Clean Water!

One of the first things I'll want when getting overseas is clean water! Today I did a practice run here in the States to see how making a water filter will work. I used a ceramic filter, spigot, and two five-gallon buckets, and there is now a steady dripping in the kitchen! I have a feeling that in Paraguay, I'll be filling the bucket up before going to bed, and getting clean water in the morning. It's not the quickest way to get water, but it is clean water in the end!

Hard at Work

The first thing I remember working on with my dad was my first "big girl" bike. I couldn't have been more than 5 or 6, and the ball bearings always went out. Through the years we've worked together on bikes, cars, furniture, and and airplane. I've learned a lot from my daddy, and I'm so glad he's my dad. This past year he got his pilot license & I'm so proud of him for all the hard work it took to get it.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

A Thought:

What if your favorite sports team used 20% of the allowable players against a full team?

Baseball would have 2 players: a catcher & pitcher??
Football would play 2 players: a quarterback & running back??
Soccer would have 2 players: keeper & sweeper?
Basketball would only have 1 player on the court!

More often than not, this is how the Christian church is running according to missions. Only about 20% of the church is functioning in a missiological role. What percentage are you on?

(Borrowed from Bro. Jesse Mooney, Coats Baptist Church)

A Replacement--and so much more!

Fran & me eating homemade chai tea ice cream

Many times through the last few months, I've asked you to pray for a replacement for my spot in childcare. God answered with my friend, Fran. She'll be one of the new teachers in childcare for the 2011-2012 school year.
Fran was also my neighbor for the past year and a half. We got to be really good friends, and she ended up with a lot of the things I left behind in Missouri. It pleased me to give them to a friend--and to someone I knew would appreciate them!
This summer Fran is working at a summer camp in Arizona--her first time without humidity! I'm making up for it here in North Carolina (and loving every minute of it, so far!)

And Home Again

Our last day of school was pretty slim, because so many kids were sick. It was sad that they all got sick just at the end, when they'd been healthy for so long!

And what would the end of school be without a cookout & S'mores?

Coming through western North Carolina, I had three tunnels to go through.

I made it home Tuesday afternoon, and hit the ground running. I'm excited to be able to have the time to start working on the things I need to do to get to Paraguay in August. Thanks for you prayers as I balance all these different things!

Typically

Typically tonight I would post a picture of my overly packed car...

but...

it's gone.

Tonight I handed all the keys over to the new owners of my first car. Do you remember your first car? The first one you bought with your money, paid insurance on, fixed with your money? Yes--it was a little sad walking away.

My things are (mostly) all packed, and ready to go in the morning. Thanks for your prayers as I drive for the next few days. Please pray for my heart as I'm leaving a lot of my friends, and my little house. This is the longest I've lived in one place since I moved out of the house after high school! I'm excited for what God has in store over the next few months and years, but will always look back on "my little house" with love.

The End of An Era

Today was our last day of class! This week was really slow because many of the kids got sick this week. It was disappointing to not be able to spend the last week with our kids. Over the weekend I'll be packing up & cleaning, then heading out to North Carolina at the beginning of the week. Hope to see many of you soon!

An Update on the Truck

"My God is so BIG!
So STRONG and so MIGHTY,
There's nothing my God cannot do,
FOR YOU!"

We teach this song to our kids, and sing it quite often, but how often do we really believe it? We say we believe it, we talk like we believe it, but deep down inside, I wonder how many of us expect God to do big, mighty, and strong things for us? We expect Him to work in the lives of others, but our own?--not always.

This is the story of a Big God and a Little Accident:
Two weeks ago, I was in a small accident on wet roads. I tried my best to avoid the car that pulled across my path, but due to the wet roads it wasn't possible. I was very disappointed, because I planned to list my car for sale the very next day.
The next day, I called my insurance company, and they quickly sent me to talk to the other driver's insurance. They promised to send an estimator out as soon as possible. I expected this to take up to a week, especially because of the bad weather & tornadoes within the state of Missouri that week. But two days later the estimator was here! He also expected that the car would be totaled.
Friday (my accident was on the previous Sunday) the insurance company called, and said that they were sending out a check to cover the costs of the damages! They didn't total the car, and were paying me for 63% of what they estimated the car to be worth, which was more than I had thought. I was pretty excited about this, but now I would have to think about selling the car.
A few months ago, some friends offered to buy the car. They have a handful of boys, all mechanically inclined, who could help fix the car. At the time, the car was out of their price range, because it was still in good shape...but after the accident...now the car was in their price range! They decided to buy the car and told me to keep using it until I'm ready to leave Missouri.
"God Things" from this story:
1. God put the car in the price range of my friends.
2. God moved the insurance company to move quickly, since I'm leaving in less
than two weeks.
3. God provided the money I hoped to get out of my car, but didn't expect to
receive as much as I wanted.

Find a way to glorify God today in your own life!

A Few Seconds Later

Sunday night I was in a car accident. I'm okay, as is my friend that was with me, but it looks like my car may not make it. :( There isn't a lot of damage (relatively speaking) but due to the mileage and age of the car, it will probably be totaled by the insurance company. I'll be finding out tomorrow exactly what to they expect.

This actually doesn't change a lot of my plans--because I was planning to put my car on craigslist on Monday! (In fact, as I was braking & attempting to avoid the accident, I was thinking "No!! I'm selling my car!") So hopefully this can all be dealt with soon, because I only have about 2 weeks left in Missouri.

Please pray that I will make wise decisions regarding my car. I'm praising God that my friend and I were not hurt--just a little sore for a few days.

Carrie

Easter

I hope you all had a great Easter weekend! A friend and I traveled to Louisiana for the long weekend, and we were able to fit in quite a lot in 5 days!

The dogwoods are out all over Missouri

I was able to see my nephew Cooper for a few days

I hid this egg, and I was surprised at how quickly it was found!

All the kids searching for eggs (Cooper was asleep)

Post #300...And Tribal Training with 2 Year Olds

Today we took our little MKs (missionary kids) to the soccer field across the road from our classroom. This is Abby and I with all 8 of our kids (one is hiding!)

MKs are usually pretty good at climbing, and here one is starting up the goal post.

They're also usually pretty good at soccer--check out those moves!

And of course, someone has to play keeper (and since they're 2, it's mostly "keep away")
Abby brought her rooster, Tapatio, out to play. The kids were all skittish at first.

Then they got pretty comfortable with him!

And even wanted to feed him grass.

Here's a little video--they were thrilled to be getting dirty!

Once Upon A Time...

...a little girl cried and cried because she was very sick. She was so sick she could not go with her friends on a youth trip--and they were going to see "Tait" that year. When she found out her youth group was sitting on the ground floor after six years of nosebleed balcony seats, she was very disappointed. She got better, but always hoped that someday she would be able to see Tait.

Well, last night she did! Some friends and I went to WinterJam last night, and we got to see about 8 Christian artists play. To close out the night, Newsboys, with their new lead singer Michael Tait, played a montage of songs including DCTalk & Newsboys songs. It was so fun to watch! In this picture they were all on elevated platforms, some out over the audience.


Jason Castro started out the evening. He was on American Idol a few years back, when I lived in Louisiana with my dear friend, Granny Allen. She'd be disappointed to see he still has his dreadlocks! :-)

Sushi Night!

My friend YuJung offered to make me sushi a few weeks ago--and last night we finally were able to get together. I'm not able to eat a lot of sushi because it often has seafood in it. But YuJung is from Korea, and they make a non-seafood-y sushi! The sushi she made me had radish, carrot, avocado, cucumber, hot dog, and egg


There were even leftovers for lunch the next day! :-)

Picnicking

We've been pushing our toddlers to the limit the past few days. Twice this week we've walked them (meaning--they actually walked!) to the playground farthest away from the Toddler classroom. It makes for a very slow walk back, and occasionally cumbersome for Abby & I as we figure out how many kids we can balance on our hips and shoulders. Today we packed our snack & a change of clothes for our potty-trainer and off we went! We had a good time, though I think we'll wait until next week before we try it again!

Bacon, Bacon, Bacon!

After a couple of days of not feeling very well, I had the very pleasant surprise of visiting with my friend on Wednesday night. Last week I sent her a box with a few special items, and I asked her to wait till we could open it together on Skype. After only a week it arrived! And she waited nearly 24 hours to open it, so sweet of her! About a month ago she mentioned on her blog that she can't find bacon or any other kind of American breakfast meat where she lives--and on my shopping day I found boxed, pre-cooked & preserved bacon! While we were talking her husband went into the kitchen & made her some bacon, and I got to watch them enjoy their breakfast meat.
Bacon. One of the little things we don't think of missing. Something we may not like when we leave the States, but when we recognize it's absence we really miss it!

"Your Baby Can Read"

Have you seen this infomercial? Maybe it's true, maybe it's not...but I do know of a genius child in the family:

I got my nephew this shirt, and according to my brother, The Amazing 1 Year Old held it up to himself & then laughed hysterically. So this begs the question--are all his shirts funny & he knows the reaction he sees on adults, or can this baby read? I'll let you decide.

A Long Weekend Vacation

This past weekend I was able to go visit my grandpa in Sanford, FL. It was great to spend a few days with him, and nice to be in warmer weather!

On Saturday we went to the beach for a few hours & got a little pink.

We made the mistake of sitting on a thin towel on wet sand--oops!

It was very nice to get away for a short vacation, but I really enjoyed coming back to my little smiles Tuesday morning!

An Afternoon of Babysitting

The Younger Brother missed his nap before I got there, so we through the afternoon by watching How to Train Your Dragon. (Mom's idea!)

Eventually, The Younger did pass out asleep. I asked him if he wanted to sit on my lap & he fussed "no!" and moments later he looked like this:

I was trying to keep The Elder from hitting/kicking/wiggling into his brother...his feet just couldn't stop!

When It's 10 Degrees Outside,

...we stay inside & bundle up! We couldn't get warm enough one day last week, so we kept the kids moving or wrapped them in their blankets. Most of them seemed pretty content to cuddle up!

Yes, She Did This to Herself:

though, shockingly, couldn't successfully find the camera. She also navigated the room quite well without eyes!