i Heart faces - Surprise!!

I met up with the leader of the VBS team that came to our church this summer!! They had just returned from another trip doing 2 Bible clubs a day, one in a corn field with no AC or restrooms....

such servants hearts! Willing to serve churches to help reach children and families with the Love and Knowledge of Christ!

Working with kids is hard.... you've got to be soo silly sometimes:)

When I saw the theme of SURPRISE! at I heart Faces this week, I immediately thought of the two ladies doing Rec and the fun they had "hamming it up" on Water Day:)



Surprise Nancy:) Aren't the ladies great... all dressed for the Ranch look and soaked to the bone, just like the kids;)

Our Journey Home

Well I'm exhausted.... imagine that :)

We left Canada on Thursday AM, and were in the car for over 13 hours to get to our destination.... see Kelly's father's family....including my uncles, aunt, cousin, Pop-pop and BROTHER.....and some sweet friends:)

After a day of visiting (Fri), we headed to my mom's family reunion. I hadn't seen many of my mother's family in YEARS...like when Anna was 2 months old.... so it was a treat...and some are even SeeTheFam blog-readers :)

And then we traveled home and arrived at 8:15pm.... just in time for dinner:) H ah haaa. We unpacked, ate dinner, bathed the kiddies, tidyed the house (some) and are heading to bed ourselves....just exhausted....

The kids did really well traveling...but we did run into some "excitement"....somewhere in our journey the kids picked up another stomach bug. So Christopher had stomach cramps for a couple of days, Lydia has had a bout of diarrhea and then last night Anna was throwing up with diarrhea..... BTW she was a lovely person to be sharing the bed with last night:) About 10 minutes from my aunt's house this afternoon, Lydia threw up all over herself and the car seat....so our plans changed a bit and we cleaned her up at my mother's hotel room (an early check -in saved the day). And during lunch in Grammie's hotel room, Lydia actually received 2 baths.... and she threw up at my aunt's house...in the garden :)

But we're safe, somewhat healthy and HOME!!! It was a good trip...I don't think any of my pics of family and friends we're inspiring, but some were fun, so I'll try to post them tomorrow:)

One of my greatest encourager friends asked if I would consider taking my kids on a missions trip again, soon? My honest answer to her was, " Let me have a few days to recover and reflect on this one and then I can answer."

And let me credit the fact that we even looked "put together" to Brian and my mom....I know I wouldn't have even tried to pull this off without them and their support. Brian wanted me to come and my mother desperately wanted to give me the chance to participate with the team in every activity.....

THANK YOU GUYS!!

Ok, pics tomorrow...I need to REST :)

FINAL DAY of PREP

Ok, well we're pretty much packed....the parent's clothes are just waiting to go into a suitcase:)The extra activities and snacks we're bringing the kids are in bags and almost ready to be loaded. My camera card was dumped last night (so I have 1 GB of pictures to take....poor family and team).

The task list for today:
*Clean kitchen and bathrooms
*Vacuum house
*Wash bedding and put back on bed
*Fold and sort laundry
*Run into town for last minute stuff and to borrow Andrea's Ergo
*Cook chicken
*Tidy bedrooms before bed
*Go to bed EARLY since we'll be getting up VERY early

*****The crazy thing is WHAT are my kids going to do all day so I can get everything done:)Maybe they'll help....... HA HAHAAA

2nd Day of PREP!!!

If you remember from yesterday, my goal today was to pack....by mid-morning I had the kids all packed in their little backpacks. I thought they all looked so cute with their little backpacks!!!



We are trying to pack as light and small as possible so the backpacks are nice because they can hold a good amount and be stuffed under the seats of the van:)

How much do they hold??? Well we'll be gone for a total of 9 days...2 traveling up, 5 days in Canada, and then 3 back (we're stopping to see family on the way back)..... so the kids' backpacks have at least 3 sets of Pjs, at least 6 outfits (Lydia's has 9), one pair of pants, one sweatshirt and bathing suits (oh, and Anna has underpants)!!!! (We're going to have to wash sometime while away....)

You can tell Christopher likes the whistle that came with the backpack:)




For lunch we ate some watermelon that one of our church members brought over to us (already cut-up!!). Anyway, our little Christopher will try anything and he actually remembered watermelon from having some in May and the recent wedding reception....he dove right in:)




















I'm not sure if I've mentioned Christopher's watermelon reaction in May.....but it seems like he only reacts to seedless watermelon. Isn't that strange?? Allergic to only seedless watermelon but can eat all the seeded watermelon that your tummy can hold:)

One Received and a New Do?

Well on Friday we checked the mail and found one of our passports:) It was mine actually, I had sent in a renewal by regular snail mail and no special rush notes. But the surprising thing was how quickly we received it back.... exactly 7 days!! SO here's hoping for the kids' passport cards to be finished soon, too!!!

One thing I was a little hesitant about was the passport pictures. On the instructions they recommend getting them professionally taken at a place that specializes in passport photos. But it's like $10 a person and we needed pictures for four of us.... like $40 (versus $1.60 doing it ourselves)!!! Anyway, I took them at the house, then took more at Walmart because the first batch didn't fit the requirements:) Yes, I was printing out pictures and then measuring them with rulers at Wally World... I'm sure the photo-people hadn't see this before:) But now that I received mine back without problems the kids' pictures should be fine, too!!!

Ok, here's the other thing on my mind:) I've been growing my hair forever wanting to participate in Locks of Love. This summer, I'm just soo ready for a change:) I just don't give myself any time in the morning to actually "do" my hair.... and with it being the texture it is and this long, it does take some effort to "do" it and not just throw it in a ponytail.... which I do too often:) Anyway, I've been on the hunt for a cute, short, easy haircut. I found this one and have checked with a hair-dresser friend who thinks I actually have enough hair to go ahead and CUT IT..... whoa...

I asked Brian again about it this morning.... and his response was, "I think you should just go ahead and do it." SO the plain Jane girl who usually just gets a trim, might just get more than a trim soon.....

Our Summer Adventure Begins

.Well, we've busy, busy, busy..... up to our ears in paperwork but the end of this easy part is almost over....

What are we up to??? Well...... it started almost a year ago......

Brian challenged the members of our church, "If God we're to call you to go on a missions trip, are you ready to go?" Anyway, a couple of months later he continued the challenge with, "We're not sure where we are going, or what we will be doing, are you ready to go?" Some responded....

I was unsure how to respond. For years (since I was 16), I've felt like I could live and minister overseas! I went to seminary with the intentions of my heart to get some formal Bible training and to head to Asia somewhere..... but then my plans were changed :) And now my ministry is my HOME, not to the neglect of serving outside the home, of course. But with every ministry or volunteer position I've tried to be a part of, I've always have had my children with me or Brian, or their own activities/class!

I honestly believed my two options were 1) leave the kids at home (with wonderful grandparents) or 2) stay home with the kids!! Both completely fine options, but the more Brian and I talked about it and I prayed about it, I felt God saying to me, "You're ministry is at home with these three little children, why would you leave them to go to another ministry?"

After I had made my decision to stay, a family approached me and said that they were going and had decided as a family that they would help me with the kids, if I decided to go! I was surprised at the offer because it was sweet and because I hadn't even considering taking them an option:) But, I had three LITTLE kids, Lydia was maybe 8 months, still nursing, Christopher was almost 2 and Anna was 3.... I would have been crazy and little ministry would have gotten done, at least from me:) So after months and months of being confident in my staying, supporting the team through preparations and prayer, helping with photos and stuff once they got home and "holding down our fort" so that Brian could minister without worrying over us.....something happened.....

Brian started the conversation about the family going on the church mission trip to Canada, my Mom volunteered to go with us to help me with the kids and our kids got older:) I really thought Brian was crazy but then as we thought about it, talked about it and prayed about it, we felt that this would be a GREAT spiritual and learning experience for us and the kids. My heart raced as I imagine my children loving to help others and having a heart for missions, or going on their own missions trip.

So this summer our family will be traveling to Canada with our church's missions team. My prayer is that the kids and I will help and work with the team as much as possible. And that we would be looking for opportunities to meet other and share the Gospel when we having to be away from the team!!!

So today was the paperwork...... getting three new little kiddies passports and one Momma passport renewed.... let's pray our paperwork gets through quickly enough for us to go!!!

AM I nuts??? Well, I'm excited to go and very excited to serve my kids and with my kids! And I do wonder what kind of opportunities will come with a mission team that has three little ones under 4!!!!

And we'll keep you posted on the challenges and joys of bringing our little ones one a missions trip, I have a feeling this is going to grow me and my parenting:)

Lydia's Passport Pics

Our attempts this morning to get a good picture for Lydia's passport... Enjoy:)