Dance Off: Part 2

Last week we had such a great time on the ice with our special guest coach EJ. Eric Johnson, lead instructor for Impact Hockey, came out and gave our kids one of the best hockey clinic experiences we've ever had! Eric helped us out this week as a part of the Kelly Phillips Foundation effort to serve people and causes that Kelly Phillips would care for. Please visit the Kelly Phillips Foundation website and learn more about this special young lady.

One of the best things EJ brought to the camp was pure fun. He hooked up his ipod and we had several impromptu dance parties throughout the week. Here's some more viewable footage of the great fun!

The next viral video hit

Props to Coach E.J. for making our practice so fun today. Today was the first ever DinoMights on ice dance party! Take a look and have a laugh.

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I took the video on my phone, that's why it is small.

By the way, no one has guessed the special guest for our Nov. 16 fundraiser yet. If you look over the posts you will get all the clues. It's going to get easier and easier.

Next Clue

I am not human. Who am I.

Silver Birch Day 4

Well we will be returning home tomorrow. Today is our last day of activities.

One thing that I am really looking forward to this year is sharing camp with my daughter Selah. Here's a few pictures of her from last year and a recent picture so you can see how much she has grown. I can't wait to post pictures of her from camp 2009! Stay tuned for those, they may appear on theHarman Family Blog next week.

A bedtime story in the cabin

Sitting in the bumbo in the cafeteria

Selah a year later excited to go to camp!

Silver Birch Day 3

By now some of our boys will have caught creatures of all sorts and made them pets. The boys were not originally going to have sinks in their cabin again in '09, but it turns out that they do. So just to prove that the animals are real and are really living in the sink of the cabin, here's some photographic evidence.

Silver Birch Day 2

Kathy smiles from the swing set at Silver Birch Ranch

Silver Birch Day 1

I won't have access to the internet from camp, but I can schedule some posts ahead of time. So each day expect to see some pictures from Silver Birch '08. Enjoy the pictures, pray for us, and don't forget to try and guess our special guest for the fundraiser on Monday Nov. 16! The first person to guest gets a brand new DinoMights t-shirt. I promise the t-shirts are going to be very cool this year.

Francisco, Danny, Brian and Noe at Chapel with their counselor John

Ivan and Franco explore camp and discover horseshoes

Follow up Prayer Requests

Thanks for praying for DinoMights.

Here's what I can tell you about our prayer requests:

1) We have a boy with a broken elbow. He will need surgery next week. He was supposed to go to Silver Birch Camp this week, and that is probably the biggest hurt he is feeling. Please pray for his surgery and for his feelings about missing camp.

2) A DinoMights dad has had surgery to relieve pressure in his skull. Right now he is being medically sedated. It sounds like all the brain scans have been positive, and the medical team will probably decide to wake him up in the next 24 hours. It is hard on the kids to see their dad this way. Pray for recovery and mercy on this family.

3) Pray for 25 DinoMights who will be at Silver Birch Ranch beginning on Sunday. They will be having a really great time. All the while, there are still concerns looming at home. Pray for us on staff as well that we can share the good news with our kids as we spend a week showing off God's love.

Prayer Requests

If you are a person who prays, please pray for DinoMights. We always have something going on in some family's life that needs God's attention. Right now we have several important things to lift up.

• A boy who should be going to camp in a few days hurt his elbow pretty badly today. It will be a big disappointment if he can't go.

• The father of two of our kids is in the hospital right now. It sounds like he has had some sort of injury to the head. We don't know much, but please pray for him and the family.

• We have a teenage girl who is really struggling with a family situation right now. She is having some self-destructive thoughts and feelings.

That's just the stuff we're thinking about right now. There is plenty more that needs the merciful hand of God. God does love us, and he wants to be a participant in our lives. Praying is a way of participating with God in the lives of His global community. Please take this opportunity to lift up the lives of these DinoMights.

I want to know Wednesday

1) I want to know what has come over the DinoMights that they are actually filling out their camp permission forms on time!

Leah and Mari with their cabin of Dinos at Silver Birch Ranch '08

On Sunday, we will leave for Silver Birch Ranch. We expect to take about 25 DinoMight to Northern Wisconsin for a week filled with fun and fellowship. For many years, we've partnered with the Park Ave Youth and Family Services to do camp for kids who have finished 3rd through 5th grades (If you are an alumni reading this, Silver Birch has replaced Honey Rock. Nothing against Honey Rock, the schedule just didn't work out to go there anymore).

So once again we set out on the road. We've asked the families to fill out the forms for camp and return them to the DinoMights office. Now normally when we do something like this, it requires multiple visits to multiple kid's houses. But, for some reason this year the kids have really taken the responsibility and turned in their forms. I guess the word is out: Camp is something that kids really want to go to.

Brian in a canoe

2) I want to know what interesting critters the boys will catch this year.

Last year it was raining during our night to make s'mores. So the boys made S'mores indoors in a room with a fireplace. The kids were all playing board games while enjoying their treats. The Dino boys said, "Hey look Scott, the turtle is playing CLUE."

"Oh, that's nice," was my first reaction. I thought they had found a turtle game piece from another game and were using it in place of Col. Mustard. Then I looked and saw this game piece moving on its own. It was in fact a real turtle. The boys named him Snappy, and kept him in the cabin sink along with about a dozen frogs. Some of the frogs were missing their legs. The boys explained that Snappy was eating them.

Snappy the turtle (Don't worry he was released back into the lake before we went home. . . I think).

The year before these same boys stole the show when they performed their sketch on the final evening of camp by throwing Crawfish into the crowd.

3) I want to know if camp baby can make a successful transition to camp toddler.

Selah discovering her hand as a three month old at Silver Birch Camp '08

Honey Rock and now Silver Birch have always had a strong family feel. Our main camp speaker, Chris McNair, has always brought his whole family to camp. John and Erin Foley used to bring their kids. Now, Kari and I get to bring our little girl, Selah, to camp. Although, she can only say a few words (relatively speaking, she's pretty verbal for her age), and although she can barely walk, she still has a ministry to the kids at camp. Kids see this sweet little baby, and just sense the gentle nature of a young life. They see her laughing the first laughs of a life and they can't help but be transported to an innocent place of peace.

This year ought to be a lot of fun for Selah. She was not quite four months last year. Now she can go swimming, visit horses, and play on the playground. Doing this trip together as a family is without doubt what I am most looking forward to.

Clue #5

Pictured above is the "Hockey in the Hood Cup." It is the academic award given to the DinoMights students who show teamwork, positive attitude, and academic excellence at Power Camp and during the school year. It is also, the next clue to our special fundraiser guest on Monday November 16. If you've been reading the posts lately it should start coming together!

The first person to guess correctly by leaving a comment on the blog, will be the first to reserve a DinoMights 15th Anniversary Limited Edition T-Shirt!