I went to go see Beth Moore

I won a Gold!!! I didn't even participate in the Olympics, unless you can make housecleaning an Olympic event. And even then, I'd probably come in last place. Anyway, Sunshine mom gave me this award. Very sweet!!

I only have two friends that blog ( as far as I know) , so I'll post them here to pass this award on.

1. Kari

2. Elizabeth

So now you two can post your award on your blog.

I, along with 20 something other women from my church, left on Friday morning at 6:30am to drive down to San Antonio, TX to see Beth Moore. Man, was it awesome. She talked about inheritance and how God is our porti0n and we are his. She talked about how we were heirs ( or heiresses ) of God. It was great. 10,000 women all under one roof listening to a wonderful speaker and all praising the God who made us heirs. Can't beat that.

We drove down in the church bus. Usually, when you sit in the back of the bus, it's cooler than the front. Not in this case. The a/c wasn't working and while it was blowing lukehot air to the front of the bus, those of us in the back were getting none. It started getting stuffy towards the middle of our trip, which meant that the last 3 hours were spent fanning ourselves and thinking about other stuff besides the fact that we were hot.

We were sweating even before we got to the Riverwalk. But we arrived at our hotel without anyone melting or passing out. We were able to walk the Riverwalk for a while before the conference. I'm familiar with the Riverwalk and since my mom lives in San Antonio, we go down there quite often. So I guess I was like the tour guide. We all had fun. I got to know some people from my church a little better. We just moved to this church in March and it's hard to make friends in a big church that already has their own friend groups.

On the way back home from the conference, we stopped to pick up something to eat. Those of us that had sat in the back going down there, moved to the front coming home. But when we got our food and started heading back to the bus, the rain started to fall. Not soft drops either, it was pouring down. When we finally made it back onto the bus, some seats were wet as were some of our blankets and pillows. The windows had leaked. Big puddles of water were inside the bus.

We were all wet. We weren't complaining about the air then, because it actually was a little cold. Once we were dry, we started to feel the hot air again. I do believe it was worse coming home than it was going down there. We did end up stopping at Dairy Queen to get blizzards.

So as a recap, we had a wonderful and awesome time listening to Beth Moore, and we were sweaty and sticky going down there and hot and wet coming back home. Couldn't ask for a more interesting trip. But it was all worth it. Thank you Lord!!

It's almost time for Ecuador

Wow! My trip to Ecuador if finally here. Of course it's late and I'm still packing. I keep forgetting stuff. I sure hope people don't mind how I smell. Just kidding.

I've been pretty busy lately. I mean, I am leaving out of the country, and it just clicked in my brain Thursday. I went to pick up my mom so that she can stay with the boys while Hubster works. Then on Friday, we went to spend the day getting last minute stuff that I needed and stuff that I didn't need. Hubster and I even went on a bike ride on Sat. morning.

Yesterday I spent the day stocking up on food so that no one will starve while I'm gone.

So today I'm packing.

As of right now, this is what I know. We arrive in Quito, Ecaudor at 11:30 pm (same time as this time). We get our bags, hoping they all arrive there. We get the rental vehicles, pick up two translators and drive 1 1/2 to 2 hrs to our destination, Cuyumbe, Ecuador. We then arrive at a hotel ( right now we don't know if we have one). But hey, I'm taking me a pillow, blanket and sheet. I'll sleep at the airport if I have to.

The church we are helping do VBS has already got the ball rolling. They made radio announcements, made fliers and are actually starting tomorrow. They are having VBS from 2-5pm, so maybe we'll get to sleep a little mon. night/ tue. morning. They are already estimating about 100 kids ages 7-12. Six of us, one missionary, the preacher and two translators for 5 people. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us.

I'm not sure if I'll get to post from there. I don't have a laptop, but there are some Internet cafes around. Just keep us all in your prayers.

Excuse me sir, do you know where your kids are?

On our way to El Paso to see my beautiful nieces.........................

We stopped to eat. When we travel through Texas, we usually look for a Whataburger because that seems to be the only place we can all agree on.

We found one and were sitting there eating when a man with two little ones walks in. The little boy must have been about three and the little girl about one and a half. They sat down in a table/booth acroos from us. The kids each had a ketchup container and were eating that as if they were really hungry. None of the kids had any shoes and the little girl had clothes on that were way too big for her.

We all watched them while we ate. The dad got the paper and proceeded to read it while the kids ate the ketchup. Hubster and I thought that the man would eventually get up and order the kids something, but we were wrong.

The kids finished their ketchup and while the dad was still reading the paper, they ran around the restaurant. They were crawling on top of the tables, all the way to the top of those fake flower holder containers. The dad wouldn't take his eyes off the paper, he would just quietly call out their names and tell them to get off the tables. Neither kid listened.

At one point, the little girl was nowhere to be seen and the little boy was outside. Outside all alone and the dad was still reading the paper and had no clue where his kids were. Astonishment is one word to describe how we felt. Even the boys were sitting there in amazement while watching the events unfold.

When the dad, without looking up from his paper, started calling out their names and the kids wouldn't answer, he finally put the paper down and went to go look for the kids. He brought them back in and he sat down again.

They both started to push around the high chairs through the restaurant and even the big yellow wet floor signs. After a while, the dad put his paper back down, got the kids, sat the little girl in a high chair, sat the little boy in the booth and gave them each another pack of ketchup. He then told them that they were giving him a headache.

We left and didn't finish watching the show.

Parenting from a chair. I've seen that several times before. I've also seen that it never works.

The 4 wheeler and the kids

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

Philippians 4:6

This past weekend was a time that we all used this verse.

We got to my sister and brother in laws house Wednesday night. A loooooooong trip because we had 2 men, 3 women, and 7 children with one of those being a 3 month nursing child.

Thanksgiving day started off as any other day. The turkey and ham were in the oven, the kids were running up the stairs so that they could slide down head first. Or running down the stairs trying to race each other.

We women started to cook some of the food, but we didn't have much to do because my organized sister in law had whipped everything together the day before and all we needed to do was just stick the casseroles in the oven. No one had any idea how convenient that would later be.

The kids got bundled up to go play outside in the cold and damp 31 degree weather. But they didn't care how cold it was, they were going to ride 4 wheelers.

They had been out for about an hour when I decided to go take pictures.

Each of the three men out there had two kids each. One in front and one in back. I didn't have a good feeling about this. I had already told my man to go slow.

About 2 minutes after they all had gone into the woods on the 4 wheelers, I hear a man's voice loudly yelling.

I turn to look and it is one of my brother in laws-Dan. My first thought was that they were playing a joke on me. The only one I saw was Dan. No other sounds or voices.

I looked up to the house to see if anyone is up there then look back at Dan. He's coming out of the woods yelling "my arm, my arm came off and I had to put it together, I need to get to the hospital"

I of course don't have my glasses and can't see too far. I start picturing him without his arm and his arm on the ground somewhere. I yell up to the house for Mindy to call 911.

Dan is holding his left arm close to his body with his right arm. Yelling "I need to get to the hospital, my arm, my arm is broken off and I need to get there"

By this time, I could tell he was in shock. His face was awfully white and he was talking continually. Some of it not making sense.

I walk him around the front of the house to wait for the ambulance. He continues to walk down the road. I call out to him and he says that he sees the hospital and he's got to get there. I walk over to him and bring him back home.

Mindy is worried about the food, the kids are all freaked out and terrified that their uncles arm is going to have to be cut off or something, the men are still out back with the 4 wheelers trying to get kids off and everything back where it belongs.

Dan is still yelling painfully and still trying to walk to the hospital. I tell Mindy that she probably just needs to take him herself. So we load Dan in the car and off they go.

The ambulance did show up about 5 minutes after they had left.

Dan had a boy in the front of the 4 wheeler and a girl in the back. While they were riding, the boy wanted to go faster and put his hand on the throttle making it go fast on a hill. This caused the 4 wheeler to lose control and fall on top of them.

Somehow Dan caught this monster toy and the kids were OK. But his arm got caught and snapped.

The Dr's told him that his arm was broke in two between the shoulder and the elbow and that it was just laying there. He stayed there to wait for the surgeon. Mindy came home to eat the meal that she had prepared but we had somehow managed to cook.

We ate, loaded up the kids and went to go see Dan. The kids needed to see that he was OK. That he wasn't going to die or lose an arm.

He had surgery Friday. They put a plate in his arm and had to pack it down with some bone from the bone bank. I didn't even know such a bank existed.

It was a Thanksgiving that I'm sure no one will forget. It was a wonderful day despite the accident. We sure had a lot to be thankful for.

Are we there yet?

"Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.

Matthew 12:22

Isn't it wonderful to know that Jesus healed the man right then and there. He didn't wait to put him on a prayer list then to take it out 3 days later and say "oh yeah, I've got to pray for this man". So we should be like Jesus and don't stop at the praying part, we need to take it a step further.
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We are getting ready to go to Loren's sisters house in St. Louis Missouri. We are meeting up with his other sister and his brother in Tulsa then following each other the rest of the way.

Loren is pretty excited. Well at least he WAS excited until he got sick. I'm really not looking forward to driving 8 or more hours while he's sick. That's all I'm going to say.

The boys are still excited. Zach is even coming with us. That's a shocker because now that he's 18, he doesn't want to go places with us. I wonder how he'll feel an hour into the road trip when he realizes there is NO mute button to quiet the boys.

The boys packed their own bags and here is a description of what they packed. We are going to be gone 3 nights and 4 days.
6 underwear
4 pajamas
4 white t shirts
3 boxers
4 shorts
5 jeans
too many to count shirts
lots of socks to count as well (some don't even have the pair, I can hear them in the drawer saying 'don't forget me')
a BOX of toys filled with Lego's, action figures and can't forget Thomas the Train
a sleeping bag
a blanket
2 pillows
the entire collection of DVDs

This is just from one boys suitcase. The other boy has the same amount of stuff plus a little more.

Maybe I can leave them up there for a while. They have enough stuff :)

I on the other hand haven't packed a thing.

Because I'm a procrastinator and I work better under pressure. I'm sure that I'll be packing until the wee hours of the night getting ready to leave bright and early the next day.

Usually our road trips take a turn for National Lampoons Vacations, so I'll keep ya'll posted.