Summer 2014

The relaxation of the summer is coming to an end and I have not blogged one time.  Instead of giving detailed information, I am just going to post pictures.  I would love to write about each event, as some were momentous milestones (my parents 50th Anniversary and Dallas' 13 birthday and Toomy's graduation from The Masters College.  However, I will never catch up and school is starting on Monday.    

Back in the Saddle Again!

After much prayer and paperwork, we are excited to announce that we are growing our family again.  We are adopting!  We don't know who God has planned for our family but we know HE is faithful and trustworthy, so we are waiting on His timing.  We are working with Christian Adoption Consultants and have been very pleased so far with their expertise and help.  So, soon we will be a family of 8.

More Summer 2014 Pictures

Cornerstone FBC

On Sunday, Pastor Mark put a picture of Jason, Dallas and Brayden ( in Guatemala) on the screen to draw awareness of their trip and encourage people to pray for them.  I appreciate our pastors passion for the gospel and heart for other countries.

Day 4 and 5 in Guatemala

A great two days of experiencing how the average person in Guatemala lives.  Yesterday, we had lunch at a private home in nearby village.  The ladies that cooked for us were very gracious.  The home was about 18 ft x 10 ft divided into two areas.  One for cooking and one for sleeping.  You can see the picture of the home as well as the outside restroom surrounded  in black plastic.  This was definitely an eye opener for my boys in regards to poverty.  I could see it on their faces.  One of the highlights of my trip was later that evening while we were delivering soup to some homeless in Antigua, Brayden came up to me and said “Dad, I really need to be content with what I have.”   Debbie and I have talked many times  to our kids about  first hand experiences in different countries in seeing true poverty, but it never sinks into reality until you see it yourself.  Brayden on his own a sweatshirt to another boy who was at the dump looking for food.

Today was spent doing some more painting, crafts with the kids, as well as taking food baskets to about 8 families in another village.  It has been great to share the love of Christ visiting these people, praying with these people and helping supply some much needed sustenance and ultimately hoping these people will see their need for the “Bread of Life”. 

Artwork

I love when the kids leave notes on our beds or make special art projects for us.  I feel guilty about throwing some of it away so I thought I'd take pictures and keep them on athe blog.

Girls Day (baby boy included)

While the boys are away, the girls will play.  I decided to put all work aside and let the girls choose activities for the day.  We thought we'd do "girly things" since we wouldn't get any eye rolling from the boys.  This was the order of the day:  Eat Parfait for breakfast, drink homemade mochas on Nana and Papa's porch, paint nails, go to Juice It Up for smoothies, play at the park, swim in the freezing cold pool, 10 min. massage  (each) from mommy, face masque and lemon sugar face scrub, homemade pizza for dinner, relax in the jacuzzi, watch movies and sleep in mommy's bed.  Wow!!!! We did it all and had a wonderful time.  I need to make a point of doing this more often.