Tuesday, October 6

Last Friday Karol was surprised at the "surprise birthday" that Tony and the kids treated her to, including cards and a special birthday dinner. (This really was a surprise because her birthday is in December!) After dinner, she was led outside to the real reason behind all of the surprise fun: a golf cart. Karol wants to thank all of the many many people involved in making this happen. Annissa and McKenna solicited donations from counselors and workers on the last day of each camp, plus some others donated as well.

We had a very successful work day on Saturday. The rain held off and much was accomplished. Above is a picture of some of the volunteers staining the cedar shakes. Jen, DJ and Darlene Jach are in the foreground, and behind them, Sarah Braun and Amanda Schuesler are also busy staining. The picture below shows the immense amount of work that Tom VanDalen did on the deck in front of the Craft Cabin.

Below, the volunteers pose in front of the garden by the Camp Daniel entry sign. Sally Kelly and Bonnie Blakley, from Living Hope Church, Amanda, Sarah, Crystal and Darlene from Able church joined forces with Karol, Jen and Molly to tackle this monster job. They dug up all of the plants and replanted some back into the garden, and others into other areas on the grounds. The supports for the sign were were rotten at the bottom so while the garden was cleared of plants, they were knocked down. Then Tony made plans-on-the-fly for the new support for the Camp Daniel sign. He then dug the footing for a poured concrete foundation that will be done with the next concrete pour later this fall.

Brian Renard, David Dettloff, and George Caylor all drove up from Green Bay to help with the work day. Bill Peterson, from Lake Helen, joined them as they worked in the dorms putting plastic on the ceilings and installing the drywall too.

Thursday September 24

Tim and the guys have been working on the pump house (which is connected to the Koch's home). They took out the cabinets from the interior, took out the window, and cut out the existing block to make way for the new door. The old door is on the side of the building, but the new one will be in the front. As you can see in this pic, the walls are framed up for the new entry addition.
Karol, Jen, Molly and Chrissy all worked together putting two yards on mulch on some of the gardens on the Camp Daniel grounds. Afterwards they built a 2x4 shelving unit that will store outdoor items underneath the back deck of the Hartley House.

north exterior of craft cabin

Someone recommended that we show one area from beginning to end of a transformation. So here's the first one. This is the north side of the craft cabin. The first pic was from May 28, 2009 and the last from July 1, 2009. If it were only as simple at these pics make it appear!

Monday Sept 21, Tuesday Sept 22

Monday
Little Tony did a lot of talking on Monday. He had a long meeting with Pastor John. Then Pastor Jerry and Steve Hays came to Camp Daniel to give Steve a tour and basic understanding of what Camp Daniel is. This brought him straight into the time to drive to Menominee, MI to speak at the Tri-County Women's club. Cherylee Hamilton invited him and Karol for dinner and a one hour presentation of what Camp Daniel is all about. The dozen women in attendance, were very receptive and interested in all that they heard. We are anxious to see what fruits may come of this, and we, as always, appreciate all that Cherylee Hamilton has done, and continues to do for Camp Daniel.

Tuesday
The Camp Daniel staff family had their weekly meeting for the better part of the morning.
Afterwards, Tim put up shelved in Molly and Jen's place. Marceaux worked on a tractor tune up. Karol did some gardening to prepare for winter. Of course, since it was Tuesday, many were off to Able's family night and Special Olympics bowling practice.

Saturday was another work day at Camp Daniel. We were very appreciative to have 5 people come from the Three Lakes Area. The eight maple trees that were bought the other day were all planted in different locations around the grounds. The nature center was cleaned up and the paint was moved into there because that building will be heated for the winter. As you can see in the pic below, some of the guys were working on drywalling the ceilings in two of the dorm rooms. Soon we'll be able to blow insulation into the ceiling. This is crucial to allow work to continue in the dorms thru the winter.

Friday, September 18

On Friday, work started on the pump house (a concrete block 7x10 foot area attached to the house, holding the water pump). Molly and Karol cleaned out the attic so that later, insulation can be blown into it. Then they were joined by Tim and Little Tony to begin work on the exterior. All of the plants in front were pulled up and replanted elsewhere on the grounds. Then the old sidewalk was taken out and the area formed up for concrete. There will be a doorway where the window is and an entry of sorts will be extended onto the front of the building. The point is that the pipes that are now on the exterior of the building ( you can see them in the pic) will be on the interior, and, therefore, won't freeze. Late Friday afternoon, the guys mixed up concrete with the concrete mixer and poured the slab.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Some days just aren't very glamorous. In the picture above are two buses that were donated earlier this summer for busing ministries at Able and Mega. In the foreground is a box truck that was also donated as a place for storage. Tim and the guys loaded the walking in cooler and freezer wall panels into it. They were also able to fit camp mattresses and a few other miscellaneous items. The remaining work time over these days was filled with moving and organizing tools and materials. If you've been here for a work day, you may get a grasp on the magnitude of such an undertaking. When Tim was in Green Bay for youth group on Wednesday evening, he went to Home Depot for some materials, and while there was happy to see that they'd just received a shipment of maple trees. He bought eight. They were only $20 each and at least 10' tall.

On Tuesday, Little Tony, Karol, Annissa and Anthony went to Green Bay for dentist appointments. They stayed the day, then after Able bible study, Karol, Jen and Little Tony left for Gurnee, where they spent the night at Karol's dad's home. Wednesday, Jen and Little Tony went to a get together of leaders from different disability ministries at O'Hare airport. They had a good time of sharing with others encountering many of the same challenges and blessings that full time disability ministry holds. They all returned to Camp Daniel late Thursday afternoon, which left the Piantine's with time to get a list together of everything that needs to be done before the snow flies, do a few loads of laundry, help the kids with homework and unpack from the days away.