Camp Mississippi

2 Mommas
6 Kids
1 Suburban
7 States
1000+ miles
8 Days
More than 20 "top of the hours"
1 bouquet of flowers
dozens of encouraging notes
8 HOPE bags for the Homeless
Priceless Memories

What started as a trip I was cautiously excited about ended as a trip that refreshed my soul and blessed me more than I could have ever thought. You see, we have these family friends that moved to Mississippi 2 years ago, and my friend Kelly and I had the bright idea that we should go see them this summer. They never balked at the idea of housing, entertaining and feeding the 8 of us for 6 days. They are amazing and some of the most kind and welcoming people I know. 

Here's our unforgettable trip in pictures. 

And we could even see out the rear window! Random things included sleeping bags, a bag of Aldi goodies (because we all need Aldi, and Charissa doesn't have one near her) and potted plants that Charissa left 2 years ago and Kelly kept alive. I love that!

The middle row youngins. 

The back row lovely ladies. 

We wanted our trip to be intentional, and when you're traveling with the woman in charge of Kid's Church, you get a lot of good ideas and action. Here's a stop to Kroger where we used the facilities and gave out flowers and notes of encouragement and love. I'd say the girls were excited. 

We love-bombed a Sam's Club (we had no membership...) with more flowers, crosses and cards. We also stayed intentional during the drive by taking a pause at the top of each hour (one of us kept driving). Each person prayed (we gave a topic), we worshipped with a few songs and rotated between reading an account from the Bible, memorizing Psalm 117 and studying JBQ questions. Each top of the hour ended with a snack or bubble gum. It was awesome and kept our minds off of ourselves and, "When are we going to get there?" Don't imagine it was all glory as there were definitely some movies thrown in there along with plenty of children shenanigans!

We enjoyed our first night together in these lovely safari tents in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Such fun!

The boys thoroughly enjoyed the torrential downpours. 

Such sweetness in this picture of these 6 God girls. They loved on each other, shared clothes, giggled until we made them stop and had some good ol' fun. 

Mississippi mud with a pond in the backyard and 2 Dollar Store squirters = great muddy and wet fun.

We enjoying sharing kids worship songs and movements throughout the trip.

Several times, we (aka children's ministry extraordinaire named Kelly) shared an account from the Bible, split them into 2 groups and gave them a few minutes to put on a skit reenacting what we read. Hilarious and thoughtful!

Wendy's visit on Sunday after church. Did you know you could feed 11 people for under $40 here?!

Enjoying a walk through a local nature center. 

Time to relax.

Mary-Michael and Caia enjoying the playground.

I love our active crew. It was hard so say goodbye the next morning. With prayers and tears we departed until next time (and there will be a next time). 

After a drive through a few cities to deliver our HOPE bags, we made it to Tugaloo State Park where we stayed in our lovely yurt on the lake. 

It was cozy and a great way to end our trip. So thankful to God for this blessed time with friends seeking Jesus and living with a great desire to nurture families with purpose.

Here's a fun 3 minute video of our 8 days.