Nothing beats having the whole family for Christmas... absolutely nothing.





Merry Christmas to all! God bless!


Joshua Daniel.

December!! The Christmas season is finally sinking in. I have never been the most stoked on this season other than Baby Jesus and Egg nog.. but this year is the exception.. As soon as December 1st hit... I was pumped... decorating sprees.. eggnog... cheesy Christmas music...  I AM SO STOKED FOR FAMILY CHRISTMAS!!

This past weekend here at Homewood we had a "Deck the halls" weekend.. Staff and friends were invited over to Homewood for the weekend to decorate, clean, reconnect, and ultimately spruce up the place for the holiday season. The tree is trimmed... the holly is up.. the lights are sparkling... and... everybody is gone... haha. I am currently alone in The Penthouse... all the girls are gone... Holly will be back in a couple days. Sam is officially moved back in for a month. It's quiet... other than Justin Biebers wonderful voice serenading me with Christmas tunes.. and the sound my pen makes writing Christmas cards..  it's actually quite nice.

I hope you find some time this Christmas season.. to actually get away by yourself... think about the year... think about the real meaning of Christmas.. and how you can change someones life this season. I love you all so much!! I will have another couple posts before Christmas... hopefully with some pictures of family gatherings and such..


LOVE,
             Joshua Daniel

November blues!

The storms are back on Quadra. Ferries cancelled and lives ruined. :)

Not really... but it feels like it. Looked back on last year and we had snow this week last year.  Yikes.

Kind of cool since i've been reading through Acts right now.. and just read about Pauls shipwreck. God.. you are so powerful... so indescribable...

I am looking forward to Christmas this year more than ever. I will be taking from the 19th to the 28th off... Spending a few days in the lower mainland.. but mostly bringing Mikaela to the Geddert household. It's gonna be nuts. I haven't seen my whole family together in a very long time. I miss them... oh so much.

Please pray for Homewood. Thank God for his provision so far... and for what he's gonna do this next year. Please pray for me.. my support raising.. my attitude.. my energy. If you know me at all.. you know that I try to give my all and it's a miracle I haven't severely injured myself.. or warn myself out more.  Thanks for being awesome.

-Josh

Hey friends!! Just a small update in my life today.

If you didn't already know... DONNIE (my truck) has been back on the road for 2 weeks now... Praise God for that one... Got the bill back at 550$ which was too much... but a lot less than I was expecting.. Most everything fixed on him... full tune up, oil change, new parts, some fancy welding holding him together... BUT he runs like never before... since i've had him he hasn't sounded this good.

Camp Homewood has been provided for. If you can believe it, in 1 month and a half God provided the money we've needed for giving bursaries and paying the mastercard bill. Hallelujah!!! He really moved through peoples hearts... and cheque books.
More information go to www.homewood.bc.ca or go to http://10oclockcoffee.blogspot.ca/ for the Directors wife's very fancy blog.

I went to the lower mainland for Thanksgiving last weekend. It was time to meet my Girlfriends extended family. Oh boy. Best weekend.. of my life.

Coming up this weekend is a mens retreat, than Tuesday-Thursday Camp Fun, and then next weekend is Mother/Daughter weekend.
You're probably wondering what Camp Fun is... well, It is a 3 day long camp we put on for Disabled Adults... I look forward to it every single year... we party, we dance, we laugh, and we cry. There isn't a group of more sincere and honest people... they're so much fun. Challenging, but fun. Please pray for us as we lead these next 3 groups.

-Josh

September

BACK!!

Had a great break, friends!! Thanks for your prayers and support! I'll tell you a bit about it.

After the summer is over most of the counsellors and staff are fairly warn out as you can imagine.
So needless to say September is a time of relaxation and mental recovery. We have started a tradition of heading to Tofino from the 3-8th of September to surf and take in some waves, bro!! :) Joel, Sam, Andreas, Tim.K and I headed out on our adventure on the 4th this year. Got 3 full days in of surfing, skim boarding, beach bocci, and just good old tanning. It was delightful! Well worth it.

The morning of the 7th I headed out from Tofino in search of a good friends wedding in Abbotsford the next day! The travelling was oh so worth it. Got to see two very close friends get joined together to spend the rest of their lives together. Awesome ceremony, awesome reception! I have to be honest though... I had some other motives for being in the mainland. Yes, there is a fabulous woman in my life. If you want more information on her though... you'll have to ask me sometime. :) All you need to know for now is that she loves the Lord and we make each other very very happy!!

I AM AN UNCLE FOR THE SECOND TIME!!!
My sister Liz had her second baby, a home water birth!! A beautiful girl, Calla Jean Taylor. 8 pounds 11 ounces. Mother and baby both very healthy and happy, hopefully Kiriah isn't too attention deprived for the next little while.

In other news.. I need some advice, help, and financial support.
My truck made a deep sacrifice on this last trip... and is now.. officially done.
Crack shaft destroyed because of a loose pulley going to the timing belt. Dang.
SO now I have no transportation, little money, and a little discouraged.

The GOOD NEWS. GOD HAS MY BEST INTEREST IN MIND!! His plans are so awesome and wise... I need not worry... ever... he WILL provide.

Along with me being a little poor, Camp Homewood is struggling a bit with finances. This past year due to the teachers strike, we lost a bit of business and ministry opportunity, thus leaving us $40,000 short of usual. Not a pleasant number. So, in all you do... trust God with your finances... if He calls you to give to Homewood... than DO IT!! If He calls you to give to your local church.. DO IT!! If He calls you to give to me... DO IT!! There is nothing more terrifying than ignoring Gods' call on your life! I am doing my best to glorify God through my actions and love here at Homewood, you should do the same no matter where you are.

I love you guys and I really do appreciate your prayer and support... I truly do.
Keep living for Christ, influencing those around you in positive ways, and don't forget to love your family :)

-Joshua Daniel

HELLO!!! Holy smokes friends, I am finding it hard to find energy to blog... the summer is over.

This was probably the best summer yet at Homewood for me. So much growth in me, so much growth in CIT's and campers. The Councilors this year were phenomenal and really did a fantastic job. I will have the friendships made with my CIT's for years and years to come... so please pray that I can continually impact and encourage them in their walks with the Lord.

I got a chance to impact campers as well this summer and that was tough seeing them go... only being able to spend a week with them is not enough. May the Lord bless them and keep them.

My sister is having a baby in the next couple days!!! :D

I am going to Tofino for the next 4 days! :D

Behn is getting married on Saturday! :D

This September will be relaxing and I will be doing a lot of thinking and planning for Homewoods future. I am excited. Couple things... Mountain biking and paintball. :)

My knee is actually still healing... most frustrating thing of the summer... and possibly my life. This knee has taken two months to heal. I am pretty sure you all know me enough to know that I can't go a day without jumping, flipping, or climbing something dangerous... so needless to say entertaining 14 teenage guys was a bloody challenge. I got through though. Being a big brother to them all summer and joining in on there stupid ideas and shenanigans and just learning lots about the good Lord was just such a wonderful experience.. I wouldn't have traded it for anything.

God has been providing everything I have needed this summer financially and energy wise. Praise him. PRAISE HIM FOR EVERYTHING!!!


-Josh

I feel like I need to start off with an apology. Sorry for not blogging in the past 3 weeks... it's been crazy. Where to begin?

First off... CIT camp. Was awesome... other than the fact that I sliced my knee open playing Capture the flag... which required 10 stitches in 3 layers... which 3 days later got infected and swollen twice the size of my other leg... oh and the swelling went from upper thigh down to my ankle. IV anti-biotics for a few days and than pills for a few days. God is good though... the infection is gone... I pulled the outer stitches out myself... and now it's pussing and healing... Even went swimming in the ocean today. :)

The rest of CIT camp was awesome other than leaving and going back and than leaving again...

Now we are 3 weeks into the summer... I am CIT guys leader... we've learned so much already...
Family Camp #1... we rocked it...
Junior boys harbor... we're currently rocking it...
The CIT's do all the dishes and cleaning during the week... and let me say.. we did a good job of teaching them.

Went to a wedding this past weekend for some good friends in Langley... possibly the smoothest and most fun i've had at a wedding. So good! Congrats to Chad and Sarah. Sammy and I got to be ushers... it was fantastic.

Well... I don't have much time for computer... not to mention my Laptop is currently in repair... so... slow camp computer it is...

:Things you can pray for.
Energy... keeping up with 14, sixteen year old guys... not to mention the 16 girls that are distracting them...
Wisdom... that God will give me the words to say when they ask the hard questions about life.
For me to slow down and take it one day at a time.

Thanks guys!!

Love you.

-Josh

Hey guys!
Staff training... over and done. Awesome. Lots of people were missing for grad but that's ok we still love them.
CIT's arrive in two days! I'm stoked... so excited!
This will be a summer of little to no posting.
Attending two weddings... July 14th and September 8th. Very special people in my life... Can't wait, for them... and for mine...eventually.
Heard some awesome testimonies this week from staff... very challenging.
If you could pray for me... I would ask you to pray for humility, and for God to break me and soften my heart... because over this past year... it's become quite hard. I am now on 50% percent support as of today... The Lord provides. Got by this month so far! Praise God! lets just say it is gonna be a journey that's for sure.

Love you guys!!

CIT camp goes from the 1st to the 7th... so I will be in the back woods...

-Josh

Good news!!
We all passed our courses with flying colors. You can now refer to me as Captain.

Another cancelled group this week, which means I get today off.. much appreciated. and unfortunate.

Aaron and I will be planning staff summer training this week. pray for us.

This month i switch over to 50% support. I am nervous... ultimately I know God will take care of me though. The Lord has blessed me with 3 faithful financial supporters so far. I can only hope and pray that you too will join them and myself on this journey.

Needless to say, I will be taking my truck off of the road for the summer to save money.

Love you guys!

Need some prayer this week! Myself and a 4 others from camp are doing a week long course hosted at Homewood. It's an SVOP course for boat driving plus VHF radio. It is quite boring... and is 6 days straight. :)

Hello Loved ones!

I have some good and bad news.

The good news is that I am in a very good mood, the Lord is good, and the Spring is here!

The bad news is that because of the Teachers Job Action stuff... a lot of our spring groups are cancelling. Today I found out our week long group next week is cancelled and I was furious. I can only hope that we are in your prayers because if groups don't come this Spring, A. Homewood won't be able to show Gods love to kids. B. I'll go crazy, and C. Homewood will make less money than our already meager amount of profit from groups.

A praise item! A man named Phil from who knows where... is supporting me here at camp starting next month. That is pretty cool, although I still need oodles more supporters if I am going to make my 100% support goal! Keep praying. My hopes are high and my faith is strong. Just so you're aware, I have hundreds of prayer supporters... which is absolutely amazing. Yet at the same time I have 3-4 financial supporters of my needed 15.

Spring staff have started to trickle in! Which is a blessing. The summer is looking interesting though. We are just about full for Girl counsellors, we just need a couple for key positions. Guy counsellors we have about 10 of a needed 20. We still need Woodsman Directors, Woodsman Cooks, CIT Directors and leaders, a couple more lifeguards, and a couple more mature men for Directing. It's all in Gods' hands.

Things i'm stoked about. Muppets treasure island, friends returning from far off lands, french press coffee, and Settlers of Catan.

-Josh

Spring

Hey i'm back at camp safely!
Spring groups have started which means lots of running around outside!! Stoked!
Bare feet are my new best friends!
Loving life right now and God is good!

Well I wish I had posted more this week but I lived up to expectations and didn't. I am leaving for the Island tomorrow morning early and wont be back here till probably September.
Tuesday is the first day of a crazy busy spring schedule at Camp Homewood and I have to say I am very excited. Excited for kids, excited for bare feet, excited for golden tans!
Pray for our ministry at Homewood please.


I must say it feels very good to be forgiven today.

-Josh

Spring Break.
I made it home to Kamloops, I will be here for 9 days. Relaxation is my goal. Mother has got some gardening and lawn work for me. I plan on playing a lot of ball hockey, soccer, and going to drop-in at the gymnastics centre... practice some flips and such.

Things are heating up at camp. Aside from the week of no groups coming up... April starts to get very busy. I am excited... very excited. I can't wait for the sun... bare feet, and most importantly the kids that will be coming to camp.

Advanced Wilderness First Aid last week went very well! 7 of us Homewooders went out... and 7 of us returned... unharmed... I guess that's the point. What I mean to say is we all passed. It was a learning experience for all and Camp Homewood will be a safer place with more people knowing what they are doing.

If any of you heard about my sickness, I am pleased to say it has subsided! Praise God. Wether it was pneumonia or some other funky virus... it has been a trying past month and a bit. I can now run without hacking up a lung... and I am not getting as dizzy or cloudy...

More springs break posts to come.

Love you guys!

Hey guys! I've been a terrible blogger lately! I've been very sick and very busy!

Last week we had power outages on Quadra for 4 days! Nuts! Went home for 3 days to see my mommy! Will be going back in two weeks for 10 days!

This week 7 of us are doing Wilderness First Aid in Courtney! It is a 4 day course and ends up being 12 hour days! I am soo tired after one day... holy smokes.

Hello friends!
Today I went to the Quadra community centre and chopped some wood for them and participated in the community lunch! Very worthwhile. I think in the future Homewood should have a greater showing at these kinds of events. I've only been once but I intend to go more!

A group from Oyster River came this morning and is staying till friday! Grade 5-6's. I am very excited!!

I would also like to get involved more with the Campbell river baptist church youth group. In the fall/winter months I grow weary from not being able to do kids bible studies and answer young kids questions. Seems like all we do with campers is get silly and teach them activities... bugs me a bit. Pray that I can initiate more good conversation!

Keep praying for my monthly support please... it's not looking good right now coming up. God will provide though.

-Love you guys!!

#cheesyvalentinespost

Back from Conference!

Valenteen Camp was... unreal!! So Good! Corey Doak was phenomenal, the kids, were awesome, and the volunteers were awesome! 2 kids came to know the Lord! PRAISE HIM!!

We have a 1st nations group in currently. The kids are quite cute and fun... very...trying though.

Quilters come next. Always fun!


I have felt rested and rejuvenated the past couple days. It's... Awesome!! Keep up the prayer!

Valentines package from my parents today! SICK!

-Josh

Hey Friends! I am currently at Camp Stillwood for a camp conference, learning new things, meeting new people, and growing in camp experiences! Heading back to Homewood on Thursday, and Friday is the start of Valenteen Camp. Our good friend Corey Doak http://coreydoak.com/ will be coming to entertain us and speak on something wonderful i'm sure.

Love you all!

Please keep me in your prayers!

This is how I roll!!

I am thankful to say that I got sick for one day... the day I was leaving and that's it. I was healthy enough to go on a short tour.

I have been in Alberta and Saskatchewan for the last week and it's been cold and fabulous.
Irwin and I visited Briercrest (http://www.briercrest.ca/) and set up a booth to attract students to camp for the summer.
Semi successful.

Most of the time Camp tours never give us concrete evidence people will sign up for the summer... But we like to think that the more Faith and prayer we have, the less tour we need. :)

This weekend most of the program staff will be attending Mission Fest, I will not.
Aaron, Linn, and I will be hosting a small scrapbookers group while everyone's at MF.
Sammy j is coming to keep us company at camp.

My eldest brother has now left... moved to the land of the giant red rock and the wallabies... or something like that... too bad he left his fiance here... I will have to interrogate her.

Too many people getting married, it's scary.

Sat in on a Hebrew Poetry and Wisdom class... quite interesting. Man, Job was a troubled guy... way to pull through and double your resources.

Steve McQueen... your novelty has warn off and now you're just a fluffy annoying squeek machine...

#addpostforthewin

-Josh

CIT Reunion = Huge Success!

Quilters are currently at camp!

I will be leaving tomorrow night to sleep at Sammy's so I can catch my flight Friday at 11:20am.

Sick bug is going around my house, please pray for us!

Hey guys! I've had an awesome time of Holidays and celebrations the last couple weeks and I praise God for that! 2011 Ended very well and I look forward to another awesome year!

Campwise the last two weeks. Well... New Years Camp was awesome, I led worship and helped with kids chapel and they were both a success! I am still getting comfortable singing infront of people... but... I had two comments that shocked me... "You sound like a celebrity singer..." and "Your playing and singing style really remind me of Art Garfunkle!" I was shocked at both of these and came to the realization that neither of these people probably had musical talent or ears or they'd know how I actually sound... but I will say I'm getting better. It's a good thing Worship is all about bringing your best to God... which is what I did...
The kids at New Years Camp were lots of fun and I found myself playing pool and ping pong with 6-14 year olds in my time off, which was very very entertaining and worth it. Love the little ones.

Tomorrow is the start of CIT reunion and I have to say I am very ecstatic! It will be the first time since summer that I will have seen most of my boys and girls... it's gonna be a party and a half. I bought extra energy drinks just so I can keep up with them...

After CIT reunion will be 4 Square Church's Pastors retreat. My boss Aaron is gone on a little vacation right now so I am in charge of the next couple all by my lonesome.

The girl winter staff are leaving to go on vacation to Disneyland starting Sunday night! That will be nice.. :D
I am happy for them and hope they get good tans and enjoy each other's company.

January will also consist of A bunch of us going on Tour again, this year I only get to go for one week, but Linn gets to also go for a week, and Irwin and Rita for 2-3. I am stoked!

Some groups after that.

Camping conference at Camp Stillwood on February 6-9th.

Valenteen Camp February 10-12th with Corey Doak as musical guest.

And then on with the rest of the winter! I can't wait.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS.

Last year I made some hefty ones... looked back... only kept 1 of 5... hahahaa.

BUT I did make some declarations... go back and check my first post of 2011 if you want to read them.
I kept all my declarations... which is pretty sweet because they were the more important ones.

This year...

New years resolutions...

1. Drink more water...
2. Read more books...
3. More blog posts then last year.

And that is all.


-Josh