Summer 2009

Whew.

I am exhausted!

This has been such a busy summer but one of the greatest summers ever! We traveled many miles and we were privileged to see the Lord change many lives! God is good and we are thanking him for His goodness.

Here is a recap of our summer through pictures (Warning: Lots of pictures ahead of you!)

1.The summer busyness began when we took our students to Global Youth Camp in North Georgia. I don't think any of us expected to see the Lord move in the way He did. We took 23 people (19 youth, 4 adults). One of our students accepted the Lord as his Savior, One rededicated his life, 4 students accepted the call to ministry, 2 young men stepped up and rose to their call of Leadership and the youth group as a whole began the journey of growing as a close knit family. We were so blessed! The Lord revealed to Mike and I how blessed we were to be apart of what He is doing here. We love these kids!


2.Two days after returning from Global, we took the students that were attending World Changers to a local lake for a World Changers Pre-Retreat! We had a great time learning Leadership, Teamwork, How to share the Gospel, and just enjoying being with one another.

3.The following weekend we packed up our things and moved to this house! The Lord was so gracious to us and provided us this home to rent. We are in the same neighborhood as three church families and we are only paying $80 more dollars a month then we were for our apartment (Which is half the size).


4.We then took a nice week vacation to visit Mom, Dad, Gran, Granddaddy, and Eric and Malissa. The boys enjoyed swimming, eating watermelon, riding in their car, and american flags! They got lots of lovin' from lots of people for a long time. The boys stayed with my mom an extra 13 days while Mike and I took the students to World Changers.







5.Next Stop: Evansville, Indiana for World Changes. We had a great time and the students enjoyed serving the Lord through working on homes and making connections with the community.
This is Mike's Crew:
"Dusty, Dirty, Down Right Determined"

This is my crew:
"Short Cuts"

Mike and I at dinner

Attempting to pick up a sledge hammer.
Who knew they were so heavy?

The whole group at Holiday World on our day off.

Ok, this is so neat!
This man's name is ROGER SPURGEON. His great, great grandfather is THE CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON! We met him and shared with him that Jeremiah is named after his gggrandfather! He shared with us some family stories about CHS and his children. It was very cool.

6. After we got back from World Changers we went to pick the boys up and when we returned this is what we noticed we had been flamingoed by our students! (The youth flamingoed church members homes as a fundraiser for World Changers. In order for the flamingo's to be removed they family pays $20 and they get to pick who to send it to)



7. The boys had a doctor's appointment and I needed some help, so some of the girls came with me. They are such a help!
Jeremiah must have known he was getting shots today


8. Our final youth event, was a Backyard Bible Club at a local ministry center in downtown. The students had a great time working with the kids and serving in our own community.




9. The students threw me a surprise birthday party last week! Mike took me to Olive Garden then lured me back home were they were all awaiting me! It was so sweet and thoughtful.


Me with The Party Planning Committee
Mike gave me some perfume for my birthday

10.Mike and I loaded the boys up this past Thursday and traveled to Eric and Malissa's. Mike was going to help Eric with his house, so the boys and I tagged along.
We stopped at Lane Packing Co. for some bathroom breaks, diaper changes, and homemade ice cream.
Mike placed Michael in a tree. And he loved it. It scared me a bit - I'm not gonna lie!

Well I think that about raps up our summer. I have a few pics from a yard sale adventure and a wedding, but I will save that for another post.

I am hoping to start blogging again - I know, I know, I say that everytime! But I really do want to be more consistent.