks, the septics are scheduled for cleaning, the phone and electric bills get paid, and insurance is up to date for the 10 buildings on the campus is a big job. Sr and Jo also oversee the CD Gift Shop which they recently relaunched with a Christmas and north woods theme. It is now called the North Pole Gift Shop. We invite you to come out and shop... all proceeds help Camp Daniel operations.

Tuesday, February 9

There seems to be alot going on at Camp Daniel for the middle of winter! We like to think that things slow down during the first few months of the year, and often people ask what we do during this time of year (my reply to that is now, "do you read our blog?"), but we're staying plenty busy.

So, Tony and Karol were in Florida. The first leg of the trip, as I mentioned in the previous blog, was work, but the second half was more about fun, (although there was still much ministry discussed, and some architectural inspirations revealed) The above picture was taken in St. Augustine, which is the oldest city in the US. Talk about architecture! It's an amazing city.

But, back to the snowy grayness that is Wisconsin...

Last Thursday afternoon, a group of 18, from Silver Birch Ranch, came for a work day. They worked Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. They accomplished much. The first pic is representative of all of the materials that they moved from one location to another. All of the tongue and groove that will be on the walls was moved from the women's dorm to the men's. They also moved about 150 cases of paper products from the garage to the dorm where they will soon be stored in the attic space that is above the bathrooms. We are currently working on the women's dorm only, so as to finish it by this summer. We really need it done so that the youth group, of about 30, can stay in it this summer when they volunteer a week of labor.

In the below pic, you can see some of the work that Tim and the guys did in the past two weeks. With the help of Marceaux, they blew insulation into both dorms, the craft cabin, and John and Sue's place. It was a big messy job. Where's Mike Rowe when you need him?

So, with the insulation done, the ceilings were ready to be drywalled. Most of the drywall had been done in recent weeks, but now they could be sealed off all the way.

The Silver Birch group had some fun with insulation. We had walls that needed fiberglass insulation put in. Then they put the "buffalo board" on the walls. It's the black stuff you see in some of the pics. It's a noise barrier. The tongue and groove will be installed over it.

Hey, we have heat! The working conditions are so much better now in the dorms.

Tim is setting up a work shop in one section so that he can do some woodworking projects that need to be done.

As usual, the Able Church has lots going on... Last Friday, they had a girls sleepover at Living Hope. Sixteen girls were there to watch "One Night with the King", which coordinated with the Bible study they just finished on Esther. The Able basketball team had their first tournament on Saturday, and are looking forward to the next, which will be next month. Jen, Marceaux, John and Sue continue to visit many of our campers at home, and at work shops.

We're so appreciative to have so many different things happening at once. Building the grounds, and building relationships are so important to what we do. The missionaries at Camp Daniel are doing a great job at both!