The Family of God - Kevin's Family

Smiling at the Landing in Branson...another fun filled Redford family vacation.
Aunt Shannon, Isabelle, Kevin, Tyler (cousin), Uncle Brent, & Samantha (cousin)
The New Huck Finn River Blast - You WILL get wet!!

Kevin & John Michael in the 3rd car back! He was waving & smiling this year on this ride!
We spent one day at the Lake...John Michael was LOVING the water....

My little fishies!!!

Kevin, Kelly, and Aunt Cathy (Kevin's aunt) We were so excited to hear that she & her husband came to S.D.C. one day when we were there. She was celebrating her 60th & loves rollercoasters, so I agreed to ride on the front with her & Kevin on the Wildfire - it goes upside down at over 60mph.

Here we go!

Kevin and John Michael at White Water. Bubba loves water rides!

You can't tell it, but this is Isabelle (right) racing her cousin Tyler (left) down this 7 story slide.

The cousin crew....JM, Tyler, Samantha, Isabelle, and Jaden

Isabelle & I went shopping at the Grand Village with Grandma & Aunt Sarah. She thought this huge rocking chair was pretty neat!

John Michael tried his first Funnel Cake while watching the Echo Hollow show. Both the kids thought it was really good...what kid doesn't like funnel cakes?

Intermission photos with the Silver Dollar City Singers...

The Family of God - Our kiddos

The kids haven't had pictures in a long time! So they were due for some new ones....Isabelle is now 8 (9 in October). She will be starting 3rd grade in 1 week. John Michael is 6 1/2 & loving it! He will be starting 1st grade! We are so blessed to watch them grow to love the Lord each day!Cousin, Olivia - 3yrs. old

The Family of God - Kelly's Family

For 4th of July, we went to Kansas City and spent the weekend with my family. We were so excited to see fireworks, but it poured down rain so hard they cancelled the shows. The kids enjoyed the water guns papa bought them - water gun "wars" were on in the backyard, with very soaked kids & adults!

One of the highlights was a tip to Deanna Rose Farmstead. I have so many pictures of my kids on this bridge - they look to big for it now!

Touring an Indian Teepee

We have 3 individuals who like to be in charge...I wonder which way we will go first?

Uncle Kevin showing the girls how to milk a cow!

Olivia likes to lead this horse!
The old schoolhouse is a fun treat to stop in! So many neat photos & real desks & slates to use.

We had a wonderful b-day celebration for Olivia!

She turned 3!

Somehow I managed to not get any pics of any of the adults....kids are cuter anyway! :)

After returning home, we 2 medical issues. The first was with JM. He had been having sudden, very painful headaches. He had a slight concussion back in early May - but the docs weren't concerned. However, the headaches coupled with a fever sent them into panic mode. So on Wed July 7, we ended up in the ER. He had to have dye put in his arm for a full head CT Scan. Everyone was a little concerned. Thankfully nothing was found....no blood clots, tumor, etc. We were very relieved. And no headaches since then - bizarre! The doctors said he must just have a virus. I think he did.

The day he woke up feeling better, Isabelle started feeling bad. She had head dizziness and high fevers around 103 for about 48 hrs, then she was fine. The day she woke up better was Sunday. Kevin had taken JM to church & he came home & went straight to bed with chlls. His lasted for about 48 hrs as well & then he felt great. By the 4 day, he woke up and could barely move. His neck & head hurt so bad, he laid still in bed with ice packs. I finally said, "I'm driving you to the doctor." He was diagnosed with Strep throat & Poison Ivy. He also had received a tick bite on the Sat. before he got sick, so the doc was very concerned about limes disease. SO, the big tough man had to get 2 big old shots in his behind. He was feeling great by bed time that night. The wonderful world of antibiotics! Thankfully the lime test did come back negative.

I am DONE with the Doctor/ER scene. I think we have met our deductible for sure! :)

Now it's time for our next stop....

The Family of God - Peabody, KS

The Family of God includes everyone who believes in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. This is what makes Kevin's trip to Haiti (2 posts ago) so meaningful as he connected with our family of God in Haiti. It's what makes my trip to Nebraska so special - friends that live far apart can reconnect quickly because God is at the center.

The Family of God feels really special when it includes your immediate family. Kevin and I are so blessed to have had 4 sets of grandparents who all believed in God and shared their faith with their children and grandchildren. One of those special people, went to be with the Lord just a few days after we returned from Haiti and Nebraska. Kevin's grandpa Stucky, pictured here with our kids about 11 months ago, went to be with the Lord in late June. While we were thankful that he was no longer suffering, his godly presence and wisdom will be greatly missed.

Isabelle interviewing Grandpa last year for her school history assignment. What a special memory she will always have of her great-grandpa.

At Grandpa's visitation, there were so many amazing testimonies of how David Stucky impacted every person around him. He let every person know how much God loved them. His favorite verse and the one he shared with everyone was John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." His words, his actions, and his presence so reflected God. He was a blessing!Isabelle with Great-Grandma at the funeral

Grandma with her daughters...Cathy, Judy, and Susan

Kevin, Richard(brother), Chris (cousin), Lisa (cousin),

Caleb (cousin), Isaac (cousin), Brent (brother)
Cathy's family
Susan's family
Judy's family

Great-grandma with all 12 great grandchildren!

Grandma with her 7 grandchildren. Lisa played and sang at the funeral,

while the 6 guys were pall bearers.

A legacy of faith is left for us to model. We are so grateful to have known Grandpa and that God allowed us to be apart of his earthly family. We look forward to the day when we will be together again....The Family of God!

The Family of God - Nebraska

While Kevin was in Haiti, I had the blessing of going to visit one of my best friends Kelly, in Lincoln, NE. Kelly and I met in high school and we've stayed in touch ever since.

As I was thinking about my trip to visit Kel & her family, I thought about how God wove our friendship together so many years ago. He knew that He wanted our lives to be a blessing, a challenge, and an encouragement to one another. How often do we take our friendships for granted, not recognizing that God has placed certain people in our lives for certain reasons?? Kelly and I spent one semester together at TCU before I abandoned her! :) Then we spent time together working on summer staff at our church during our college summers. Our lives took us to very different places in the world, but we always make time to connect over the phone.

I hadn't seen Kelly since her first son, Brady was a little guy. She know as a second son, David and I just found out a few weeks ago that the little baby in her tummy is a girl!!! CONGRATS to your sweet family Kel. Can't wait to meet her!!

It rained a whole lot while we were in Lincoln, but we managed to squeeze in a late night "coffee" run, thanks to her sweet hubby for staying home with the sleeping children. We also took the kids to an amazing children's museum. Isabelle and John Michael had a blast! Here are just a few of the fun things we did!

Isabelle is in the cockpit of this plane.

There was a full stage with lights & dress up...my kids felt right at home...pretend play could not have gotten any better than this!

A miniature pizzaria made for a fun "pretend" lunch!

Who says he isn't ready for football!!

The family of God continues to amaze me! It starts across states & borders! I am thankful that Kelly & her sweet family are a part of it! Love you Kel. Thanks again for a great visit!

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.