Justice Finds His Nose

You've got to love it when your kids do stuff like this in public!

Justice's First Haircut - Whoa, That Was Close!

You'd think, after having 5 kids, that we wouldn't make a mistake like this. But, Hey...this is our first Boy! Watch and see....learn from our mistakes. Don't try this at home!

Beach Fun!

During a trip to South Alabama, we were blessed with the opportunity to stay in my Aunt and Uncle's beach house. We were able to visit with them a few days and then had a few days to ourselves to relax. The wind was blowing so hard in this picture, all you could hear was that annoying whistle the wind makes in your ear. Nonetheless the kids had a blast playing in the sand and daring the waves to come to where they safely stood. Justice did what all babies do...eat sand!

Happy Birthday Faith!

Faith turned seven Oct. 24th. It's so hard to believe. She's a great kid. All my kids are great. They are the 5 coolest kids in the world. "Thank You Lord for giving us Faith."

Stef, Noah and Ms. Sabrina

These are some of my most favorite people in the world. They are Ms. Sabrina Aalto, her daughter Stefanie, and her son Noah. They are members of Living Waters Baptist Church in LaGrange, GA where Michael used to pastor. They came to see us in Tennessee recently and we had a great time of fellowship and watching Noah and Justice play. They are precious, dear folks that we miss terribly. (We miss all those folks down there....)

To those of you reading this from Living Waters....we love you and miss you :( and we hope to see you around Christmas. If you come see me, I promise to put your picture on my blog too!

Childs Play

A game of Hide-n-Go Seek. But, first....who's gonna be it???

Kick Ball with Gramps

The girls enjoyed a game of kick ball with their Gramps. Even though the pictures show Gramps in a pretty good position, it seemed like every one of them got a home run every time they got up to "kick". Wonder why that was? (It's a Grandparent thing I guess.)

What's Down There?

The girls were a little adventurous Monday when we went for a walk with Gramps around the golf course. They stopped on this little bridge to see what was down below. I, being a typical Mom, was afraid one of them would end up below! But as you can see from the second picture, their faces showed no worries at all...oh...to be a kid again.

Catch...One More Time...

When we began packing for our trip to south Alabama, Michael grabbed his old baseball glove he used as a kid and put it in our luggage. He said, "I'd like to throw a ball with Dad once more before we leave the states." We drove from Alabama to Gulf Breeze, Florida on Monday to spend the day at Gramps' house. On our way, we stopped at every flea market/yard sale along the way hopping to find another glove that had been used and was already "conditioned" for use. We finally found one at a Used Sporting Goods store. We also picked up a used baseball and a kick ball for the girls. You see, we weren't sure if his Dad would have a glove anymore, so we wanted to be sure that the game of "Catch" could still take place. The picture above was taken off the back porch at Paul's new home on a golf course in Gulf Breeze. Some things that don't hold any value at all to others in the world, are precious to us......this picture is one of those.

I love you Paul...get your passport so you can throw a ball in Portugal too!

More to come...

Ms. Dawne Hart

Let me introduce you to a friend of ours. This is Dawne Hart, Missionary to Portugal. Dawne is a single lady raising her support to go to Portugal and assist other missionary families in starting Independent Baptist Churches. So, if you're smart, you already know that our family will be working with her in Portugal. We've had the privilege to have her in our home for the last four days. We've stayed up late talking and have decided, with the Lord's guidance, that she is whom we've been praying for. Dawne is a missionary's kid who went to Portugal at age 12. She speaks good conversational Portuguese and has musical talents. (She can play instruments and sings...I do neither of these.) So you see the asset she will be in the ministry. We are thankful that God has provided someone for us to work with. Now, help us pray that God would raise her support quickly so we can all begin the work God has called us yo do. View other info about Dawn here:

www.wbfi.net/missionaries/hart_d/hart_d.htm

Pictures From Our Trip to Wyoming

Wyoming Pictures

More Wyoming Pictures....

Scott and Heidi Vines

Scott and Heidi Vines are church planters in Wyoming. This is a picture of them with some of their church members. They started "His House Independent Baptist Church" about six months ago and have about 10 people coming regularly. They are currently meeting in a room in the Library. The Lord really has blessed this couple. On top of the church going well, they are expecting their first child and have two cute dogs. Michael was Scott's Youth Pastor at one time and we've known Heidi since way before she met Scott. So it's really neat to see them now and to know that they are following the Lords direction. Even to Wyoming!! I think it would be harder to go there than to go to Portugal! To get some medicine for Justice, they had to drive 75 miles to the nearest pharmacy! So, in total, it was 2 1/2 hrs drive just to go to Wal-Mart!! In a restaurant there was a sign on the wall that read, "If you're in a Hurry, You're in the Wrong Town". So, you see....they move way too slow for me!

Wyoming!

We've been home from Wyoming for about an hour now. It's 11:00 pm on Monday night. It's good to hug my girls...I've really missed them. They enjoyed staying with our Pastor's family while we were gone. But, they're glad to be home too. Justice went with Michael and I. It wasn't any fun taking a 13 month old on an airplane, who was sick to begin with. He screamed for the first half hour we were on the plane, and again for the last half hour. I ended up crying too...I felt so sorry for the folks flying on that packed out flight.

Well, we'd not been in Wyoming for 24 hours yet, when it began to snow! I peeked out the front door with my camera to take a picture, when a doe walked right up to me. It could smell supper cooking I believe, and it was looking for some scraps. I ended up tossing it some sweet potatoes and it acted like it wanted to come inside with me. A little later it returned with it's baby. Aren't they called fawns??

2:00 am and still going...

It's 2:oo in the morning and we just got in from Knoxville. The Bentley's hosted us for a week. They are friends of ours that we've known for about 8 years. They have 4 kids, so with our 5, we had a grand total of 9 kids in that 3 bedroom house! It's amazing how smoothly everything can run one minute then complete anarchy will break out the next!! We've had the priviledge of staying with them several times in our travels, but this was probably the last time before we leave the country. Saying goodbye all the time is a way of life for us. You never know if you'll see folks again, and if so, it may be 4 or 5 years before you do.

We'll pack up later today and fly out for Wyoming Friday. It's just Michael, Justice and I going on this trip. The girls will stay with the Sellers (our pastors family) while we are gone. We'll just be gone three nights. They've already had some snow in Wyoming, so we'll have to pack warmly.
Justice is sick with an ear infection. He went to a Doctor today in Knoxville. The poor thing has cried most of today. He has been miserable. I'm glad he will be going with me to Wyoming. I just couldn't stand leaving him while sick. Hopefully, I'll post when I get back and have some pictures to share from Wyoming.

What is a "Blog" anyway?

The word "Blog" wasn't in my dictionary. Who decided that what I am doing is "blogging"? If you know the answer, please fill me in.

So, this is my intent. I want to keep a journal of our last few months we have left in the States. If you are one that is interested, please check back often. If you're not interested, sorry to bother you.