Candidate Week, in a nutshell

(Actually, Candidate Week was in New York not in a nutshell.)

We left Washington D.C. on Sunday after church and got into Pearl River, NY late on Sunday evening. We knew that the week didn't officially begin until Monday at dinnertime but we went ahead anyway. It was nice to have almost a full day to just relax, let the kids play and run and Luke even let me sleep in (what a guy, huh?).

Monday evening we began with some get-to-know-you stuff. It was fun and immediately we connected with some of the other families there. Some families knew exactly why they were there and what they'd be doing. Others were like us and had no clue why the Lord had brought them to this place or what the outcome would be.

Tuesday was also chock full of meetings and appointments. We had a 3 hour session with a licensed counselor who reviewed with us the 1,000+ answers we'd sent in via psychological survey and personality tests. It confirmed just how drastically different Luke and I view tasks, our days and the world around us.

It's almost comical how different we are. Okay, it is totally comical. Luke's a right brained type A and I'm a whatever else type brained, totally opposite. He's organized, I'm chaos. He's structure, I'm wavering. He's scheduled, I'm by the seat of my pants.

You get the idea.

We talked about how those differences strengthen our marriage and how they have potential to be a stumbling block. Over all it was a good THREE HOUR session. I felt like my brain had been pulled out through my ear, but truly it was good. After that, we had small group time then dinner, bath and bed for the kids.

Tuesday was the much anticipated assignment revelation day. Assignments are the potential positions/jobs/ministries we could have. We'd heard from the others who had already met with the Candidate Director that the list was lengthy.

We sat in the directors office for the first 10 or so minutes making small talk. Which was nice and I enjoyed getting to know him a little better, but part of me wanted to scream, "JUST TELL ME WHERE WE ARE GOING."

And I realized that I have a bad habit. A habit of making other people speak to me on a level that should only be reserved for God. Clearly this man wouldn't be able to tell us, unequivocally, where the Lord desires for us to be. Only God can reveal that to us.

He began asking us questions based on what we'd written down in our formal application. "So, it looks like you're interested in discipleship and orphans, huh? Any other specifics?"

We told him that we certainly didn't want to be in a hostile region, that I preferred electricity and running water and that our hearts desire had originally been in Nairobi but that we were open to where ever the Lord was leading us.

He began looking at an extensive list, 4 + pages long, of potential assignments. He rattled off a few that had to do with Childcare, preschool care, children's worker and such. Suddenly, my mind flashed to this scene from Kindergarten Cop where Arnold Schwarzenegger has children dangling from every limb and he's standing in the middle of the room screaming.

Now don't get me wrong, my man is awesome with kids, preschoolers even. But the thought of him spending a whole day with preschoolers and then coming home to more preschoolers didn't sit well with me. He'd be done. Toast. Spent.

I know my man pretty well and I offered my opinion to him. I think the Holy Spirit spoke to both of us at the same time and we both realized that discipleship and youth may be where our heart's desire is. I mean, it was just about 3 years ago that we sat in our basement with our best friends and they drug us kicking and screaming persuaded us to try moving into Youth Ministry. We had so many apprehensions and after that first weekend, we FELL IN LOVE. We love teenagers. We love them for all their complexities and vulnerabilities and we love mentoring and discipling them. How could we haven not seen that as an area of ministry before?

The Director printed off about 8 or 9 pages of potential assignments and we threw out all but 4. Youth ministry. Ahhh. It felt good to finally know what the Lord was calling us to, now we just needed to figure out where. That night we didn't talk much about the potential assignments because, truthfully, I think we both were brain fried from information overload.

AIM certainly has their act together in regard to scheduling, childcare and everyone being on time and in place. So much so that each minute of candidate week was accounted for. Breakfast began at 7:45am sharp and our day ended when we settled the kids into bed around 8:30pm. We were crazy busy learning and gathering more information than our brains could process in one day.

Even me, Mrs. Let's-talk-about-our-heart's-desires-till-our-ears-bleed, couldn't muster up the energy or brain power to talk about the potential assignments we'd been given. Yet I knew that something about most of them didn't sit right. I let them marinate for the evening and most of the next day. When I realized that Luke was so lost in his own thoughts that he was barely talking I knew we had to talk, or rather, HE had to talk. So we he did.

What flowed from Luke's head and out of his mouth was uncertainty and the same feelings I had. No doubt we both felt as if the majority of the assignments offered to us were not a good fit. We decided we'd go back to the director and lay it out there, telling him what we envisioned our family doing and see what he said.

His answer? Church planting and discipleship.

Church planing? Us? No, really. Really?

We walked away with another 4-5 options. Some we (I) knew immediately wouldn't work (as the director said, there's nothing spiritual about knowing you can't live in a specific climate/area/region). Being in an area (Island) surrounded by ocean doesn't sound like fun to me. At all.

One word.

Sharks.

Yes, I'm serious. I don't love the ocean and all of its contents. (I know they won't come on land. Stop making fun of me right now, Michael Bowers.)

On Friday we received the news that we'd been officially appointed as members of African Inland Mission.

Anyway, we sit now still unsure of a location. We have several options still on the table. Some we've marked off then re-added. Some we've marked off for good. All of the options vary somewhat drastically in the ministries that we'd be doing, yet each of them has pricked our hearts for one reason or another.

If you feel led, we ask that you pray with us that God would make it clear to us where He desires for our family to be and/or what ministry He desires for Luke to work with. Thanks friends. Hopefully I'll be able to share with you soon exactly where the Lord will have us to be.

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By the way, here's another sweet couple who was with us at Candidate Week (click the previous link or click here). They are looking to serve Missionary Kids (MK's) at Rift Valley Academy where they are both alumni. So cool! Hanna is a THIRD GENERATION missionary and so cute I just want to pinch her.

I pray that the Lord makes our journey the beginning of a multi-generational legacy of reaching the lost for the glory of Christ. Sam and Hanna's story is remarkable. You should go read about them right now.

Black Friday!

Okay y'all. I'm NOT a crazy Black Friday shopper. At least not in a physical store. But this is too good of a deal to not share.

At Kodakgallery.com you can get 1 package (a set of 10) of FREE 5x7 Holiday Cards. Use the online coupon code (FREE10CARDS) once you've got them in your cart.

Also, they are having a great deal on their PhotoBooks. I ordered one for my Maw last year and I LOVED IT. Right now you can add as many pages as you want for no extra cost! (Typically after 20 pages it's $0.60/page...I think). Y'all that's fabulous. And you use 20 pages faster than you'd think.

Also, if you purchase more than $40 in products they pay the shipping! (You must use the coupon code SHIP40.) (Yes, you can use more than 1 coupon code!)

Finally, they have some other great deals on Notecards and Magnets. I'm telling you, if you like to give photo gifts you've got to go to Kodakgallery.com. But I think this all expires on 11/28/10 so hurry!

**I'm not getting compensated for telling you this, I just like to share great deals!**

Go. Now. I mean, if you want.

Yay for bargains!

Time: A guest post by Luke

Time.

We all say we never have enough of it.

I had a conversation today with some brothers of mine. It led me to talk about having a large family and making good use of time. So..... tonight after dinner we wrestled. Yep, with six kids (well Ella just stared and wondered what all the noise was about). We all laughed at one time or another, we all (count 'em, Ashlee about 4 times, Lucas 1 time, Aaron 2 times, Olivia 4 times) cried because of pain (oh, and me about 12 times because I had 5 kids doing all they could to hurt me). At the end of it, was great family time.

Oh, but that's not all. We asked the older 3 to go get ready for bed, and naturally one listened and the other two couldn't hear a thing. I put the Aaron and Olivia down and go upstairs to find Lucas cuddled up in his bed, while the girls are playing. I proceed to tell them Lucas gets something special and the girls have to lay down (FYI - the older 3 now all stay in the same room). I lay down beside Lucas and tell him he can have an extra token (we do responsibilites and pay in tokens = really cheap payout) or I can lay with him. After he thought for a little while he chose for Daddy to lay with him.

There is still 4 loads of laundry to fold, 3 loads to wash, a van to be unloaded from our trip, crumbs to walk on in the kitchen, dishes to be unloaded...... but that was time well spent. I pray that more times like tonight come. I was a very blessed father tonight.

NavBar and some random

What's new around our house and this blog?

A lot actually. We are still processing our time in New York with Africa Inland Mission. We thought we had the potential assignments narrowed down to 2, then after sending and receiving a few emails we now find ourselves considering a few more. I'm getting a little anxious about picking a place and moving forward because we still have A LOT to do before our target departure date of July 2012.

I know it's 18+ months away but we still have a whole lot to do. I'll try to outline all of that for you all soon.

If you follow me in Google Reader, you probably saw a few random posts today. Sorry about that. I was trying to get a new Navigation Bar set up and I accidentally published some of those links with today's date rather than backdating them. Ooops. Oh well. Hopefully, once I get all those Navigation Bar links up and running I can omit a lot of the info in my sidebar and make my blog a little more user friendly. If you're interested in making a NavBar for your blog you can go to Jenieshell's Design Blog and read her tutorials. They are SO SIMPLE!

Today Ella turned 8 months old. She did her first baby sign today asking for "more." Well, at least I think she signed it. Or maybe she was clapping because I was clapping. Either way, she's pretty much the sweetest baby ever and a complete genius. :) I'll try to do a whole post on her soon and hopefully post some video because she's crawling (sorta) and can push herself up to sitting and has now been dubbed as "Elliegoat" by the big kids because she eats everything she can get her chubby little fingers on.

Aaron desperately wants to go pee in the potty but I'm over trying to potty train him. I'd be fine if he'd put everything in the potty but all he seems to care about flushing is pee pee. All other "items" he could care less about putting in the potty which means he's still in diapers for now.

I know, I know. I should carpe potty but I just don't want to. I would if he'd carpe in the potty. Then we'd be golden.

That's about it for now. I've used all my allotted computer time making the NavBar and now telling you why I had random posts showing up and talking about seizing the potty. Y'all have a great evening. And Happy Thanksgiving if I don't get back to you before then!

Lincoln, Washington and Veterans

On our second day in Washington D.C. we opted out of riding the metro. After the previous day's fiasco, we figured we'd fare much better just driving our 15 passenger van into the city and begging scavenging bartering driving around endlessly searching for a parking spot. After about 45 minutes of driving in circles, we found one. We parked near the Lincoln Memorial and headed there first. I really wanted to see this thing up close after 31 years of only seeing photos. It did not disappoint!

The entire time we stood there, looking at the homage paid to President Lincoln, I kept glancing at Olivia, thinking about how because of Abe's willingness to fight for what was right, she's accepted as a member of our family.

Elizabeth was quite the tour guide.

I wanted to get each kids' picture in front of Abe's huge self, but that didn't work out as planned, so I'll just show you this one, which cracks me up.

Beware of the Giant Floating Baby! Good thing she's cute or it might be freakishly scary.

The view out of the front of the Lincoln Memorial was breathtaking. I'll tell you the truth though, I half expected to see Jenny running through the reflection pool toward Forrest. (Namethatmovie.)

Next, we walked down to the World War II Memorial. I knew the kids would care less about this tribute to our amazing Veterans. But, since my own Grandfather as well as Luke's Grandfather both served in WWII, I knew this was something I had to see.

I forgot that Veteran's Day was just around the corner, yet I was so taken back and found myself holding back tears, each time I saw one of these sweet WWII Veterans being pushed around the Memorial by volunteers. They were just so sweet and I wanted to hug each one of them.


Luke's Grandfather was deployed from Ohio.

My Grandfather from Arkansas.

Both of them served in the Army branch of the military.

We tried explaining to the kids exactly what these Veterans fought for, but I think it was lost on their tired legs and their desires to run in an open field (which, do those two things seem to contradict themselves to anyone else? How can a kid say, "My wegs hurt!" then in the next breath say, "Can we run?").

So we headed across the street and they ran, wrestled and played in the open fields in front of the Washington Monument. We were totally "that family" whose kids were running and rolling and screaming and being crazy. Luke and I could have cared less. By the time we walked all the way across the fields, everyone within 100 yards of us had counted our kids at least 3 times each.

I tried to get a picture of Lucas looking like he was holding up the Washington Monument, but as you can tell from his posture and his face, he was super confused. Which just makes it even more hilarious.

We walked over to the Smithsonian's American History Museum and let the kids play in the 2 children's areas but quickly realized that we had quite a walk back to the van and the kids couldn't have cared less about all the cool American History stuff, so we trekked back to the van, lugging tired children with each step. We ate at a Mexican-Salvadorian Restaurant which was super yummy. But apparently, adding "Salvadorian" to the title means that you pay 3 times as much as what we are used to paying at a Mexican Restaurant back home. The salsa alone was worth it though. I've dreamed about it at least 3 times since. True story.

The next morning we went to church at First Baptist Church Alexandria (the church that had the member who blessed us with some outstanding accommodations for our stay in D.C.) then hit the road for Pearl River, NY. What should have been about a 3.5 hour drive turned into SIX HOURS. We rural living Southerners aren't used to two major things.

1) Toll Roads

2) Bumper to bumper traffic on the Turnpike where the speed limit is at least 60mph and we are going 4. FOUR. Okay, maybe 10, but still.

We finally stopped and grabbed some lunch, but for the life of me I can't remember where. I know y'all are just on edge for that tidbit of completely irrelevant information. We arrived at Africa Inland Mission's US Headquarters around dark and then the real adventure began. Stay tuned!

Getting there was half the battle. Literally.

Fair warning, this post will a be LONG one, just like our first day in Washington D.C. We began on Thursday, November 4th as we loaded up our 15 passenger van and headed North. We didn't quite know what to expect but we knew we wanted to make a stop in Washington D.C. for a few days since

1) I'd never been and

2) the kids had never been and

3) it was the half way point and we were sure we'd all be screaming to get out of the car 5.5 hours in.

An amazingly generous member of this church provided us a place to stay for 3 nights while we spent some time touring D.C. and Luke and I proved to ourselves that we can handle being in public with all six of our kids. We will still choose to not prove that to ourselves on a regular basis, especially in a crowded metropolis, but we can do it.

We also realized that when there is a bathroom within mere steps of our children, we will insist that they use it to squeeze out whatever non-existent drops of liquid are in their bladders. Partenting's 1st Law of Bathroom Emergencies states that as soon as the bathroom that no one needed a short 5 minutes ago is out of sight, everyone will suddenly be on the verge of peeing their pants and/or poop their diaper.

It's pure physics, I think. Or Newton's 87th law of pee. I'm not sure. I was never good at science.

On day 1 of our time in Washington D.C. the kids woke up somewhat cheerfully, we enjoyed a relaxed breakfast then loaded up to drive to the nearest Metro station. We'd been told by numerous people that we'd better take advantage of public transportation in D.C. So, we heeded their advice and sought out parking for our vehicle.

Remember that time we drove a 15 passenger van? Oh wait....that's now. Can I just tell you that finding a parking spot for a 15 passenger van in a city that was built before 15 passenger vans likely existed was fun. And by fun I mean, notsomuch.

We parked in a parking garage where we could only enter and exit through 1 main door and we had approximately 20 yards worth of potential parking spaces before we no longer made clearance and likely busted a water main with the roof of our van. I asked the parking garage attendants where we should park since all the spots were reserved or for compact cars. They graciously let us park in the van parking for the hotel that was attached to the garage. They neglected to mention that the main door closes promptly at 6:57pm (or 7pm, but clearly 6:57pm was their target).

We unloaded the triple stroller, my anxiety and all the children and walked across the street to the metro. Several times during our journey into the city we heard, "One..two..three..four..five...SIX! They have six kids!"

(1st Metro ride. Clearly we are amused.)

We headed to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It was cool. I dunno, maybe I'm a little lackluster for the whole thing because, I dunno, I BELIEVE IN CREATION.

(Please take note of the 4 dwarfs, Cheesy, Climby, Grumpy & Diva)

(Lucas and Ashlee were done with getting their pictures taken. Done. Let me show you just how done they were.)

(This is the above photo zoomed in. Hysterical. Even funnier? I had no idea they were making these faces as I happily snapped away.)

Don't get me wrong, the dinosaur bones were cool. Super cool. And they had an exhibit from Cyprus which was also pretty cool. But the 3 to 4 ENORMOUS ROOMS that were based purely on human evolution got old very fast. I'm still struggling to figure out how I feel about the entire museum. I mean, if they'd at least presented creation as a theory then maybe I'd be able to process some of the validity of their other exhibits. But how can I trust science in some areas and then say that other areas are completely false? It's like cherry picking the Bible. It just doesn't work that way. I wish we'd have been in town for this event.

We also saw this really cool piece of jewelry.

Any guesses on what that is? If you're like me, you'd expect that thing to be a lot BIGGER in real life. I dunno. The Hope Diamond should be the size of my hand or something, right? Eh, notsomuch.

Anyway, the kids loved it. After we spent most of the day there, we decided to walk over to the White House. Can I just tell you that the map I had was a little sketch? I mean, we did get it off of a guy on the street who was raising money for the "homeless" but there were some serious errors. So after taking all these photos we realized we were actually on the backside of the White House.

Whatever. The kids didn't know the difference and clearly neither did Luke or I until the next day when we actually saw the front. I got several other photos from the Museum as well, but it was so dark in there that it clearly tested my photography skills and, well, they all stink.







Even though the kids thought that seeing the Dinosaur bones was the highlight of Day 1, I'd have to say that for me, seeing the White House was definitely at the top of my list for our entire stay in D.C. Not so much because I'm a huge fan of politics, but more because of what it represents. Every president other than George Washington has slept in that building. That's amazing to me. Freedom is amazing to me.

On the way home we managed to

A) Get the stroller stuck in the door of the Metro, while we were boarding.

B) Get Luke's backpack (that was still on his back) trapped in the door of the Metro.

C) Almost cause Olivia permanent damage by getting her head stuck in the ticketing thingy as we tried to exit the Metro. It was eventful. (Don't worry, Olivia wasn't really hurt. She thought she was but trust me, she was fine.) Thank goodness there was a Hercules type-ish man on the Metro who rescued Luke both times as he tried to re-open the Metro doors and save himself, his backpack and the stroller.

It was clear we were not from around them parts. Mercy. Stay tuned for day 2. Much less squishage in the Metro doors and even cooler sights to be seen!

Home and Official

Well, I tried to be sneaky but I'm sure most of you picked up on the lack of posts last week. We had a whirlwind week leaving last Thursday, the 4th, and spending 10 amazingly crazy days traveling through Washington D.C. then on to our final destination of Pearl River, New York. We spent five overwhelmingly full and blessed days at Africa Inland Mission meeting some God-fearing, Lord loving, wonderfully obedient families who blessed our socks off. (I've already found the blog of this family, if you'd like to follow their journey too. They are awesome and we connected with them right away. I'll try to post more links to the families we met as I find any blogs they may have.)

Our kids did PHENOMENAL. We had some rough spots, but all in all they were terrific. I'm still in shock and trying to process all we heard, did and saw.

Bottom line though, we've officially been appointed as members of Africa Inland Mission. Which means, we're officially MISSIONARIES!

Wow. God is good, I'm still in processing but I'm just so excited to see how the next year and a half will play out. We'd treasure your prayers as we continue to seek God's desires for our family as we pray and nail down exactly where in Africa the Lord desires for us to be. I'll give you more specifics and pictures soon. Have an awesome week y'all!

An apology

I feel like I owe you guys a deep apology.

While I was searching the "archives" for my last post, I came across this post. The sting of my words in this post made me hang my head in shame. Over the last several days, the Lord has convicted and gently spoken to me about the tone and the words of that post. And y'all, I'm just so very sorry.

While there is truth in that post, the curtness and the coldness with which I wrote was uncalled for an, truly, unacceptable.

Yes, I felt those things. But the Lord is showing me that just because I feel something, and even if it is a valid feeling, that doesn't give me the right to spew hatred and anger. While this post may not have offended you and though while my feelings and emotions were real the Lord is pressing me to rethink how I sounded. I feel very led to apologize publically, most specifically over my comments on Questions 3 & 4.

So I pray that you will accept any offense I may have given you all over this post. And maybe it didn't offend any of you and this is just another piece of humility pie the Lord is asking me to eat. He's been dealing with me deeply in the area of pride so I won't be surprised if that's the case. Either way, thank you all for receiving what I say here with a spirit of grace. Thank you for allowing me to be real, honest, blunt and open. Thank you for standing with us in prayer as we walk through difficult trials and as we've emerged stronger and more in tune with the will of God on the other side.

As we continue this journey that God has us on, I know that having you all at our side, praying for us, encouraging us and asking us tough questions will prove to be invaluable.

Thank you.

Das Not Funny! Friday: Bump it up

Okay, so I've barely had time to check my email this week, much less blog. So I thought I'd reach way back into the blog files, pull up a funny post, and "bump" one up. This is the 1st ever Das Not Funny! Friday post I published. It was originally written on March 20, 2009 but the reason I chose this post to bump is because this is basically still my life only the names have been changed to protect the innocent the kids now at these ages. Ashlee is the bike rider, Aaron is the birthday boy and Daddy slapper and Olivia is certainly the spider monkey, albeit a completely uncoordinated spider monkey.

If you'd like to read more of my Das Not Funny! Friday posts you can either click here or on the Das Not Funny! Friday button on my sidebar. Happy Weekend, y'all!

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Original Post:

Welcome to the inaugural post of Das Not Funny! Friday. I'm always sayin' I want to write down all the funny things my kids say (and do) during the week, aren't you? Well, now is our chance!

Why Das Not Funny!? Because, our kids are forever making us laugh, usually unintentionally. As we attempt to stifle our laughter, Ashlee (our Drama Queen) almost always looks at us, frowns and says Das not funny!

Oh my darling, bless your heart...it is so funny.

Won't you tell me the all the funny things you've heard or seen lately. It doesn't have to be just about your children (because not all of you have kids...or maybe your kids just aren't funny;-)).

You can check out the "official" rules by going to this post. But seriously, it's just not that complicated people. Simply write your own Das Not Funny! Friday post, then link it back here to my blog. You can either leave a comment in the comment section or type your info into Mr. Linky.

Of course, if you don't have a blog and you'd like to share your funnies, feel free to do so in the comment section.

Here we go! Happy Friday!

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On Wednesday night we were getting the big kids ready for bed when Lucas, out of nowhere, reached over and slapped Luke right across the face! Trying to prove a point, Luke slapped him back.

This went on for about 2 minutes. Finally, Lucas busted out into hysterical laughter and Luke's face began hurting. His point remains unproven.

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Apparently physical assault on my husband's head is becoming a favorite in our house. Why, just last night Luke was wrestling in the floor with all the kids and Elizabeth came at him like a spider monkey, punching him square in the jaw.

I'm enrolling them all in jujitsu next week. I'm thinking that will help, don't you?

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Yesterday, it was a beautiful day so we spent all day outside. I pulled Elizabeth's bike out of the storage shed, from behind the Christmas tree, where it had safely stored since last fall. She strapped up her helmet while I pushed her bike up the small hill in our backyard and onto the driveway.

We reviewed all biking procedures including how to pedal, turn and stop. Then, she was on her own. She began coasting down the slight slope of the driveway and she was so proud of herself.

Then, she began to pick up speed. In no time she was really flying, going full speed down the grassy "mountain" in our backyard. Her casual yells for help turn into death curling screams.

She's not stopping.

I throw off my flip flops and sprint after her (I use the term "sprint" loosely people), hoping to break her fall, or at least cushion it. I get to her just as she begins to tip, I grab her and think I'm in the clear, but her foot gets caught and we both fall and skid to a stop.

Naturally, she's wailing. I pick her up, brush the grass off both our knees and elbows and we begin the ascent up the hill. Elizabeth's still wailing, completely pitiful. However, she agrees to get back on the bike.

We strap back on her helmet and perch her back on the bicycle seat. I smile at her and say,

"I'm proud of you Elizabeth."

As serious as she can be, she looks up at me with big tears in her eyes and says, "But why? I fell down, remember?"

Yes, sweetie, I remember rolling through dog poop all in the name of motherhood.

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As I held Lucas this week before bedtime, I told him how he was about to be a big big boy and turn 3 years old soon. I asked him what kind of birthday party he wanted to have. With a big smirk on his face he looks at me and says,

"A princess party!"

Tonight, Luke is picking up the RAMBO series on his way home and it will be Lucas' night for special time.

AIMing for Africa

Remember this post and this one and this one?

Oh, and this one?

I know I was vague and suddenly stopped talking about everything that the Lord was/has/is doing in our life. Sorry about that. There were multiple reasons for delaying those posts. Now, however, we are ready to make it public. And suddenly, I don't really know how to tell you just all that God is laying before us. So instead, I'm going to share with you a modified excerpt of an email I sent out to our close friends and family. I will ask you that if you know the specific dates that we will be out of town, would you please keep that private and not share that in the comments. I was going to wait until we've returned to tell you what was going on, but truthfully, I need your prayers. I need you to pray over every aspect of this trip, what we will be hearing, seeing and living.

As you feel led, would you please pray over our family as we prepare, plan, travel and seek the Lord's will for our family.

So it's with excitement, much prayer and some fear that we tell you about our trip this November to African Inland Mission's Candidate Week. Yeah, missions. It's scary and exciting and overwhelming all at once. We have felt the Lord prompting us toward missions for about 4 years now. However, neither of us chose to recognize the Holy Spirit drawing our attention to the details that God was clearly placing in front of us until the last 18-24 months. So with much prayer and Biblical guidance we chose to step out and interview with Africa Inland Mission (AIM). That interview lasted 5 hours on July 15th. We found out more details about AIM and realized that for a family our size, going on the mission field through an organization like AIM just makes sense rather than trying to go at it solo. AIM has been sending missionaries to Africa for over 100 years so they are equipped and have much experience with the things that may not even show up on our radar. Plus, they have experience with sending large families to Africa.

Why Africa? Honestly, we are not sure. We've wrestled, prayed and cried many tears over the possibility of our lives being lived so far from our friends and family. No, neither of us has ever been to Africa, neither of us knows what's in store. But here's the best way we can explain the yearning we have for Africa in our hearts:

It's the same yearning a barren woman has for her unborn children. It's the same longing a person who desires marriage has for their unmet spouse. It's inexplicable as to why we ache for the peoples of Africa, yet we do. A woman need not experience motherhood to know she longs for children. A man need not experience marriage to know he desires a wife. The same is true for us and our heart's longing for Africa.

Why missionaries? Well, the Bible is clear (Romans 10:13-17 plus several others) in commanding us to make disciples of all nations and share the saving power of the gospel. For us, obedience to that command looks like missions to Africa. For you it can and will look different.

We are so excited to see how God is going to show up and work in the coming year as we gain knowledge, support and funds to head to whatever mission field God is preparing for us. We pray that you will come along side us and see how God will take our family from the impossible to a reality. We pray you will ask us tough questions, pray for our discernment, be excited with us when God works majestically and mourn with us over the heartaches we will surely face. Mostly though, we ask for you to pray for us as we step into a lot of unknowns. Proverbs 16:9 says, "The heart of man plans his way but the Lord establishes his steps." No scripture could be truer for our season of life right now. As we plan and prepare ourselves we leave each step open to the direction of God. He has been so faithful in leading us to this point, we are certain He will not forsake us now.

This wasn't easy to write and I'm sure for some of you it hasn't been easy to read. My prayer is that you will receive this season of our lives for what it is. A family desperate to seek the will of God for our lives, knowing that our calling can and will look much, much different than someone else's. Not for one second do we believe that we are "better Christians" or "holier than you" because God has called us to such a challenge. Truly we ask you each to examine your own walks with the Lord through prayer and Biblical study. We feel confident that in doing so you will see just where God is calling you to a challenge so that only His name can receive glory, if He's not already doing so! Trust us when we say that we are NOT choosing this path for our own glorification but solely to make the name of Jesus known to all nations. If it were self glorification we desired we can think of MUCH EASIER ways to obtain it.

Finally, if you have questions please ask them. If you are concerned, please express it to us. You can email us at any point. I can promise you we will hear every word and prayerfully consider every concern and question. If you believe that we are radically throwing our safety and livelihood and that of our children into a pit then we beg you to pray for the Holy Spirit to intercede and change the desires of our hearts. Trust me when I say that I (Jessica) have prayed many prayers asking God to call us someplace else, to a completely different ministry where we can stay within the comfort of our normal lives. However, for this season of our lives, God is calling us to explore missions.

We'd jump at the opportunity to tell you more about how the Lord has led us to this place so if you want to know just ask. But be ready to spend some time with us because it won't be a quick conversation! This is a long time coming and not a decision we've made flippantly or in the last several weeks.

Obviously, we will know many more details after Candidate Week.

For more information about Africa Inland Mission you can visit their website at: http://www.aimint.org/

Thank you friends for your ever present encouragement, your constant love and your prayers.

He could see the answer shining in her eyes

What do you call the person who's at your house more than just babysitter hours but not quite here enough to be called a Nanny? Babynanny? Nannysitter?

I call her MY SANITY and the kids call her Miss Amanda. Several months ago, Miss Amanda got engaged to Nick. It's a close call on who the kids like more, Nick or Amanda. Aaron is crazy about NiCK (emphasis on the CK) and the girls adore Miss Amanda.

Last week I got to pretend to be a photographer for an afternoon. Who were my lab rats subjects? Nick and Amanda, of course! The outcome was some hardly professional, yet super inexpensive engagement photos of them.

Y'all, I'm just so excited about their future. They both love the Lord, Nick will surely prove to be an amazing leader of his home and Amanda is incredibly humble and has the heart of a servant. I couldn't be more ecstatic about what God has in store for them. And my kids are just a teentsy (read: HUMONGOUS) bit excited about their wedding next June.

As I snapped photos of them, I couldn't stop the voices of Wynonna and Naomi Judd from flowing through my mind, hence the title of this post.*




The laughter and smiles were abundant as we strolled around downtown, trying to find interesting places to snap shots. I love this one of them throwing the leaves. And especially the one of them in the doorway. Mercy. So sweet.


It wasn't hard to ask them to lean in closer and give each other tender gazes and small kisses. It took me back to when Luke and I first were engaged and how we just enjoyed each other's company, no matter where we were or what we were doing. Blessedly, that has only continued to grow and I love my man more today than I did nearly 11 years ago, when we first met.

These next 2 are certainly in the top 3 of the whole day. The genuine laughter and the way the sun shines on Amanda's face as she looks into the eyes of her love. Priceless.


I remember being at the wedding of Luke's best friends from high school. We'd only been married 6 or so months ourselves. It was the end of the ceremony. Laughter had abounded, the bride and groom had prayed and they'd just had their first kiss as man and wife. The minister said something to the effect of, "In this ceremony you've done 3 of the most crucial things a husband and wife can do together. Laugh together, pray together and kiss often."


If such is the case, I can't see a reason in the world why Nick and Amanda would ever have reason to struggle. How I already pray that their marriage is one that will they guard with fervent prayer, laugh about each other's flaws daily and share lingering kisses.


Praise God for new love, new seasons and a home that serves Him with abandon.

*The title of this post is from The Judds' song "Young Love."