Pumpkin Carving

 While this blog generally covers the work done on the Camp Daniel grounds, I thought it would be a nice change to show the Camp Daniel family taking some time off for fun.  Trish had the great idea to do a pumpkin carving night complete with snacks and apple cider.

 So the Camp Daniel missionaries and good friends, Rudie Koch and the Cleereman family all brought their pumpkins to the Hartley House where Trish had two long tables set up for carving.

                                                                                                                                                                 

 Leave it to a guy to feel the need to pull out the power tools to carve a jack-o-lantern!  We were debating whether Marceaux was cheating, or showing us his genius.

an MJ size pumpkin.

Molly and Justin were such a cute couple, as they took 2 hours to carve a pumpkin together.  Justin probably got a sore neck because he had the little carving knife in his teeth and was sawing back and forth.  They made a minion which is super cute.

At Camp Daniel, we try really hard to succeed in living in community.  It's not always easy, as we have many different personalities, but it's times like this that bring us all together again.  And it's very easy to just keep on working, working, working, and forget about taking time out for fellowship and fun.  So I thank Trish again, for being such a great asset to the Camp Daniel missionary family.

If you'd like to see more pics of the festivities, and the finished pumpkins, check out some of the facebook posts from Annissa and Trish.

Camp Daniel

Winter is soon coming! It started to snow here yesterday, and guess what? A little bit stayed on the ground for about fifteen minutes! Pretty soon we'll have a foot of snow! Well, we all know what holiday is in winter, Christmas! Everybody loves getting Christmas cards from friends and family. Molly has been writing Christmas cards to send out to each camper! She also puts a picture of everybody that was in their cabin that week.

Another thing that comes around this time of year is the Camp Daniel newsletters get sent out! Molly, Justin, Karol, and Trish spent the afternoon on Wednesday putting address labels on all of the newsletters! After that was done, Trish and Jen brought them to the post office.

As well as the newsletters, Tony and Karol have been working really hard on the craft cabin! It has come a really long way. They have been working day and night, and it looks great!

The Able Attack's first volleyball tournament is next Saturday! This past summer, Justin's home church raised money in their VBS program for new uniforms for the team. Justin and Jen have been working together to buy new uniforms. They look really awesome! We will put a picture on here when they are delivered.

Justin has also been working with Pastor Tim to create an Able Church website! It has been a very long process, but it will be done soon! All that's left is putting the pictures in where they need to go!

Camp Daniel Update

It's getting colder and colder each day here at Camp Daniel. The leaves keep on falling and winter is coming fast! Since all of the leaves are falling, that means the grounds are covered in them. Well, Trish needed to mow the grass one last time before winter arrives but couldn't because of all the leaves. So, for in order for Trish to mow the grass, Nick, Steve, Trish, and the guys went around and raked some leaves. Now, in the last blog post, we said that the Able Church would rake when they came up for a workday. But don't worry! There are still plenty of leaves to be raked!

Tony and Tim Mandich went to Indianapolis for a Disability Leadership Conference this week. So, when Tony was gone, Nick, Steve, and the guys put up drywall and plastered the seams in the new addition on the garage. They spent a couple of days working on that. It's looking pretty good! When it is finished, we are going to move the tool room down the so we can finish the Trapline Lodge.

After they did that, they went up to the work room and cleaned it. It was really dirty!

Who remembers Messy Games? Who can forget, right? Well, do you remember at the end of Messy Games the is a huge water fight? Well, all of those squirt guns needed to be cleaned out, and somebody had to figure out which ones didn't work anymore. Justin and Molly spent a whole day cleaning, drying, and sorting through all of the water guns! There was only a handful of them that didn't work.

Tony and Karol have been continuously working on the blueprints for the Dining Hall/Kitchen. There have been a total of fourteen rough drafts in sixteen years! Well, they have finished what they hope to be he last one! And it is amazing!

October 12th Camp Daniel Workday!

We had another workday on Saturday up here at Camp Daniel! We had quite a few people come up. Seeing as it is Autumn, that means there are a LOT of leaves that are falling off the trees. Somebody has to rake them, right? Well, that's what one group of people did...rake leaves. A lot. And even thought they raked a lot, there are still plenty of leaves that still need to be raked! (Maybe a job for the Able Church Workday?!)

While they were walking around camp raking leaves, another group was up in the Trapline Lodge plastering and tiling the walls. This group included Becca and Shelly Risner, one of their friends, Don Richmond, Steve, and Nick Stonelake. They did a great job!

While they were doing that, Lilly Howe and her Dad, Richard, Nick Sterry, and Jake were in the new addition of the garage plastering the walls! 

But wait, there's more! (This is a big workday!) Tim Mandich came up to the work day and worked with two more people and put up a small retaining wall continuing from the existing one down by Tony's office. This was a VERY dusty job! They had to cut the concrete stones to make them all fit next to each other.

And don't forget about the craft cabin! They took out all of the drawers and cabinet doors so Karol can sand them and get them painted.

After the workday, there was another Camp Daniel Counselor Meeting which we have here every second Tuesday of every month. Not as many people showed up to this one, but there was still a good turnout! On Saturday night, we talked about our favorite movie and how it affected us spiritually. Comment your answer below! We'd like to hear from you!

Concrete Pour!

We poured concrete twice this week! That's right twice! We poured sidewalks up by the Trapline Lodge on Monday and more sidewalks around the Trapline Lodge and the garage on Wednesday. Justin was really excited about these pours because he can now go all the way around both dorms without going inside of them. We started pouring at eight in the morning on both days. On Wednesday, it was so cold that Justin had to go inside before we were done. Steve and Nick learned how to use the machine that smooths out the concrete. They did a great job! After everything was all said and done, these concrete pours went really well!