All is Well

Okay, we've been in business for about 4 weeks now. Most new businesses don't show much income the first year or so. We've managed to make it through the first month and made enough to cover our business loan payment, which is pretty darn cool. It helps that we didn't borrow enough to buy ourselves a Mercedes or two, but considering that the loan is approximately 75% of our monthly financial commitment, making that much is huge. We've been empty a good bit of the time, too, so when word starts getting out and we get busier, that'll be that much more. Yeehaaa! We're on our way!

We stayed busy all Memorial Day weekend. At least, all of the cabins were full for at least Friday through Sunday nights, with a few people staying on into the week. We had one lone tent set up under the one lone huge tree that we still have. Still, life is good. :o)

All seems to be going OK on the teenager front, as well. His school counselor in OH has recommended a correspondence school for him that doesn't require as many credits to graduate, so it looks like he'll be doing that next year. He seems very determined to get his diploma instead of a GED, and he wants to graduate next spring with his classmates. I just hope he stayes focused on it. It's really easy to get sidetracked when you don't have a teacher or other responsible adult making you stay focused. I wanted him to come down here, but I don't think that's going to happen. I'm doing my best to be supportive, though.

I ran across a blog today that belongs to some folks that I really admire. They are the Devlin's, and they have quit their jobs, sold most of their material possessions & put the rest into storage, and are taking a year to see the country by motorcycle. I'm sure they'll end up here eventually. It'll be good to put them up for a few days. Man, could you imagine the freedom they must be experiencing? I'm too chicken to do anything like that, so I guess I'll live vicariously through their blogs.

Speaking of blogs, I figured out how to add a link listing and picture to the sidebar today. Way cool.

Blessings: Wow, there's so many, how do I even decide to list them all? Lord, thank you for my high school friends. They're the only ones who read my blog.

Gotta' run for now. Y'all take care, ride safe, and play hard. Life's too short to be serious all of the time.

Prayer Request

Okay, so for Mother's Day, my son surprised me and bought a spot in the local newspaper. I figured that I wouldn't hear from him at all, so it was a major surprise. I squalled like a baby.

I talked to him yesterday and again today. He's been in some trouble at school in OH and is now taking correspondence classes to finish up his Junior year of high school. When he lived here, he did a lot better in school - never got into trouble, never missed a day, basically lived a life that was pretty calm and structured (for a teenager). I've regretted not trying to keep him here ever since it became obvious that he wasn't coming back, because when he went back to OH, he went back to chaos.

Today, I put the bug into his ear that maybe he should come back here to do his senior year. I explained the importance of a diploma -vs- not having one, and reminded him that when he was here, life was a lot simpler for him.

I've prayed that if be God's plan to have him come back, that the opportunity present itself to bring him back voluntarily and not as a last ditch effort to keep him out of serious trouble. I think it has, and I think I presented the suggestion to him rationally and in a way that he'll at least think about it.

Now the prayer is that he be intelligent enough to pick up on the chance that he has and take it. My mother has pretty much given up on him, written him off as a bad egg that will never change. I can't do that. I see what she sees and understand where she's coming from, but I also have conversations with him like I did today, where I saw the intelligent person inside him, just waiting for the chance to come out.

So, if you would, please pray for this situation, that he and I both follow God's will humbly and gracefully, whatever that may be.

I am reminded again of how blessed I am by the man I have for a husband. I was talking to him about this and I have his full support. Not many men would be willing to step up to parent a trouble boy that isn't even their own.

It has begun...

Well, the campground is up and running. We still have a lot of work to do, but it's getting there. We had a bunch of our friends in the last weekend of April to check things out. They gave us a lot of good ideas and pointed out some things that still needed work, so not only was it a great weekend with friends from all over (one lady came who was from Australia! She was in Florida taking a class and managed to come up), but it was a very productive weekend, too. I cooked up a storm for the crew all day Friday and Saturday. Lots of folks took pictures. The links to where they're posted at are:

Melissa Young's:
http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z97/lissamer/Hunts2007SME/

John Haydt's:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/johnha1980/my_photos
Go to the album called 2007-Hunt's Lodge

Ed Rockefellar's:
http://rides.webshots.com/album/558893288KvIqkg


Big Red Mo's:
http://community.webshots.com/user/modraper


Dave Gill's:
http://jdgill.org/SME/masteridx.com

Susie Piiper's (the lady who lives in Australia):
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/558891317KEoxlu


Our first "real" customers arrived on May 1st, from Indianapolis. Did I have my stinkin' camera with me? Of course not! So, they're going to send us some pictures when they get home.

It's been slow, but we expected that. Lots of folks riding by and turning around in their seats to take a look, though. We have a couple of our bikes parked over there in front of the building. Jack says they're decoys. "They work for ducks, don't they?" :o)

Our third wedding anniversary was yesterday. We went out to dinner at a very nice restaurant, ate like pigs and totally forgot about the diets we're supposed to be on. Linguine is not recommended for a diabetic diet, but oh man, was it good!

After dinner, we went to the movies for the first time since the whole campground thing really got into swing over a year ago. Get this - we took an evening away from the motorcycle campground, just for us. So we go to see "Wild Hogs", a movie about 4 middle aged guys from Cincinnati taking a road trip on their Harleys to see the Pacific ocean. Go figure.... Lots of folks panned it. We laughed until we cried in some spots. I guess we don't think like most of America. There are days when I believe this is a good thing.

Every day blessings: I am grateful for the ability that God gave me to organize things, events, businesses, that kind of stuff. Without it, I'd be one lost little puppy right now. Vacation Bible School is a month away. Jack and I are the directors, which means that I figure out what needs to happen, he figures out how to make it happen. We work very well like that, which is another blessing. His strenghts compliment my weaknesses, and vice versa, and neither one of us has an ego about what we do well.