The Annual Turner Team Campout

This past weekend, my family hosted our 7th Turner Team Campout. At least I think it was the 7th. Correct me if I am wrong. Anyway, On Friday evening, there were between 60-70 people at my house having a blast. You know the really cool thing???? I got to be there as well!!!!!

I woke up dark and early at 4:30 Saturday morning. I spent the next 30 minutes getting ready. After all, I did not want to look like I just got up. I then sat before the computer staring at the clock waiting for the magic moment...5 am when I would Skype home. The minutes ticked by. It felt like Christmas Eve when you are laying in your bed. You want to go to sleep quickly because time always seems to go faster that way. But you can't. Your heart is pounding, adrenaline is running, and your stomach has butterflies.

So that is how I felt as I waited for the prearranged time to come. After what seemed to be forever, the time finally came. (I am really glad it wasn't really forever. Because I expect forever to be much longer. Just think...we will be with Jesus forever. I would want it to be....well....forever.) I called my family. As I talked to them, Daddy set up the Web Cam. It was the first time I had seen them since coming to Taiwan. I of course cried. I was so happy to see them all.

I used Daddy's handkerchif to dry my tears. Daddy's handkerchifs are so special to me. When I was little, and I would fall and scrap my knee or get some other kind of bleeding injury, Daddy would always have his handkerchif there to make it feel better. He would also offer it to me when I was crying. So when I was getting ready to leave for Taiwan, I was crying. And Daddy gave me some of his handkerchifs to take with me. He is so sweet. Ok, that was a nice side track. But now I am crying again. So I better stop and go back to the main trail.

Ok. I am finished crying now. Those of you who truly know me, will know that I can cry at a moment's notice. It doesn't take hardly anything to set me off.

So Daddy set up the web cam in Mother's office. Then they turned it all around and set it on the window looking into the Breakfast room. They set up a chair there as well. As people arrived for the campout, they would come in and sit down and talk with me. It was so much fun. I was able to see many friends and family that I would have been unable to see otherwise. Also as it was in a main portion of the house, I was able to simply see people passing through. I wasn't always able to tell who they were, but it certainly made me feel part of the group.

We talked and talked and talked. Many times, when no one was up there, Mother, who moniters the house during the campout, and helps people with whatever they need up there, would come and talk to me. I enjoied it so much!

It finally got to be 11:00 a.m. my time, p.m. their time. A group of about 10 people came into the house wanting to play Dutch Blitz. If you don't know how to play that game, or have no idea what it is, I strongly suggest you find someone who does and they can teach you. It is so much fun. So the group set the game up at the breakfast table. They repositioned my camera so that I could watch them. They played and I kept score. It was so much fun. They were really nice and kind to include me. I am sure it was not the easiest thing in the world to have someone on the other side of the world keep score for your game. But they put up with me very well. I had a wonderful time. It was like I was acctually there. Sometimes, I felt like I was trapped inside a box and sitting on the window. And in some ways I was. But it was an incredible time.

We played Dutch Blitz for over an hour. Then they got tired of it and decided to go out and play basket ball. After all, it was only 12:30 p.m. So they left and went outside. As I had been sitting at my desk for the last 7 hours, it was not as big a disappointment as it could have been to see them go have fun somewhere else.

I wonder if that might have been a record...7 hours on the phone. Yikes!