Long Days...

This is one of those dreaded weekends...  well, sort of... just half of a dreaded weekend I guess.  As much as I love my job at Strong Rock Camp, it often forces me into some super long hours.  In the summer, that's not so bad since I live on the property during those months and the summer ministry is what I am most passionate about.  But this time of year, the weekend retreats bring the good and bad.  The good part is it breaks up the monotony and keeps things interesting.  The bad part is we don't have those 30+ summer staffers around to help run the show.  The net result is that we often work 16 hour days on Friday and Saturday, followed by 8 - 10 hours on Sunday and then back to work as usual Monday morning. 

Yesterday was another one of those days.  At camp by 6:30 am preparing for the group, doing my normal Friday office work and then greeting the group around 4:00 when normal folks would've been knocking off for the weekend.  Not us though.  That just marked the beginning.  I had another 6 or 7 hours left before I could head home.  Back at work by 6:30 Saturday morning to do it all over again.

The hardest part of the weekends is missing out on family time.  It is not unusual for me to not even see Carver from Thursday night until Sunday afternoon.  I see Kristi, but only when I roll over in the bed as she is usually in bed before I get home and still asleep when I leave.  It makes for some tough weekends in regards to the family.

Luckily Kristi is a trooper with all of this.  She hangs in there while I'm away and keeps the house running smoothly.  It's just tough not to get to hang out with them, especially as Carver is getting into this latest mobile stage.

Our hope is to one day move onto, or very close to the camp property so that I can at least hang out with them a little more on these weekends.  Short breaks exist but since I can't leave the property, I don't have enough time to go home.

All right, enough venting...  just missing my boy (and his mom).  Back to work for now...  there's 160 burgers waiting on me to grill them to perfection and about 100 hungry teenagers demanding the same.  Off to get my grill on...