Adventures up North... brr!

This weekend we have traveled to Evart, MI by way of Valparaiso, IN. While we were in Indiana the guys from Red Umbrella and Sevenglory put us up for the night. It was great getting to know them and just hanging out with other people that understand our lifestyle.

We then traveled to Evart, MI and are “camped” out at Spring Hill Camps. The moment we drove up and saw an out-of-this-world tubing hill with five snow machines surrounding it and a 1,000 ft. zip line mounted at the top we knew this wasn’t your average “winter retreat”. This is a camp on steroids!! They have a paintball course, four ice rinks for broomball, a heated indoor swimming pool, a gym with bungee jumping (you jump as high as you possibly can on a trampoline while being attached to bungees to help give you a better lift), and a huge billiard room including foosball and ping pong tables. And of course all the tubing you could ever ask for… and these are just the winter sports=}!!

I’m inside where it’s nice and warm typing up this blog and doing some reading. I had my fair share of outdoor activities today as Jeremy and I did a 7 mile run this morning in 12 degree weather…. brrrrr! Actually, it really wasn’t that bad – we were bundled up and kept a good running pace. The sun was out and there really wasn’t much wind…so thank you Lord for a great day to run and the ability to do it! As I write this Jeremy and the guys are outside by the tubing hill judging the tubing races. Then they will join in on the 3 on 3-basketball tournament to warm themselves up a bit. Honestly, I can’t believe… well maybe I can… that Jeremy has enough energy to play basketball after our run this morning.

Downhere really enjoys playing at these kinds of events where we can actually stay in one place for more than a day and get to know some of the kids. We are all staying at a house on the campground… that’s when it really feels like the “downhere family”. We had fun last night staying up late and playing poker with sugar packets=}. That was maybe the second time in my life that I’ve ever played that game so I didn’t have much of a chance at winning. Plus my poker face is way too dramatic…

Downhere is the worship band for the weekend and the stage they get to play on is like none I’ve ever seen. Someone brilliant has designed a stage set that looks like a graphic equalizer and is synched with the sound. So when Jeremy hits the bass drum or Marc hits a high note the lights go all the way to the top. Check out this picture… let me tell you “We Will Rock You” turned into WE WILL ROCK YOUR SOCKS OFF!! They would turn those lights off for the worship sets so it wouldn’t distract from worshipping the Lord. (Oh and by the way - on either side of the stage are huge Apple ear buds with lights shining from them...so cool!)

Tomorrow we finish up here and then head off to Traverse City, MI to do a concert. So please continue to pray for safe travels. We have a 14-hour drive to tackle on Monday to get home in time to see Jack Bauer save the world=}. Later!