Our Apologies
We have been remiss in keeping you all up-to-date on the happenings of the Wareing family in California. Much has transpired over the course of the last almost 4 months, one of which was the birth of our son Drake Tesla Wareing on May 12, after almost 26 hours of labor and an eventual C-section. Although he was born with the cord wrapped twice around his neck and quite blue because he wasn't breathing, by the grace of God, the nurses revived him. He is our little miracle, named after Sir Francis Drake (see his prayer below) and Nikolai Tesla, the eccentric yet absolutely brilliant scientist.

Little Drake Tesla is now almost 4 months old, jabbering away like nobody’s business, and seems to have a strong attachment to his hand (sometimes both at once). He always manages to migrate one or both of them into his mouth, even if there’s a bib between them.

He’s a joy, but he definitely added a new element to the summer for us.

Summer Madness
It’s been a crazy-busy (and eventful) summer! Between a newborn, the long hours that is summer, and not having enough staff, we knew June through August was going to be interesting. Mike said at the beginning of summer that we’d look back at the end and marvel at how God worked… and boy did He ever!

A Little Backstory
Normally, we run a staff of about 40 people during the summer in order to have a “full complement” of staff for both Junior Camp, Teen Camp, and Op-Staff (Wranglers, Kitchen, Hospitality, etc. Despite half a dozen recruiting trips stretched across fall and spring, we were unable to secure more than about 20 people. Thus, we didn’t have enough counselors for either facility, were forced to have our Leadership Live crew (teens helping for the summer) jump in on jobs where we normally didn’t have them, and had to rely heavily on volunteers.

Speaking of volunteers, we had more volunteers this summer (and some very knowledgeable former-staff volunteers) than any other year. God brought us whom we needed when we needed them. It was a summer of depending on God.

This summer’s teen camp theme was “Follow the Guide.”  Each week the campers were given a physical copy of one of the “legendary lost” journals of William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame). The journal gave them all sorts of insights as to how to win games, find hidden artifacts, and generally win the week. Some campers lunged into it with both feet.  Others…not so much. It was a walking image of the book of Ecclesiastes, where Solomon mentioned many things he did wrong in order to warn us not to follow
in his mistakes. And, like the Bible, some people go “all in,” while others don’t read the journal and complain that they have no idea what to do.

It was an amazing picture, and one that we hope we'll remember for the rest of our lives.

What's Next
We’re heading into the fall season (or as we call August through May: the off-season).  September and October contain many adult retreats for us, as well as some school camps.

Mike has two Bridge students and is working hard to promote the program while formulating a new branch altogether (called Bridge to Life). Our first major camp will be a deacon’s retreat for our own church (which we’re conveniently a part of since Mike is one of the deacons at our church). Just a little after that, we’ll have our first science camp of the off-season. Mike will teach arthropods again. And in the midst of all that, he'll be planning for our annual youth rally, "Rendezvous at the Round Table."

Deb went back to work the beginning of July. Now that her summer crew is gone, she is figuring out how to balance her 20 hours of work a week between two major departments (front office and hospitality). The rest of the time she takes care of Drake.

Pray For Us
Please keep us in prayer. We’re busy, tired, and eagerly looking forward to what will be done this coming season. Pray for recruiting, that it will be prosperous; pray for our finances, that we’ll both live within our means but also that we’ll find grace in the eyes of God’s people to join with us. Pray for us personally, that we’ll stay close to God and raise our son well. And pray in thanks to our blessed God, who shows Himself mighty day by day. Pray we’ll have eyes to see His mighty workings as well.
Love from California,
Mike and Debbie Wareing (and Drake!)