Mexico Pictures...

Yes, I know you are DYING to see pictures from our trip...well...I don't have them yet. I put them on our team leaders laptop to blog with on the trip but I hope to get them soon! I did miss a Sunday because Hudson was sick, so hopefully this Sunday I'll get them and then can put them up! This picture above was taken by my friend Sallie! There won't be too many pictures from my camera with me in it, so I do enjoy this one! You can see Hudson was taking a nap and the kids look a little "clingy", although I don't think that was what was going on...rarely is "clingy" the definition of my kids =) We had such a wonderful time in Mexico...I can't wait to show you soon!

We're Home!!!

We arrived safely home on Saturday evening and were able to make it to 2nd service for Easter in the morning! We can't wait to share some of the photos and stories from our adventure! For now we are busy unpacking, doing lots of laundry and resting. 

Thank you for all your support and prayers!

Our Family, Easter 2012

We're leaving in the morning for MEXICO!!!

EEEE!!!! I'm way too excited and might not sleep! (pray for that! lol!)

I'll be posting about our trip here.

Thank you for all your love and support! Keep praying-it means so much to us!!



Here is the link again: SpringBreakMexicoMission.blogspot.com

Mexico Blog...

Our team asked me to start a blog for the trip, so most of the posting I do for the trip you can find there!

I'll try to remember to come here and link you over often, but...I might be a bit busy, so keep note of this link:

SpringBreakMexicoMission.blogspot.com

Keep praying for us! Only a few more days until we leave!!! EEEE!!!! =) (and a little AHHH!)

It's rough being the youngest...

Today I went to get Hudson from lunch and when I got closer I discovered that his siblings had dumped their leftovers all on his tray. 

Poor baby. 

At least he loves to eat and is quite content!

(Not looking forward to the mess when he is done. Oh well, I have a few helpers around here somewhere!)

Oh, and look at his eye...he got hurt yesterday (was it yesterday? No, it might have been the day before that...the days are a blur!) and it was all swollen and puffy. It has a small cut too...I'm pretty sure it is going to be a lovely dark bruise here soon. :(

Poor, poor baby.

Yep...we're leaving for Mexico in one week!

I totally can't believe it. 

This week has gone SO FAST for me (it has gone SO SLOW for Tim)...only because we were snowed in(8 in.?), lost power and the kids got into the linen closet last week and pulled every linen and blanket out...then when I told them to put it away, they put it all on the dirty clothes in the laundry room. I am now just catching up and the laundry room has been tamed. 

I really like to be on top of the laundry.

And the dishes.

If I'm not, the whole house can go chaotic on me in .5 seconds.

I'm not kidding. 

So, now that I'm not climbing laundry mountains, I suddenly find that it is THURSDAY!?! What?! When did that happen? Seriously, I had no idea what day it was...Tim had to remind me yesterday that it was Wednesday when I told the kids it was Tuesday. lol.

So, all that to say-I can hardly believe we will be leaving in one week.

One. Week.

Things are all coming together and I am amazed at how the Lord provides. Just when I start to stress a bit, He reminds me that He is in control and that this whole process is part of the experience-and just for good measure He makes sure another support check arrives in the mail that day. 

I love it.

Here are some of our supplies...

Yes, when you are going to be driving a total of 60 hours in a van with 5 kids, you buy an "on the go potty" (pretty cool actually!) and sanitizer.

I found these on amazon.com and I am totally excited about the sanitizer as it is made without alcohol. Totally out of natural products (like plant oils) and STILL kills 99.99% bad bacteria. 

Yep, God rocks. He gives us so many plants to keep us healthy!

Here are a few of the other "food" products we are taking...although, one is "conditioner", one is for salads and one is for sunblock. 

If you are thinking "Granola Mama", it's ok...I'm used to it! =)

(oh, and I did consider making a batch of grain free granola for the road, but it takes a while...and we eat it too fast, so I think I'm going to skip it this time...I do hope to make some homemade beef jerky this week though! I do love Tim...and he LOVES jerky!)

We would love any and all prayers for us as we prepare the final things this last week. When I remember that the Lord is in control and that it will all come together, I am really peaceful about this next week...only occasionally have I had a tense moment as I think about packing our family of 7 for this mission trip!

Thank you also for all the prayers this last week over Tim's grandpa passing. The memorial service was beautiful and it was so good to see extended family.

Oh! Also, I will be posting on our team blog during the trip...here is the link:

SpringBreakMexicoMission.blogspot.com

You'll want to check it out...I'm almost finished with it and I just put up a fun video that Tim made from our team party! So fun!!

For Nicole...

I saw this outside last week and it reminded me of your little blessing growing all snug and warm, curled up in you...being 'fearfully and wonderfully made'. 

God is so amazing, isn't He!?!

In the arms of Jesus...

Yesterday we said goodbye to Tim's Grandpa as he went Home to Heaven. 

It was an honor to know him these last years of his life.

Please keep Tim's family in your prayers as they mourn the loss of Dalvin and prepare for his memorial service.

What a comfort to know that he is in his Savior's arms and gets to see his wife again after missing her so much this past year.

(This was the last time he was on the golf course. Last September Tim convinced him to join Tim's team at the course for a golf fundraiser event. They had a great time and it was fun to see him on the green-one of his favorite pastimes.)

oh my goodness-are we leaving in 3 weeks??!!!

Yes, that thought just hit me.

Three weeks. Twenty one days.

Things are coming together slowly, but then a random thought will hit me:

"Can I take fruit into CA? What about Mexico? I better google that."

"Oh, we are going to the beach one day...do we all have swimsuits? Am I even going to pull out my old swimsuit??? Oy." 

Thankfully, most of the issues have been google-solveable (yes, I made up that word...I make up a lot of words). We did have some issues with Abbi's passport. Her's didn't come with everyone else (although they did arrive in a quick manner! PTL!) About a week after all of ours arrived we got a letter that was telling us that her name is too long (she has a double middle name) and so they want us to write in a shorter version. The funny part was the letter addressed her with a shorter version, there was no indication on the forms to use less letters and when the passport did arrive another couple weeks later, they didn't even use the form we wrote in...they shortened it a different way. Ah...gotta love it!

Something fun that we did was we had a party at our house for anyone on the team that could make it-it was so much fun! Tim is working on putting a video together from the footage we took while we played some games-this team is hilarious!

I have ordered a few things that we will need to help keep us as healthy as possible on our trip, and I do still have few more things to pick up. I'm kind of dreading packing for all of us...I've gotten pretty good over the years at packing up our family for trips, but for a mission trip...and with us trying to eat as close to normal GAPS as possible, it is going to be interesting! Pray for me!

Thankfully, the team has been so supportive (it does help that we are not the only ones with different dietary needs!) and I was even emailed the planned list of meals so that I can figure out what we can eat ahead of time!

I could list some of the things we are taking...would that bore you? Let me know if you would like to read about that and I can list some of the items! Let's just say that we won't be bringing any Pepto-Bismol or sunblock...but we will be bringing clay...

Are you shocked?? Confused?

In addition to some of the health items/supplements we will be bring we are also trying to "up" our consumption of fermented veggies (homemade sauerkraut, kimchee, etc) as it also has great probiotics to keep our tummies healthy and hopefully give us a better chance at not getting sick! Let us pray! Some other things we are trying to do: get out in the sunshine a bit more, carrying Hudson around in the SleepyWrap a bit more and of course praying for our trip and learning some Spanish...but I know the few words that I do know are not going to be much of a help! lol!

Well, there seems like so much more to share...but hopefully I can get to that in another post.

Here is a pic of Hudson (in the wrap!) and I early this morning enjoying all our snow:

In twenty something days we will be in Mexico...that is going to be a huge change of weather!

Yeeeaaaahh...I should have seen that comming:

After lunch we were clearing the table and I must have been distracted when I took Hudson's tray away into the kitchen. Five seconds later I came back to get him and found this:

It's a good thing that he is UBBER cute and can make me laugh!

For Jennie...

This was a quilt that I made nearly 10 years ago. A gal from our church taught a bunch of us girls in High School how to quilt and we all worked on most of it on our own time. I worked on mine during that Sr. year, into summer and then stopped when college started. I worked on it during some breaks at college and then after I got married that summer. I continued to work on it when I could (or remembered!), but when I found out I was pregnant, I decided to finish it up before our baby was born. With only a few weeks to spare I finished it and entered it into the local fair (and won a ribbon and $1 check-lol!)

Just the other day my friend Jennie (who was one of the other girls learning this quilt) posted a picture of her's on her website! 

I thought I would take a couple of quick pictures of my first quilt too (and only quilt...I'm not sure if I'll ever do another one as it took me a couple of years to complete!)

But here it is, a baby blanket size quilt and EVERY STITCH WAS BY HAND...lots of love went into this baby!

Front:

 Back:

(you can see the quilting better on the back)

Here are four little monkeys enjoying it!

If you would like to see Jennie's quilt hop on over to her website:

Clover & Violet

Taco Feed Fundraiser Fantastic Fun!

Our team spent Saturday chopping, cooking and preparing the dinning room:

a man and his meat

lots of cutting going on!

(yes they use real knives...remember we cook a lot and they love to be chefs!)

after awhile the kids got bored of prepping and decided to start the party early!

the pepper men

getting to know one another (tim and I agreed that this was our favorite part of the day...that and the smell of  garlic and cilantro delighting my scenes!)

serious business (don't let those faces fool you-these ladies are HILARIOUS!)

so sweet!

they were full of great ideas-look at this chip platter!

On Sunday we set up and served the masses:

here they come!!!

take Hudson's word-it was a wonderful party!

I don't know what to tell you about this...I don't take responsibility for these young men.

Well, actually as they will be in Mexico with us, I'll do my best to keep my eye on them and make sure they don't get into too much trouble! =)

yea...I think this was his third or forth time through the line...in fact this wasn't even where we were sitting as a family, it was just the closest empty seat from the taco line! Good thing they loved having him there and thought it was adorable!

"cleaning up"...the guy way.

oh yeah-we are going to have SO much fun with this group in Mexico!!

Woo-hoo! We are getting so excited!

Thank you so much to everyone who showed up to raise money for the community in Mexico! We had a wonderful time serving you all!

Hudson's FIRST Birthday!!

Yep, can you believe it?!? 

Yesterday was Hudson's first birthday...as usual, it seems like he was just born, yet also feels like it has been so long.

We had a wonderful time this weekend with the Taco Feed Fundraiser and even brought some homemade cupcakes along to celebrate! It was really fun when we started tearing down all the tables, when we asked if everyone still around could sing "Happy Birthday" with us...I don't think I've ever heard that many people sing the song that loud-it was really fun.

Simple, yet wonderfully memorable. 

My kind of birthday celebration!

What a blessing our sweet, very goofy Hudson has been to us this past year.

Thank you Jesus for this wonderful little man!!

(more taco feed pics to come soon!)

T-minus 8 weeks and counting...

I can hardly believe that 8 weeks from today our family will be driving to Mexico.

I have been dreaming of this for years, planning for months and now with the holidays over it seems to suddenly be upon us.

I'll admit. Right at this moment, I feel very unprepared. Of the $3,000 or so we need to raise we have only about $500. Supplies...I haven't even started getting supplies together. But I have the beginning of my lists, so that is a good start.

Some days I can't even believe we are finally going to get to take our children on a mission trip, other days the reality of doing GAPS in Mexico with 5 (FIVE!!) young children makes me feel a bit crazy.
At least Jesus was crazy too...in the good way.

So, even thought this will be a very photo-less post, I thought you would like to follow along and see what the Lord is doing. (and there are some trip prep photos in the last post, so that makes up for it, right?)

Here is where we are at so far:

By God's amazing provision we have been blessed by so many already...and as usual, the Lord has blessed us with money (sometimes by people we barely even know!) randomly and at just the right moment.

To me, this mission trip isn't just about how our "American family will zip on down to Mexico, fix up some things  so they are "right" and be off on our jolly way back home with an educational detour or two". No, not at all...just like life, for me this whole experience will be about what the Lord is doing and us joining Him in His work. We get to see Him work right now in how He provides.

Our kids get to watch day after day as their daddy comes home and God has used ANOTHER person to bless us on this trip. That right there has been an amazing experience.

I love watching them pray and see God answer. God is in the business of answering prayers. Last year we were all in awe as we studied the life of George Muller in our homeschooling (Quick note: if you haven't read a book on him, click here and order this one. This book will bring you to tears over the goodness and faithfulness of our Lord in providing for our daily needs! The kids were literally begging for me to read this book to them.). To see him pray for EVERYTHING he needed...and to watch God bless the socks off of him (and tens of thousands of orphans!!) was humbling. I need to pray more. I need to have faith more.

We are praying like George Muller.

Right now we have been blessed with:

$594 (and some change!) we also have some pop cans that we have been given and need to turn in, so that figure will be a bit more soon.

Here is where we are at in expenses:

-$200 first payment to our church to pay for the room and board and supplies (you can check out the ministry we are going through here: www.gomissionstomexico.com
-$456 for 2 birth certificates and seven passports!
-$18 for 2 books of stamps to mail out support letters
_______Total
$674


We have another payment coming up this weekend, and we are excited to see the Lord provide!
Our church is also doing a "Taco Feed" Fundraiser lunch that our family gets to help put on to help purchase supplies for this community in Mexico-it should be a fun weekend!

My list of supplies for our family includes really random things like:
Pro-biotics
Clay
Activated Charcoal
Aloe Vera

And we will be bringing snacks for the drive so far I have:
Fruit leather
Lacto-fermented Sauerkraut
Homemade beef jerky
24 hour yogurt??

The list I am having a hard time with is our "what to do while traveling" list...we have actually traveled many hours as a family, but not so much all at once. And 5 years ago we bought a portable DVD player for a trip and it was really nice, but it has sadly seen it's last day. So...do we get a new one? Do we rent one? We don't have smart phones or iPads or anything like that, so I would love to hear your ideas. Cheap ideas! =) We will be making some stops, but we are going to have some major time to kill! =)

Well, that gets you all up to date on how things are coming along! I'll try to remember to take pictures at our taco feed!


I lied...here is one picture I took from a tamale fundraiser we did in December!

This was taken in between batches and we were taking a break from making tamales. That gal there is my friend Nicole. The week before she came over and we made Kimche together (her husband is Korean and they also eat Kimche. When I heard that they eat this, I told her she had to come over and make a batch as I don't have many friends that also enjoy it!), she was so sweet to come to the church to help us all out and she isn't even going on the trip! And-this was one week before she had her baby! I know!! So sweet!

I'll keep you updated-Please keep us in your prayers!

EEE! So excited!!

Our weekend

Downtown for birth certificates...

  It was just a quick wait...and $40 later.

Then to a downtown post office for passports...$416 later!

We got a little bored waiting and had fun taking pictures.

Although, as it took so long (there was SEVEN passport applications they had to go through!) that they kids had to go to the bathroom, so they escorted us through the huge back area to the restrooms...SUPER COOL!!!

Fun girls night out for mama...

Seeing a dear friend get married! So exciting!

I love it when my kids are all dressed up in suits and ties!

Good times!

Yesterday's Snow