Catching up ... until 8 October 2007!

Cate and Jackson enjoying some rays at the beach.

Jonathan and Mommy (no, I am not pregnant).

Jackson and buddy, Asbhy. Super Couch Heroes.

Jackson on his first day at school. The is the first year he has ever wanted to go to school!

Our family at the 2007 Buddy Walk. PADS raised over $92,000 to go towards the

Adult Down Syndrome Clinic we started that will serve the southeast (if you want

to donate you can go to www.downsyndromealabama.org).

Once again, Jonathan is Jackson's main character in playtime. Jonathan

absolutely loves it! I am convinced that Jackson is Jonathan's best motivator.

Jackson's soccer uniform.

Jackson doing a corner kick at his game. Frankly, the boy would rather run

around and slide into other kids.

Jackson and Jonathan pretending they are fighter pilots (the chair is their plane

and the laundry basket is the glass top that retracts. Jackson says they are in a

tie-fighter (spelling?) from Star Wars.

Jackson hates getting his hair washed. Wearing the mask solves the issue of

getting water in his eyes.

Jackson after his game.

Silly boy! He likes the snacks and the playset better than the game right now.:)

The team rallying together to say "Go-o-o-o-o, Lizards!"

Jackson before he gets gassed to have his ear tubes removed (if they don't fall out on their

own, they need to come out). Jackson has had his tubes for two and a half years.

Jonathan and Daddy as we wait for Jackson to be taken back.

We bought Jackson's Halloween costume early this year - he has been wearing it every

day since!

Jackson's class made their own cowboy/girl hats for Wild West Week - they even

cooked out hotdogs over a real fire for lunch!

Jackson's class goes to Baker's Farm together to get pumpkins.

Jackson petting an animal at Baker's Farm.


Jackson after coming out of surgery.

Catching up on ... Labor Day Weekend 2007

Jackson and Davis. Our friends, the Bishops, drove over from Nashville for Labor
Day Weekend. It was motivating for us to get the rest of the house together and
unpack those last boxes.
Julie and Jayne.


Jonathan propping up on Friend's fence as he explores.

Playing with guns...

You can see his scar here. Amazing!

Daddy and Jonathan.

Jonathan likes to climb.

Likes to eat objects not intended for the mouth.

Having lunch around the pool with the cousins.

Still eating.

Eric and Jackson jump in over and over and over again together!

Self-explanatory.

A little late, but, July 2007 ...

We sold our house in June, moved two weeks later, and two weeks after that, I left for Venezuela. Jamie's parents watched the kids during the day and Jamie took over in the afternoons/evenings.
I had a terrible attitude about going to Venezuela the five months before we left. Our pastor had preached months earlier about discipling all nations (not just our own) and I signed right up. As the trip drew closer, I found more reasons I should not go. It was really difficult leaving - I was not afraid of the poverty we would see or of uncomfortable conditions. I feared our plane would blow up, a terrorist attack, or something crazy. I was afraid I was leaving my children, never to see them again. A month before I left, I decided to quit being a baby and just commit to the trip. Oh, it was so much better after that - I looked forward to it and quit being so critical.
We left on a Saturday morning. When we got on the plane, the staff didn't know they were supposed to serve us lunch. So we arrived in Venezuela not having had lunch - ironic that we arrived hungry to a land of people where we intended to distribute food to people who harvested their food from a dump. Smiling Venezuelans greeted us with flowers and McDonald's. We all had nametags that were color-coded. We rode one bus in the morning with the group with whom we would serve and one bus in the evenings for dinner and meetings. It was all very organized. We had a chartered flight so the Venezuelans grabbed our luggage, put it in a truck, and left for our hotel. When we got to our hotel, we got our key and then our luggage was waiting outside our rooms. Very organized! Inside, we had working toilets and showers, nice beds, air conditioning, a full refridgerator, and snacks. We surely didn't feel we were suffering for the Lord! We had pizza later that day for dinner then boarded our buses for a meeting.
I won't tell every detail but, basically, we would board buses each day. Some groups did construction, some did VBS, and we did food distribution/carnivals. We would go to one community in the morning and set up a carnival - football throw, baseball toss, soccer, face painting, balloons, etc. Afterwards, we would pack up, eat lunch on the bus (where the local Venezuelans that served with us as tranlators and liasons would feed us first and then eat) and then distribute food to another community. The next day, we would do a carnival in the community we had distributed food to the previous day and we would distribute food to people we had played with at our carnival the other part of the previous day.
We had local Venezuelans with us every day that either worked for the mission that set up our trip or they were with the local church in the area we were serving. Their job was not only to translate, serve with us, and to be the face of the church to these other Venezuelans, but to also serve us and show us what it meant to disciple the nations. Most of the locals we worked with were young. All of them served quietly and passionately shared the Gospel. It was so compelling.
We were in Maracaibo. It was beautiful and very dry. There was dust everywhere - not dirty so much as dry. The people were kind and open. We ate like kings while we were there. The church members there were so loving to us - we had more than they did but they gave generously to us.
I came away from this trip realizing I had been ministered to more than I gave. I did nothing in comparison to them. You will notice in these pictures that I am nasty looking. Every day people in my group would quickly ask if I needed help. I wondered why until I noticed that I sweat straight through my shirts right away. I lubed up with sunscreen several times a day, fearing sunburn. I didn't wear make up - what was the point and who was I trying to impress?
I could talk so much more about this trip but maybe the pictures will tell you more than I can say.
When we distributed food, the local Venezuelans would approach the home, tell the people who they were and why they were bringing food. They would ask if we could pray. Sometimes the people said we could and other times they refrained. One of us Americans would pray and the Venezuelan with us (Audia, David, Archie, Sonia) would translate. I was tentative in what I prayed - if they were healed I didn't want them to associate it with us and if they weren't I didn't want them to think God didn't exist. I finally just let go and prayed as I felt led.
I didn't come home more grateful. I had been to Africa and the Middle East in college and had seen poverty. I didn't come home thinking I should sell all my possessions. I came home realizing I need to be open to leading people to Christ and to discipling others. I fear that I will turn others off to Christ if I don't present it well. However, it is not about me. It is about me surrendering my life to Christ and letting Him use it for His glory. I have taken credit for far too long!
Jamie and his parents really sacrificed their time for me to go - I could not have gone without them!


Nanette and Elisabeth upon our arrival.

Lauren and I when we first got there.

Me and kids from the first community where we did our first carnival.

The Julies and kiddos. They love cameras, especially digital ones, so they can

see what they look like.

This boy, to my right, had a seizure later that day. I saw him the next day when we

distributed food in his neighborhood and he had a cut on his chin. I had the opportunity

to pray over him. I said this before, but it was hard, because I hoped the people there did

not associate miracles or healing with us, but with God. In the same vein, I hoped that they

didn't lose faith if God saw fit not to heal.
We unloaded the bus each day to set up our carnival. The first day, a girl dropped

candy and the kids (and parents) went crazy. We learned not to do that again!

This is a church built by some people on one of their mission trips. We used it to

hang out, bag food, and pray over the food.

Me and the kids I met after we did our carnival. I did the football throw and had a

system. They got candy if they threw the football into the carved out hole - I was

not lenient - I made them work for it!:) After a few days, I had a system. I had

three lines in the dirt. From the first line, if you made it, you got one piece of

candy. From the second line, you got two and from the third line you got three. I

tried it and couldn't do it - these kids were good!

These girls were sisters and were from Brazil.

I took this girl's picture, initially, and she got mad because she said she was not ready.

This is what she did on the second take - she posed!

Me and the kids I met in another neighborhood after food distribution and our

puppet show.

We did a puppet show to music out of the bus. It was hard operating those

puppets! My arms hurt afterwards.:)

Ryan and I were on this trip together from Brook Hills. David (on the right) is a

Venezuelan who was on staff with the group with whom we worked. He hopes to

go to the Amazon to share the Gospel, where the language is not even written.

When I asked him how he knew God wanted him to do this, he looked at me like I

was crazy and said, "God told me." Very convicting.

One group of people from our trip painted a basketball court. They put our church

logo in the center. We hope this basketball court will be used to bring people

together to have fun and to learn about Christ.

Ladies from my trip: Kelly's roommate, Julie, Kelly, and Rashel.

Our bus that traveled together at night to dinner and to meetings.

Girls from our bus.

Sonia (I know - nice picture of me) was with a local church. She came with us

each day and served with us. She served us every day. When we ate, the

Venezuelans served us first and then they ate. She was cheerful and even though

she and I could not communicate well, we developed a bond. I could not stop

crying when I left! She had such a pure heart that I will never forget.

Catching up on ... June 2007

We went to Destin in Florida with Jamie's family in the middle of June. Upon our return home, we got into "Move Mode."

So... Jamie was out of town on business the week we moved. The movers came and packed our home up and it was hard to watch. I was torn - we had poured so much of ourselves into that house. While I was thrilled to move, I felt sad as well. I took the boys to Jamie's parents house while the packing continued. I thought it would be difficult for Jackson. We packed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Jamie got home and we moved Thursday. Nana and Pops took care of the boys on Moving Day. I stayed at the Oak Mountain house, cleaning, while Jamie was at the Homewood house, directing which boxes landed where. I wanted to leave our old house in good shape - it sounds silly but it was closure for me. It all happened so fast we really didn't get to say a proper good-bye to our neighbors. Friday we closed and that took a lot longer than we anticipated - the buyers were not prepared and it took about four or five hours when it should have taken only 30 minutes.

When we brought the boys to the house, Jackson thought his toys were still at the other house because they were not unpacked. He had a hard time adjusting as well. He told us he missed his room, especially his fuzzy carpet...

Jackson riding his bike.

Jonathan walking - he thought he was four years old, too, trying to keep up with

his brother and cousins.

The cousins having a picnic.

Jack jumping to Uncle Ryan.

Nana and Jonathan in the pool.

Uncle Jamie and Eric.

Pops relaxing out of the sun.

The cousins...

Jonathan having a blast...