Big Week!

So this last week marked Hudson's first week of Jr. High. He survived!!! :) I think he more than survived, I think he actually enjoyed it! He enjoys the freedom that comes with being in 7th grade....better lunch choices, having a locker...and I don't think he's too sad about the ladies either. :)

It was also a big week because Olivia and I embarked upon the adventure that is homeschooling. The first few days were challenging, with potty training, making sure Ella doesn't choke on things she mysteriously finds, and laundry. But we made it. I think once we got in the groove, it started going smoothly....I think. :) The nice thing about having her home is, now she can homeshool Griffin when she is finished with her own work....and she does. So far he is being cooperative, sitting and listening to her instruction...even answering questions when called upon. We'll see how long this lasts.... Sometimes she is kind of mean though...I told her she can't yell at the student when she is a teacher. Well, not until he gets to 3rd grade. Did I mention that Olivia is in 3rd grade?

This weekend we had the amazing honor of speaking in Piedmont, Oklahoma, at Spring Creek Worship Center. The pastors there, Craig and Michelle Eidson, were my youth pastors growing up. Being with them reminded me of how much I missed them...they are always a such good time! It was so great to see the church that they planted there in Piedmont. It was wondeful to see their kids, Cody and Heather. I use to babysit for Cody and Heather when their parents did Chi Alpha every Tuesday night. I told them I hoped that they didn't remember when I babysat...honestly, I don't know how good at it I was. Although, they are still alive, so I guess I did the job well enough. Heather said she didn't have any bad memories...that was good news. On another note, Randy said he thought Cody was in our wedding...does anyone out there remember if this is accurate or not??? Anyway, we also got to see Randy and Dovey Thomas. Ah, they are such great people, too. They were youth sponsors while I was growing up. (I think we all did a fantastic job of making each other feel really old) Anyway, Randy, Dovey and their 3 children have been helping the Eidsons since they planted the church. It made me think of the people who helped us in planting Life Fellowship. You can't do it without the help of people like that...it was a blessing to see them all working together.

It's always nice when we go to our home states to minister. This weekend we got to stay with my grandparents, Chuck and Inez Freeman. We love them so much. It was my grandpa's birthday...I am not sure which one, as he and grandma don't openly discuss such things. :) I'm quite certain he isn't a day over 60 though. My kids love seeing them so much...so do Randy and I. We know we are extremely blessed to have them in our lives.

We also visited with my cousin, Melanie, her husband Mike, her son, Sam, and an interesting little neighbor girl named cadence. She seemed to have a good time with Ella under the dining room table...there was no crying so I figured everything was ok. Anyway, Mike has an extensive collection of videos about many of the first missionaries to go around the world. Believe it or not, he had one about a missionary to Swaziland in the early 1900's. It was really cool to watch...and apparently Randy is going to have to start calling me mama....it seems to be the African thing to do... :) It was a great week...and now on to the next! Thanks for all the prayers!

Blessings to you all!
~Mama

Over the Weekend

So, it's official...we are the worst travelers ever! Every time we go somewhere Randy forgets some part of his preacher clothes ensemble....every time...without fail. And sometimes, when I'm really unlucky, he forgets part of my ensembles, too! The other reason we are the worst travelers ever is because we leave something, something we did not intend to leave, every where we go. It's inevitable. It happens no matter how hard we try to prevent it. It's getting really old. How many bottles of advil or belts, undershirts, and shampoo can we possibly replace without it reaching ridiculous proportions??? And don't get me started on missionary orientation, when my entire wardrobe for the week was left hanging in the closet....at home. I'm proud of me though...I haven't yelled about it. And that is a missionary miracle in and of itself! :)

Anyway, I will move on... This last weekend we drove to OKC and spent the night with my grandparents. We love seeing my grandparents. They are the kind of people you just can't help but love, and spending time with them is always a lot of fun. We went to my cousin's (on my mom's side) wedding Saturday. It was good to see all of my aunts, uncles and cousins. We always laugh a lot...and LOUD! It's what we do. :) Then on to Weatherford. We spent the night with my parents because our service Sunday was out their direction. It's always a good time there...more loud laughing. :) My dad took Hudson and Olivia to the Hydro Fair. I've never been there myself, but apparently it's really quite something! Randy and I stayed home, unpacked and put the little kids to bed. We woke up early this morning and headed to Hobart for services. The pastor and his family were so incredibly sweet to us. Thank you, Pastor Reston, for booking us on such short notice...we appreciate your generosity so much. It was a wonderful church, and we feel so blessed that we had the opportunity to go there. The people were so kind, and it was good to connect with more of the family of God. Traveling around has been such a blessing to us. God's people are beautiful...everywhere you go!

Well, that sums up the last few days. Thanks again for all the prayers! Be blessed!

A Long Trip

In some ways the weeks feel like they're flying by. In other ways, mostly when we are in the van, time feels like it's standing still. I've learned that some interstates have a hamster wheel feel to them....we drive and drive and drive, but never feel like we are going anywhere. The kids travel really well. We rarely hear from Hudson and Olivia in the back seat. Griffin will talk to himself all day if necessary, and Ella is fine.... as long as we schedule trips around her desired nap times (she has a way of making us try to do that).

This past Sunday we were in Hardy, AR. Pastors Stan and DeAnna Jones are long time family friends. It was so good to see them and their church. Hardy is way up there in the northeast corner of Arkansas. The scenery is beautiful. There's a river that runs through town that comes from a natural spring, so the water is always 58 degrees. Stan and DeAnna, and their son and daugther in law, Jason and Sarah showed us around town a bit Saturday. It was so hot! It was so humid! The kind of heat and humidity that makes a person feel crazy. Well, it makes me feel crazy anyway. By the time we got to the river I was reaching levels of heat insanity. I don't know if it's an actual disease, but I am quite certain I suffered from it. I couldn't get to that river fast enough. It felt wonderful. Ella cried to put her in, and Griffin and Olivia "fell" in. I'm quite certain it was on purpose. It was so good to hang out with all of them. We love the Jones family dearly. Being with them is like being with family. We enjoyed their church, and they took such good care of us there. We are honored to call them friends.

Because this trip was a little longer than normal, my mind often wondered to the times when I was growing up and my family traveled as evangelists. Traveling to new churches and hotels, or staying in our travel trailer for weeks on end. How my parents made it I will never know. As a kid I can remember hanging a coat over my head in the pick up just for some alone time. There were times during this trip I wanted a coat...obviously the day at the river was not one of them.

For those of you who care about Griffin's potty progress, read on. For those of you who don't...this is your out. :)

Griffin did excellent on the trip! You will notice that he has a sucker in his mouth in almost every picture. :) Turns out, he was a potty genius. Probably the easiest of all my kiddos to train. Go figure....

God is So Good

Well, this past Sunday we were in McKinney at Hertage Assembly of God with Pastor MacLaughlin. We enjoyed our time there very much, getting see familiar faces, and getting to know new ones. It's always fun getting to meet new people in different churches.

We were busy this week with booking services, writing thank you notes(which always reminds us of how good God is), and potty training Griffin. :) We are pleased to say that he seems to be catching on quite quickly...especially when dum dum suckers as a reward were introduced. Hopefully the damage to his teeth will be minimal. :)

Wednesday, the pastor from McKinney Worship Center took Randy and Hudson to lunch, then had the tires and break pads on our van replaced. It was such a blessing! Then Hudson went to his house and hung out with his sons. It sounds like they played guitar, piano, and talked about whatever teenage boys talk about. :) Hudson also went to youth with them that night...it is still hard to believe he's old enough to do that sort of thing....but he had a good time.

Last night we attended a sectional family fellowship dinner. We enjoyed fried chicken, and good company. :) It was so nice to see some of the pastors and church leaders that we have had servcies with. Traveling has afforded us the chance to get to know so many in our section much better than we did before. As we all said good bye, Griffin went on his usual round of hugs tour. I'm pretty sure he sees everyone as family...we are glad about this. :)

Today we head out for Hardy, Arkansas. We have really been looking forward to this church, as it was planted by good family friends, Stan and DeAnna Jones. We can't wait to see them!!! We will leave this evening, stopping in Texarakana to see Randy's family. It will be good to see them, it's been a while! Normally the trip would be a little over 7 hours, but with Ella and her dislike for travelling in more than 1 hour intervals, and Griffin and his new ability to use a toilette, it will likely take us much longer. :)

As always, God is providing in amazing ways. The pledges keep coming in, sometimes from people we don't know, and sometimes from wonderful churches that we have gotten to know over the last few months. We stand in awe of all that God has done for us. We are so blessed! Thank you for all your prayers and support. We appreciate it so very much!!!

And the Traveling Continues...

This past Sunday we had the privilage of itinerating in Oklahoma. Since we were in the state of my kinfolk, we decided to drive in a couple of days early... so we drove on over to Weatherford on Thursday night. My parents had just gotten in from a mission's trip to South Africa....so they were still a little groggy from the time change. Fortunately, this did not stop my mom from making her amazing coconut cake. I don't ask what is in it, I don't want to know. The important thing is, while there I have it for breakfast, afternoon snack, bedtime snack, and occasionally in between. You know it's good because it has like 42 different ingredients. Which is why I don't make it....I'm partial to recipes with 4 ingredients or less....

While there, some of the mission trip's team members, Dan and Vivian Sparks, had a pool party. It was fantastic! The kids jumped in the water, flipped in the water, dove into the water, slid into the water...well, Hudson and Olivia did...Griffin stayed on the steps. That's his M.O. these days...but he does it with a smile and a giggle so whatever. It was good to see all of the people from Weatherford that we got to see. We love them all so much!

Sunday morning we got up super early and drove into Tonkawa, Oklahoma where our service was. We met some really wonderful people there, and enjoyed the service very much. Afterwards, a dear family had us over for lunch. And WOW! Could they ever cook!!! Hudson had 4 helpings of banana pudding. They had a huge garden where they had picked all the green beans, potatoes and okra that day. It was super delicious! Thank you to Melvin and Brenda Osburn. We enjoyed our day so much!

Because the drive from Tonkawa to Allen is a little long...especially with Ella in the van, we decided to stay at my grandparents lake house near Arbuckle Lake. We got there around 8 p.m. Hudson and Olivia got to swim a little in the pool there....and Griffin got to sit on the steps some more. :) We also tried a chinese food restaurant there in Sulfur, Oklahoma. If you have heard bad things about the place...don't tell me....we enjoyed the food. :) My new approach to non-chain restaurants is...~I'm moving to Africa, I may as well be flexible on this issue.

So, today we woke up early...thank you Ella. Hudson and Olivia went for a quick swim, and then we headed to Allen. Trips take a little longer than they are suppose to...we stop...a lot. But we've decided there is no need to get in a hurry. It would just make us and the kids miserable. And we don't want itineration to be miserable.

Thanks for all the prayers and support. Here's the quick update of this weekend. Blessings to you all!

You Have Our Hearts!

Well, tomorrow some missionary friends of ours are leaving for their appointed country. We haven't met them in person yet, but we are excited to do so. We've watched them post on facebook about selling everything they own. We've watched them post on facebook about saying their good bye's to family and friends. We've also watched them post on facebook about packing the 15 suitcases that they are allowed to take with them as they move their family. It has been exciting to watch! Everytime I see their posts I put myself in their place. I think to myself, oh how exciting this must be! I can't wait to be so close! Although I have to admit, the posts of their good byes made me teary eyed....because I know some day soon we will be in their shoes. As they posted saying good bye to parents, siblings, friends...again, I put myself in their place...and I am not sure I can imagine how difficult this must be. And yet, we can't get away from it as a family. We all (well, those of us who can talk) say everyday..."we just can't wait to get there!" "we wish we were moving today!" We are all so excited to be in Swaziland! Our friends who are leaving tomorrow, the Goodlings, are also moving to Swaziland. We will all be working together, along with the Drews, Amanda Koll, and the Myers. Swaziland, you have our hearts, and we cannot wait to be there! Thanks to all of you who support us with prayers and finances. It's an honor to be able to serve in this capacity. We are beyond excited for all that God is doing and is going to do in that country. And to the Goodlings, we will see you on the other side of the world just as soon as we can!

Our Favorite Thing

As we travel and itinerate one of our prayers is that we will minister to the churches that we go to. More than just raise funds from them, we want to bless them. Raising support is a necessary part of what we do. We have to gather the cash budget to get us to the field and monthly pledges to keep us there. It is not a dread to us or burden to us to raise money. I don’t know that I would call it a joy yet, but it is what it is.

I guess, offering people the opportunity to give and partner with us financially is ministry. I’m not sure there is any greater discipline for the heart than the obedient investment of our finances. Jesus did say that where we invest our money reveals the position of our heart. I have always found it funny that Jesus had so much to say about money, but if a minister does these days he’s considered a crook.

Nonetheless, raising money is fine and we embrace it as a part of what we do, but we love to be a blessing to people in other ways. To leave something with them that encourages and strengthens them really is our aim. We are noticing a couple of very interesting things though. God is taking care of the finances. As we simply share the need without violating our conscience by being obnoxious or pushy, He’s speaking to people. We are also noticing that God is using these churches to minister to us way beyond money!

Our favorite thing about itinerating so far is that at the end of almost every service, the church gathers around us and prays. Oh, it is so awesome! They pray these amazing faith filled prayers for our ministry. They pray these powerful prayers of protection. THEY BLESS OUR CHILDREN! As I’m sitting here with tears on my cheek, I’m reflecting on the things that have been spoken over my children and their ministry to Swaziland. Dez and I are not in this alone, our kids are a part of this team. We knew that, but we are so thankful that others know that to.

Your financial support is such an encouragement to us. We can’t get there and stay without it. However, your prayer support is our favorite thing!

RF