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.

Growing Up and Graduating

Well, my baby is moving on up to the big leagues. We've been at The Cherub School the last 4 years (2 for MM and 2 for Frazier), and I will miss it! It is a wonderful school that teaches well and loves well. I'm not ready to think about Kindergarten and those long days without a little one by my side. Right now, I'm excited about summer and making some great memories. Frazier and his peers welcomed summer sun together in their end of year program and graduation. 

Receiving his diploma from Mrs. Morgan. He told her he wanted to be an artist when he grew up. :)

He led us all in the Pledge of Allegiance. 

I can only smile for so long!

Two proud parents. 

Two proud grandmothers. 

My grocery-shopping, errand-running, church-helping, lego-master is going to be sorely missed by this momma. 

And I'm sure he will be missed by his teacher, Mrs. Bowen. She shared that he was Mr. Popular and always making people laugh. Sounds like someone I'm married to...

We're proud of you Frazier John!

May Days

What is it about May? Why is it the month when all field trips, field days, fun days, school projects, retreats, graduations and spring celebrations occur? There are 8 other months in the school year y'all! While it has been busy, we've made some great memories and created some memorable moments (aka not always fun but definitely memorable). Here it is in pictures.

Enjoying the beautiful weather on our playset. We've had some sweet daytime moments now that both of his sisters are in school. Love my little man!

Mary-Michael's take on the Washington Monument on the 4th of July. This was displayed at the King William Fine Arts Festival. Great job, honey!

Mary-Michael also performed several songs based on Aesop's Fables at the arts festival. 

And to top it all off, she submitted a poster for a themed contest entitled, "Believe There is Good in the World." And she won for her school! We are so proud of her. She drew her and Addison selling cookies and lemonade to raise money for her cousin, Caleb, when he was battling cancer. And he won, too!

Strawberry picking with my MUMS group. Frazier and I picked 4 pounds of strawberries, which were gone in 24 hours. Yum!

Playing with one of our favorite buddies, Mr. Carter. 

I took the girls on a weekend kids retreat that our church and kids ministry hosted. The girls and I thoroughly enjoyed the rock wall, which they quickly became pros at.

The retreat was great, and they had some sweet moments with friends...but the girls and I really butted heads. I was bummed. We ended up leaving early. It was a big learning lesson for all three of us, and we had some good conversation after the fact. Too bad it didn't happen when we were there. Oh well! You can't win them all. 

I enjoyed chaperoning Mary-Michael's class to Henricus Historical Park. It rained a lot!

The kids are visiting the church and attempting to follow orders by the military colonel. 

Loved spending the day with this one. 

I always enjoy the Saturday before Mother's Day with my own very special momma and our shopping shenanigans. I surprised her and invited my brother to join us for lunch at Maggiano's. So fun! 

And here's our hard-working Leila who is loving her new school. Here she is presenting a project on the African elephant with her teacher, Mrs. Tignor. 

Great job, little lady! You have gone from not knowing your sounds to reading Magic Treehouse books. You have made such great strides, and we are proud of you. 

What can I say about these 2 incredible studs?! Geoff did a great job serving as the head coach for Frazier's t-ball team. 

We had a great little team of 9 kids, including 3 sweet, tough little girls. 

Nonnie, Uncle Zach and Aunt Christina enjoying the end of season game and celebration. 

Because after all of this crazy, we all need a moment like this. Farm life is a blessing. 

JBQ Superstar

We are so proud of our Mary-Michael who has worked hard all year to learn over 250 Q&A's from the Bible through Junior Bible Quiz. We enjoyed her award ceremony on Sunday where she won the award for being the most Christ-like in her division (Grades 1-3) and the most improved in her division. She worked so hard and definitely earned these! And in my personal, Mommy opinion, winning the Christ-like award is the best one a momma can ask for. Forget first place, God's word is life-changing, heart-transforming and freedom-giving, and it is already changing her from the inside out. We love you, Mary-Michael!

Here are a few examples of Q&A's she memorized. She had to memorize both the question and answer because they could buzz in during competitions in the middle of questions. 

Q: What is justification?
A: When we accept Jesus as our Savior, God accepts us as though we had not sinned.

Q: What happened to the kingdom of Israel upon the death of Solomon?
A: It was divided into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah?

Q: QUOTATION QUESTION: What did Peter say to the lame man at the temple gate?
A: Acts 3:6 "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."

Q: What did Jesus teach about material possessions?
A: Don't be greedy. A person's life does not consist of what he owns.