Matthew's Journal

This last Friday and Saturday was Hope Baptist Church’s Father and Son Retreat at the Browns’ Farm. I was excited to go with Daddy, Tex, Josiah, and Ethan. When we first got there, we ate pizza, but no soda (they forgot the soda). After Mr. Brown and Mr. Churchill gave their speeches, Daddy and the other boys went canoeing in the darkness. Mr. Bradrick made his tent on the dock and Josiah and Tex were circling around it. When they got in front of the dock, they saw Mr. Bradrick stick his hand and his head out of the tent, then pop back in. Next they heard *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*!!! Mr. Bradrick had put firecrackers out! But the boys thought that he was shooting. At about 11:30 or 12, we went to bed. We slept in the car. It was kind of comfy, but daddy didn’t sleep.

Saturday morning we had the Fishing Tournament at 6am. Daddy was the judge and he measured the fish. Only four fish were caught by two people. At about 7, we ate breakfast- I had two French toast pieces and two sausages. Bekah was there helping and she served me the sausages. Mr. Brown gave a speech after breakfast, but I don’t remember what it was about. Another speaker was supposed to come, but he had the Swine Flu. When Mr. Brown was done, we took a break and then Mr. Bradrick spoke. He talked about fighting, but not fighting girls, only the enemy who is the devil. Then we ate lunch; sloppy Joes. During lunch, I got full so I sat up in a tree and drank my iced tea.

After lunch, we went in a canoe and then we ran back to the car to get our swimsuits on, that way we could go swimming. Then the games began. We played the rock and caber toss first. You had to throw the rock and then the big, long pole as far as you can. I got to use the small caber, but when I turn nine, I’ll have to use the big one. I threw the rock and the caber up to 10 feet. Mr. Whitaker threw it up to 29 feet, but Thomas D. threw it 30 feet and beat Mr. Whitaker. We did the water-balloon toss next. I shot about 30 balloons into the tarps for our team- the Green team- to catch.

Tug-o-war was my favorite- our team won every time this year. We played tug-o-war over the fish pond and so we got to pull the other team into the water. Mr. Daming, who was our team captain, called to Mr. Hernandez and said, “Hey Tony! Take a bath!” And he pulled Mr. Hernandez into the water!

When we did the canoe race, we were just about to win when suddenly our team boat flipped and Team Yellow won. We came in third. The games were my favorite part.

After dinner, we heard Mr. Horn’s speech; I forgot what it was about too. Then we ate big ice cream sandwiches- they were good! Around 8:30pm, we packed up and left to go home.

I thought the whole trip was fun and I enjoyed being with my daddy.

-Matthew Orr, age 8

Note: Click here to view more photos of the Retreat.