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Susan Alexander Yates

Susan Alexander Yates

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Wild and Crazy Family Camp: Worship, Food, and Fun

by Susan Alexander Yates

We are getting ready! They are about to arrive!!!

Yes, the wild and crazy “Yates Family Camp” is just a few days away.

Ordinarily we’d have 34 folks coming. COVID has messed with our plans a bit — perhaps that’s happened to you, too. Our Memphis kids can’t come. We will really miss those 7. 

So we are down to 27 folks: 12 adults including a newly-wed granddaughter and her husband plus 15 grandkids. 

For 11 years my husband John and I have hosted Cousin Camp at our little farm in Virginia. We began with 5 children from 3 different families. You have to be age 4 to come to our camp. (I write all about it in my book of the same name, Cousin Camp.)

John and Susan Yates (in a top hat and wig) with two granddaughters.

John and I with two of our granddaughters from North Carolina.

For the last three years we had all 21 grands. Our Cousin Camp lasted for 4 days and 3 nights! Parents were not allowed. 🙂  At the end of Cousin Camp the parents and younger children arrived for 4 more nights of Family Camp.

Now that our grands are ages 9-23 with one married and all on different school schedules we have switched to an annual Family Camp running from Thursday of Labor Day weekend until Monday. It’s easier on everyone’s schedule. We are thrilled because this year our 3 college grandkids are coming home for it too. 

How will you sleep all those people? (I’ve heard that a lot!) Sleeping bags, floors, closets, a sleeping porch, and a neighbor’s shared rooms. Only the adults are guaranteed beds! But camp is not about sleeping; it’s about family bonding. 

Our vision for Cousin Camp and Family Camp has always been the same. It is based on the 2 great commandments — to love the Lord and to love others. (Matthew 22:36-39)

Because our kids live in 3 different states it’s hard to get together. We wanted our grandkids to know one another. Camp has been a set aside time each year to foster these relationships. The last night of Cousin Camp ended with a candle-light march to the barn where we had a special time of singing, sharing and we recited the BOC (Band of Cousins) pledge: As cousins we pledge to serve the Lord and to take care of each other always.

Now that we have switched to Family Camp our schedule will be a bit different, but our vision and our prayer remains the same. 

There’s lot of planning that goes into Family Camp. Many emails have been sent. Meals divided up. Each family has planned a fun event. Kids will lead in a Sunday worship service. A ping pong tournament is a camp staple. And always the whip cream fight!

We thought you’d like to join us for a peek at this years’ Family Camp!

G-rated, unedited and just plain crazy.  Thanks to my granddaughter Isabel for making this video! Music includes: “Family” by Drew Holcomb, “Brand New” by Ben Rector, and “Wake Me Up” by Avicii.

One of the things we’ve learned over the years is to plan thoroughly and be willing to throw anything out at any moment. We always ask several friends to be prayer partners for our Camp. We need those prayers!

Highlights of this year’s camp:

  • Grown-ups having dinner in the Party Barn — a time for more personal sharing and prayer over each couple.
  • Three college kids who came home from school for this Family Camp!
  • Celebrating Callie and Ryan’s first wedding anniversary and 2 of our son’s birthdays!
  • Our grandson Graham creating the best “slip and slide” ever!
  • A sweet worship service with our 8th grade grandson Blaine giving the “sermon.”  
  • Watching cousins paint together, laugh, giggle, tackle, and rejoice when VA Tech beat UNC. However, not all of us were rejoicing!

And sooo much more. 

In this season of great uncertainty, we all need HOPE.

Planning a family gathering of some kind for the future will give us hope.  A fresh vision and a plan have a way of putting flesh on the concept of HOPE. 

Is there a group in your family or extended family that you’d like to gather in the next year? Who would it be? Where would you gather? It will be encouraging for you to enlist the ideas of others and begin to dream and plan!

Get ideas for every type of reunion in my book Cousin Camp. 

Go to this page and scroll down to see all my blogs about Cousin Camp over the years!

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Cousin Camp, Family, Grandparents
September 8, 2021 · 6 Comments

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Comments

  1. Laura says

    April 5, 2022 at 11:37 am

    Wow! I loved the video. Thanks for sharing a peak into your family camp. Your family is so blessed that you have that big ole farm to have all that fun on. I started a cousin camp last year because I want my grandchildren to be close to God and each other. GOD and Family!! Maybe someday it will evolve into a family camp. For now I am so grateful we all live within 30 min of each other. I am blessed by that!

    Reply
  2. Susan Good says

    March 29, 2022 at 9:16 pm

    Are you selling the cousin camp journal? I saw it because a friend forwarded information to me. My name is Susan Good. My email is
    [email protected]

    Reply
    • Lori Smith says

      April 5, 2022 at 3:48 pm

      Hey Susan! The Cousin Camp book is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or anywhere else books are sold. Find all the sales links here: https://www.susanalexanderyates.com/cousincamp/

      Reply
  3. Jean Trakowski says

    September 13, 2021 at 1:00 pm

    Hi. What a joy reading and learning about a great time you all had with GOD. The virus did not kill your fun and joy. I wish I were a cousin and young enough to be included. I look forward to this Sat. Being 90 and grateful to be part of God’s family. Love you all. Jean.T.

    Reply
  4. Peggy Aderton says

    September 11, 2021 at 7:13 am

    Awesome video peek into a wild life-affirming weekend with the family of God! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  5. Martha Ekblad says

    September 9, 2021 at 2:09 pm

    Susan,
    My husband, Bruce, and I hosted our fourth cousin camp this summer – 3 nights and almost four days. We were more organized and better planned (communication between us) than our last three, where he and I had awful/tense conflict during the camp. Communication and ironing out differences/expectations for our plans, such as scavenger hunt at the park (are we in teams, or doing it as one big “team?”), made ALL the difference with peace between him and me and then the emotional intelligence that went wafting out from us to our three (5, 6, 8) grandkids. I watched your presentation on Grand Monday Nights last spring and bought your book! Thank you for the ideas that made a transformation for our event. Martha Ekblad

    Reply

Hello, I’m Susan.

Susan Alexander Yates

I’m a wife (of more than 50 years), mom to five children (including a set of twins), and grandmother to 21 (including a set of quadruplets!). My favorite time of the year is when all my kids and grandkids are together for a week of “cousins and family camp” in the foothills of the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia.

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One Word: Warrior One Verse: “The Lord is a One Word:  Warrior 
 
One Verse:

“The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is His name." Exodus 15:3
 
One Thought:

Lord, it is good for me to be reminded that you are a warrior. You are not a pushover, or weak. You are mighty. You fight for me. You defend me. You have my back. You are for me.
One morning recently I watched my dog, Charley, wa One morning recently I watched my dog, Charley, watch me. He noticed my every move. If I looked him in the eye he would hop up and come to me. If I moved he would follow me. He listens for my voice. His greatest joy is for me to communicate with him, to pay attention to him. He loves me unconditionally, even if I’m having a bad day, blown it with a family member or friend, or still have on my smelly sweats! Watching him watch me I think about how he reflects God. Our heavenly Father watches over me. He waits for me to notice Him. He takes great joy when I call out to Him. He loves me no matter what.

“Father thank you for Charley and for using him to remind me how much You rejoice when I pay attention to You. At this moment, You are waiting patiently for me.”
These are my two 8th grade granddaughters (cousins These are my two 8th grade granddaughters (cousins). Last time they were in town we went thrift shopping, and they found a single pair of pajamas that they could both fit into at one time, lol!⁣
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I've been thinking about them a lot lately as I just discovered my old 8th grade diary, which is hysterical. One of the main things I discovered is that even though so much has changed in the many years since I was in 8th grade, there are still lots of things that are the same.⁣
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Read some excerpts and get insights for parenting middle school kids in my blog, "Help for Parents of Middle School Kids: Insights From My 8th Grade Diary."⁣
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Link in bio or go to susanalexanderyates.com/blog
One Word: Sustains One Verse: “Surely God is One Word: Sustains 
 
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Getting ready for Holy Week: One of my favorite re Getting ready for Holy Week: One of my favorite reads! I read this every couple of years to prepare for Easter.
Recently I found the most hilarious thing — a di Recently I found the most hilarious thing — a diary I kept when I was in 8th grade! (Swipe right to see a photo of me with my siblings from around that time.)⁣
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Here are a couple excerpts:⁣
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“I’m afraid I’m beginning to like Jimmy but I don’t want to because I really hate him.”⁣
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One Word: Understands One Verse: “Great is o One Word:  Understands
 
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It was His idea. In the beginning He was part of a family -- Father God, His Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. But that wasn’t enough, so they created man, Adam. Then God said it was not good for man to be alone, so He created Eve as a wife for Adam.⁣
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Family has a broad meaning. We usually think of family as a dad, mom, and kids. But throughout both the Old and New Testaments we see family described as large tribes, small units, particularly the family of the church. A family might include singles as well as married people, young people, and old people.⁣
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Link in bio or go to  susanalexanderyates.com/blog

Copyright © 2023 · Susan Alexander Yates · All Rights Reserved
Calligraphy by Jessica Blanchard · Paintings by Christen Yates
Blog and Ask Susan Photo by Natalie Puls Photography · Books Photo by Cambria Elizabeth

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