The Best Decision I Ever Made

28 years ago, today, I made the absolute best decision in my life. You're probably thinking .(hopefully) Kami's not old enough to have been married 28 years ago...or have kids...what could it be? Although those are extemely important moments in my life, the very most important, and very best decision I have ever made was when I decided what would happen to my eternal soul. 28 years ago today I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior!

My church (Winkler Road Baptist Church) used to hold Halloween Parties and have Haunted Houses at the church when I was little. For many good reasons, they no longer do that, but, when I was 5 Mom took us to the party and Haunted House. Of course, I was scared, ate a bunch of candy, and had a great time. At the end of the night they held a small devotion. I honestly don't remember anything the preacher said. But, I do remember at the end he asked us to bow our heads and close our eyes. Then, he asked a question that forever changed my life. He asked, "Is there anyone here that has never been saved? Is there anyone that doesn't know if they would go to heaven when they die?" Of course, being a 5 year old, I'd never been deep in heavy sin or rebellion, but, I knew that I wanted to go heaven when I died and I'd never done like the preacher had asked and asked Jesus in my heart. So, I raised my hand very innocently, but obediently. He then said if you have your hand raised to walk to the back of the room and someone would be there to talk to you. As I left my Mom's side, I walked to the back and saw Mrs. Grace Selby there. Mrs. Grace worked in Awana's and she was there waiting to talk to me! She took me into a little Sunday School room and shared some verses from the Bible with me about knowing how to have a home in heaven. She showed me Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" She explained that we were all sinners...people who do things that are wrong. I knew that. I knew at age 5 I wasn't a perfect little angel! Then, she showed me Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death" Since I have sin in my heart, like everyone else, I deserved hell. You see, sin cannot enter heaven, and the price I had to pay for my sin was death....death in hell forever. But, I'm so glad that God, in His mercy, didn't end the verse there! It goes on to say, "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" God had a very special gift for me. He loves me so much He didn't want me to go to hell when I die. He wants me to be in heaven with him! His gift to me is Heaven! Wow! But, like any other gift I can't work for it, or be really good..He's freely giving it to me! I can only have this gift because of what Jesus Christ did for me. He took all of my filthy sin and put it on himself on the cross of Calvary. He died and paid that wage for me, so I wouldn't have to! Thank you, Jesus. She then showed me Romans 10:13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved." Like all other gifts, this gift of heaven isn't forced on me. It's freely mine for the taking. All I had to do was call on the name of God...pray to Him! I had to pray and tell Him I know that I'm a sinner. I asked Him to forgive me for that sin and come into my heart and wash All my sin away. I then asked Him to save me from hell and take me to heaven when I die.
So, that's what I did. I prayed that night and the Lord saved me and now I'm on my way to heaven! Yipee! Since that day, I haven't been perfect, of course not! But, the Lord is with me to stay. I fail Him, yet I have the promise that He will never leave me, nor forsake me.
I'm so thankful for that day...October 31, 1981. Thank you Mom for being so faithful in attending every activity at church that we could go to.....if it weren't for going that night, I wonder when and if I would have been saved. Thank you, Mrs. Grace, for sharing the gospel with me! My life will never be the same....I'm so thankful for that decision! What about you...have you decided where you will spend eternity? We all must go to heaven or hell when we die. Have you accepted His gift?

Breakfast of Champions

I was a little nervous when I woke up today thinking about my appointment. So, I figured I should start the day with a good breakfast. I layered low-fat vanilla yogurt, mixed berries, and granola in a glass. The kids loved it! And I have to say it was a satisfying jumpstart to a busy day. This morning we decided to do another quick call to our Health Insurance to make sure everything is covered before I headed to my first prenatal appointment. This particular person told us of a few different things concerning our coverage. Needless to say, I was concerned our Birth Center and Midwifery services wouldn't be covered. With 5minutes to leave, I wasn't sure what to do...Go and possibly pay $5,000 out of our pocket? Go to a OB instead where we know we'll be covered (after deductible, of course :o) ? Wait and possible lose our status at the Birth Center? (There's a waiting list to get in) I'm so thankful for a level-headed husband who truly seeks the Lord's will for our lives. We truly believe the Lord has a plan and we just have to ask! He even has His hand in where we should have our baby! So, Patrick said for me to go ahead and go to the appointment and ask lots of questions about our insurance. If the questions can't be answered, then we'll wait. Well, 5 minutes before I arrived at my appointment (Patrick and the kids stayed home because my little Silas is sick. I've never been to a prenatal appointment by myself!!!) Patrick called. What a Godly man I have! He had been praying for the Lord's will and direction. He said go ahead and go to your appointment, don't worry somuch about the insurance questions, Everything will be okay. After I hung up with him, my worry left and the Lord gave me peace. God's peace is irreplacable! I went to the appointment and it's amazing!!! The midwife I am assigned to is also the midwife to a missionary in Chad, Africa. She said she's going through some of the same problems with itemized receipts, and bills. The Health administration is working on providing her with the needed items for her insurance company too! The midwife said that by the time we have our baby they will have it all figured out how to deal with our insurance company!! Isn't that amazing!
I really liked my midwife and her student midwife working with her. They both speak English!! Yay! They were very thoughtful and were in agreement with the desires I have for Birth. We are probably about 11 1/2 weeks right now and the baby's heartrate was a healthy 160. I go back in 2 weeks to have bloodwork done.
I'm so thankful for the Lord's guiding hand, His peace, and His umbrella of protection in my life...my husband. Thanks, Babe! You helped me through this almost difficult day and made it a fabulous one! You helped me have peace. I know you wanted to be there with me, but you're an awesome Dad to be able to take care of our 4 at home while I was taking care of the new baby. I love you!

Our meeting in Nova Scotia

We had a super meeting in Nova Scotia. The people of the church were very missions minded and knew our names before we even arrived. We stayed with Pastor and Mrs. Dodd and they were the perfect hosts. They gave us their bed and the other 2 bedrooms upstairs while they slept in the basement on a blow-up mattress. How Sweet! They truly have a servant's heart and made us feel so at home. Every service they brought in each of the flags of the missionaries that they already support. Then, they brought in the 3 flags representing the three countries the three missionaries they had are going to. When our french flag came by us we were supposed to stand. We loved it!

On Saturday they had a banquet. They decorated each table according to the 3 countries represented. They made our table look like a french flag with red, white and blue flowers.

They had these candy holders at our table too. (Don't worry, Mom, I saved you one!)

While waiting at the banquet, the children all colored flags. It was neat to have a nice banquet, but kid friendly, too!

On Sunday, they asked our girls if they would do the honor of carrying in the French flag.

On the way back to Quebec we decided to go through Maine again. You either have the choice to go north through New Brunswick and Quebec. You save about 45 minutes, but pay a whole lot more for gas and food. Or, you can go through south through Maine. In parts of Maine the colors are still very vibrant, it's so gorgeous!

Now, we're back in Quebec. Tomorrow I have my first prenatal appointment with the midwife at the Birth Center. I do have to say I am a little nervous. Please pray that the language barrier will be non-existent tomorrow and that I will feel comfortable about having the baby here. When we toured the birth center, we loved it! Now, I'm just not so sure about things. Please pray as we make decisions and try to do what it best for our family and new baby.

Half Way to Nova Scotia

Yesterday we left early for our upcoming Missions Conference in Nova Scotia. We woke up to snow! Yay! We stopped in Jackman, Maine for Silas's 9 month check-up and shots. He now weighs 19 pounds and 8 ounces. He really likes our doctor, Dr. Doyle. We're still watching his eye, he's had a clogged tear duct ever since he was born. We've been doing all of the massaging and warm cloths, but as of yet there is no change. Doctor Doyle says if he still has the problem at his one year check-up then he will be referred to a Pediatric Opthamologist for a minor surgery. Please pray this will clear up on its' own.
We made it St. Johns, Nova Scotia. It's funny because we don't know french yet, but we found ourselves saying Saint John with a french accent!
Please pray for us this week for the Friday-Saturday-Sunday meeting in Sackville, Nova Scotia. Especially pray for me, I will be giving a 15 minute testimony at the banquet Saturday night about my call to the mission field. Of course I'm nervous, but I love to share with others how good the Lord has been to me and the exciting place God has called us to.
Patrick posted some pictures on our family blog of our drive yesterday with the colors and snow
gimenezfamilylife.blogspot.com
Don't know when I'll have internet next, so until next time...

We're ready!! Bring on the Snow!

After lots of thrift store trips and some lovely gifts, I think we are ready for the snow. I've been sorting and trying to organize all of our winter gear. What do you do with all of that stuff??? I love having a "coat" closet in our hallway. The only problem is that it doesn't fit all our winter coats for a family of 6. So, our "coat" closet has all the kids winter coats, snow suits, and heavy fall coats. It's amazing how much room this stuff takes! I had Patrick hang some hooks at the top of the closet to hang all of our scarves. Robin had my Aunt Natalie knit these super thick scarves and hats for JEB. My Aunt Robin has the best tastes and picked out the perfect colors to match their jackets. Then, on the back of our living room door, We hung a shoe holder to place all of our hats and gloves in. We'll see how this system works for the winter, but it sure does feel good to have a place for everything and everything in its' place!

Friday's Family Fun Night

We had a terrific (everytime I spell that I think of the goose on Charlotte's Web...t, double e, double r, double r, double i, double f, double i, double c c c....)time for our Family Fun Night. We had lots of good food, well actually maybe not this time. We tried a pizza from our local grocery store...true Quebecois pizza. We didn't care for it and ended up having Bagels and Cream Cheese to fill us up. Oh well, it was worth a shot. The Triple Layer Brownie Cake was excellent once again. It's so rich we gave half away to our neighbor. He likes sweets, too! (Actually I only have two cake pans, so it was a Double layer :o) We played a game we bought at the thrift store, Deal or No Deal (But without all the scantilly clad women!) They have a way to play with 5 players and it was a lotof fun! Then, the really fun part where I learned some things about my family. Earlier in the week I told everyone to imagine we had to leave this house quickly with no hopes of return (pretty scary, I know) Not counting people and your Bible, what three things would you grab?
Here's everyone's answers:
Patrick (Mr. Practical)-his wallet, computer, and our files...duh! We couldn't even get out of the country without ID and passports!
Josh-his bird, his baby album, and his quilt I made for him
Beth-Macey (her stuffed dog) Maggy (her stuffed horse) her quilt
Brenna-her very first turtle she received in her turtle collection "parade" when she was 4, Sammy (her stuffed dog) her quilt
Me- I picked Josh, Beth, and Brenna's baby albums I've made for them. Silas is still young enough I can try to remember most of the memories and get copies of pics from Mom (or the computer Patrick remembered to bring!) but, JEB's albums would be hard to replace. There's so many memories, notes, and pictures.
Boo Hoo...what a sad subject!
But, it really makes us realize how attatched we are to things. Praise the Lord for the People in my life and the blessings that they bring. They are what is important to me! I'm thankful for all the "things" God has given me, but I'm so thankful for my family, for God's precious Word, and for my Salvation which will never be taken away from me!

My Boys Enjoying the Season

While the girls played Polly Pockets, Patrick and Josh went outside to play Football together. I figured that Silas and I could use some fresh air, too. So, I put on my boots, coat and scarf, then put on Silas's extra socks, hat and coat (Thanks Mam-maw, I love his coat! Do you know it's reversible?!!). Needless to say, it took a little bit of time...but, I'm not complaining! We're trying to enjoy this weather while we have it. I don't think they get this in the West Indies.
Once we got outside Josh played with Silas in our evergrowing pile of leaves. Silas still doesn't like to touch the leaves.

I love watching my boys play together. Josh can get Silas to smile so easily.

Do you notice Silas's drool? He still has a major drooling problem! Yuck! At least I know he's hydrated!

So, Silas sat in the leaves for 2 minutes, then we all went inside. That wind was cold! I'm still not too sure about this....get all your gear on = 10 minutes. Play outside = 2 minutes. HHHMMM??

Fridays

I don't know about you, but Fridays have always been special to me. When I was in Elementary school, Friday was the night I could stay up late and have friends over. I had so many Slumber Parties growing up. We watched movies, painted t-shirts (Mom, remember the purple paint on the dining room chair?), cooked any kind of junk food. Went shopping with Mom, and giggled a lot. I loved having friends over to spend the night and my parents were great about making things fun. Then, in high school, Friday night seemed to be the time I could go out with Patrick (if neither one of us was working) It was "Date Night". My Mom usually tagged along(that was the rule) and we all had a lot of fun together. It's funny because when my parents let me go out with Patrick alone, we often invited my Mom anyway because she was so much fun. Also, Friday night just had a relaxed, the week-end is here kind of feeling.

Well, now that I'm an adult, that hasn't changed. I love Friday Nights! I think my kids have caught the "Yay, it's Friday" bug, too! Language School is done at 11:30. Today, at 11:15 we looked out the window and Josh and Brenna were loading up the van with Silas's pack-n-play and their school bags. They were excited to get home for our Friday! Friday afternoon is the time we try not to study. This week has been super busy with studying through the afternoon and evening. It's nice to have a free afternoon to clear our heads! There's so many possibilites for this afternoon, I don't know what to do! I might do some quilting, or work on Keela's gift, or maybe I'll just take a nap! HHHMMMM? Then, tonight is our family fun night. We've got some fun things planned and our Triple Brownie cake is baking in the oven even now.

So, what do you do with your Fridays?

Have a great weekend...TGIF!!!

Elisabeth's model horse

One of the gifts Elisabeth received at Golden Harvest Baptist Church was a Breyer model horse to paint. She took her time and decided to paint it the colors of her favorite horse. She did an excellent job! Bless her heart, her brother dropped it and now it's a three legged horse. We're still in search for a piece of the missing leg so we can glue it back!

Double Yolks

Josh helped me go grocery shopping the other day. One of the things I had him run to get was 2 dozen eggs. ( By the way, How much are eggs where you live? Here they are $2.69 a dozen!) I've taught the kids to always check for cracked eggs before we buy them. Josh was so excited when he came back because all the medium eggs were mixed half white eggs, half brown eggs. We love brown eggs! When I made eggs for breakfast the next morning, one of the brown eggs was a double yolk. How cool! This made me think of two things. One, Mam-maw would always be so excited to show us when one of her chickens gave us a double yolk. Hers seemed to do that a lot! The second is when Caroline Ingalls brought in her eggs and Mrs. Olsen wanted to drop the price she would buy them for. Caroline said, "But 2 of them are double yolks!"

Happy Fall Y'All

Yesterday JEB spent about 2 hours raking our yard. They have been looking forward to having enough leaves to jump in, so when we got back from our trip and saw our yard covered, they were so excited to do some raking and jumping! It was a chilly 40 degrees, and super windy, but this didn't stop them from raking. It reminds me of the time when Josh was about 4 and my sister Tab and Mark and their family came to visit us in Carthage, Missouri. We went to the park and Mark raked leaves for the kids to jump in. The next day Josh was in the doctors office to have a huge thorn removed from under his fingernail. They had to give him three shots in his finger. Ouch!! Anyway, I told Josh, "This time...no thorns!!"

Silas is a little like Beth at this age. He doesn't like to touch grass or the leaves. But, he was happy to be outside playing.

Hope you all are having a great fall. This is my favorite season! I love the colors, the smells, the foods, and the anticipation of the Christmas to come!

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

Happy Thanksgiving (in Canada)

Today is Canada's Thanksgiving. It's a little different to not have pilgrims, parades, and football. But, we decided it's always good to be thankful...so we're celebrating! We decided to start the day with Pumpkin Pancakes. There's nothing like pumpkin to put you in an Autumn mood! My friend Shannon just sent me a recipe for Pumpkin Bread that I just can't wait to try! If you have any recipes that you love to make this time of year, please share them with me! What are your traditions for welcoming this time of year?
Here's the recipe for some yummy Pumpkin Pancakes. This makes about 36 silver dollar pancakes....more than enough for our family! Whenever I have leftover pancakes I put them in a ziplock in the freezer, and then pop them in the toaster for a quick breakfast or snack.
Mix :
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
In seperate bowl combine:
3 tablespoons sugar (I used splenda and we loved it!)
4 tablespoons oil (I used Canola)
1 1/2 cups milk (or buttermilk if you have it)
1/2 can pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
Gently mix both mixes together and bake on a lightly greased griddle.
Patrick gave me this huge griddle for Christmas last year. I had been wanting one for a while. It always seemed that for breakfast I would be the last to eat because no one really wants to eat cold eggs! Now, with my griddle, we eat breakfast together. I use it for so many things!
This morning I also put in the oven a nice big turkey! We love to use the slow roast method on our turkeys. They turn out very moist and tender and so flavorful. Josh says he loves smelling a turkey all day (or all night depending on when we're planning to eat!) it really gets him in a holiday mood. I love the drippings for an amazing gravy, too! I have a question though. Has anyone ever had a deformed turkey? Ours only has one wing...a little scary! Brenna loves the wings, so I guess she'll claim it, maybe. So, tonight we're having turkey, mashed potates, gravy, Arkansas green beans, and cranberry sauce. For dessert we're going to have the weight watchers 0 point pumpkin pie. We really love it. Not quite the same as pumpkin pie, but very satisfiying.
Here's what you do for 0 point pumpkin pie.
Mix your canned pumpkin with splenda, cinnamon, and nutmeg (your taste preference) Heat in the microwave until just warmed. Divide in pretty dishes and top with a dollop of cool-whip. So good!
Not the whole spread for a thanksgiving dinner, but a really good start. Oh, and I might make some buttery pan rolls too. I better get those ready to rise!
So, Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you all have a great day!

Niagara in a Nutshell

We had a wonderful time at our meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario! I took bunches of pictures and had the intent of blogging so many memories, but I decided to just give you our meeting in a nutshell! We loved going by Niagara Falls. On the Canada side parking is very expensive! tIt's $18!! Whew! They don't have a place where you can just pull over for a short bit. So, since it was so rainy and freezing, Patrick dropped off me and JEB and let us have a little time looking at the falls. The falls from the Canada side is so beautiful. The mist was very strong and we got a little wet. We enjoyed seeing the falls again. They're so powerful, you can just see God's hand in it! Then, we parked on Clifton Hill. It is very exciting there! They have several attractions like Ripley's Believe it or Not and Guinness Book of World Records. There were so many exciting things to see on every corner.

We took the kids to an arcade and let them each have a few coins. Silas rode (or at least he thinks he did!) this little car. He's definitely my Dad's grandson...he truly loves cars!

On Tuesday night, the church had Missionary's Christmas. The Pastor and his wife came in their Christmas attire and they made it so special. We had tons of gifts to open and they kept delivering them to us! About a month ago we received an email asking all of our favorite things. They were so thoughtful to get us things that all of us love. Here are some of the highlights of what we received, Josh-books (he's already read them all! He sure does love to read) Beth-lots of horse stuff, horse bag, books, stickers, model to paint...Beth loves horses! Brenna-lots of art stuff, Silas-building blocks, toys and clothes, Patrick-gift card to Walmart, book, socks, Me-maternity dress, sweater, kitchen stuff, and tons of books...We're really stocked up on the books for now!

On Wednesday we told the kids they were allowed to pick one attraction for us to do as a family on Clifton Hill. They picked The Crystal Cave, which is a really cool mirror maze. We loved it! I banged my head on the mirror once because I thought for sure I was following Patrick. Ouch!We got out safely, even though Brenna wanted to panic.

They made all of us wear plastic gloves. Now, I really know why! I wouldn't want to clean all those mirrors! They wanted to tape plastic gloves around Silas' hands, but I told them I thought he would be fine without them!

Wednesday night they asked me to come back and talk to the girls in Awana and help them complete their section on missionaries. It was so neat to see the Awana program again. I was in Awanas from Sparks to JV's. The girls were very sweet and asked many questions about the mission field. They even had to draw a map of St. Barthelemy!

The closing service on Wednesday night was very special. They had a candlelight service and stressed the importance of telling others about Christ. I love it when one candle starts and you watch in spread to others and pretty soon the whole room is lit. That is just like what we are to do with the gospel. Send the Light!

It's so neat how the Lord lets you meet people. This dear man just loved my Silas. He was his buddy for the week. I told Patrick that he reminded me of my Pap-paw. For one, he's retired from Ford, but he had the "presence" that Pap-paw had. He was a lot of fun to be around and truly enjoyed the life God had given him.

This is all the missionaries for the week with the Pastor and his wife. Josh made some good friends with Joey and Torrey Civale. They are missionaries to Simoa. The testimony that the Civale's have is so amazing! Bro. Civale was a year away from being a Catholic Priest and Mrs. Civale was in the convent becoming a Nun. God revealed to them the truth of the gospel and the false teaching of the Catholic Church. I love hearing salvation testimonies! I especially love hearing the testimonies of people that used to be Catholic. God has called us to a land that is predominately Catholic. Brother Civale gave wise advice to the Congregation, "Don't give up on your Catholic loved ones, neighbors, and friends. They need the Lord and the gospel!"

We praise the Lord for such a wonderful meeting and for friends made. Now, it's back to French School!

Niagara Falls, Ontario

We woke up early on Saturday and started the rest of our journey to Niagara Falls, Ontario. Here's Silas at a rest stop (he had a super poopy diaper.) When we arrived at our motel, the church had this nice gift basket for us. It was full of water and fruits, toys, soaps and lots and lots of goodies. There was also a note to welcome us to the conference. It's going to be a fun week!

We met the Pastor and some of the people from church at Swiss Chalet for dinner. They had very good chicken and everyone was so friendly. After dinner we decided to drive by Niagara Falls for a quick look at the falls. We had never seen them at night and they were absolutely gorgeous! Patrick said that we should be here alone because it's so romantic. How sweet! The pictures did not turn out clear at all, so this is the best of the bunch.

We've figured out how to let Silas have some playtime in a hotel room. Hotel rooms can be pretty icky, and although this one is very clean, I'm still a little paranoid. We brought an extra big blanket to put down between the beds and block off one end with a suitcase. He's had a good time playing with his toys and especially with empty water bottles.

Here is the church we are at for the week. We had great services yesterday and we presented our ministry last night. It was exciting for us to watch our DVD presentation again...the kids are so little! They sure have grown during deputation! We have a full schedule this week and we're looking forward to the meetings ahead!

Our Trip So Far

We made it on the road this morning about 8am. The kids were so excited. They had 2 bags packed each, one for school and one for fun stuff.We first made a stop at our friend, Estelle's house. She leaves for S. Carolina tomorrow and won't come back until the spring. We sure are going to miss her! She has been so helpful and such a blessing to our family. We gave her a little goody bag with some peanut butter cookies for her trip. She'sstill trying to get Silas to say "mama" but he just smiles and says "dada"

While I was driving and Patrick was snoozing, I saw this sign..It said St. Bathelemy!! Can you believe it. I started saying "Look at this sign! Look at this sign!" I was a little excited...sorry I woke you up, Sweetie!

Then, we crossed into Ontario. This is our first time to be in this province. It was neat to see all the French signs change to English.

Then, we got ready to cross the border and I got out our passports and visas. When we stopped (at the toll booth before the gate guard) Patrick handed the guy the money and he said "Thanks, Man" Patrick looked at me and smiled so big and said, "He said, thanks Man!!!" He was excited to hear that, he's been called Monsieur for 5 months now!

We've had a great time so far! We did our school, listened to a Patch the Pirate tape, read books, sang, talked, and just enjoyed one another's company. I'm going to have Josh post on his blog what he wrote about America. (link is to the right) He had us read it out loud before we crossed the border. It was very good! Thank you to everyone who prayed for us today. Tomorrow we hope to get to our hotel tomorrow by 2, so Silas can have a nap before we meet the Pastor and other missionaries at the restaurant. Happy Friday!

Almost packed!

Today, we have been preparing to leave for our trip to Niagara Falls, Ontario. We are going to be in a Missions Conference at Golden Harvest Baptist Church Sunday through Wednesday. Let me preface this by saying, We love living in Canada. We're having a great time experiencing the culture and learning French. But, we're so excited to drive through the USA!! on our way to Niagara! As we looked at the map, we realized it's about 30 minutes quicker to drive through the US, then reenter Canada in Niagara Falls. We'll also save some money in gas (about 70 cents a gallon!), food and hopefully in our hotel on the way there. When we told the kids we decided to go through the states (that's for you Keela!) they were singing and shouting! They really miss home...We really miss home. We miss seeing our flag...we were talking about when we see it how we're going to sing The Star Spangled Banner, and we just miss the familiar. Being able to communicate freely is something that I've taken for granted. I'll try not to post every fast food we eat along the way (try :o) But, we are excited about eating McDonalds, and hopefully Taco Bell. We're also going to make a stop at the Post Office and mail our prayer letters. As we've been packing and preparing, we assigned the kids the task of starting to clean out the van. We just told them to get our everything that doesn't belong. You know what I'm talking about, toys, cups, papers, notebooks, books,....so much seems to accumulate in our van! When Patrick glanced out the window at them, he noticed they were surprising him and washing the van. Now, on a normal day this would be a very nice thing to do, but on a day when it was 43 degrees and very breezy, it was incredibly sweet! Thanks, guys!

Please be praying for us as we leave. Pray for our van to continue to run well and for our safety. It's amazing how we traveled on deputation for almost 3 years and we loved it, but were ready to settle down. Now, we are thrilled to take a little trip! Until the next post(USA side)......