Cole favorite Holiday!!!

Sometimes I feel I am too strict with my kids or way to hard on them. But I just want them to be good kids. Travis and I want to raise them up the way God wants us to. Yesterday , I got a great sign that we were doing something right. Cole comes home every Monday or Tuesday with his work he has done the week before. I normally just scan through it and throw it away. I saw one paper that said "My favorite Holiday". I stop and read it. This is what it said.

My Favorite Holiday
I have two favorite Holidays. My first favorite holiday is Easter. Easter is my favorite holiday because it is the time Jesus rose from the dead three days later. My second favorite holiday is Christmas. I like it because Jesus was born. I like these holidays because it involves Jesus..

I just wanted to share...

Favorite Pic's Saturday!!

Addie likes to throw everything out of the shower...
One of my favorite pictures.. She is sooooo sweet!!!

Peek a boo!!!

Defeated Creeks!!

Here are some pictures of the past weekend camping...

Thank God for triple coupons!!!

OK I made one last run last night to Harris Teeters before the triple coupons were over for the month. This time I bought $160 for about $41.. We are stocked up for the month I believe...
I totaled everything up from both trips, and I bought right at $400 worth for about $100!!! I think I am hooked!

What can you buy for $59.00!!!

Thanks to Maria I have learned how to coupon shop!!! Look at the above pictures to see what I got for $59.

I just had to throw this one in!! I have never been to a grocery store that had 3 levels.. I thought it was funny.

Happy 11th Birthday Megan

Travis and I decided that on our kids birthdays we would have a family dinner together and we would give them our gift on their birthday.. Megan decided for her B-day dinner she wanted Hamburgers, hot dogs and fried taters.. I will have to say it was great.. Instead of a cake she wanted brownies with ice cream.. Below is a new pair of crazy socks she bought herself. She is all about some crazy looking socks.. That is one thing I love about her is she likes to just be herself...
Happy B-day to you !!!

Ok, now about her gift this year. Megan has been asking and asking for a cell phone. Travis and I have been totally against it.. But the past couple of months we have notice that she really does need a phone at times. Mostly when she is at church on Wednesday nights or at ball practice & Cole & Key are practicing at the same time. She is in the youth now and they get out of service at different times. She had to walk around last week until we got back to church. We have small group on Wednesday off site.. So there was not way for to get in touch with us. Needless to say Travis and I both thought it was time for a phone. But with a phone there comes rules..

She had no idea that this was what she was getting.. She does not have it yet because we had to order the phones through Travis' work to get the discount...

She was very happy....I will have to say it was one good Birthday....

Keyleigh is going to school!!

We went to Keyleigh's open house last night. I think that is when it hit me our baby is growing up. Cole acting silly in the picture below...I did not know he was doing that until I down loaded the pictures this morning.. Here we are waiting to see who her teacher is..
She got Mrs. Morris, a new teacher at East Cheatham..
Keyleigh is so excited but she was a little scared.. She looked up at me and said don't leave me. There is alot of boys in her class she is not sure about them.. LOL.

We woke up this morning and took a picture. I know she is in the same outfit she wore last night to open house but we had a hard time getting her to go to bed. And as you can see she is in the bed with us... We are still working on this. She was not in it when we went to bed last night.

She was excited... Travis told me that she went into class and started playing with the other children.. She didn't even cry.. I guess I did more of that myself.. She is going to do great..

Canada

I have been waiting to post about our trip because I was not sure how to explain it. There is not a way I can explain it. I am in awe on what God can do to a person. I questioned, alot, why we went on this trip. Why these children are treated the way they are? I did not realize how attached I would get. Why some opened up to me... And told me how they were treated... I think what can I do now? I know for a fact I am going back next year!!! Main reason to make sure my little girls are ok!!! But what can I do now... I don't want to wait a year I want to do something now.

I'll start off with when we got to camp. I was not prepared for the bugs!!! BULL FLIES!!!(aka horseflies on steroids) I have never seen so many flies in all my life. They would not leave you alone either.. But once they were gone(the day it rained) the mosquitoes were there... So do you want flies around or mosquitoes.. I choose flies.. Silly but the day the flies were gone I prayed for them to come back... Just think of 100 flies all around you.. No joke!! It was crazy.. The first day the kids were not at camp. We had to set all the tents up and get all the food and clean the kitchen and the Chow Hall. The Chow Hall was the only building we had to do the worship and to eat in. We practiced the music and discussed what everyone would be doing.

The next day the kids came. At first they really did not have anything to do with anyone. We did our thing for couple of days and they started to warm up to us. Our youth would pair up and they would have 4 kids to a group. I was the adult over Courtney and Amy's group. There were 4 little girls I grew very close to Tiana, Sierra, Aleah and Destiny. Some of these little girls had a potty mouth. They knew every bad word in the book. Words that would make some one blush!! Some that made me laugh! They were only 7 to 8 years old. They told me all the scary movies they watch. Movies I would not even watch. I would just seat back and watch and listen to them.

One after noon we played Hide and go seek eh!!! I won their trust! After the 3rd day they were my little girls... We would draw pictures and play outside... The night before it was time to go home we had a share service and some of the kids got up front and just cried thanking us for coming. Mainly telling us this is the only love they get all year.. I knew then this is what God wanted me to do was to love them..

The day they went home we all met at the church some of the kids parents were there and the parent did not say a word and took their kids and left. There were some that the parents did not show up. There was one little girl, Destiny, that was in my group, who had no parent showed up, but had a couple of foster kids come to pick her up. I knew she did not want to go.. She was scared, I did not know what to do. I took her and held her for a long time. This little girl was only 7 years old and I know something bad has happened to her in the past. She had all the signs of abuse.. Letting her go was the hardest thing I think I have ever had to do... I do know she is not with her mother right now because of drugs and she is in a foster home.. All I know is that it is not a good situation for her. So I ask you to please pray for her everyday that God will keep her safe.. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think of her.. I have already adopted her in my heart... Travis and I both want to go and get her, we would bring her home if they would let us. She is not the only one but she is the one that took my heart... She was the little girl at the first of the week that would not let anyone touch her or come close to her... I won her trust and then I had to let her go back to the environment she came from. I am not sure how to handle this, But God has put her in my path for a reason... I pray that God shows me what to do next...

This trip was not what I was expecting!!! God has showed me alot and it so hard to explain!!! I feel there is more we can do but I am not sure what it is yet... Please pray for Travis and I to find what God wants us to do... Thanks again for your prayers !! Below are pictures of my group and Destiny that day before and the day she left...

Upcoming mission trip Daily Prayer Request.

Hello everyone,

This is the outline for the up coming mission trip.. Please come back to the site and say a little prayer for us. While we are gone.

Saturday July 18th
North West Flight departs Nashville 7:10 am
arrives in Saskatoon 1:36 pm (Please really pray for me during this time I am very scared of flying!!)
After we land we have a 2 1/2 hour off road van ride to camp.

Sunday July 19th
Getting camp set up
VBS prep

Monday July 20th
Children arrive at camp at noon
Praise and Worship 7:00pm

Tuesday July 21st Thru Thurday July 23rd
VBS 9am-Noon
Praise and Worship 7pm

Friday July 24th
Children depart camp at 11am
Our 2 1/2 hour van ride back to Saskatoon

Saturday July 25th
North West flight departs Saskoon 2:15pm
Arrives in Nashville 9pm

Thanks for praying for us!!!

Mission Trip update / THANK YOU!!!

GOD IS GOOD !!!! That is all I can say… We are 8 days out of our mission trip… The last time I posted, I was worrying about the money! I could not believe all the people who donated. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! You will never know how much that means to us. God provided and I don’t know why I was so worried. But that is my nature; I can’t help for worrying.. We raised all the money. I think Travis and I had to pay about $100 of the whole trip!! WOW!!! When you put something in God’s hand and wash your hands of it he will deliver.
I am getting so excited about the trip!! Travis is going to be the fishing coordinator and I am going to be over crafts. We are doing a VBS program that our church did. And I am not sure of the other things we will be doing. We are having another meeting this coming up Sunday.
I know of some prayers we need. 1 st we are still in need of a camp paster, PLEASE PRAY that God will put the right person in our hands... I have learned from past meetings that the children we will be with have not had the best lives. They have had a lot of things happen to them that no child should have done or have to go through. Most of their parents are drug addicts. They have not been showed how to love or to be loved. They do not care for adults. They have had some really bad thing happen to them from so called Christian people. (Not truly Christians) And they believe in many Gods! Not the one true God. Please pray for them to open up with us. Please pray every time you think of us. Pray that our fears leave us when we get there. Pray for our safety, and travel! Thanks again for everything..

Done !!!!!

Alot of hard work! But it paid off!!! Travis did a great job!!!

Floor Project

Travis and I have been working on the floor all day. Here are some pictures..

I felt bad for Travis because I could not do much to help, but to make sure the kids were out of his way. I hated it that his back was hurting. But he was doing a great job!!! Here is Addie trying to help while Daddy was eating some pizza. The kids below decided they were going to make something with the left overs.

We are not done yet but we are making progress!!! It should be done before the weekend is over... I will post pictures of the finish project!!!

Beach pictures!!

Ok this is going to be alot of pictures. I am putting them out here for my in laws.. Because I am the best daughter in law ever!!! Ha Ha ! Just kidding. They don't have facebook so they can't see all the pictures. So here are some. Look at how packed we are in this truck, we did not have any room.. (Note to self if you have 4 kids don't get a small truck lol)

The kids having fun in the pool.

Fathers day, The kids made Travis a card. I made hims a slide show of the kids. This year we decided not to get each other anything, It was hard because I love buying for him. But I did good. I did make him b-fast, in bed!! And he got a trip to FL so I hope he had a good one.

watching the slide show!

Ok in this one Megan and Keyleigh got bored and decided to do Addie's hair.. (Yes Addie has a hair bow for every outfit...)

Addie liked getting in my chair!!

This was one of Cole's favorite things to do at the beach.

Addie loved the beach, The water was great the last two days. The first couple of day I did not get in the ocean. If I can't see my feet than I don't go in.. But I was happy it cleared up.

That would be Cole in the sand.

Keyleigh finding sea shells, She did not like the water this year. I am not sure why. She did not like the waves...

Addie would take long naps on the beach.. I think she was wore out this day..