Memories

We are home from our first family mission trip

I can't help but think of all the wonderful memories we have made while on our mission....

Eating more little debbies than I have ate in the last 3 years put together

Garyn busting his eye

Singing "Lil' Sally Walker" with our crazy dances

Getting to know the Malones' family while riding in the back of the their van

Tyler and the guys sliding in the mud/rain

Seeing all the teen boys love on Garyn, Max, Joley, Ella, and Jon Ryan

Russ swinging a real decapitated snake around us wimpy girls

Su Mai trampling all over Ms. Betty and Ms. Evie while bringing smiles to our eyes at the same time

Garyn getting in the mud no more than 3 hours after arrival

Late night and early morning walks to the bath house

Our small pop-up camper shaking vigouriously at our slighest movement....especially Tyler's

Davina and I talking while keeping kids

The 5 little ones playing together and learning each other's names.....will never

have just that 5 together again, most likely

Russ, Tyler and the teenagers swimming and jumping off the ice berg

(sorry I know this pic doesn't fit, but I just had to post it......graceful, huh?)

Making smores and eating more than I ever have in my life

Singing "Toe-knee-chest-nut" and "Boom-chicka-boom"

Watching our camper kids gain our trust and acknowledge our love for them

So you may not understand all of these memories, but man I could give you an earful if I explained everyone.........

I will always cherish everyone on the trip. I loved getting to know everyone better, and we will always have this connection.

We finished the trip off with a bang, Friday went well and ended with a majority of the parents/grandparents staying for our party. We had a small devotion, hamburgers and hotdogs, sang some songs, and showed off all the kids great art work from the week. We are pretty sure some of the family's are going to go to Centerpointe church to visit sometime.

On the way home Garyn slept A LOT and we made Kent a Thank you card. We heard he was petrified of chewed gum so..........

Garyn is adjusting back to life indoors and playing by himself. When we were coming home yesterday, I was telling him how we were going to see Nana and Poppa, and he said "Joley" "Max".........poor guy misses his playmates.

I can't wait to spend more time with our new found friends and our friends/family we missed on the trip.

Now its time for laundry and the real life. This week we will be going to church and helping with our own VBS. Can't seem to get enough rest today....We are so tired!

The trip has ended.....but the memories will not ever go away!

Injuries in West Virginia

So there is a group of injured now.......

Garyn and his eye

Maddie Godbehere jammed her finger so bad she has a splint

Marty Malone hurt his back

Kendall Davis got her hand slammed into a door

Thankfully none are serious...but nevertheless the 2 above girls have made an injured club.

Here is the pic of Garyn......

Today it looks a little more puffy and bruised. He isn't bothered by it at all, of course. You can still see the skin racing mark in between his eyes. The next pic is him fighting with Max's punching bag......we have been saying he is getting ready for his next fight.......

It rained a lot this morning, enough to where the 5 babies never went over to the park, 3 of us stayed here with them, including me. While in the house Garyn fell out of a chair and bit his tongue...blood was all over me and him.....I am starting to wonder if he is going to be clumsy like me and his nana.....I hope its just the boy in him.

Skip made pancakes for breakfast, cinnamon-pecan-wheat, chocolate cip, and plain! The cooks wanted the rest of the day off, per se, so we got Chick fil A for lunch and then we all loaded up and headed to the mall for dinner. Most of us ate at Ruby Tuesdays. Again, right down Tyler's alley!

We are starting to feel the end of the trip coming......so sad! We have made our little niche here, I could probably last another week........Amy B. couldn't though, poor thing, camping isn't her thing, much less when she is pregnant. She is sleeping better, though, up in the house with Ms. Betty and Mrs. Evie.

Garyn is saying so much more, it seems. His vocabulary now includes: "don't like it", "hold you?", "Amy", "Joley", "Max", "kick ball", etc.. He will be talking in sentences before I know it.

Tomorrow is a long day, we won't be back til close to 7. We are all getting tired and losing stamina here and we want to drive the messages home tomorrow.

See you soon guys!!

Busy Fun

Busy Fun
That's what I would call these days here in West Virginia ......and we are loving it!!
Any apprehensions we had about this trip were wasted because I can't think of one thing that we have said "Man, I wish ____ was different"



Tyler has confessed his love to our cooks...our menus have been so close to our usual home cooking......


Garyn is loving the outdoors and all his friends being within walking distance.....as well as the food


I love the fellowship....Tyler can sometimes be a home body, and I love to be at home myself, but I am much more social....that seems so backwards I know!! Tyler is very outgoing, friendly, talkative, etc. , but he likes his house, his food, his car, his TV, his freedom you could say. He usually shys away from large gatherings so that he can talk, think better. But I love to just chill out with people and really considered myself acquainted with their day to day life.....live in their world for awhile. I am an observer, I think. Anyway, I enjoy really getting one on one time with my new friends while we are here in West Virginia.

We are definitely busy....

Sunday, some of us went early to the church, or local middle school, I should say, and set up their nursery rooms, chairs, etc.. The work these 7-8 consistent church members do each week to worship amazes us all here. We have a luxury of having such a nice, large, well staffed church back home. During the service some of us took care of the children to give the church members a break to be able to worship. I was in the nursery, Tyler was over in the elementary kids class. I think he was scaring them because I heard the whole lesson from down the hall....he is used to those loud 9th graders.

After church, we headed to the park to have a family fun day for our prospective campers and any others that were in the park. We also went around and passed out fliers hoping to spread the word some more about the camp starting Monday. Lunch was a wonderful bar-b-que....

Can't have a party without bouncy fun! Though, Garyn wasn't too sure about these. He didn't like the craziness of the older kids. He was ok until he got all the way in and would try to stand. My theory is : he couldn't assess his surroundings, Garyn must observe things that he comes in contact with before deciding if he likes them. The instability in the bouncers doesn't allow him to observe.

We had a pretty good turn out of people, don't remember the specifics. But parents were to stay with the kids and get a glimpse of what things we would be doing.

We had free snow cones and cotton candy...that was a hit. Tyler manned the snow cones for awhile....
It ended up being a long day, we didn't leave the park till close to 5......we all pretty much headed to bed after dinner and a meeting...Dinner was spaghetti BTW

The next morning was cool...I just about froze that night before. Garyn came into our bed around 2 am and the full size comforter didn't stretch across the 3 of us. Plus, with Tyler, you always have the AC waaaay down and a fan blowing on you, too. No fear, the Davis' camper was well stocked with blankets for me to have all to myself the next night.

We have continental style breakfast around the picnic tables, come when you want, in between showers and such. Then we head out to the park around 9 everyday to set up before the kids come at 10.

The first day, we had 49 including our 6 participating children! We were pumped, although numbers aren't supposed to be a priority, we still were hoping for a good size group of kids.

We had fun getting to know these children we had been praying about for so long.

Story time.....

Game time.......

Garyn, Ella, Max, Joley, and Jon Ryan go up to the playground (with adults) while we play with the camp kids

Painting rocks for our craft that day......

Again, by the end of the day everyone was tired. The little ones, though, were done by lunch time. Three of us went back with the 5 little ones and tried our best to get them to take a nap...but they still were able to play inside out of the heat and chill out. I went back with them Mon. and Tues. , Wed. I stayed at the park.

Joley didn't quite make it to lunch that day......

JP all worn out....

Like usual, we had a great dinner and fellowship time out by the pond. That night was taco/burrito night! (can you tell this family revolves around food?) We discovered that Garyn is ready for a scooter.....this is a pic of Jon Ryan and Ella but the pink/purple scooter Ella is on is the one Garyn has just about mastered. He'll be getting a boy one for his birthday, I'm sure.

So Tuesday and Wednesday went about the same, but after lunch it started raining today, which ruined our game time. Some parents came to pick them up, some didn't. The guys found another form of entertainment, and I am just glad Garyn was not there....I'm sure he would have been out there with daddy. This pic is of Tyler on the natural slip and slide the rain made.

Whew, it was wet and cold, a lot different from hot and sweaty.

When we got back to the campground, we found that Garyn had another injury. I don't have a picture unfortunately...I'll try to get one up soon. But he fell on a chair and has a cut below his left puffy, bruised eye. As soon as one knot/bruise starts to fade....he gets another.

Pray that is the worst injury he gets this week! Also, pray for our campers, we shared the ABCs of salvation today and we hope it will stir their hearts enough to keep questioning, even if its after we leave. We are really forming bonds with the kids and hope we are impressing good memories, at least, in their lives.

Time for bed...

We've Arrived!

So we have arrived to Hurricane, WV for our mission trip.....can't wait to make some kind of impact in my life or others here in this town that seems like any other town to me.

We had a good trip up in the church van/bus, after much debate about whether to drive or ride, we rode and enjoyed it. Russ was the driver...he did a good job according to Ms. Evie our own Ms. Daisy you could say

Yes, Kent rode all the way here hanging on to the side of the bus.... :)

Garyn made friends quickly.....he seems to have taken to JP there

Our humbly abode for the next week.....

Never having camped quiet like this, I had no idea what to expect. This little guy fits our needs perfectly. Snug on the inside but has all we need for the little amount of time we will actually be in it. Below is our dining room for the week....I love the quaintness of this picture....

And this is our first meal!! Ohhh it was so yummy! Pork lion, salad, green beans, mac & cheese, bread, cookies and sweet tea was for dinner.......man this week is starting off great! I don't think I have to worry about Tyler needing all those snacks I brought

Dinner time...notice natural pond behind us.....the kids were having a hard time staying away including Garyn.......you'll see what I mean below

Garyn , with chocolate on his face, decided to run from one side of the shallow creek/mud pit to Julie D. on the other side....notice the leg

Now notice the butt......




Now notice how my leg is also covered.......Garyn is kicking because he didn't see why we had to leave the mud to go take a shower.....

The mud was so thick that both my shoes and Garyn's were stuck in it........Garyn kept saying "I sorea" which means I'm sorry

We graced the showers within 2 hours of arrival, which BTW are lovely! This family bathroom is bigger than our camper and so nice!!

SO that is our first half of the day....I am so excited about the trip....I think God is really going to show me that I don't need to worry about my needs being met, He has all that under control, I just need to follow His lead

Must get to sleep...we are heading to the church tomorrow and teaching the kids SS then having a block party to try and get more awareness out about the upcoming week!

I will try to post more later......Thanks Julie for the pics!

Summer fun

hello...hello...

man I never thought I would go this long without blogging......

but SUMMER is here!!!

At one point in my life, summer was relaxing, swimming, traveling and it still is now but MORE HECTIC!!

Having a husband that teaches should mean summers off, right?? wrong

Honestly I don't know if it has ever been that way for any teacher. This summer is busier, though, for him. He found out 2-3 weeks before school was out that he was going to be the Technology coach next year. Basically, manages all the computers and their up keep, as well as, helping the teachers use them in their classroom. The next week, he found out he was going back to Red Bank Football!

Yes, we have switched again....I was the most apprehensive about it, honestly, between the family and such. More so because I hated for him to move back and forth. Also, I didn't want there to be any hard feelings towards him, from either coaching staff, that would make him feel awkward in his position. HOWEVER, I am now very excited to be back to our alma mater!!

Back to summer talk....

Between football and this new tech job, Tyler has been at school form 7:30-3 just about everday since school got out. Now, he is getting paid more, which what girl doesn't love, and he is pretty flexible about when he has to be there. Football is the only times that are set in stone, but the tech stuff is more on his time.

So.....on top of that I am trying to work one day, or night I should say, extra a week when we are going to be home. And we have two vacations planned.....one is tomorrow, the other is July 4th.

I'm I rambling or what?!

Summer has just started and I feel like it is already over....I am being so pessimistic right now for some reason.....summer is going to be great.....there, thats better!

In between all of that, there will be some swimming, cookouts, family visiting, movies, boat fun, eating out, shopping, reading books, more swimming!!

AND our anniversary yesterday started it all off!!

June 4th, 2005 we were beautifully married at St. Paul's church and went to Hawaii on our honeymoon......I so wish I had time for pictures

4 years! I feel like this is a milestone when it isn't, just seems like we are no longer considered newly weds, we crossed over a hump or something......nothing compared to these guys who celebrated 53 years of marriage on the 4th as well!

Yes, we got married on Tyler's grandparents' anniversary and also both of their birthdays!! Isn't that precious...to share your birthday and anniversary! For that reason, we had no problem chosing June 4th, which fell on a Saturday in 2005. We knew that their precedence of marriage and commentment could only help us!

Now we have our little man, as Tyler calls him. Children are definitely a marriage tester, in my opinoin. Sleep deprivation, tight budget, and not to mention the fact that you both gain too many pounds during the pregnancy, all of these test your patience and love. We made it through and I know God was right there with us! His amazing patience and love for us carries us through those trials of life.

Tomorrow we leave for Hurricane, West Virginia to go on our first mission trip as a family. Garyn is going, if you didn't catch that. I am very excited to see how God works on this trip in us and through us. There are so many unknowns, I think God has gotten exactly what he wants through those unknowns, our full trust and submission.

Unknowns:

1)We are staying on a campground in rented pop up campers--we have no idea what they look like or offer in terms of space/beds

2) We are having VBS/kids day-camp for an unknown amount of kids--could be 30-150-??

3)The 37 people that are going include about 16 kids, 8 that are 5 and under including Garyn. We are a little miffed about how much we moms will actually be able to help while taking care of our own.

4) We, Tyler and I, have not planned any of this trip as in what all we will be doing, eating, where we are sleeping, etc. I mean we won't even have our own vehicle! And as a teenager that was not scary, but now as parents, that has been the hardest part for us. Giving up control.

It is nice, though, to just pack.......and we packed a lot not knowing our amenities and daily scheldule. 2 large bags plus 2 small bags. We had to bring our own towels, sheets, blankets, pillows, as well as our clothes and such. So pray for us and the others on our trip. We are helping a church that a missionary couple just started a year or so ago. Next Saturday is when we return.

Garyn is getting bigger, this summer he will be 2!! I can't believe how much he has been changing here resently. He is talking a lot more and is starting to lose that baby look! Getting lots of independence, too. Wants to feed himself, buckle himself in the car, put his shoes on....which he can not do any of these very well yet. He says "No" to me a lot.....time outs and spankings are becoming more frequent.


I must go now....I still have a few toys, snacks and books to pack for our 6-7 hour bus ride tomorrow.