100 Teams and Counting

What a special celebration we had this past Sunday! Our 100th and 101st mission teams to Niger, Africa were prayed out during Sunday services. Geoff is thrilled to be going back after a 2 year hiatus on the 101st team. Five members of The LINK staff in Niger travelled to Virginia for the occasion and our dear friends, Rodrigo and Juanita, came up from El Salvador. The African attire and congo line during worship brought a little bit of Niger to MCC. The entire congregation enjoyed lunch together. Incredible! I love that the heart of our church is missions and telling the whole world about Jesus by being His hands and feet through serving. 

God has done amazing things in Niger with over 700 projects focused on water, nutrition, medical care, etc. completed and over 1000 travelers having their eyes opened wide to a beautiful country with great needs. Seven children have been adopted through these mission teams, and they were all together for the first time on US soil! It was so special, and God is very good to give us such a wonderful extended family through these friends that also have a special place in their hearts for Niger.

One big family from around the world.  

Halima, Michel, Pascal, Paul and Edouard coming to America! For 4 of them it was their very first time. 

All of the adoptive families together for the first time. 

Our little African blessings. 

The six older children who have endured so much leaving the only home they ever knew to join brand new families in a brand new place. 

These 3 girls (Emma, Zalika and Leila) now and then (October 2015). Wow, have they grown!

Leila was thrilled that we were all decked out in our African clothes. So fun!

Sunshine (me) and Stormy Clouds (Juanita) together again. These are our nicknames for each other. I love this lady!

Back to School

Well, we are a month into the 2017-18 school year, and we are all still alive and smiling. Homework continues to be our worst enemy, but beyond that we are thriving.  Each child was assigned a great teacher this year, and we are so grateful. 

Frazier started kindergarten (tear), and he has many best friends already. He ruled the school on back to school night parading us through the halls and through his classroom. He's had a few hard mornings of not wanting to leave mommy. The most memorable was the one I literally chased him through the yard, caught him, put him in the car while he flailed and I held down the lock button. He hadn't calmed down by the time we made it to school, so I made the poor choice of walking him in. I didn't leave until 40 minutes later after a visit from the school counselor and the teacher mouthing, "You just need to run." I did just that, and he cried at the door for several minutes. He called with the school counselor about an hour later to tell me he was ok. Oh man, that will break a momma's heart. 

Mary-Michael is loving 2nd grade because she's just a girl that loves to learn, and she is friends with everybody, with the exception of those on red. Behavior is very important to her, and red means trouble. She is like me in too many ways. She was very proud of being chosen to eat lunch with the principal the second week of school because of great behavior and leadership skills. She continues to excel in her classes, and she's recently been recommended for the gifted and talented program. Regardless of whether she gets in, she's a hard worker and a great leader, and we love that about her. She's taking after me with a love for running and getting ready to join the mini-miler program at school to train for a race. 

Leila continues her studies at Aylett Country Day School as a 4th grader. She has come incredibly far from 2 years ago, but 4th grade is proving to be a challenge. The curriculum is rigorous, and we are working with her teacher to make some modifications, so that she is still challenged but can be successful. She is well-liked by her classmates, which is good because the 9 of them will be together for the next several years! She's taking piano and picking it up really well. 

Having all the kids in school is a new season for me. I've felt lonelier than I expected, but I am getting adjusted. The days are filled with the MUMS ministry I get to lead for the 4th year, doing the books for Geoff's business, exercising, being at their schools for a variety of things, and all those normal household and farm chores. I didn't all the sudden get 35 hours of free time. I just now do all the stuff I was doing before without a few sidekicks! It's good but different. God has been so faithful in providing for us, so I can continue to be at home.

Here's a few pictures of our hard-working students. 

Summer Wrap-Up

So, here are those random pictures of fun moments this summer that I don't want to forget. It was a blessed summer because we didn't have anybody napping and we were not homeschooling. We all got to take some deep breaths, bond and make some great memories before school began.

Earlier in the summer we took a weekend trip to Occonneechee State Park and the kids learned about the Indians here. 

We even made our own spears. Leila was thrilled to have Emma come along.

Daddy love.

We enjoyed a weekend at Nonnie and Granddad's with Uncle Drew, Aunt Jana and all the cousins. Nonnie took us to her favorite blueberry picking spot.

Ethan and Frazier had great fun picking and eating (eating is what Frazier mostly did).

The bushes were full of delicious, juicy berries, and this girl was a great picker.

So tired after all of that blueberry picking and pool time.

We enjoyed a cookout with the Dennison's on July 4.

Ok, this is a random picture, but it's the only one I could find to represent the week I taught a culinary class to 30 kids. Our church puts on a Music & Arts camp for children ages 8-13 to discover and improve some of the creative gifts God has given them. For the first time I taught culinary, which is pretty popular because you get to eat. I wrangled Brandi into helping me. Let's just say we were worn out! We made scones, breakfast burritos, stovetop macaroni & cheese, kale chips, taco cups with fresh guacamole and smoothies.

Another day at Nonnie's pool. Mary-Michael really learned how to swim and be more comfortable in the water this summer. 

We enjoyed a day trip to the Science Museum with my friend Christian and her 4 girls. We love celebrating the joys and sharing the woes of motherhood together. She's a treasure.

Another day trip with Poppy to Belle Isle. This was an adventure we are still talking about. We took a 4+ mile hike, traipsed through thick poison ivy and swam through many inlets and rocky waters to finally make it to the river.

And following the hike, we took a trip to Bojangles and Jumpology. Because it's always a good idea to jump on a trampoline after a lot of hiking and eating fried chicken and biscuits.

This pretty girl got braces at the end of the summer!

Cousins Kallie, Ethan and Emelyn came to visit the farm right before they returned to school. We enjoyed a great visit with them and Aunt Jana. 

On Labor Day we visited Kiptopeke State Park (on the Eastern Shore) with Nonnie and Granddad. We all enjoyed a boat trip from Chincoteague Island where we saw dolphins and wild ponies.  It was awesome.

Our youngest master scouter. 

We took some time to love on our community through a summer feeding program. It was a tangible way to get the kids involved, and I'm so glad we did it. Here's a little article about it.

What a blessed, fun summer!

Lake Anna Family Vacation

We had the most fun spending a week in a lodge with no TV or Wifi with more than 15 family members! Yes, it was fun! Maybe a little loud and maybe a little too much eating, but we thoroughly enjoyed one another's company and the slow pace that Lake Anna State Park provided. We swam, took trips on the kayak, paddleboard and canoe, and zipped around on a jetski that some generous friends loaned us. There was a lot of bike riding, reading and game playing when we were not enjoying the water. It was a delightful week. Here's a video recap and some pictures.

Leila loves cornhole!

This 2 mile hike is HARD! Time to rest.

The kids table. We each took a night to fix a meal for everyone, which worked out great.

Our lovely lodge, known as Finch Lodge, with a view of the lake.

Playing games with Uncle Charlie. Trouble is still a favorite after all these years.

My dear friend and cousin, Blair. I love doing life with her, and I'm so thankful we were able to grow up near each other and that our moms fostered a great friendship. 

Enjoying the great outdoors and the lovely weather God blessed us with. 

We were snuggled in this nice quiet cove on the lake, which allowed us to really enjoy nature when we were out on the paddleboard and other non-motorized toys.

Lake Fun

(I have severely neglected the blog these last 2 months, so I'm going backwards but will catch you up on how we're doing will ALL 3 CHILDREN IN SCHOOL!!)

We enjoyed several weekends at Lake Anna with some great friends from church. The lake is a place where we can relax, have great conversations about Jesus, Africa and life and also have a whole lot of fun. We are so grateful for the Bell Family that so willingly hosts more families than you might think could fit in a 4 bedroom lake house. Leila accomplished one of her goals for the summer here: getting up on the wakeboard! Go Leila! I love that determination. 

How many kids and how many tubes can one boat pull?

Lovely ladies!

Little lady fun!

Susan is an incredible wife to let her husband do this. One of the many reasons we love the Bells!

Frazier ventured around the cove all by himself!

Lake love. 

Our brand new wakeboarder.

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.