long view ranch

most of you who read this know that Dave and i moved to east tennessee about 7 years ago to help run a christian camp his parents started. the camp is called Long View Ranch. each summer we host week long camps where kids from all over can come and play paintball, ride horses, learn archery, go mountain biking, go waterskiing, tube the river, do crafts in the workshop and most importantly learn about God and the plan he has for each of the kids lives. His eternal plan for them. Long View wants to give kids "a camp experience that lasts for the long view of eternity."

doesn't that sound amazing! it is! the goal is to give the kids the best, most energetic, fun experience with the activities and in doing so, gain their attention and respect as we share the gospel with them. some kids have never heard the good news about what the Lord has done for them and are hearing it all for the first time. others come from christian homes and learn how to put their faith into action while they are here.

doesnt that sound amazing? it is! the food is just as awesome as all the fun activities they get to do. each meal is home cooked to perfection loaded with butter and sugar and there is always a dessert served after each meal, even lunch. if you spend any amount of time at long view you are sure to go home with your shorts fitting a little snugger.
doesnt that sound amazing? it is!
but it is also one of the hardest times for our family.... dont get me wrong it is an amazing place where God is always working and shaping his people. however it means really long days for both dave and i. really long days that are spent APART from each other. before we had children we were able to serve at long view together, but as our family started growing that became harder and harder and it was evident that i needed to be home with the kids and dave needed to be at camp full time.

camp is about 30 minutes from our house. dave gets up super early and goes to bed super late so he just stays out at the camp. even if he came home at night the kids would all be in bed. we all miss each other terribly! we are in the final countdown of when we all get to be together again. just friday and saturday and then we get our daddy back. YIPPIE!!

this year has not been as hard as years past. the kids are getting older and i tried to be diligent to have things planned to do to keep all the kids and myself sane. i know the lord has been with me every single day that dave and i have been apart. single parenting is so hard. i am so blessed to not have to do it on a regular basis. i also had mackenzies help this year too and we all really enjoyed that.

so camp is awesome but it is also a really hard time. we are almost through though and i thank the lord for what he has done both at the camp this year and even here at the widmaier house.

Long View also does custom retreats for any size group. you get to pick what you want to do, how long you want to stay and what will work best with your budget. any group is welcome, if you are a boy scout, mother/ daughter group, father/ son group, school field trip, whatever we would love to have you out at long view. you can click on the link in the first paragraph to take you to our website.