Our First Family Vacation

We are blessed this week to join family in Florida for a little time away.  This is the kids first time to the beach and to meet some of their cousins.  They have been so excited I kept trying to find creative things to do to distract them from asking, "Beach, today?"  Angela and Jana enjoyed putting a few puzzles together on Saturday...

We told the kids Saturday night, "Church then beach."  They came into our bedroom at 7:00 AM Sunday morning dressed for church!  It was adorable.  We enjoyed a wonderful morning of worship... especially a message from Proverbs on our words.  As soon as "Papa" was done preaching the kids were like, "Ok, bye bye.  Beach!"  

They kids were great for our near 7 hour drive.  Their way of asking how much longer was, "More, beep beep?"  As we got closer we told them to look for water.  As soon as we pulled through the end of the Appalachicola forest into view of the Gulf, the kids screamed with excitement!  

After hugging the necks of cousins and such, we walked across the street to the beach.  We let the kids just jump in at 8:30 PM EST with their travel clothes on as the light of day began to fade.  WISH I'd had my camera to record the laughter and screams of joy!  Then it was time for baths and play dough with Papaw...

The living room is quite taken over with 10 kids sleeping...

I snuck a picture of Vica taking her nap...

Sweet cousins, Mercy Kaleab and Victoria Joy...

Family pool time...

In between swim time it was play dough time...

Or Nintendo for Beniam, James and the other boys...

Angela and Jana learned new tricks in the pool from their big cousin, Lauren...

Noah showing off his cool hair after swimming...

Auntie Lisa had the creative idea of creating fancy flip flops for the girls with balloons.  The girls had a blast.  The boys couldn't wait until we were done so they could create water balloons... ha ha ha...

Fancy feet...

Sundaes on Saturday...

Justice Coffee House TONIGHT

"Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause."  Isaiah 1:17

Looking for something to do in the Laurel/Hattiesburg area this evening?  Check out the Justice Coffeehouse taking place tonight at Journey Christian Church in Laurel.  A friend of mine, named Hope, is working with the International Justice Mission this fall with their work in the Philippines.  The event tonight is an opportunity to raise awareness on ways to get involved with "seeking justice".

There will be live bluegrass music provided by Chuck Gatzman and a few starting at 7 PM.  They will be serving Passionate Harvest Coffee, McAllister's tea, and home-made desserts!  Yummy!

There will even be hand-made jewelry on display with Threads of Hope bracelets.  So, go check it out!  Or, check out more information on the above links.

Also, please be in prayer for a team from our regions heading to the Philippines in the coming days.  Pray for safe travel, good health and fruitful ministry among the people.  May Jesus be made known to the ends of the earth!  He is our Prince of Peace and the only Savior!

To God be the Glory

Read a great article this morning and thought you might enjoy...

"Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!"  Psalm 115:1

I am so thankful for the steadfast love and faithfulness of our Sovereign God!  May you rest in His providential care and trust Him through the good times and the bad times.  He is faithful and He is able!  As we pray with our children each day, "Thank you, Jesus!  Amen."

It's hard to believe this week is nearing its end?!.  Time flies when you're having fun I suppose... :)

Earlier this week we had the blessing of some one-on-one conversational Russian through our friend, Olga.  It was wonderful to hear how each of the kids are doing.... some things we can't quite get through our daily games of broken English/Russian and charades.  Two of our four are eager for school to begin and to meet new friends.  One shared that she is a little apprehensive about starting school next month, which in turn provided a wonderful opportunity to give some encouragement to her... not to mention, some practical insight as to what is on her mind.  There were additional things learned as well.  For instance, they all love baked potatoes!  When asked if they were missing anything from Ukraine, they individually had replied, "Baked potatoes!"  So, we loaded up the minivan and headed to Logan's steakhouse where you can throw peanuts on the floor and order baked potatoes!  (Tony and I shared a steak, of course...)

 The girls doing a rain dance... another blessing of the week was a few sprinklings of much needed rain!

On Thursday, I took James to his first birthday party honoring new friend from VBS named Wade.  Not only was it his first birthday party, but his first time bowling.  The first time he rolled the ball he rolled a strike!  It was priceless!  It was also his only strike, but he had fun!  :)  It is a little different than bowling on the Wii...

After bowling it was pizza, cake and ice cream followed by a few arcade games.  Good times were had by all...

It has been a great week of playing, in-house slumber parties (sleeping bags are awesome!), swimming (have I mentioned my children are like fish?), doctors' appointments (more shots and teeth cleanings), bowling, discovering that we have a Wii, learning new things and growing closer together as a family!  

"Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness; Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart."  Psalm 37:3-4