Hayfork

 

Just about 40 miles from Boise is the little town of Idaho City.

Idaho City used to be the big city in Idaho. 10,000 people lived here during the gold rush days. We like going here during the summer months and exploring the wild west town, that quite honestly is still pretty wild and primitive.
 

 

About 11 miles out of Idaho City is the group camp called Hayfork. It's a beautiful little spot right on a cold clear creek. Our local church often sponsors a small church camp in the summer for our church family and friends. Sometimes a lot of us are able to attend, and sometimes only a few. This year, we had only a few due to scheduling conflicts and illness, but we chose to go ahead with it as planned.

 

 

We believe in giving 100% to whomever God places in our care, be it many or few. In fact, as the Bible says, a man is not fit to lead at all if he can't adequately lead his own family. We are so blessed with children who put their heart into loving and serving others, but when individuals refuse those kindnesses they face that disappointment with courage and grace, making the best of ever circumstance.

 

 

 

Oh, and they brush their teeth too. Haha!

 

 

Our little mountain man insisted that he was strong enough to run the water pump.

 

I love cooking on the campfire coals. This was before Sunday morning service, but afterwards, it was just perfect and ever so delicious.

 

Breakfast is always so delicious. There is nothing like camp coffee and whatever else is on the menu. Pictured here is French toast, but we also had breakfast burritos and omelets.

 

For the children, one of the best parts of the day is camp craft time. This year, Kalli was in charge of the lesson and craft time. It was her first time and she brought clear and easy to understand lessons and fun related crafts.

 

 

 

 

Another favorite spot was the creek. The afternoons were WARM, but the creek was COLD and a quick way to cool off.

 

Personally, my favorite times were the ones relaxing in the beautiful fresh air and scenery.

 

And here we are in all our hot, dirty glory.

 

Saturday afternoon, we took the kids into the city and treated them to icecream at the Sasparilla.

 A favorite activity was balancing rocks in the creek.

 

 

There were so very many beautiful butterflies. They would even land in your hand if you held flowers.

 

Strawberries with marshmallow cream roasted over the fire = SOOO very much better than s'mores.

 

Just before leaving for camp, I had my rheumatology appointment. My doctor was so very kind and knowledgeable of rheumatology and autoimmune disease. He suspects both, but will need more tests to confirm and to determine which one(s) and proper treatment. Some mentioned were MS, Lyme, and rheumatoid arthritis. He's also referring me to a hematologist as my WBC is down to less than 3. Normal is 8-11. He also wants me to see a neurologist as some symptoms overlap there. I seem to be plagued with obscure health issues and random symptoms. Season changes are especially rough times and have been for many years. It's enough to make one feel a bit crazy. For the first time, sitting down with the specialist, I felt vindicated in a way. Everything made sense to him and he never once tried to blame it on stress or anxiety.