Carter's

I LOVE CARTER"S!! I was there today and was blown away by their sale prices. So many summer clothes are on sale $3.99 to 5.99 and I walked out of there with a bag full of great stuff. Gifts for friends, two outfits for a neighbor who just had a baby and pj's for my kids. The quality is great and I have received many hand-me-downs that have held up great. Go take a look at your store and you will see what I am talking about. Have FUN!!

African Children

Children raising children



Porridge that they eat at school everyday

He has arrived!!!

He is back in our arms and home to stay, for a little while at least. We have already seen 300 pictures and a few short videos. I have heard many stories and we have rough housed with the kids on the floor. We are so glad to be together again.

Thank you for all of your encouragement and prayers while he was away. They have been heard and we have finished this trip with a ton of mini and Big miracles to thank the Lord for.

Look for his pics soon.

Favorite books

Karen Kingsbury is one of my favorite authors. She has written a ton of books and this series really captured my heart. The Firstborn series begins with a small town of Bloomington, Indiana and takes you on a journey of one man's search for his family and the meaning of life. Along the way there is romance, disappointment and an encounter with the Lord that brought me to tears. She has a beautiful way of teaching you when you don't know your being taught and I have found that I have applied things the characters did in the book to improve my own marriage and friendships. This particular series has five books Fame, Forgiven, Found, Family and Forever. She goes on to write a third part to the Baxter Family Drama in a series called Sunrise(just started it this week).

You can find Karen's book's at your local library or any bookstore. At Barnes and Noble yesterday some of her books were on a sale table. Pick up and enjoy a good, healthy and encouraging story today!

Final Update from Kenya

Larry is heading home.

He e-mailed me this morning right before they checked out. He said he has mixed emotions in leaving. A little sadness in leaving Kenya but great excitement to come home to me and the kids. He knows Katherine will greet him with a big hug and kiss but he is wonderfing how Evan will respond. I know he will go running towards his Daddy. He loves to go get his Daddy's picture on the fridge. I of course will beat them both as I sprint towards my man. I have missed him so much.

Oh, and by the way, according to Larry the crocodile he ate was a little fishy. He passed on the chicklen livers but ate so much of the other meat that this morning he was still full. He topped it all off with some Mocha ice cream.

We will greet him Sunday afternoon at the airport

Four more days

Larry has e-mailed only a few times this week. He called Wednesday and he leaves Saturday to come home. Only two more nights without my wonderful husband and then he will be back in our arms. We are starting to really miss him and I for one will be glad to be a two parent home again.

As for his trip, he has been apart of evening meetings in the area. There is a network of churches that Marcia(Team Leader) knows and visits when she comes into town. It gives the Pastor's a break and gives the people a new face and voice to listen to. They get to eat with the people and then minister to them during a meeting. Many of the team members have had a chance to preach and Larry has enjoyed seeing all the different ways the Lord is expressed.

Wednesday was a free day and Friday night they got to the infamous "Carnivore" restaurant. They told many stories about this place and I asked him to PLEASE pray over his food. They have all different kinds of animals to choose from and it is quite an event. Larry, full of adventure, wouldn't miss this part of the trip for the world. He loves to try new things and his favorite show is Man vs. Wild. He will have to spare me the details just smile and say he had a good time. I don't know if my stomach could take it.

They check out of the hotel on Saturday, not the kind of hotel we think of, and leave for the States around 7 or 8pm. Please pray for their safety as they enter back into the States and go through customs. Things are not over until they come through through the gate and we are able to hug their necks. If Larry calls or e-mails again I will give you all an update. Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Favorite books

We LOVE this book!! Katherine and I have read it over and over again. Her little cousin Kylie memorized it last year and performed it for us. Since then it has been borrowed from the library many times.

Daddy kisses is one of the treasured books that Larry brought home for Katherine. It has a special place in my heart and is a sweet story about different ways Daddy's show their affection to their little cubs.

Weekend Update #2

OK ~ I would love to write everything I lost but I am going to make it quick so I can go to bed and try again tomorrow.

Over the weekend Larry went to the town of Tala. It is considered Upcountry. The Kenyans refer to anything outside of the city as Upcountry. He said that it was a beautiful drive that reminded him of going to visit his grandparents farmland in Alabama when he was a child. There are little towns every 10 - 20 miles and you can see the occasional thatched roof hut. Most of the buildings were cinder block similar to ours, only rougher. You can see a mountain range off in the distance and the landscape is scattered with bushes and Acacia trees. Towards the end of their trip they only had dirt roads where they would often pass a herd of cattle or goats.

They held meetings primarily for the youth in the town of Tala and one of the girls(17 yrs. old) on their trip spoke during the meetings. Larry said that she was a very powerful speaker! She caught the attention of the youth there and found a gifting she really didn't know she had. Larry said his favorite part is hearing the people raise their voices in unison to sing praise to God!!

Monday and Tuesday they will be leaving early to drive 5 hours to the Masai Mara Park. Here is where the "Exotic Expeditions" will take them on the Safari. These adventures normally cost around $3000. Marcia(team leader) has brought so much business to this group over the years that they give her an incredible discount, it only costs the team $300 a person. Larry has his camera ready and I can hear him smiling as he wrote about the pictures he can't wait to take.

Please continue to pray for their health and safety as they finish up the trip and prepare to head home. They have all been touched in their hearts by what they have seen and experienced and it will be bittersweet to leave and come home.

The kids and I are good. I was a little short tempered today but Katherine is going to go to VBS this week and I know she will love it. Evan misses his daddy I can tell because every time I get on the floor he wants to rough house with me. Uncle Ret came over Sunday night and I think it helped the little man. Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement.

Weekend Update

Everything I just wrote was lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe it. I wrote a very long update and now it is gone. STUPID computer!!!

Summer fun at the Fountain

A call from Africa!!

YEAH!!!

This afternoon I received a call from my Beloved!! He sounded wonderful. He sounded as thrilled as he was the day we got married and had children. I could see the smile through the phone. He was all a buzz about the Mogra Star Academy and the house that our friends found to live in while in Africa. They have room enough for a team to come and stay and he wants to pray about me going with him next time we go. Sounds like he knows something I don't know. More on that when he returns, I am sure. He really misses us and he wants to hugs and kiss the kids so bad. He shows our picture to most people he meets and he looks at it often. So precious! Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
He has the day off tomorrow and will be resting up for a weekend full of outdoor crusades. Thank you for your e-mails and prayers. They have been felt!!

He wants to call today!

Last night Larry said that he needed to hear our voices and might call today. I am thrilled!! They are working with our friends at the Mogra Star academy and orphanage today and will have a day off tomorrow. If any of you are following the events you will see that the schedule has completely changed. Larry said we could just throw the other schedule out because nothing is the same.

They were in the slums all day Wednesday. His highlight of the day was when he had the opportunity to pray for two women. They were wanting him to pray cause they thought he would heal them. He spent some time with them before praying and encouraged them to pray for one another. He was wanting to show them that it doesn't take an American minister for the Lord to hear the prayers. The one woman then layed her hand on the other women's area of pain and they prayed. Nothing happened but Larry felt like the lesson wasn't over and God wasn't through yet. He encouraged the women to pray again and they saw a miracle!! The area was healed right then in their moment of prayer. Larry said the look on the woman's faces was amazing but the lesson learned(that God heard their prayers, not just the American's prayers) was priceless.

Larry is weary, he is sure it has something to do with the time change, food change, and being in the sun most of the day. Please pray for his strength as you think of him today.

The kids and I are off to exercise class and a picnic with mom and the girls at the park. I have had my moments of missing my wonderful husband. I have pressed through though and have a wonderful group of people around me, they all tell me I can call them any time of the day or night.

Africa update

Larry is doing well!
They are spending their second day in the slums of Kibera tomorrow. Wayne and Terry will be joining them. Thursday they will be with Wayne and Terry and the Mogra Star orphanage all day.

He said that Sunday was a challenge for him because he was asked to preach to a church of over 1,000. He said it was very hard to be so removed from all of the people. They were escorted in and out. If any of you know Larry he hates to be treated special because someone views him as a Minister(especially because he was American it was even more like royalty). He would rather be with the people, talking with them, praying for them and getting to know them not preaching at them. He did not buck the way they did it though and he expressed to me that despite being separated he felt like the Lord put something in his heart to say.

The team has been separated some throughout the day to visit as many churches and people as possible. They came together Sunday night and had a good time swapping stories and encouraging one another.

On a sad note~ Tuesday they were brought a little girl who was about 5 years old. Her father passed away with Aids a year ago and Monday night her mother passed away as well. She was now an orphan and they had not told her yet. They brought her to the ministry for people to love on her and pray for her. Larry said it ripped his heart out. He has been faced with poverty and sickness he has never seen before and I can hear it through his e-mails.

Please continue to pray for his health and safety.

On the way home from church tonight-

Tonight my sweet three year old all the way in the back of the van called out to me and said "Mommy where is God?"

My first thought is where did that come from. You just got done giving me a fit about who was going to go first to the potty and now you want to know where God is. My second thought is what answer do I give her. This is what came out
"Honey, God is in heaven"

Of course she then sais "WHY",

" Well, baby I believe he is in heaven watching over us" I reply

She is silent. This is when I am laughing because I didn't expect this so soon. Smiling to myself and about five minutes later she sais

"Mommy, is God everywhere?"

"Well Baby, he made the trees and the flowers and you and me etc..."

"Yeah and he made Mikayla and Baby Kyle and all her toys" she said matter of factly

This is when I was sure it was over she was on to the toys and God had left the building, but wait there is more.

"Mommy, how we love God?"

Amazing!! This question brought me to tears and I told her that we love him by loving all the people around us.

Her reply "all da people?"

"Yes baby we know they were created by God and we love them because they are God's creation just like us"

We got home tucked into bed and as I was going out the door she sais "Mommy let's pway to God" She then led us in a pwayer that thanked God for her friends and her Teeny and Katie. I am overwhelmed and humbled by this great responsibility to help guide my child into faith. I pray I do a good job and that I may receive some heavenly inspiration in the future on how to answer her.

Day One

Following is some of the e-mail I received from Larry around 4:30pm our time.

" Well, the end of day one. What a great day we had. We spent the first half of the day in Kibera. Got to pray for several people and love on a bunch of kids. What heartbreaking conditions they live in. Spent the afternoon running errands with Marcia(Team Leader) and Pastor Victor in downtown Nairobi. What a chaotic crazy place traffic wise. Had a wonderful time of fellowship with Brother James and his wife Betsy. I will be preaching tomorrow in a church of 1,000 in Dandora along with another Pastor from Kenya. Pray for me that I will say the things I hear God saying and do the tings I see Him doing."
So wonderful to know he is doing what he has desired to do for so long. I know he is fulfilled in in so many areas of his heart.

The kids and I spent the day with my sisters and we are getting ready to go to prayer at church for the evening.

He has arrived!!

Larry e-mailed me today around 5:30pm our time. They made it to Kenya around 7:30pm Kenya time and they are 7 hours ahead of us. He said it was a very long and tiring trip (19 hours). They have a full day scheduled tomorrow in the slums of Kibera. They will be having a medical clinic, evangelistic outreach and praying for the sick.

It was wonderful to hear from him and I am glad to know that he will be able to communicate with me through e-mail on a regular basis.

Continue to pray for his safety and breakthroughs in the people they come in contact with tomorrow.

The kids and I are great! My sisters are here tonight and we are about to divulge in some good chocolate treats while watching a girlie love story.