Specifics on the work in Africa

We received an e-mail today asking for more information about what Larry is going to be doing over in Africa other then spreading the gospel and I thought it was a great question.

We both agree that a major part of loving on people with the love of God is seeing what they need and providing for them. This is both physical and spiritual. Many times we miss an emotional need of someone we are caring for because we are caught up in what they look like. The flip side to that is we can be all caught up in presenting the Gospel to them and completely overlook the physical need for food and medicine. When Christ walked the earth He communicated on a regular basis with the Father throughout the day and he gained wisdom to every situation. In the same way we are to be in constant communication with the Holy Spirit so that we can touch the lives of those we come in contact with spiritually and physically. Matthew 25 goes into a deeper understanding of this and I encourage you to read it and evaluate what you are doing for those around you or not doing for those around you. I know I am challenged by this scripture often. It applies to anyone, those who follow Christ, and those who are searching. It is THE most rewarding thing, to lay down your life for someone else, even if it is just one meal, one hug, or one bottle of water. Look for ways to to change your daily life and you will see your perspective in other areas of your life change.

Larry has teamed up with a ministry that goes yearly to this area and communicates with them on a regular basis. As a result they know specific needs for that area, they can bring goods that will help, not just take up space. Each team member was allowed two bags and a carry on. One bag was used for their personal items and the other one was filled with medical supplies and goods for the people. There is an EMT and an RN on the trip and they are ready to give the people medical attention. In addition they will be assisting local pastors and their congregations. The outdoor crusade and going to the slums is what Larry is looking forward to the most. He wants to get his arms around the people and help them not only with food, but with the Love of God that they have never experienced before.

Details of the Africa Trip

May 31-Aboard plane bound for Africa with a layover in Amsterdam.

June 1-Arrive in Nairobi around 7pm in the evening.

June 2-Holding a clinic in the Slums. meetings in the evening with local churches

June 3- 3pm Church services(they will be splitting up and traveling to local churches this day)
In the evening the women will be ministering to the women and children

June 4-7-Work in Orphanages and slums

June 8-9-Leave up-country and do work in churches along with city wide meetings with children

June 10-Outdoor crusade

June 11-12- Kids works and meetings in the evenings

June 13- Safari

June 14-15- Mogra Star Academy with our friends the McCarty's!!!

June 16- Leave at 10pm for the States

June 17- Arrive in ATL around 1pm

Nairobi, Kenya

Larry leaves in just two short days for the trip he has been looking forward to since last year. I am excited for him and we have been busy getting everything together. He leaves on Thursday and will be back Father's Day. We will be sad while he is gone and I am not sure how much of my hair will be left when he returns. J/K. I know that I have a ton of support here and I am not afraid to use it!

Please be in prayer for Larry's safety and look back here for updates on his trip as I hear from him throughout the 18 days. Enjoy the pics!

Starting to say goodbye

What a glorious weekend we are having so far, except for the emotions I am starting to feel as we come closer to the day that my sweet man leaves for Africa. It is funny to me how all I want to do is be around him and close to him as possible but I find some of my attitudes are hostile. Explain that?? I have been praying this moring and just trying to remind myself of all of the wonderful things that will happen for him on this trip and how glorious it will be to see him home and excited about serving the Lord.

Now all I have to do is make sure that I stay sweet and gentle towards him so that he doesn't want to leave in a few days.

In Rememberance

Just some pics I was looking at that our wonderful Canon took over the last five years. First is Katherine, then Evan, Engagement photo and our Wedding.

Camera is down-Mayday Mayday

To all of you out there that have your camera with you on your hip to be used at a moment's notice please take a moment of silence with me. This week we have sunk and sunk bad. Our wonderful camera that has seen us through our engagement, wedding, baby #1 and baby#2 has gone down in a terrible way. The lens said it had enough and did not want to extend itself one more time. After hours of work by my man we have had to say good bye to our beloved friend Canon G1.
It has missed two birthdays this week and Mother's day last week, it missed the outing of the year (when my man bought me a beautiful dress and took me to dinner and a concert downtown).
We are excited to buy a new better camera with a 1gig card that can hold eight times the pics Yeah!!But it is still a sad day.

Happy Mother's Day!

This morning I have enjoyed a wonderful omelet, time doing my hair and writing in my journal because my wonderful man is here doing what I normally do on a Sunday morning. He is half of the reason I can celebrate this wonderful day! HEHE

The scripture says Children are a blessing from the Lord. If you are a mom of youg children receive the blessing today. If you are an older child BE the blessing today.

Lessons I'm learning through my children-Part 1

The Splinter~

This has been an incredible ordeal. Katherine, who is 2 yrs. old, loves to go around barefoot. It has been this way since she learned how to take off her socks in the carseat while we were driving. We usually keep her socks and shoes in the car because she NEVER wears them in the house.

Now, here is where it began- It was Sunday about two weeks ago when we decided to grill out. The weather has been wonderful here and we like to get outside as much as we can. Larry was sweeping the deck, Evan was riding his car, and Katherine, barefoot, was running around outside. All of the sudden I hear the scream that most mom's dread and Larry was carrying Katherine into the kitchen with blood spilling off of her foot. Oh God!! What happened and where is Evan??

45 minutes later we had removed a tiny part of a splinter and my sweet girl was beside herself over the torture of it. If any of you have children you know the ordeal I just experienced. Extreme fear in my little one because she knows something hurts in her foot but she doesn't know what it is and why mommy has to use a metal thing(tweezers) to get it out. With a bandaid on and the cool breeze of the deck I just held her and told her I loved her. I also said "Baby, mommy has to get the splinter out because if I don't, it could get infected and hurt worse, I know it hurt and you didn't like it but I did it because I love you." Ok! I can hear the Spirit of the Lord ministering to my heart at this point because He is saying to me"That's right, I love you and I want to take care of things in you before they hurt you too!" I just sat there loving my baby and letting the love of God pour over me. I Imagined Him pulling me into His embrace and letting me know He loves me and he exposes things in me that can harm me because he loves me. He knows what areas, in my life, left unattended could could do to me.

As the days went by I could see that the splinter was still in there. I told Katherine and we asked God to help it come out. The next morning she came into the kitchen screaming and I could see the tip trying to push it's way out. Through many tears again and a struggle that I had no idea could come out of my little baby we ended up pulling a 1 inch splinter out of her foot that day. We thanked God that he helped push the tip out and she still has bruising and cleaning that has to be done daily because of how deep it was. Two weeks later we still have to clean and watch the area. This again speaks to my heart about wounds that we have and carry around with us from people or events in our lives. The splinter might be out(the deed done) but if we don't care for our wounds properly they could hurt us even worse. I am choosing to go to God with my heart and ask Him to show me areas that I haven't let him treat(wounds from a friend, offense, unmet expectaions). These are areas that I have tried to just take care of on my own (or ignore) have now gotten infected and cause a limp in my walk. It even effects the way I see God and other people because I don't want to get hurt again.

My prayer for us today is that in our fear and pain we sit and let the Holy Spirit show us areas that He wants to cleanse and heal. He draws us to this place because He loves us. He knows all that we can be and all of the lives that could be touched by our wholeness and wellness in Him.

5,4,3,2,1...Lift off

In the evening before the kids go to bed Larry and I usually get down on the floor and get all their jiggles out so they will sleep better. Tonight, I got the workout.

My Babies

Katherine and Evan,

Oh how I love you- do you know how much I love you??
It is wonderful to me to see how you are both growing so much.

Katherine your ability to communicate and your love of your friends is so sweet. You always ask me who you are going to see today and at night you remember to lift them up to Jesus. Going to the Library is the highlight of your week and you ask if you can play on the "compooter". You have no clue what you are doing on the "compooter" but you love that it is your height and has your shows on it. You are telling everyone what your "birfday" is and that you will be "free". You twirl and sing about everything all day and you are constantly loving your brother to death!! Just wait till he gets older and you will have wished you were a little softer.

Evan, my son, you are into everything! Well, let me rephrase that, you are on everything. I can't get you to stop climbing and it scares me to death sometimes. Crawling under and into things is another favorite and I have found you inside the kitchen cabinets. I only knew you were there because I followed the trail of pots and pans that used to be in the cabinet. You bonk your head and have booboo's all over your shins and I don't understand why you keep going back for more. Your little brain is expanding and every day it seems you are comprehending more of what mommy and Katherine say to you. We can ask you questions now and you just shake your head yes in response. I love you, oh, so much and I love how you lay your sweet little head down on Daddy's and Mommy's shoulders when you are telling us you love us-your kisses are a close second if not for all the slobber.

I praise the Lord daily for the blessing you are to me. What did I do and how did I love before you came into my life. I pray you will see Jesus in Daddy and I and that you love Him all the days of your life.

Love and hugs and kisses and snuggles and any way else I can smother you with love,
Mommy

Dying eggs

We dyed our eggs today with a friend from church. She wore her egg shirt and got dye all over her hands. Evan was playing in the toy drawer as we colored the eggs. He can always play by himself so well.

Easter egg hunt

I took Katherine to the city of Lilburn egg hunt Saturday. A ton of people were there and I wasn't sure if she was going to come away with any eggs. We stood in our spot and looked out over the field. She spotted a red one and told me that was the one she wanted. Well...that ended up being the only one she got. Thank God she got the red one. After, we walked around, got a donut and ate her one red candy egg.

Daddy times

I have been taking time to capture moments with Larry and the kids. He is so good to them! He plays silly, reads, and even lets Katherine help him in the yard. I am so blessed to have been given such a wonderful man.

We also love our new van! The kids stuff has a lot more room now-hehe

Preparing for Dinner

Tonight-

I was getting the bread to put in the oven and Katherine walks into the kitchen

KK- Can I have some bread?

Me-No, Baby we have to eat the Chicken Divan first

KK-(eyes wide with excitement) We are going to eat chicken in the van?! Yeah

I just laughed.

Cute words

Katherine is talking all the time but every once in awhile she says something and it is so cute.

OiMoi- Oatmeal
Tuggle- Snuggle
Pider- Spider
Baa Baa Black Sheep any fat wool- Three bags full

DADDY wanted to add this one-"I'm drinky"-Thirsty

Evan is climbing on everything and we found him recently on top of his highchair climbing onto the dinner table. Good times-HA

Beautiful Spring Day

My babies were all dressed up with nowhere to go today. I couldn't resist putting them in some of their new clothes on this beautiful day. The weather was 70's with a slight breeze and even thogh the pollen count was high we went our for a little while. The kids seem to be doing much better with Claritin in their system. We went to the park yesterday for a picnic lunch and had a great time just being a family. It is getting easier now that Katherine can do so much on her own. But the independence definitely has its challenges. She is confident in what she wants and is clear about what she doesn't. We are working on it and I have cut back from a lot of my activities to be able to focus in on the two of them for a season. We were on our way to the park tonight and she said. I will make friends at the park mommy, I will say excuse me, do you want to play with me? and they will say Yes we want to play with you. That will be fun mommy."

Evan has been communicating a lot lately and his favorite thing is to point and say "dat". He always gets a big smile when Daddy gets home from work and crawls toward him as fast as he can. He eats a ton! I pay for it when diaper time comes but it is wonderful not buying/making baby food anymore. He used to love swinging on the swings but now that he is more mobile he signs "all done" to me and put his hands up to be picked up so that he can go and play on the jungle gym and slide. AMazing! Cars are a highlight of his life and he says"rroomm, rroom"
Thanks to our friends Britt and Becca he is working on the fire engine sound now as well they gave him a whole rescue pack of cars.

Dogs, B-days and Getaways

We have celebrated our anniversary, Evan's first birthday and Evan saying Dog in the last few weeks. What a great time we have had. Larry and I went away to Chattanooga for the weekend and had a wonderful time just relaxing, walking and eating!!

Evan had a terrible experience at the park with a dog and we have been trying very hard to help him with his love of dogs. Our next door neighbors have two and Larry has been working with Evan so that he is not afraid. Here he is finally petting them and saying "dog".

We also celebrated Evan's first birthday and loved watching him put icing all over his face. Classic!

We will have a walker soon!!

Evan is standing on his own in the middle of the room. He has also taken one step. Yes it really was a step and when he went to take another one, he fell. Katherine is acting like she is just learning how to walk to get some attention. I told her he is watching her walk around and that he wants to do it too. So now she walk back and forth in front of him and say "Come on Evan, you can walk come on buddy , you can do it!" SOOOO Cute.

Katherine's New Sweater

Aunt Kathy sent Katherine this sweater in the mail and we love it!!

Eating and bathtime

Katherine went to a Princess b-day party and had a great time dressing up. SHe now has quite a few dress up clothes and loves to wear them grocery shopping.





As the kids are growing I love to take pictures of just everyday occurences. Evan is eating Avocado.