Some more miles

We went out to Beaumont Texas this last weekend and enjoyed doing nothing and just being the 4 of us and the hi-light.... a full size bathtub!
Samuel has been coughing quite a bit since we got here - usually at night. We don't know if it's the A/C or the changes in temperature from hot during the day to cool after dinner.. On Satuday night he was starting to again so I went to pick him up so that he could breathe better and he threw up all over me. Oh what a great thing to be a mom with a sensitive nose!!! Let's just leave the details and say that Willie had to grab him to clean him up so that I could have some time alone to try to keep my food where it belonged!

We're back on the camp again and realize coming back on Sunday night that this already feels like home! Thanks be to God for all His wonderful blessings and so many people around us that love the same Jesus!!

If you're reading this and are wondering what to pray for I'll ask you to pray for a young man that came out to help out last week (for a two week short term). He had seizers and some other things happen to him earlier in his life so he was a little handicapped but such a willing servant! He came out and worked hard everyday and he was pretty easy to love! Well this morning he got a call that his dad was ill and he needed to go back to Winkler now. (they don't know if his dad will still be alive when he gets there.) They got him a flight out this afternoon and we're all praying that God will do a miracle for Corny and allow him to say goodbye to his dad. (His dad had colon cancer and was doing okay but now they found a tumor). So the details are little but please pray for Corny - in all his innocence we weren't sure how much he understood.

We are welcoming people who want to experience life to the fullest to really step into His throne room and spend time with Him. He'll direct you and keep you and give you all you need - just allow Him to. Don't scale back - the miracle can be yours! God wants to live through you and we love meeting people who want to spend time with God and to help others see Him in the everyday living. We've experienced so much in the last little while - so much undeserved goodness and we just want to share it with you all. (or should that be y'all)

Thank you for your prayers and your comments.
Mel I'll get you an address. Not sure what it is.... I'll put it on the blog maybe - or email it.

Sleep well!

MDS First Week - Part 2

MDS FIrst Week - Part 1

Civilization

How quickly we become spoiled!  We had an amazing week and felt 'trapped' because we couldn't share it "virtually" with anyone because the internet situation at the camp is less than ideal.

We got out to the East Texas Baptist Encampment on Saturday night (Nov 1).  We were a little less than excited when we saw the size of the hotel room that we would be living in for 6 weeks.  But you know when you go in a spirit of service it changes your (mostly mine) attitude about certain things.  We had driven through some neighborhoods and were so amazed at the quality of some homes... most people in our community would not be able to believe how a lot of the population lives like.  It's so heartbreaking!  So ya, when we saw how small our 'home' was with the images of others homes we were thankful.

We had a super awesome church experience in Newton.  We were the white population and yet I've never felt more welcome in a church that wasn't our home church.  Thank you Jesus for such a gift.  I had a few tears of thankfulness and just took it all in.  We will miss them this weekend but home to go back next week.

Willie started the week on Monday early morning.  He had an awesome day and was excited about the rest of the week.  There are short term volunteers from Manitoba and one guy from Chicago.

Tuesday we found ourselves really curious about the election (since we didn't have internet or TV or radio...) but late at night we sat on a log and got connected to the internet and found the news... We feel that we need to pray for the US... a lot!

Willie's crew shingled the house, roughed in all the wiring and began the siding.  The A/C and heating guys completed their work on Friday as well.  The family that they are building a home for consists of Mom and Dad, 3 kids plus a niece and nephew of Mom's sister who passed away a short while ago.  Dad is a delimber operator so that's kinda neat for Willie, as he works in the heat he hears some very common sounds of the 'bush' machines in the distance (so just like winter work at home - just with a farmers tan happening)  :-)

Samuel has found a new friend named Luke.  God gave us another amazing gift!  A family has just moved to the camp - he's a Youth pastor and she's a full time mom of 4 kids and one more on the way.  They just moved there about a month ago from about an hour down the road.  So they have little Luke who is 4, Sara who's 2 (see how perfect that is!!!) and 2 older kids.  Luke and Samuel play great together - the girls don't always play perfectly because they're both shoe freaks so they have some arguing to do about that.

On Friday we experienced "Friday Night Lights" and that was fun!  For $5 we could go watch a High School Football game in Newton.  It was so neat - pretty much the entire town of Newton was in the stands and wow is it a big deal!  They get to the game about an hour and half before kick off!!  And you think La Crete hockey moms are crazy --- we just found a whole stadium full of them!

We also met a family that has a connection to home.  Larry (and Sandra) Neufeld's brother and his family is here at the camp on their way down to Belize.  What a small world!  And they have amazing kids that enjoy spending time with our wild kids too!!  So we haven't lacked in the entertainment section of life and Samuel is so happy to have someone other than Mom and Olivia to play with!

God is showing us daily how much he loves us and how He is going to take care of us.  I'm thankful for the experience God is allowing us to have and I pray that we will continue to be used by Him!  I pray that each of you at home will search for an opportunity wherever you are to bless someone's socks off!  

We arrived... with not the best Internet service

Sorry - we're here but we don't have a lot of time to blog and when we do the internet seems to be lacking in service. 

We arrived on the site on Saturday and we love it.  There is so much room for the kids to run and play - very dreamy!

Willie started work today and hoping that he's going to be effective in the work and in sharing Christ.

We had an AMAZING church experience yesterday.  We've never felt so loved and invited!  We were hugged about a million times and they feed us and just took us in.  It was so encouraging and we thank God for His gift to us!  Praise Him for all that He does to encourage and to inspire.  These people were truly inspiring!  They had so little and yet talked about doing a food drive for the elderly and needy in their community and giving was a very important part of their service.  Just amazing.  More details when I have time.

Take care and hold fast to the One who loves you the most!!

The Checklist

Willie was happy to see some indication of Hockey!!

This is my check on my checklist... the Book Depository where Oswald 'allegedly' shot JFK from...
This is a picture of me going crazy with the camera.  Behind me is an 'X' - that's the spot of the fatal shot that killed John F. Kennedy.

Hey Uncle Willy... we're in horse country now.  Get that work visa and come on down!

Cheap entertainment - you kinda had to be there but Samuel found some game that kept these two crazy kids entertained for quite some time.

Well I experienced something on my list of "Things to see..." It was the Dealey Plaza in Dallas.  All of you that know me - know that I'm a bit of a Kennedy 'fan' (use the word fan loosely).  I know it sounds a little crazy but I was really excited to see this.  For some reason I just didn't think that some of those dreams would come true but hooray!!  And Willie was a driving champion in downtown Dallas!!!

Texas is proving to truly be the south... a lot of American flags, Waffle Houses, "yes Mam" and that 'warm' smell!

Olivia enjoyed her short chat with Gramma this morning - that was super cute - thanks mom.  Samuel is still praying for Kobe, Jobe and Tori and is waiting for them to come over to his house.  Michela the dinosaur is still with us even through all the miles.  William, Samuel has your moose - oops... oh well he was probably wanting a warmer winter!  

Samuel was really disappointed that we ended up in another hotel and is saying he doesn't like Texas... I made the mistake of telling him we were going to Dallas today.... he was expecting to see Dallas (our blue eyed blonde sweetie) :-)

So ya, our day was good  - I would have liked to go upstairs in the Sixth Floor Museum but Museum's aren't really for the kiddos!  

So a couple more nights in the hotels and we'll be in Newton Texas ready for schedule and the long awaited potty training.

miss ya'll