Waiting 2 years for a vacation

Have you ever waited over 2 years for a vacation we'll we did it and it was worth the wait! We went to Disney! Our WHOLE family was there! That was half the fun, the other half was watching Eden and Novie experience Disney for the first time. Man, I LOVED watching them as they "oohed" and "awed" over Disney. They were such troopers as the temperature hit 100 and we waited in long lines, the excited never died down. We stayed in Orlando for a week all 9 of us together in a Villa. We hit FunSpot, Magic Kingdom, Waterslides, the Pool, cooked dinner together, played games, went out for HUGE ice cream cones, met up with distant relatives from OK and made many fun memories. I love vacation ;) hope our next one is sooner than 2 years away.

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Just want everyone to know this is my favorite vacation statement ;)

Camp

There is just something about camp that I LOVE!!! and I LOVE camp at Word of Life Florida! It's exciting, heart-pumping, you run around while you sing songs, you jump, scream, cheer, worship, are challenged, encouraged and blessed. I have missed camp!!! and it feels like we have never left. Also, my kids LOVE camp!! They love to run around with the counselors, cheer, scream, clap their hands and sing as loud as they can. The guitarist in the band gave us the set list of songs we have been singing so we can "youtube" them, why? because my girls have been asking none stop to keep singing camp songs and we cannot remember them all! They are all wonderful, convicting, encouraging and such a blessing to sing together as a family. I love how the Praise Band here has written many of the songs, what a blessing to have such talent being used for camp!

I love the feeling of family here, and many of them are my family! Everyone is Uncle or Aunt, and even many of the Conference Guests have become family over the last 5+ years of working with them. It's amazing how we immediately catch up with one another, encourage one another, and leave refreshed after visiting with them.

Another key element I love is the contagious desire to serve here. When we need help with something we never hear, "no" or "we can't do that" it's always, "let me see what I can do and if I can't help you I'll find someone who can" and it always happens. That is encouraging! What a blessing to be surrounded by individuals who desire to be Servant Leaders. A rare quality even in believers today, and right now I'm surrounded by 100's of them! Greatly blessed to be here these past two weeks! We are having a wonderful time!

Michigan, Furlough Part I

It's amazing how fast our time in MI went, furlough is going by way too fast and its making me sad already! it started out kinda nice and laid back but it sped up quickly and didn't stop until we landed in Tampa last Thurs. It's hard to sum up one blog post for one whole month so I will highlight the major events that happened over our 30 day stay in MI:

Frankenmuth

If you have never been it's a must visit location if you are anywhere near it. It's know as "Michigan's Little Barvaria" I still cannot believe I did not get a pretzel! It has many unique shops, such as Bronner's where it's Christmas ALL year long,

the little Coo-coo Clock shop, Fudge and ice cream shops, leather, scrapbook, candle and candy making and too many more to remember! We had a relaxing evening browsing the little shops after the World Famous Zehnder's Chicken dinner http://www.zehnders.com/dining/zehndersdining.htm. We stayed at the Splash Village hotel where we swam, made Ashley go down the "scary" slide, tried to relax in the lazy river (too many people mushing us to really relax) :) the girls went down slides, shot water pistols, got water sprayed and dumped on them and ate DOTS ice cream. we all had fun swimming and playing. http://www.zehnders.com/waterpark/splashvillagewaterpark.htm

Outside of Bronner's

Eating our 5 course Chicken Dinner

Behind the little unique stores

Great Grandparents

I treasure and enjoy the moments my girls have with their grandparents but nothing it more precious than time spent with GREAT grandparents, sharing stories, reading books, playing chalk, games and in the sprinkler, touring the farm, playing at the park...we made some wonderful memories.

Our home

We were greatly blessed my Ms. Lynette for providing us with a beautiful apartment, rent free, utility free. Words cannot express what a blessing she has been to us. What a dear lady to hear of a need and take it upon herself to make it happen for strangers :) Than you again and again! thank you to all the Members of Deckerville Bible for furnishing the apartment and for Ashley carrying it up all those stairs ;)

Supporters

How encouraged we have been by our monthly supporters, 1 time gifts, churches, friends and family members in MI. We had 14 meetings, every Sunday and Wednesday night was full, we had dinner with friends, family and supporters, a park day to catch up with friends and supporters, toys, clothing and money given to our family and ministry, and many words of enocuragement and prayers. We came to encourage them but always left greatly encouraged. Thank you for your faithfulness!