NINE WHOLE YEARS!!!!!

Today was Jackson’s 9th birthday!

For all the grandparents…I’m going to walk you through his day!

We woke him up a little earlier than normal…
He was all grins knowing immediately what day it was. The whole family joined together in giving him a "birthday spanking". As he left our room, he was surprised with balloons and streamers all over our door. The Whitenton Family had decorated it after we went to bed the night before!

At school, Jackson’s class had a party for him and the cafeteria ladies made him a HUGE chocolate cake! (jack’s favorite) After school, we had a party for him with several friends in our small group and others we know here at ILC.

ASHER...Jackson's smallest friend

Sarah made Jack a birthday hat! WAY COOL!

The Whitenton Family gave Jack a Frisbee and a water bottle.

Steven and Emily gave him a GIANT Hershey bar!

So…Jackson is 9 now and feeling pretty blessed I think. I remember a few weeks before we came here listening to him share how he was concerned that his birthday this year would be horrible because no friends would be around and we wouldn’t be with our family. It was a really good lesson for all of us. God provided precious friends to decorate our door and sweet ladies we don’t even know to make a WONDERFUL CAKE. Jackson has made TONS of friends since we’ve been here and we had to limit the people to just our small group that would be at his party so things didn’t get too CRAZY! God ALWAYS provides above and beyond what we could ever ask for. I think that was Jackson’s best gift this year. Realizing God’s sufficiency!!!

Family Pictures

We just wanted to give a little shout out to Roger & Courtney Hampton! Thank you for spending so much time with our family trying to get 5 people to look at the camera and smile!

You're great and we love you guys!

Learning new stuff everyday…

You really don’t need a bunch of stuff to be completely happy! My lil’ family is blissful in the midst of no television, a laptop that works when I hold it high above my head really close to one of the admin buildings, and 1 bar on my cell phone. Someone saw me doing the "wifi reach" as I like to call it just the other day! EMBARRASSING!

We end each day with the knowledge that we have completed a lot of hard work and are truly stretching ourselves. Every hour of every day is devoted to learning and growing us. The boys are making so many friends and seem to love living amongst LOTS of people. This is a good thing. ;) They are going to school to learn how to strengthen their quiet times.

Speaking of the kid's, a parrot named Richard resides at their school. AND Richard has “taken a liking” to Michael. The woman in charge of him said that he (the parrot) always picks a couple of individuals (usually adults) each FPO to attach to and will always go to them when they approach. Michael must have used his "bird whispering" skills on him or something because today was the 2nd day that Richard crawled onto his shoulder. When Mike told him to go home, he moved over to his perch! The kids went crazy and wanted to know how Mike could accomplish such a feat! Mike is enjoying his new found fame amongst the kids. ha



I’m also getting to spend precious time with my heavenly Father. Friday, we were given 3 hours to simply BE with God as HE filled our cups to overflowing! We are being reminded that the sole purpose in all that we are doing is to GLORIFY GOD!

One last thing to report…Jayden got his hair cut.

BEFORE (early July)























AFTER (Aug. 1)
What do ya think? He looks older, huh!?! He was a little shocked when she cut it but it was totally his idea and he said he was finally ready. (I guess my baby is no longer a baby)
sniffle...sniffle

1st day of school

Today the kids started their classes. They got up early to go eat breakfast and then came back to get pictures made with the Whitenton kids.

acting silly

Jayden's first day of school...he was so tired!

a new home...for a little while

Quad 21 will be serving as our home for the next 9 weeks. The guys went fishing this morning and will start classes on Wednesday. Everyone is getting all moved in and I can already tell it's going to be very interesting! ;)

This room serves as our living room/great room. We share it with 4 other families. I KNOW, RIGHT!?! ha No, actually, the people we are living with are great. We already know all of them and they are all going to Brazil just like us!

The boys have made themselves at home...if home is where you hang your hat, anyway!?!

This is my favorite part of our quad. IT IS ALL MINE...for 9 weeks anyway. We've lived here for less that 24 hours and I've already washed 3 loads!

Chesapeake Bay

Today we drove through the mountains of Virginia and ended up on the Chesapeake Bay. We let the kids wade in the ocean and then we ate lunch on the beach. We decided to let the kids see a historic lighthouse located on Fort Story military base. It was really beautiful.

Driving back to Richmond wasn't quite as enjoyable. UGHHHH!!!!!!!

almost there...

Well...we made it to Virginia. We're not quite to Richmond but ALMOST!

Maybe some sightseeing tomorrow. We haven't decided if we want to go to the mountains or the ocean. Hopefully tomorrow I'll update with some pictures.

Looking forward to a good night's sleep. The boys are tucked into bed and watching Little House on the Prairie right now. I think I'll join them....

on the move

We have spent this week in Lexington saying goodbye to all our friends. We've had some REALLY hard goodbyes! We will be leaving for Virginia on Saturday morning so that we can begin our time of training.

I think I've lost my mind because I forgot my cell phone charger and so many other REALLY important things. My phone is completely dead but thank goodness my cousin is bringing the charger (along with baseball gloves) to us on Friday. THANK YOU GERI!!!

JohnMark is at camp this week and I pray he's having a wonderful time even with all the stress he is under regarding moving again. The other two boys have been getting in bed VERY LATE almost every night and they are struggling with getting up the next morning. We try to spend as much time as possible with our friends but the boy's sleep is paying a price. Pray we can get back into our routine over the next couple of days!

Sorry I've been barely blogging over the past month but life is absolutely crazy right now. I know that soon we'll be living a little more normalcy and hopefully I'll be on here updating more.

Thanks for your prayers...guys!!!

Playa Del Carmen

Mike and I spent a few days in Mexico last week!

It was wonderful!!!

bunk bed forts

OK...it's unanimous! The music is gone! I might bring it back again on occasion for Mike but I'll make it where it doesn't come on automatically!

I caught the boys making a fort out of their bunk beds today and it made me think of our old home. We moved their furniture here into mom and dad's house so they are still using it while we are in the states. (a little consistency for them is nice)

Anyway...I was so happy to see them making a fort again. I had to take a picture of their creation so I would remember it when they are old. The boys aren't in the picture because I wasn't allowed into the fort. I snuck in while they were in the shower to take the pictures.