The Family of God - Haiti

It has been a really long time since I last posted....so many things have happened in our lives in the last month. As I sat pondering what to write & what to post, I kept thinking about how each event in our lives over the last month has been directly impacted by the Family of God.


For example, right now as I type, my kids are enjoying VBS at one of our old churches as they spend the week with my parents. My mom called to tell me they were all checked in & SO pumped. She said the kids seemed really thrilled to be loved on by our old friends who were giving them high 5's & hellos as they arrived. I can't explain to you the feeling that I have knowing that my kids are being so loved on by God's family...people who don't see my kids on a daily basis, but have a genuine, sincere love for my kids because they love the Lord - isn't that amazing!

Because I have so much to share....since I'm "alone" this week preparing for school to start on August 9th - yes we will be homeschooling a 3rd grader & 1st grader....we are all very excited, I will do a new post everyday this week - so you can catch up on our lives from this summer.


So back to June...Our first Family of God stop - HAITI!!! When I typed my last post, I had just put Kevin on a plane to Haiti for his 3rd trip there. He was thrilled to be able to go and lead a trip with the Global Orphan Project. It was a great blessing...he was able to see many lives changed as the Lord broke hearts of his team members. The family of God became 20 members bigger for us - as these 20 team members became part of our extended family along with 100's of new Haitian children he had yet to meet! We don't speak Haitian-Creole, but we do speak the love of God and that language is known in every country! We love our Haitian family!
Here are a few photo highlights.

Kevin with some of the children before school.

These 2 little guys remind me of John Michael...the way he always smiles and radiates joy! These boys have so little, but they have God's love & the Joy in their faces shows it!
Kevin with Moise Vaval. He is the pastor I have written about before. Isabelle is raising funds to build 10 homes on his property that was completely destroyed by the earthquake. Moise shared about Isabelle at his church service on Sunday while Kevin was there and he asked Kevin to share with the congregation. It was a very emotional moment for Kevin. The family of God is SO huge. We consider the Vaval family in our prayers often as the continue to remember their 9 year old son who died in the quake. They are very much a part of our family.

This picture is the sight where the homes will be constructed. As far as we know, the construction has begun!

Kevin & his roommates - Nick & Frantzy. Nick & Frantzy know each other through work and came on the trip after seeing GO Project on 60 minutes. Frantzy is Haitian - so this was a very special trip for him. He had not been back to Haiti since he was a small child.

Capital building still looks like it day the day of the quake.Much of Haiti still lies in ruin. A swim in the ocean & the group finds this boat....smile!

While Kevin was in Haiti, we attended our sweet friend Neva's talent show. Her goal, to raise $5000 to build a home in Isabelle's village. She did it! To see pics & read more, click on the Arts for Orphans link on the right side of this blog page.

Animals Part 2 - Happy Birthday!

Kevin & I have b-days 2 days apart, so we decided to celebrate with the kids last week. Kevin took a day off work & we went to the Okaloma Aquarium. We were able to see animals up close, touch many different types of animals. And walk under the shark tank. What fun. The kids loved it!! We had a great day together.
We were able to touch these starfish. COOL!

At the shrimp tank, you could gently put your hand in and allow the shrimp to swim onto your hand. It was GREAT!!!

Rock Fish...Can you see them? 2 different kinds

I can't remember what these were called, but they swam up & down, vertically - it was crazy to watch them....they looked like bobbers...we had never seen anything like it.

HUGE turtle...really HUGE!

The aquarium has a really neat shark tank that you can walk under & see all the sharks. The kids thought this was absolutely wonderful. To be so close, to see their teeth & huge bodies was really amazing. There were probably 20+ sharks in this HUGE tank.

Isn't this fish cool....We thought it was so different from anything we'd ever seen.

Pot-Bellied Seahorses

Zebra type fish...very cool!

A real sea anemone...looks like a pink sweater. These were beautiful.

A jellyfish...this was super cool!

If you ever travel in South Tulsa or live near by, we highly recommend this stop!

It is well worth it!

Animals Everywhere...Part 1

Isabelle did officially have to get a cast. She does have a buckle fracture. The doctor said it could break all the way through very easily...so a cast for at least 4 weeks! YUCK! What a bummer way to start summer.

So, we filled the end of May & the month of June with some amazing animal field trips (all our adventures included shaded or indoor activities - no water/pools involved)....we went to a safari zoo that was very up close & personal. It was amazing. The kids got to hold a Burmese Python. It was huge - but very friendly they assured us! The snake was as long as putting the 2 kids end to end. It was enormous! This not so friendly black bear, was very quiet while we viewed her but she did not like the trainer that was giving us the tour. She had her eye on him.

Can you see his spots? This was a black jaguar, I think. I just remember the guide saying that it had spots, but I couldn't see them anywhere...until I got home & looked at my pictures.

A 5 yr. old timberwolf...


A great grizzly...again, these pics are not zoomed in. We were very close to each animal. It was truly amazing.

These white tigers were beautiful. We had never seen a white tiger, so this was a real treat. This tiger had 3 baby tiger cubs - well babies that were quite large.
After our trip to the zoo...dad went turkey hunting...only 2 days left in the season, he saw so many turkeys and had a fun morning. We are so proud of our dad!


After dad's hunt we headed to a local festival, where the kids had so many fun activities...

Petting zoo...the kids do miss their chickens, but mom is NOT ready have more children in the form of baby chicks at this point!

My very own construction crew...

Adventures always have risk...

Last Friday, Isabelle and John Michael were riding their bikes and having great adventures together. They were stopped quickly as they saw a big black snake crossing the road. SO, they got off their bikes to watch the snake slither across the road and then into the grass - fun stuff for them! (NOT ME!) They were ready to get riding again, and somehow - John Michael's tire hit Isabelle's & she went down hard. She was sobbing and pale white. I was concerned, but there was no bruising or swelling, so I thought she must have just really tweaked her arm. "She'd be fine tomorrow" I thought. Well by Sunday afternoon, she still wasn't using the arm and was occasionally complaining that it was hurting. So, after I asked 100 times - "are you sure it really hurts?" and "let me feel...does it hurt here?" we decided to take her to the ER...A fracture right behind her growth plates in her left arm. YIPEE!!! WOW - and to think I didn't believe that it really hurt! :) The ER doc. was SO wonderful - Isabelle just finished learning all the major bones of the body - so she and the doc. had a very enlightening conversation about bones...I don't know that this would have been my choice of a "hands on" learning experience, but I'll take it! Now she thinks she wants to be a doctor - "not the kind that do surgery or have to give shots!" though.

On the way home from the ER, this is what we heard in the back seat:

John Michael: "I'm sorry I hurt your arm, sissy. It's all my fault. I did it. I'm sorry."

Isabelle: "It's ok bubby. It will be fine soon."

John Michael: "I told you I was sorry when you wrecked."

Isabelle: "I know, I told you I forgive you."

Oh to warm my heart...what a blessing to hear their love and concern for each other. Bubby definitely wants to make sure that you know he is sorry for anything he does...I pray that he is always quick to admit his wrongs and ask forgiveness. He is far ahead of most of us in that right now!

We will head to an Ortho doc on Wed...to make sure all will be well and no other treatment is necessary. What would an adventure be if there were no risk?

Mothers Day & Cinco De Mayo

My MOTHER's DAYf Presents...2 HUGE pots for the front porch with Texas Sage trees & some other plant (Kevin's knows, but I have a hard time remembering! :) )
Kevin is preparing for his deer food plot. He and John Michael used the tractor & disc, up until they got a flat tire...but it was great BOY FUN!!!!!
Kevin said JM never let go of the steering wheel the whole time. He also sang the whole time. John Michael is always moving and always singing/saying something. He keeps us always on our toes!! We LOVE our bubba!

CINCO DE MAYO celebrations!!! We made Tacos & homemade "fried ice cream" for dessert. We cooked cinnamon sugar covered pie crust. Once it cooled a bit, we put cinnamon covered ice cream scoops in the dough, smothered it in honey & more cinnamon sugar & then topped it with whipped cream....YUMMY!!!

The kids made Mexican flowers out of tissue paper for their "craft project"

We made pie crust dough for our "fried ice cream" and with the leftover dough, Isabelle made her first pie crust! She did such a good job! She is really starting to enjoy helping me in the kitchen. She is always eager & ready to learn something!
I asked Isabelle and John Michael to use teamwork and brain power to create a Lincoln Log creation. They had a blast working together and creating their masterpiece. The had a police station, barn, house, and general store. They used my sewing cutting mat as their "yard".

Last week, Kevin took JM on his first real turkey hunt. Are they 2 peas in a pod or what? I have the 2 cutest boys on the planet!!! They had fun, heard lots of turkey calls, but didn't have a chance to get anything.

Live Simply So Others May Simply Live

In late January, I was in a church that had this quote on the wall.

Live Simply So Others May Simply Live

I was profoundly impacted by that very simple statement. You see, for Kevin and I, it summed up what our hearts desire is and has been. We want to simplify & minimize our lives from clutter & distractions so that we may give more and do more for the Kingdom of God. In so doing, we are hoping to help others simply live. So when we read this quote on the church wall above amazing pictures of people from all over the world, men, women and children - we knew that the desire God had placed in our hearts was His desire also.

In Januray of 2006 we were half way through a study of Genesis in our BSF classes (Bible Study Fellowship). We were feeling a strong sense that God was beginning to call us out just as He did with Abraham. At a worship conference, we clearly heard God say, "I want you to go. Do not be afraid. I will be with you."

At the time, we thought we knew where God wanted us to go, but after a 6 month process of investigation, prayer, and time in the Word God closed that door. So WE WAITED. Had we heard wrong initally? Why was God disconnecting us from our current church home? Why were we feeling called to homeschool - surely not now, we are in a good school district? Why do most of our friends live at least 30 minutes from us? Why are we being called out of our life group? Didn't God say if he called us out of something, He'd call us to something?

WE WAITED some more. We wrestled with God and with the feelings of discontentment that we experienced. We were so confident in the call, but we weren't hearing anything else from God...it seemed we were stuck and at times we felt foolish. We struggled with the viewpoints of others who had watched our journey...we had everything from encouragement to anger. We were hurt deeply by those who didn't understand, yet we knew we couldn't expect them to understand because they hadn't heard what we had heard from God. So it wasn't their fault. We wondered, "Did God really speak to us, just to leave us hanging here? Stuck here in a place of unknown?" God continued to show up in little ways to bless us with encouragement to keep the faith and to simply WAIT.

I can honestly admit that it was some of the hardest, darkest days of our spiritual lives & of our marriage. YET, it was some of the deepest, richest, most intimate days of our spiritual & married lives. While God felt far at times, He felt so near and yet so quiet. WE WAITED...

Two years later in the fall of 2008, we were hitting rock bottom. Kevin was feeling very much pulled away from a business that he had started & developed for over 10 years. We were very isolated in our friend/church surroundings. Oh sure, we had connections, we had activities to do, but nothing that felt like we were investing the way we knew God would want us to. We were very discouraged & crying out to God to MOVE...

We had no idea asking Him to MOVE would cause us to MOVE!!! In November of 2008, Kevin found out about a nursery for sale close to his home town. It was something he had dreamed about - owning his own nursery! After prayer & counsel, we knew this was the place God was calling us to (2.5 years earlier) To say that the doors flew open fast would be an understatement. His business sold in less than 30 days, he moved to begin the transition of the purchase, and I stayed home to sell our house.

Any of you who have followed our blog in the last year, know all the happenings of the last 15 months, so I will not recount them here...you can search old posts for that. However, I do want to share with you what has happened in relation to God's call.

You see, we knew God would call us out for something - not just a job.

He called us out to share...so that we would be in a place to tell His story about orphans. God orchestrated all of the details and news attention from the new place to which he called us. He sold our house in KC on 7/7/09 the day of the 1st TV interview, offering us peace about leaving KC and protection since we had no physical address anymore. In Aug. we decided to "look" for churches thinking it would be a long process. NO, God lead us directly to the place He wanted us to be and through a couple at that church provided us the land on which He wanted us to live.

He called us out to lead...It became quickly apparent that God wanted to use our training in small groups to begin a small group ministry at our new church. WOW is right! We had been involved in leading at BSF, a prayer group, a life group, etc. in KC and knew that God is always preparing us for something - but really did not have this on the radar when we began attending our church.

He has called us out to serve...In the last 30 days, we found out that our youth pastor has been called by God to move to AZ! While we are so excited for him, it does leave us with a hole. However in the last 9 months, God has brought Kevin & I (lots of youth ministry experience) and another young couple right out of college who have worked with youth too, to the church. Is that a coincidence? NO!!!!! God was moving & preparing in advance for this very situation. We are all so excited about what the future holds, including the youth group. It is an exciting time! (I will be going on a week long camp to Florida as a youth sponsor in July...I never thought I be leading a youth group trip again..I am pumped!)

He called us out to Live the Life...On a business level, we have made hard decisions that many in the community have put down - like not being open on Sundays. But, we have seen Gods faithfulness in honoring that decision. Some of our Saturdays have been better than any previous years sales. We have been able to talk candidly with our employees about God and have seem some amazing life transformations. We have been able to talk about orphans with customers who hearts seem to have been prepared before hand as they weap over stories they hear from us.

NONE of this is ABOUT US! It is all about GOD! Only God can go before, prepare the way, prepare hearts, and put you in the right place at the right time. ONLY GOD!!! Isn't He amazing!

So that brings me back to "Live Simply So Others May Simply Live" It is time for you & me to STOP living the rat race. To stop living unintentional lives zoned out on media and what the world considers "normal". It is time for us to start living for the King, to make Him a name on this earth, to reclaim what the enemy has stolen from us, our families, and our children.

Will you give up the "extras" so you can give the "extra" to those who have none? Will you give up your vacation days to go to Haiti or Africa to love on children who have no one and show them the love of Jesus? Will you let go of "planning" your day so that God has room to plan it and suprise you with numerous blessings? Will you ask God to SLOW down your pace so you can actually do the things He is waiting for you to accomplish? Will you STOP buying into the lies of this world that tell you what you need to be happy? Will you START reading the Bible everyday? Will you ask God to give you a HUNGER for His Word - watch out, He will! Will you be quick, complete, and joyful in obeying ANYTHING that God asks you to do, even if no one else understands? Will you live a free life in Christ because He paid it all...He LOVEs you dear one! Run to Him. He is running after you!!!

Our family is committing to "Live Simply So Others May Simply Live". Will you join with us?
It is a matter of eternity!