A Blessed Life (26)
Our time at Echo Valley Camp was filled with adventure. It was also a lot of work, especially for Colleen. We had four small children, and she was mainly responsible for them. In addition to that she ran the camp kitchen during the summer camping season.. Besides being camp director and youth minister, I also had a full time sales job in Louisville. Needless to say life was a bit hectic as well as adventuresome.
Besides the “bear incident”, there were several other notable events that stick vividly in my mind. Most involved our kids. Some were funny, others downright scary. There was the time one of the church members brought his big Oliver tractor and giant earth pan to do some construction work. Jonathan was three or four at the time and decided to do some of the work himself. He climbed on the tractor, took it out of gear and began rolling down the hill, headed straight for one of the cabins.
Thankfully the blade was down on the earth pan. As they rolled on the path toward the cabin, the earth pan was digging deep into the ground, picking up enough dirt to bring the equipment to a halt. By the grace of God there were no injuries or destruction of property.
There was a good sized pond at the camp. We all called it the camp lake. It was used for canoeing and fishing. Brian has always been the fisherman of the family. One day some campers were fishing with nice fishing gear. They were having no luck. Brian was seven at the time. He rigged up a stick, some line, and made a hook out of a paper clip. He baited the homemade hook and caught a 15 inch bass.
Stephen was the dare devil. He was six at the time some campers dared him ride his big wheel down the wooden steps leading to the lake. To say it was a rough ride would be a mild understatement.
The ride turned out to be not only rough but wet. He ended up in the edge of the lake slightly shaken and soaked.
By God’s goodness we all survived. Time has put it all in perspective. It is a memorable chapter in our family’s journey.
– Terry A. Morrison