Snow Day!!! January 10, 2011

Benton enjoyed the snow!

The Guys!


The Girls!

Preparation for Baby...

Benton loves his "Monkey" and any other stuffed animal. He is so affectionate--gives them hugs and kisses without being prompted. Good sign that he will be a great "big brother" for his soon coming new sister, right? Well, yesterday as we were driving back from vacation Benton asked if I would give him a wipe. Well, I did...and the next thing I know he had a stuffed bear lying on its back and proceeded to "change the bear's diaper." And while doing that was wiping the bear's appropriate area saying "icky, icky, yucky!" Just a warning that in a few weeks, left without supervision, he may decide to take on some of the diapering responsibilities with his new sister. I can only imagine what the adventures will be! Sure looking forward to them!

Gotta Love the South...

As we were heading home from Wal-Mart this evening, we made an observation...Every fast food restaurant in the South seems to advertise "Sweet Tea." As if it is a novelty? Of course not...the typical advertisement to get you to want something that you really do not need. Have you ever looked up the nutrition information on a super-sized sweet tea??

There are just some things about the South that you have to love. Last week we found a little bbq place 30 minutes from home that has great bbq, ribs and live bluegrass music on weekends. When you walked into the restaurant it was obvious that only certain political parties would find favor in this place...you can guess on that one. The restaurant is a new favorite, and we look forward to introducing our friends to it.

Just by nature of where we are, Benton is picking up on all kinds of great speech ability--learning to emphasize every diphthong in a word. Tonight as Matt was getting him out of the tub, Matt said "Benton...You are a..." and Benton filled it in right before Matt could finish with a big Southern "Maayyuus" interpreted "mess." He had poured several cups of water all over the floor...yes, he was somewhat supervised. Between that and an "Aymayen" every time we pray, we are learning that the little guy is embracing his Southern heritage at an early age.

We love where we live--And are in the process of making decisions about next year. We are thankful that the Lord knows exactly where we are going to be. For now, we pray that we can be faithful, just doing the "next right thing."

Leaning not on our own understanding, but trusting! Knowing He will direct our paths!!

2009 Year in Review

2009 has been a special year for us. As we reflect on this past year, we praise the Lord for His many blessings to our family. Most of all we are thankful for Christ and the privilege we have of a personal relationship with God through His work on the Cross. What privilege it is to serve Him!

Giving thanks to the Father, who as qualified [us] to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col. 1:12-14)

Wishing you a wonderful 2010!
-Matt, Rachael and Benton

Enjoy a few pictures from this year!

JANUARY
Cousin Daniel was born. He eagerly waited three weeks for his cousin's arrival .

FEBRUARY

February 19, 2009-Matthew Benton Wilson, Jr. was born. A very exciting day for our family! Benton had a lot of visitors in the hospital and was welcomed by 380 guys in our Residence Hall.

MARCH
Gold Rush Daze 2009-Blue Thunder
We enjoyed a lot of fun activities with our Residence Hall and other friends at BJU. Benton slept through the Blue Thunder Pep Rally--very chilled, easy-going child!

APRIL
We were in Clemson for Benton's first Easter.


MAY
We finished up the semester at BJU and headed to AZ to work with Camp on Wheels. Matt and Benton spent time together in our travel trailer between duties.

JUNE
Benton had his first "horse ride" at the Alpine camp property in Arizona, and we celebrated Father's Day.


JULY
July was a busy month. We traveled to Canada with the Camp (pic 1-UT, pic 2-Banff-Lake Louise) and were there for a couple weeks before heading to D.C. for Monroe and Katie's wedding (pic 3).

AUGUST
We went to Matt's brother, Randall's wedding at the camp site in Arizona and then headed back to Greenville to begin the Fall Semester. (pic 1-wedding, pic 2- Johnson Residence Hall staff)

SEPTEMBER
After being away for a summer, it was fun to be back at our apartment in Greenville, where Benton had a crib to sleep in and fun toys to catch up with after taking a break from them!


OCTOBER
The pumpkin patch and apple picking with Cousin Daniel.



NOVEMBER
Thanksgiving at the new camp property in Arizona. Benton enjoys snow with his Grandparent Wilsons!


DECEMBER
Christmas in Clemson--Benton and Daniel were not as interested in their presents as they were in all the bows and paper!

Camp Update 4

Yesterday we finished our week of Junior Camp. We had a really fun week and enjoyed the young campers. One of the staff wives reminded us of the importance of decisions made when children are young. It is exciting to see the Lord change the heart of a child and witness the childlike faith that the Bible talks about. We praise the Lord for several children who were saved or made assurance of salvation. Matt reminded the counselors to be very sensitive about not pushing decisions, and it was a blessing to see the Lord work in the young hearts throughout the week.

Junior camp always brings interesting events to the campsite--lots of visits to the nurse for scrapes and bruises, although most of the time a band-aid will do the trick. And there is home sickness--it runs rampant through most of the girls' cabins. And then a lot of fun--laughter and silly antics all the time. It was nice to have a group of kids that didn't need to be entertained all the time simply because they could entertain themselves on their own. Of course, the counselors loved the nap time and will miss that immensely during our last week of teen camp which begins on Monday.

Matt, Sarah and I drove to Phoenix yesterday to drop off someone at the airport. Benton did pretty well in the car. He has discovered his voice and wants everyone else to know that he has discovered it as well. He would decide to chat (more like a friendly scream) every thirty minutes or so at length with Sarah in the back seat of the truck. It was really funny, but at hour 6 I think he decided that he had had enough. Thankfully we were just 10 minutes from our stop. He welcomed a trip out of the car seat and was just fine once he was able to wiggle around.  We will stop every 3-4 hours on our trip to Canada, so hopefully he will not fall apart too often. 

We have enjoyed a little rest over this weekend and are excited about the last week of camp in AZ before heading to Canada!

Camp Update 3

The rains are here but thankfully it is Junior Camp week and the younger kids are easier to entertain in the rain! The Lord has given us a wonderful week. We are enjoying feeding off the enthusiasm of the young kids that are here this week--they just LOVE camp and practically worship the ground their counselors walk on. Pretty weighty but the counselors are doing a great job!

We are living in a little travel trailer this summer and are enjoying having a little home of our own at the edge of the AZ camp property, right behind the horses. Last night we were awakened around 3 am by a counselor knocking on our door. A camper had fallen out of bed, and thankfully he was ok, but we had to help look into things. Benton woke up but went back to sleep until he was awakened again, so we had a little family time before he finally went back to sleep until a more desirable morning hour! He is doing great and has adjusted well to camp life. The junior campers this week just love him and all want to hold him. He is definitely not lacking in attention.

We had a wonderful Father's Day weekend. We spent Saturday afternoon at Big Lake, which is just a half hour drive from the camp in Alpine. On the way there we saw a small herd of elk and a baby with them. We see a lot of wildlife this time of year. On Sunday we went to church in Nutrioso, and our staff did the music service. It was an encouragement to worship with this small body of believers who are just 10 minutes from our camp property. This coming Sunday we will be in Show Low doing the same thing. It is a privilege to meet the pastors in the West and see the works that God has raised up. It is our desire to introduce our Summer Staff to the needs in the West and it is exciting to see them minister in such a special way!

The Lord is teaching us a lot and we are thankful for the opportunities that He has given us to invest in lives. Please pray that we will be faithful in our personal walk with the Lord and that we would be sensitive to opportunities that the Lord brings our way to encourage those that we are working with.

God is faithful and will accomplish the work that He has begun in us. We have one more week of camp in AZ before we pack up and head to Canada. Thanks for your interest in what is going on! 

Camp Update 2

Below is our first supporter update that will go out sometime this weekend--a sneak preview for you:

Dear Friends and Family,

We are excited to send out our first personal summer update. First of all, thank you so much for your generosity. We we were overwhelmed as we saw God provide all of the financial support that we needed and we appreciate your prayers for us each week.

This summer is different from past summers in several ways. Of course having Benton along is a joy, and we love every minute. We always loved the kids at camps where we worked during high school and college and looked forward to having our own “camp kids” at some point should the Lord have chosen that, and we are so thankful that He did. Working with two new families has been a blessing. We are so thankful for the team the Lord has brought together and appreciate so much all that Brian Olsen and Andy Dalporto add to what is going on here. When we arrived the week before our staff came in on June 1st it was obvious there was a lot to do before we would be ready for camp, and while it was overwhelming, God was gracious and allowed it to come together. Staff training week was very busy and although we were physically spent, we came away spiritually recharged and refreshed.

This first week of camp went really well. We had churches from Colorado and the Phoenix area. It was a blessing for us to spend time with the sponsors from the different churches. We had a large group of kids from a Hispanic church in Phoenix and a large group from a church in Denver, and it was neat to see the teens mix and mingle. Morris Gleiser was our speaker and really connected. Many teens made decisions, and from follow up that Matt was involved in, it really was exciting to see the teens making solid decisions, not just surface issues being dealt with. Please continue to pray as the youth workers follow-up.

Because we have to travel some distance to church on Sunday, we have an evening service at camp for the staff. We are enjoying the staff--most of them are Sophomores and Juniors in college, so it is a younger group than what we have had the past two summers, but they exhibit a lot of maturity.  Thank you for your prayers for safety. Matt has been busy coordinating all the efforts to make things happen. Rachael has spent a lot of time in the Dining Hall helping train the hostess and work with the two waitresses. It has been a challenge feeding people in 2 shifts, but things have been going well.

We finish tomorrow our second week with Mike Manor and are looking forward to Junior camp next week. Thanks for keeping in touch!!