This is me and my grandma and grandpa bredberg, standing in front of this cabin in 1987. I was six years old. Twenty four years later I am still in love with this special place, Mount Carmel, with its one mission: to pass on a living faith in Jesus to the next generation.
I am about to post a whole lot of pictures. Just fair warning. But I think they're all a really great collection of moments and happenings from our family reunion that tell of a family who love and care deeply for each other. First of all, the pictures are not my own. They are a collection of the best of the best from my cousins Karen, Dan, Sarah, Sarah, Elsa, Uncle Paul, and Aunt Louie. As you'll see in the pictures to follow, they've got skills and I am grateful that they shared their beautiful snapshots so generously.
I want to share these pictures because our week of family together time was really a powerful week for me. I think I used to think my family was perfect. But we're not. And as the week went on I started to see us as something much more beautiful: we're normal. we're human. There is a lot going on in our family right now...lots of hurts and sadness and unknowns. Diseases that are scary, relationships that are broken and hurts that have a history. But as you'll see in the pictures to follow, we've got a whole lot to celebrate. Because we are also a family that believes in a God of forgiveness, a God who heals, a God who has called us to celebrate life. And celebrate we do. We know how to have a good time.
The reunion was at Mount Carmel Family Bible Camp, my favorite place on earth. I thought in this first post I would just introduce you to this place. Mount Carmel is like another home to me, another member of our family, a place where my own faith in Jesus has always found its footing, and a place that constantly reminds me of the great heritage of which I am a part.
Mount Carmel is beautiful. But, like our family, it's also not perfect. There are ants in cabins, buildings in need of repair and gardens to be tended to. But those aren't really the point...the beauty is in the community that is created each week when new families join together to learn more of the great love the Father has lavished upon us. The people are what make Mount Carmel the most glorious...but as you'll see in the pictures below, God has also done a very nice job of creating this special piece of land and lake. It's easy to meet the Creator here.
After the 4th of July parade we went down to the big field to blast off rockets. My cousins Steve and Richard have always put on a good show, but this year was bigger and better than ever. Steve supplied the rockets and after each blast off all of the kids would run around the field with the hopes of catching it on its descent.
Every day of this reunion was a different holiday, and Tuesday was Christmas. We acted out the nativity story, as we do every Christmastime...but not all of the family is able to gather each December so this was a really big cast. This was a special year too...we had a two Mary's, two Joseph's, two Baby Jesus', a chicken, a pig and a mosquito.
To celebrate the 4th of July, our family had our own parade. Grandma was the GRANDMArshal and led the way. Everyone was in the parade. The back of the line started first, and the family standing in line got to cheer them on, then when they made it to the front of the family, they took their places along the path to cheer for the family that had just watched them. Does that make sense? It was a pretty great plan and worked so well the first time that grandma ran the whole parade through a second time :)
We began our family reunion with alaskan salmon for 100. That's a great way to start a party. My uncle Wayne catches the fish, ships it and grills it for all of our family gatherings and it is as good as it gets.
My cousin Elsa presented Grandma with the gift of all gifts, a story book that Elsa wrote and illustrated based on The Miracle Moth story that has been told and retold many, many times in our family. For me, this was the highlight of the party. You can see how pleased Grandma was when she opened it, and Elsa filled every page with her stunning art. It is glorious.
This is me and my grandma and grandpa bredberg, standing in front of this cabin in 1987. I was six years old. Twenty four years later I am still in love with this special place, Mount Carmel, with its one mission: to pass on a living faith in Jesus to the next generation.
