"The Best Year Ever"

Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?' then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land'; "for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever."
Joshua 4:21-24

After my last post, I just had to post this picture. Isn't this awesome?? We returned Sunday from a few days in our "little house in the big woods." We've been going there for about 6 years, sometimes twice a year. It was a wonderful time! There were about 10 families there this year, and everyone had a great time of fellowship. One afternoon, most of the younger kids (and one energetic dad!) spent the better part of an afternoon constructing this in the creek, just up from where the photo in my last post was taken. I just love it! They even used some vines to tie together the beams of the cross. And the pile of stones... I posted about the Ebenezer stone in my last post, this one makes me think of Joshua stones. In Joshua 4 I love how they took stones from the middle of the Jordan (while it was parted) and set up stones on the other side to remind them that God had parted those waters and made a way for them. What a wonderful reminder!

Which makes this photo all the more meaningful for me:God truly did part the way and make a way for Minte to be with us. Thus far the Lord has brought us, and He will continue to lead. This picture brings such amazing thoughts to my mind. God is so good.

Here are a few other pictures from our time away last week...

My sweet little Zacchaeus, the "wee little dog." He totally doesn't get the "outside dog" concept at all. But, he is a trooper.

I love this picture! Minte was truly a "blur" most of the week, speeding by on his bike and running around with his friends. It was fun to watch (and try to capture with a camera!)

A man and his dog.

Wendem. ("brothers")

Lots of fun with friends, here playing Uno, Minte's "numero uno" favorite American game so far.

Bethany with her adorable friends. These girls warm my heart and give me hope for the next generation!

Snuggling by the campfire with my cute husband on a chilly spring morning. It just doesn't get any better than this!

On the last day, Kyle said, "This was the best year ever, because we were ALL here."

Amen to that.

"Spur" Of The Moment Vacation

SO... where did we go this weekend?

Here are some hints:

Yes, we headed to San Antonio! It's been rainy everywhere, but we decided to take our chances and head south. Luke and I realized a few months ago that our kids have seen the world, but not much of our fair state, so with work being slow due to the rain we decided it would be a fine time to take them on a "San Antonio Spur"-of-the-moment trip to Sea World and the Alamo. We had a great time! I was finishing folding some laundry when he called from work to say, "Hey, let's do it!" so I just diverted laundry into some duffle bags and off we went!

We arrived late after taking the dogs to be boarded and sitting in rush hour traffic leaving town. Once we arrived to our hotel we realized that the only room available was a smoking room, which didn't work for us at all. SO, here we were on a weekend, in the summer, looking for a hotel room in a major tourist town. We drove from hotel to hotel, Luke would go in a ask what they had and I would be on my cell phone calling the ones in the travel guide. On our way to one that seemed okay, he happened to pull into one we hadn't seen. Just what do you think the Lord provided? A beautiful Marriott Courtyard that had only been open for four days! We had a beautiful suite and more than likely, we were the first people to ever stay in it. Instead of smoke, it smelled of fresh paint, new carpet, and fresh linens. Heaven.


Ready for a fun day!

A theme park is a busy place on a summer Saturday, but way more fun than being home doing chores, which inevitably happens if you're around the house on the weekend...

Feeding the dolphins

A mother-daughter "myspace" picture and a family picture on the way to the waterpark. where we had fun floating around the lazy river and splashing around before heading back to some of the shows.

How do they DO that???

Shamu was so fun, we went to that show twice. (The second show was a different one.) Am I the only one who cries when they play that music and Shamu and the trainer swim around together?? I'm such a sap!

It was a perfect day!

Breakfast on the Riverwalk the next morning on our way to the Alamo.

Visiting the Alamo was a perfect cap-off to our study of Texas History this year. It was a great weekend!

I hope you had a great weekend as well. Isn't summer spontaneity fun?

My Life These Past Few Weeks...

Whew! I'm unpacking. Not only luggage, but also my thoughts. I've seen so much these past three weeks. God is moving mightily on this earth, among the nations as well as in my own heart. Thank you so much for taking this journey with me! It's taking me awhile to unload my bags and upload my pictures, but here are a few things I'd love to share, now that I'm back and have strung a few hours of sleep together. (In a row! Bonus!)

Here is our approach into Hong Kong, before we went on to our city. It's a beautiful landing, but it looks like you're landing on water, which is... interesting.

One of the first places we visited in our city was a huge Buddhist temple. I wish I could upload the sounds of the chanting and the smell of the incense. It was very, very powerful. The monks were chanting/singing a prayer, the "tune" of which sounded a lot like "Nothing But The Blood." So that's what we sang as we stood watching. It was a neat moment.


I am the LORD; that is my name!I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. Isaiah 42:8



Bethany made lots of friends wherever she went. Here she is with some girls at a shop. She always took the opportunity to share the gospel when she could, and exchanged email addresses with people. Hopefully she'll stay in touch.


Here she is impressing me with her ability to order for us in Chinese.
The 3 teens on our team had prepared a very bold puppet show, which they performed at a couple of different schools. This was at an autism school, where the parents were in attendance with their kids. The adults, especially, were very attentive during a story about how God is always with us, how He loves us and made everything around us. They were fascinated by the story of Noah. What a privilege to share these stories with them!
The puppets would come out and "meet" the children after the performance. Most of the kids had a really good time putting their fingers in the puppet's mouth! It was a great chance to love on these kids, most of whom had never seen any sort of puppet show before.

After this performance, we got a chance to talk to small groups of the kids to explain the story to them. Very, very cool opportunity. They (adults and kids alike) always make the "peace" sign for pictures. The red scarves indicate that their families are Communist Party members. Here I am with a group of women after an "English Corner," where we would help them practice their English. They were very interested in my beliefs, which I was very excited to share. I was able to meet with the girl on the left again later in the week, as she had many questions and is not yet a believer.

After we finished our work in our city, we went to Beijing where we toured the Summer Palace. Here is some of the beautiful architecture.



We went to the jade factory where they are inlaying the jade on the back of the Olympic medals for the '08 Olympics in Beijing. The back of the gold medals will have white jade, which is very rare. The back of the silver will have light green, also rare, and the back of the bronze will have the green jade that we typically see. I think they're beautiful! It was a great opportunity to see what the medals look like "up close."
Watching the Lord capture the heart of my daughter has been an amazing privilege.


Just a few hours after I landed at home, I packed another bag and headed here: We stayed in this beautiful house in Maryland with 9 other people, relaxing and listening to author and speaker Os Guinness. I understood much more than I did last year, and relished the opportunity to get away with Luke, who I hadn't seen in 12 days!

It was such a privilege to get to fellowship with Dr. Guinness, who is truly one of the great minds in Christendom today. He is so humble and personable. He had just returned from China himself a couple of weeks ago, so we had something in common!

This was my view each morning, overlooking the Chesapeake Bay, and where Luke and I would enjoy our coffee and Bible reading. Dr. Guiness spoke out of the book of Jeremiah each morning, and then spoke on different topics before lunch and in the evenings.

I loved spending time with my cute husband after being absent from each other. This time was truly a gift!

We had time before our flight out of Reagan airport to take in some of the sights in D.C.

Two Great Thinkers

A wreath placed at the WWII memorial. It was really neat to be there so close to Memorial Day.

I don't know how God has seen fit to let me experience what I have in recent days. He is so, so good. It feels good to be home. It is now officially "summer" and I am looking forward to relaxing with my kids, reconnecting with family, swimming, and planning school for next year.

After I get all of our laundry done, that is.

Again, thank you to those of you who have taken this journey with me. Your comments and emails of support, and especially your prayers buoyed me during some tumultuous times right before I left, and helped me stay sane while I was gone. God truly used you in my life these past few weeks, and I felt like you were right there with me in China. May the blessings return to you a hundred fold.

Now... I've got to go so I can visit your blogs! Love y'all!

Email Updates

Hey blogging sistas! I've been debating how to do this... Several of you have indicated to me that you would like to keep up with us during our days in China. I will not have access to my blog from there, most likely, though I will have email. (Even if I could blog from there, I'm not sure if I would. From what I understand, the gov't has blocked access to blogs from there recently.) SO, if you would like for me to add you to an email group for my husband to forward messages to, would you please email me (you can get to my email from my profile) and I'll put you in a group. I'll be finalizing the group on Friday. My sweet husband told me yesterday that he would post on my blog for me while I'm gone, so I'm giving him a quick "Blogging 101" class this week, too. I'm just not sure how much info should go on the internet vs. what would be better for private email.

I'll be waiting to hear from you!

What about now?

I sat prayerfully on the couch with my calendar yesterday. I opened it up and thumbed through it, asking God when would be a good time to visit my sweet Grandmother (just 3 or so hours from here, in west TX) As the weeks progress, the calendar is dotted with babysitting jobs to which my hard-working daughter has committed, missions meetings, homeschool field trips, Awana ministry responsibilities, and classes. Something inside me kept whispering, "What about tomorrow?" So, "tomorrow" has turned into "today," and we're going. I love, love, LOVE visiting my grandmother. Time with her really feeds my soul. The idea of stealing a few days away for a visit had been brewing in my mind for a week or so, then I read a post over at Linda's about a sweet visit with her mother, and it so beautifully described how blessed I feel when I go see Grandmother. Thank you, Linda, for that inspiring post!

My daughter came in yesterday while I was getting ready for Awana and I told her we were leaving town. She said, "Mom, this... this just isn't like you. You like things so planned!" Well, we do have a plan. The plan is to throw some outfits in a bag, put a crate o' school in the car, and go. My sweet husband has topped the gas tank and washed the van. He'll be fine for a couple of days (and may actually enjoy the quiet!).

I may get to blog while we're gone. She may be 80- something but she's techno-savvy! I blogged from her computer last summer here and even composed my humble addition to Buttprints in the Sand during my visit there, LOL.

So, my "What about tomorrow?" has come. How about you? Is there someone you'd like to visit or call, but can't find the time? Prayerfully search your calendar. I bet it's in there!

What about tomorrow? What about now?

Love y'all!

Thursday Thirteen

Well, Laurel has not only blessed me this morning, she has also inspired me to do a "Thursday Thirteen." Her recent post about packing to travel with kids, the fact that we're spending next week out of town (in the woods!), and the fact that my mind has been wandering back to Ghana lately... inspired me to do my first-ever T13 on:

Thirteen Things I Always Travel With

1. My Bible
2. My iPod/mp3 player. (Along with extra/backup batteries) Because sometimes I need to be alone. Even when surrounded by people.
3. Almond M&M's
4. My daughter, the best world traveler I know!
5. Make up (because I love my traveling companions too much)
6. Brush-ups (for the same reason as #5)
7. My stress vitamins
8. My sleepy vitamins (I get these at Walmart)
9. Extra sunglasses (Standing around squinting is so unattractive.)
10. Lots and lots of underwear (Mom, I put this in just for you.)
11. Something to read
12. A blank book to write in
13. Flip flops Because they're the shoes God intended us to wear, and also because they're handy for defending yourself against creatures. (But not geckos. Because I'm growing.)

May God bless all of your journeys in the days and weeks to come!