For many years now at Brookwoods and Deer Run, campers and staff have enjoyed our Baked Oatmeal on Lazy Days. It can be enjoyed hot out of the oven, or it can be enjoyed in a bowl with some milk, like cereal.
We are sharing the recipe so you can make it at home. In fact, here is a video our Food Service Director, Jon Cooper, making Baked Oatmeal.
Go grab some ingredients and make yourself a bowl of camp happiness!
Baked Oatmeal
Ingredients:
3 eggs 1 cup white sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 cup canola oil 16 oz. container of plain yogurt 1/4 cup maple syrup 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 6 cups oats ½ cup golden raisins (optional) 1 cup nuts (optional) Directions:
Beat eggs until light and airy. Then mix in the white sugar until fluffy. Then add in the brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in the oil, yogurt, maple syrup, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Once combined, mix in the oatmeal, raisins, and nuts, until fluffy. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 (or similar sized) pan. Cook for 45 minutes at 325* F. Rotate pan after 20 minutes.
Enjoy!
Jon and April met at Cairn University (then Philadelphia Bible College) as undergraduates and they married in 2006. Since then, they’ve always been cooking up something! They joined our staff in time last year to celebrate the Brookwoods 75th Anniversary.
This past summer, Chicken Pot Pie with biscuits was on the menu and it was a huge hit with campers and staff. He doesn’t shy away from the “WOW” factor. Last summer he debuted a 100 foot sub. Another night, we had a gutter sundae just as long. It took everyone on kitchen staff and all the LDPs to bring the sundae into the Dining Hall! As you can imagine, the whole Dining Hall went up in a roar!
April is a talented baker and helps out in the kitchen when she can. Jon’s favorite thing that she makes is her grandmother’s plum pudding with hard sauce, a New England favorite. April’s favorite thing that Jon makes is fish and chips. Clara, their 5 year-old, likes everything that her dad makes, and so does her younger brother Sammy. Let Jon know how your baked oatmeal turns out by emailing him.
We know the last several weeks have turned many lives upside down and presented many challenges for those in our camp family. Life is anything but normal right now! Our hearts are with you and our hope is that you feel God’s presence, provision, and love during these difficult times. I know of several members of our camp family who are personally dealing with the COVID-19 virus, and we pray the Lord will heal their bodies and those of the people they love.
At Christian Camps and Conferences, we understand that a lot is up in the air right now. Even so, our current plan is to open the camp gates on June 28th to welcome our first session of campers to Camp Brookwoods, Camp Deer Run, and Moose River Outpost. This date is still three months away. While we know things are tenuous right now, we are very hopeful that camp will go forward as planned. We are praying that this will be so. Our ministry at Brookwoods, Deer Run, and Moose River Outpost is life-changing and we want to see kids head up to camp for adventure, fun, and meaningful connection with other campers and staff. Our unique camping environment—founded on the Christian faith and centered in the person and work of Jesus Christ—changes kids’ lives.
If we are forced to alter or cancel a session this summer due to COVID-19 CDC recommendations, we will let you know immediately. Also, you can be assured that camp is committed to eliminating any financial risks of signing up your kids for the summer. If any of our sessions are cancelled you will have four options: 1) Receive a full refund 2) Transfer to a session later in the summer (if space is available) 3) Use your deposit for a future summer experience, or
4) Designate your money as a donation to help the camp ministry. (As you can imagine, COVID-19 has negatively impacted our ministry due to loss of spring conference group income. Now, more than ever, we are relying on, and are grateful for, the financial support of our camp family and friends.)
We also understand some of you might not feel comfortable sending your kids to a camp this summer. We hear you. Let us know, and we will honor our assurance that camp is committed to eliminating any financial risk for you; you will have these same four options. Be assured, though, that health and safety are at the top of our priority list. As each camper arrives on Incoming Day we will check him or her for temperature, outward signs of illness, and medical history. We always have campers use hand sanitation stations when entering the Dining Hall at mealtimes and encourage that throughout the day. We also have experienced medical staff on-site to care for campers and staff, with the latest up-to-date information.
We are continuing to accept applications for the summer, and spaces are filling up. Some of our sessions are 100% filled, but other still have a few spaces. So please tell your friends and family members about our wonderful camps. We are happy to send out information packages to anyone that requests one.
Over the next few weeks, we will be posting some fun videos about some new stuff at camp, some old stuff, and some informative stuff. Here is a video we did last week discussing some of the new programs at camp this summer. (Make sure to watch it to the end!)
Please feel free to reach out and contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Camp is a happy place, and we are excited to prepare for a fun summer! “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)
Bob Strodel, Executive Director
Bob Strodel has been the Executive Director at Christian Camps and Conferences, Inc. since 1995, and this summer will be his 46th at Brookwoods! His favorite camp activity is model rockets.
#1 Create A Schedule Create a schedule for yourself and your family. Let them weigh in, but make sure that the non-negotiables are crystal clear. Examples: breakfast on your own, clean up after yourselves, phone-free time during “remote school hours”, lunch together, chores before entertainment, daily fresh air minimum, screen time limits, if the dog barks let him out, etc.
#2 Be Still This is important. Get up 2 hours before your family. Before starting your work or making breakfast, take 30 minutes of quiet time to center yourself. For us as believers, we can meditate on Scripture and spend time in prayer. Remind yourself what is truly important: your and your family’s health and well-being, safety, and shelter. The rest is frosting. Think of one person whom you can help and set your intentions to reach out to them during the day.
#3 Eat Healthy Meals Plan out healthy meals for your family. Plan to eat at least one meal together daily. Don’t let your teen’s lunch times slip to mid-afternoon. Resist the urge to snack all day. Put out a “Kitchen Closed” sign in between meals (the kids hid ours!) If that doesn’t work, cut up fresh veggies and set them out on a plate to ensure your family munches on healthy stuff first.
#4 Time Block Tasks Either on a calendar or an app, identify the top 3 things you must complete each day and block out time to complete them first. Then break down all other tasks into 20 minute chunks and keep the list handy, checking off completed tasks. Limit your time spent on social media, news, and any other activity that can turn into a “rabbit hole” and suck your productivity.
#5 Take Breaks Make sure to get up from your desk every hour to improve your circulation for at least 5 minutes. You can use a timer to schedule breaks. Or, use the inevitable interruptions to get up and move! (I keep a mini notebook handy to jot down what I was working at the time of the interruption so that I can immediately pick up where I left off.) Breaks are important to clear your head (I also use them to complete quickie chores like tidying up, letting dog in/out, loading washing machine, yada yada.)
#6 Buy Noise Cancelling Headphones By far the single most useful tool for working at home (besides my laptop) has been my noise cancelling headphones. When I wear them, I am able to concentrate and completely block out all the annoying home noises. All I need to do is play the babbling brook soundtrack on Spotify and I’m in “focus heaven”. I recommend investing in a really good pair. Your sanity will thank you.
#7 Create a Work Space (or 2 or 3) My office is in our finished attic. It’s awesome. But when I need to keep a pulse on the household (and my kids’ studies), I have another spot, namely the dining room table. It is important to stake out a designated place to work and make sure your family honors it. Let your kids choose their own work space to work nearby (NOT on their beds) so that all their belongings and projects stay in one spot.
#8 Quiet Zone It’s easy to let structure fall by the wayside in these uncertain times. But we ALL need some structure to stay sane. Make it clear what times of day are considered family’s “work” time (e.g. 9am-12pm, 12:30-5pm.) and agree that this time (and your designated work space) remain a quiet zone. This means no blaring music, horsing around, or hollering. Infractions will result in phone confiscation.
#9 Exercise Daily We all know it is unhealthy to be sedentary. Social isolation should not be an excuse to become a couch potato. Make sure to build exercise into your day, even if it’s a cheesy exercise video, a walk around the block, or jump-roping in your basement. Include the kids and make it fun!
#10 End Time Agree to end your day at a specific time (this one can be difficult!) Plan something fun to do each evening with your family (board games, cooking experiment, karaoke, art project, build something, movie) to lighten up and laugh! If you have an evening conference call, let your family know in advance and find a private corner to take the call so everyone else can enjoy the evening.
Rebecca Moore pictured far right.
Rebecca Moore has lived in Lexington with her husband and 3 Deer Runners for the past 23 years. A dot-com veteran, MBA, and art history major, she founded InANutshell Consulting to empower women to envision and build their own businesses. Her clients share the belief that running a small business is one way to cultivate purpose in their lives and make a meaningful impact. You can connect with her on Facebook @inanutshellceo, instagram @inanutshellceo or via email, rebecca@inanutshellconsulting.com
For Such a Time As This: Living in quarantine, but not in exile.
By Esther C. Baird, Camp mom and Author
(Editor’s Note: Please don’t leave the blog without clicking through Esther’s new devotional book on Kindle, free from Amazon)
We’re studying the books of Ruth and Esther in our women’s Bible studies at church (and now virtually). It’s been encouraging to step back and see the common themes running through both books. Namely, God is in control and has a plan that is far greater than we can understand or recognize in the day-to-day moments of life. You know, just in case your life feels a little out of control right now.
In the case of Ruth, she was a pagan widow who was welcomed into the family of God, during the time of the Judges—not a time anyone would ever describe as Israel’s golden era. It was a violent, dark time, full of people who turned away from God. Yet God, in His divine plan and providence, guided this young widow into His land, to His people, and showed her, and all of us, what redemption looks like.
In the case of Esther, in many ways she was the opposite, a young Jewish girl living in exile in Persia who found herself in the King’s house as his Queen. Unlike Ruth, she had access and power and status, and yet she too was living on the razor’s edge of survival, as a plot to kill the Jews was being hatched right in the King’s courts. But God, in His divine plan and providence, guided this young girl into the very seat of power and used her to save His people and to show us how He saves us too. You see, we are in exile in our own land of darkness, like Ruth in her pagan homeland, or Esther in the king’s court—until God calls us into His land and shows us the plan He had all along.
That plan includes this virus and this quarantine and all your cancelled plans and schooling and jobs and your normal way of life. This plan even includes homeschooling, when you swore you would never do that, or doing puzzles when you hate them more than almost anything. (But for real, somebody please come save me from our terrible 1,000 piece Llama puzzle). We are living in uncertain times, perhaps even dark times, but we are not living in exile. We may be separated from one another physically, we may be in weird locations, or doing new things we never dreamed of, but we are not in exile. If we follow Jesus, we are citizens of God’s kingdom and we can rest in the certainty that He has a plan that is so much bigger than we can even imagine. Just like He had for Ruth and for Esther.
I saw this personally when I was working on my second book. It’s about life’s big questions such as, ‘What is my life about?’ or, ‘What do I do when bad things happen to my family or to me?’ or, ‘How can I feel safe?’. The answer, I argue, can be found in God’s name. Specifically in the ‘I AM’ statements that Jesus makes in the gospel of John, and, I argue, in the Old Testament.
I struggled to complete my final draft; it was tedious and exhausting and anything but smooth. Many times I thought I should quit and tackle it in the summer (or dump it into the nearest mud puddle). But through the encouragement of family, prayer groups at church, and a sense that God wanted me to keep at it, I finished. Then suddenly, last week, as the virus began to creep into our schools and churches and homes, I received a note saying the book was available on Amazon and I could offer it for FREE for five days! YAY! Back in November and December, I couldn’t see what the rush was to finish my book by March. What was the point? But God knew the world we were about to enter come March. And now, I am able to offer it for free to anyone who has extra time to read books (so basically everyone). My prayer is that God can encourage anyone who has big questions right now, (again, basically all of us) through the answers that are found in His name.
God had a plan, including this tiny way that I could be a part of pointing people to Him during the storm we are all living in. This coronavirus was a shock to the world, but not to God. Know that you are not in exile (even if homeschooling is not your thing and you feel a million miles away from your friends). You have a role to play in this corona-world and it starts by following God—knowing that His name, His plan, and His Kingdom are the only true and certain things. God calls us to trust Him . . . for such a time as this.
Esther Baird (pictured with her family on last year’s spring break, Les, Abby on left (MROer) and Riley on right (Deer Runner) is the Director of Women’s Ministries at her church north of Boston, and a columnist in her local newspaper. Combined her girls have attended camp for 11 summers! The Kindle version of her new devotional book, Echos of I AM: Life’s Big Questions Answered in God’s Great Name, is available on Amazon for free from Friday, March 20th-Tuesday, March 24th. Her first book is also available on Amazon, Exodus to Advent: God’s Christmas plan for you and for me. Her website is: www.estherbaird.com
by Susan Bradley Arico, Deer Run Alumna & Camp Mom
Cookie Camp. What a sweet time! (Literally, and figuratively!)
In 2008 I moved away from my beloved New England to distant lands, but a few months before I left, I attended Cookie Camp. It was the first time the event was open to alumni (and the second time that Cookie Camp happened), and I got to be part it! I lived about 45 minutes away in Rollinsford, NH at the time. I got a sitter for my two babies, as my husband had already departed in advance of our pending move, and drove to camp for 24 hours.
The idea of Cookie Camp was simple. Bake cookies and mail them to camp staff at Valentine’s Day to let them know they were loved and appreciated.
Cookie Camp 2008
With three of my closest staff friends – about a decade out from the last time we’d been on staff – I aproned up, rolled dough, pressed cutters, sprinkled sugar. It was magic. After all, what’s not to love about camp, old friends, girl time, and lots of sugar? There were about fifteen women there that year, and I got to meet a few new friends too.
Fast forward twelve years to this year, February 2020.
I was back living in New England again for the first time in nearly twelve years. What did I want to be sure my first winter back included, of course? Cookie camp!
And here we were again – same girls (several of us, anyway) – aprons and rolling pins at the ready.
Cookie Camp 2020
But my, how the operations had grown and expanded! Instead of 13 women, there were 25. Instead of just cookies to bake, there were whole care packages to fill. Instead of 75 boxes, there were more than 250! It was such an impressive operation! And it was so fun to spend time rubbing shoulders with so many cool, dynamic, faith-filled women from different generations and eras of camp leadership.
Melissa Yonan explained the expansion and rationale.
As “Cookie Camp” continued over the years, camp staff increasingly became aware of how valuable and meaningful the parcel was to its recipients each Valentine’s Day. They began to embrace it as a ministry in its own right, and they expanded the recipient list from just current camp staff to alumni between the ages of 19 and 25 who have attended camp for five or more summers, or served on staff previously. They began crafting homemade Valentine cards to communicate heartfelt affirmation. They put in some candies to further sweeten the pot. And they added a devotional to ensure that a piece of spiritual content made it from camp to these beloved camp community members in the middle of the dark winter.
“Parents email and call us to tell us what a huge difference it makes to their kids to get these parcels,” Melissa told me. “It reminds them of who they are and that camp loves them – just like God loves them – no matter where they are or what time of year it is.”
I was so touched as she was speaking. And her words prompted a memory: I remembered George Bowling sending me a care package, when he learned I had mono. It was shortly after I’d spent a month working at camp, and I still remember what he wrote in that note. It was 1995 and I was a sophomore; it was the worst year of my college career. It had made a huge difference to me, to know that I had camp’s (and his) support and affection in that hard space.
I left Cookie Camp weekend feeling so humbled and grateful. Grateful for a place like camp that both gathers its people together for meaningful reunions of all different kinds, and also intentionally pours into its people in different places. Grateful for friends so dear to my heart who camp introduced me to, friends of 20+ years who can laugh together till we cry in the dark at 1 AM in Elk Cabin. And grateful for a God who makes it possible for us to be connected in faith with others in this way for both filling and service to others.
Susan Bradley Arico was a Deer Run camper from 1986-1991 and was on staff in 1994, 1996, and 1997. Her husband York was on Brookwoods staff for three years in the 1990’s. The Aricos now reside in Connecticut. You may contact Susan, or view more of her writing on her blog, or her facebook page.
Jon and April met at Cairn University (then Philadelphia Bible College) as undergraduates and they married in 2006. Since then, they’ve always been cooking up something! They joined our staff in time last year to celebrate the Brookwoods 75th Anniversary. 
