“We love, because He first loved us.”
(1 John 4:19)
Summer is in full swing here at THE OAKS! Our second week of camp is almost finished! Our theme this 
summer is “The Kingdom: Join the Revolution,” focusing on what it means to be citizens of God’s Kingdom and to obey His greatest command: loving God and loving people. Society often treats those in the inner city as less-than-human and people to avoid at all costs, but at THE OAKS the kids are being treated as royalty—as they should be treated and as they are in God’s Kingdom! We are praying that each camper will leave knowing what it is to be a child of God and an heir of His Kingdom and choosing to become a citizen of that Kingdom.
Jared and I have been involved in a variety of things this summer. June was full of summer staff training, in which Jared played a significant role in leading several training sessions. He led a two-day retreat and campout for the summer leadership staff. Also, our entire summer staff spent a week of their training at World Impact in L.A., gaining hands-on experience in working and identifying with the urban poor. Jared, Micah, and I spent a couple days down there helping with the training and other events that were going on. That week is always jam-packed with sessions and activities that are both emotionally draining and physically exhausting! Our summer staff learned a lot about inner-city life and culture, but I think they learned even more about themselves and the role God wants them to play in reaching the lost people of the city.
For Jared and I, this summer is our first summer to participate in the “Adopted Family” program at THE OAKS. This is a program specifically for the Leaders-in-Training—teens from the city who commit to a three-year program of intense leadership training and discipleship, spending five weeks of their summers up at THE OAKS. Each summer we have about 20 teens taking part in the Leaders-in-Training program, and each teen is “adopted” into a staff family for the summer. On Wednesday evenings we spend time together as a “family,” doing fun things in town or around camp, and we also have a whole weekend that is designated as “Adopted family weekend,” where we can do more things off-camp and bond together as a family. Jared and I have two adopted daughters for the summer, Tatiana (from San Diego) and Victoria (from Fresno). We have really enjoyed getting to know them so far, although it is a little strange to be called “mom” and “dad” by girls only ten years younger than us! This coming weekend is Adopted Family weekend, so we are looking forward to the chance to bond with them even more!
As far as Micah goes, his role this summer is being cute (which he has no problem doing). He is really eating up all the attention he’s getting from the summer staff! Its fun to watch him interact with them and try to get laughs at each mealtime in the dining hall. He seems to love camp life so far!
We are also excited by the opportunity three new couples have of joining World Impact staff at camp with us in the next year—we’ll post more on that in coming months when they arrive. There’s so much more exciting stuff happening here at THE OAKS this summer, but this post is already long enough as it is! Thank you for praying for us and this ministry, and please continue praying that God will use our ministry here to change lives for Him.
PREGNANCY UPDATE: Everything seems to be going smoothly! I’m currently anywhere between 17 and 19 weeks along. I’ve been feeling the baby wiggle the last couple of weeks. We’'ll be finding out in a few weeks whether we’re expecting a girl or a boy!
