Comfort in the Familiar #2

Last Friday I drove to Camp Tadmor, about two hours from here, to pick up Kory and Kendall, my granddaughters. It is a beautiful drive over the Cascades, which I greatly enjoyed, but driving up the mountain on the gravel road to Tadmor brought back so many fond memories. I have been going to Tadmor since the summer I was first married, 39 years ago. At that time, I attended Women's camp along with alot of other Christian women from Oregon, my mother and sister-in-law, and other friends. I can still remember all the fun we had...making crafts, swimming and walking around the lake, listening and learning from great speakers and the good food. Eventually, I brought my first baby along that first summer after she was born, and then graduated to leaving the kids at home with Dad for the week-end. It was a wonderful way to get some quality time with God and with friends. He then would attend Men's camp in September, often with his Dad.
Over the years I have spent time at Tadmor with close friends, and have even had the privilege of bringing two of my grown daughters with me to enjoy Women's camp. They however, grew up going to kid's camp at Tadmor, and knew the camp well. All three of my daughters loved Tadmor, and have wonderful memories of the time spent. Julie however, spent the most time there, having served many summers on staff at Tadmor as a counselor, and she even brought her fiance Peter with her on her final summer there, so he could also have the 'Tadmor' experience. The insurance man and I have had dozens of good trips up to Tadmor, either going, getting our girls there, visiting Julie, or picking them up. The trip to Tadmor has been part and parcel of our lives for a long time.

Now time has moved on, and it is our granddaughter's turn to enjoy Camp Tadmor. Last Friday I went to pick up Kendall (left), Kory (middle) and their friend Whitney (right) from High School Camp. They had just finished a rousing finish to their week, and were in high spirits. (So was the staffer behind them, who used every conceivable trick to get in whatever photos I took...) I picked them up at the same forum space, which has changed little in 40 years. We walked down to the coffee shop (which has changed, as it used to be called the 'snack shop', and there were no mocha's or lattes!), and picked up the money they had left in credit there. The Tadmor cabins are mostly the same, but for the additions of a sort of tent-cabin, and tee pees and such for overflow. The dinning hall was just as usual with the new addition this summer of planters out front, filled with roses and blooming flowers. Some new lady must have taken control of that : )

We walked back up the same path we have been walking for all these years, and past the lake. The lake is the same, except for the addition of a long water slide, and the 'blob', a huge striped air-filled bag that the kids are catapulted onto and it skyrockets them upward before they crash back into the water...Kendall says it hurts! Also new is the ropes...for those not afraid of heights. It is rope climbing and swinging among the trees, and most of the kids love it.

Also new is the amount of luggage each girl is allowed to bring. We couldn't fit it all into our trunk, so each had a garbage bag filled with their pillow and sleeping bag on their laps on the way home. Do girls really need that many clothes?? How many pairs of jeans, really?

What hasn't changed is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is so plainly evidenced in every aspect of Tadmor. Fun and games there are in plenty, but each camper has always had and continues to have time and reason to hear the message, and to grow in their walk with God. Ah...the sweet memories. Thank you Lord, for comfort in the familiar, but especially in the familiarity of walking closely by your side, and growing in your example.