2 week photo essay

 On October 4th, 2014, 845 people, mostly families, from all over America arrived at the International ALERT Academy campus in Big Sandy, TX for their annual, week-long Family Camp.

 Many families look forward to this week for so many reasons. One camper describes her love for Family Camp like this, "After 11 years of coming to Family Camp, it's become so much more than just a week at camp doing "fun stuff", its become almost like a second home. It's where families come to make memories, be encouraged, make incredible friends, and of course, have a great time doing it, as well!"

 The ALERT staff work so hard throughout the entire week to make the camp a fun and enoyable expereince for everyone. One of the major highlights they did this year wasn to put together a western themed David & Goliath, a story from the Bible, play and performed it for all the campers.

 They also bring in a couple speakers to do some sessions for a few nights and mornings during the week.  One of the speakers, Dr. Lew Sterrett, has been coming to speak at Family Camp since the year 2000. This year he talked about the  “Lessons of Life from the Language 

of the Horse” while training a horse that has never been riden.

 Tuesday afternoon some of the staff set up craft and activity booths for the kids to do. They can make things like Indian pouches or marshmallow guns, and they have activites like jump rope and pillow fights.

 During the day, when there isn't any other events or sessions happening, campers can participate in many different activiites across the campus, such as trail rides.

 There's also a competitive volleyball tournament held for teenagers and above.

 Another highlight of the week was a stick horse rodeo. Kids between the ages of 4-12 made their own stick horses and participated in rodeo-type events.

 Campers of all ages enjoy spending time on the sandy shores of the lake on campus. It's a great place to build sand castles or to just hang out.

They provide a number of canoes for all the campers to use at their leasure. Family camp is a time for families of all ages to come and relax and get away from the stress of life and grow closer to each other.