Camp Constitution’s Ladies Spring Fling by Jessica Whitworth
Does a weekend retreat in the mountains of New Hampshire discussing the U.S. Constitution’s importance to our nation sound exciting? Surrounded by great minds and friends? Women of course. What did Abigail Adams say, “Remember the Ladies!” Well, beautiful women from all around our amazing country met in one place to share, to pray, and to build together an army of dedicated Patriots to bring back the significance of our most important document known throughout the world as the U.S. Constitution. Note: I say bring back the Constitution, why? Because it protects us, and limits government. Sound important – right!
Twelve women gathered in beautiful Plainfield, New Hampshire at the Singing Hills Christian Camp on a Friday evening to develop a plan for a better future for our youth. https://www.singinghills.net/ Some of us were old friends, some meeting for the first time, but in the end we were all united. Our first meal was a planned potluck and what a feast: baked ziti, turkey chili, chicken soup, garlic bread, dinner rolls, salad, and cookies. I will share the amazing turkey chili recipe with you at the end of this article!
After our meal together with all of us safely settled in, we sat around the fire to talk about what is happening in the public schools. All of us agree that schools need to fill their libraries with books on our Founding Fathers, the Constitution, and our true American history. I shared my civics school project with the group and Libertyforme.net (Liberty for ME). With the name Liberty for ME, other states can create a program in their home state, for example libertyforMA. Liberty for ME offers a monthly “Civics School” to kids accompanied by an adult at the Knox County GOP meetings in Maine. I also shared my friend’s blog, www.libertytreemaine.com, which was started to give conservatives a voice. It is a place where people can publish articles, letters-to-the-editor, cartoons, and other pieces denied them by the local media. We no longer accept being silenced and canceled. Again, other states can implement a similar blog for their conservatives to have a voice. (libertytreemass.com).
Saturday’s agenda was well planned, although other issues came up and we needed to rearrange our schedule accordingly. Our heart and prayers were devoted to those in need, we prayed every hour on the hour as requested by our lovely friend, Sapphire. The day began with us working on our physical health by stretching, moving, and praying. The rest of the day came together smoothly. It was filled with devotions, a spring craft, meals (of course), laughter, a talk on “Useful and Common Plants for Our Everyday Lives”, and planning for Camp Constitution 2021! We sadly omitted our practice on marksmanship skills; however, this gave us more time to dedicate to planning for Camp Constitution 2021. If you are unfamiliar with Camp Constitution, it is a family Christian camp filled with learning about the U.S. Constitution and our country’s history. Speakers come from all over the world to present information on the important issues we face today. https://www.campconstitution.net
We focused much of our time discussing ways we can improve the junior camp (ages 4-11) but we also discussed how we can improve the camp for the older crew. This year’s junior group will be broken into two groups: ages 4-8 and ages 9-11 (I’m sure there is a bit of wiggle room for the ages). The new middle-age group will be led by history teacher, Bonnie Manchester. Kudos! History is what we need now and true history. We felt it vital that new campers have a foundation on the Constitution before coming to camp, so we came up with some possible solutions. Other ideas we mulled over were having boot camps on the Constitution (a weekend program), outreach school programs on civics, and replicating Camp Constitution in other states. We all agreed we need to engage our teen group more at Camp Constitution and suggested some interactive ideas like a game of jeopardy. Another possibility is offering multiple programs at the same time so that the students could choose which to attend. We looked at programs that would connect an activity with our studies such as offering a marksmanship session followed by a discussion of the second amendment.
In the end, we all agreed that coming together and sharing our ideas were extremely important. Sometimes it is challenging to attend a retreat like this because we are all busy, but we remind ourselves to trust in God. We all felt truly blessed that we were able to spend such constructive and informative time together. This weekend empowered us to go forward and do the work we were called to do. There are so many great conservative Christian groups out there fighting for our freedom, and our collaboration will help us build the “army” needed to win our country back. We have work to do, let us walk in POWER with God. Hurray for Camp Constitution! Thank You Ladies!
Turkey Chili
2lbs. Ground turkey
½ or whole onion diced
1 clove of garlic minced
1 bag of frozen spinach (chopped)
32oz can of Muri Glen puree + 32oz of water
16oz can of diced tomatoes
1 bag frozen green beans cut bite size
salt & pepper to taste
optional: rosemary, thyme, sage and cumin
Saute onions and garlic (add garlic once onions are browned – set aside), saute ground turkey, drain liquid. Combine onion mixture and turkey. Add tomato puree and water, diced tomatoes, chopped spinach, and green beans. Add spices, and simmer for 30 minutes. Enjoy.
Recipe by Maura Shurtleff