This says it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back to Africa

I got my Africa pictures about a week and a half ago from Becky. When we were almost done there, I said I would never go back. I did what I had to do, and that was it. When we got back, I said I would never go back. Now that I'm looking thru the pictures and videos I know in my heart that I will be back one day. There is something about there that traps you and never lets go. I won't live there, but I will DEFINATELY visit!

Thank God it's Friday!

Just a shout out to thank God it's Friday! Some weeks it seems like it will never get here! This was definately one of those weeks! If you feel it too, leave a comment!

It's Monday, need I say more???????????????

Fat man tourist...............

He looks like he should have a camera around his neck!

How great is your love..............

I am so amazed and humbled at how much love surrounds me. I have an awesome (some might even say gorgeous) husband who worships me (at least that's what I tell myself ;0) ), 5 great (not perfect, just great) kids, and friends for miles that would come to my defense in a heartbeat......But most importantly, a God who died for me. I know he died for everyone, but think about it, He didn't have to, but he loved us that much...........Can you wrap your brain around that? Would you be able to martyr yourself for someone who wasn't even born yet? Someone who was to be born thousands of years later? Makes you wonder huh?

Birthdays....

Birthdays are a tricky thing. The younger you are, you are so excited that you are having a birthday. The older you are, the excitement is still there, but you are also more quiet about it. Do I really want people to know it's my birthday? Will they ask me how old I am? Well, today's my birthday, and I am 34. I think 34 is a good number. I've done alot with my life so far, but know that there is so much more to do, and alot of time to do it. For those of you that know me, I don't want a present, but maybe a comment on this post telling me your thoughts on your birthday.
Love to all!

Reflections

While I was getting ready for my trip, I felt like God wanted me to work through some things in my life when I got there. So when I would have my quiet time, I would pray through for those things. Only when I got there, I noticed alot of growth in areas I didn't feel like I needed "work" on.
I was raised with a daddy that used that famous line "if it isn't broke, don't fix it", well I ignored what "wasn't broke"(so I thought) in my life. WOW, there was alot I thought I fixed years ago that I didn't. My challenge to you is to reflect. Dig up your past and make sure everything is "fixed" with God, family, whoever. Don't ever think you are fixed!
Love to all!

The calm before the storm..........

Sorry I haven't been able to blog recently, but I've been busy trying to play "catch up" on my life, and my kids lives. I have a feeling that my life is gonna get crazy because it's been so great since I've been home, and as many of you know if you go out and do God's work, it tends to make the devil a little mad! I've been waiting for the upset that usually comes when I press in and seek Him, and it hasn't happened, so just pray. I feel like this is the calm before the storm, but I'm fired up, ready and waiting!

My beauty queen

This is the smile I came home to on Monday. Emma, you are gorgeous! I love you so much and am glad I'm home! I missed you and your brothers (and your dad, but don't tell him). Remember to stand up, stand out and change the world!

Church

Went to church last night. Had so many people ask about Africa. How can you sum up a life changing experience in one sentence? I just kept saying that it was awesome, but that doesn't even touch the surface of emotions and feelings, and experience that I brought back with me. For those of you wishing to know more about Africa, I'm going to be able to post more when I get the pics. Until then, sorry!

Back to the real world

Yesterday I got up, got kids dressed, went to work like it was any other ordinary day. Not like I just got in from Africa the night before. Let me tell you, I don't remember getting in the bed last night! I pray that my mind comes back to me today, b/c I couldn't make a decision yesterday to save my life! But that's what happens in my world. Just because I'm tired doesn't mean I can go lay down (you moms out there know what I'm talkin about). I guess it'll catch up with me sooner or later. I'm just glad to be back!

I'm home.............

Who would have thought that I would look forward to a plane ride? I am so proud of myself! I flew there and back with only crying on 2 of the 8 flights. Hey, that's good for someone who said they'd never fly again. I am so glad to be home, but miss my friends over there already! Isaac & Carol were AWESOME hosts (as well as Abraham). I will look forward to seeing Isaac & Carol when they come in next year! Until then, I will be praying for them and all my friends I made along the way. I will be able to post some new pics when Becky gets a chance to put them on a disk (Becky was gracious enough to let me blog from her computer while we were gone, and she has all the pics on it). Until then, Love to all!

Shoes

The day started with a plan, as always. And as always in traditional HPC style, the plan got altered, realtered, then thrown in the trash. We had started with 400 flip flops to give away. Well, yesterday when we counted over 400 kids, we needed to buy more. God is so faithful! Isaac went to the "store"(i really don't know where he went) and proceeded to buy more. He purchased 200 more, and the lady donated at least 100 more, free of charge!!! So we were supposed to have 45 minutes in each session (which I was over snacks again, but this time, Isaac translated!). Have you ever brought your kid to the store to buy a pair of shoes, and not know what size they were? We had to size all the kids. Needless to say it took longer than 45 minutes. We also had Theresa Reymer over to do a sort of "clinic" during snack, which took longer than expected, so we had to be "flexible" (our word of the week). Anyway, we were able to give out 450 pair of flip flops (not including the adults), and we were able to check them also. Out of that many children, their health was not that bad. Only 30 of them needed medicine for this or that, but nothing serious. Amazing! We close tomorrow, and leave straight from there to the safari overnight, so won't be able to blog, or email until sometime Friday night (day for ya'll). I love ya'll! Bye!

Snacks..............

When we did our schedule, Ms. Sherry put me over snacks. I didn't think it a big deal (I'm trying to make Robyn proud!), because I helped a couple of years ago with her. Word to the wise, if you are needing to spend 45 minutes at a snack giving literally starving children a tangerine, you better have a back up plan on spending time with the children. It only took them 5 minutes to eat that tangerine, so I was struggling. That along with the fact that my "translater" didn't speak enough english to help me, I was left hanging. So the first snack (of 3 groups) went O.K., we sang ALOT of songs. Well then for the second group, Ms. Sherry had us do the game we planned for yesterday which was to pass a "stone"(a washcloth wrapped in fabric) over your head to the person behind you until you get to the end of the line. That didn't go so well. They kept saying the other team cheated(nothing different from our kids back home), but I thought it was gonna go to blows! Then Judy (my saviour) asked me if I wanted to go fix our lunch in the classroom (we eat ours when the kids eat theirs), and I could of kissed her! I definately am a behind the scences person, (or with the younger babies), so I was completely outside my comfort zone! But anyway, it was a great day! They made bible candy, so we had kids with no food in their system FULL of sugar. It was hillarious!!!!!!!!!! I had a great time!!! I am waiting for today, we give out shoes (flipflops) to everyone today! I'll let you know how that goes!

For myHPC friends, I'll be praying for ya'll that the cleanup goes smoothly and quickly! I hate that I'm not there to help. I love all of ya'll!

Traci

Well, Ms. Sherry taught us a new word: Flexible

Well, lets just say that HPC VBS wouldn't be right without a last minute change in schedule. We prepped all the way to Africa, and the whole while we've been here on our schedule. What teams would do what, etc. Well our first craft was picture frames. The children were to make picture frames for the pictures we would take today and print today. Did you know it takes 2 minutes per page to print one picture? Now multiply that times 300+ children, and it's not just a couple of hours. We started taking/printing pictures @ approx 11:30 and ended up having to leave @ 4:30 so Isaac could get to a preaching engagement he had tonight. So they didn't get to do their craft(not enough frames, other suitcase still hasn't made it), nor did they get to break up into groups for just about anything. We did get to hand out the pictures we printed, with the rest to come tomorrow. The one thing we did get to do was teach 300 African children "The lawnmower dance", and yes Emma, I did dance in public. I actually got on stage and danced! The children had a blast! I get to do a devotion tomorrow to the leaders of the church. It's called facing your fears. God definately has me doing that these last couple of weeks! I love & miss ya'll!

Traci

No words..........

I cannot even try to tell you the emotion I felt when we drove up to the church today to a crowd of children waiting on us. I don't really remember seeing parents, just children. We got serenaded "Yes Jesus Loves Me" as we unloaded the car with the bread, jam and hot tea we were to serve them before church. As we were preparing the bread (cutting, buttering, and spreading the jam), I got a chance to observe. Now remember how I said no parents? There were probably 1 grown up to every 4 children. And most of the children came without parents. With that said, I expected pandimonium. I expected to see what I see upstairs in children's church before service starts, children goofing off, children running around, etc. No, they sat either on a seat, or on a mat infront of the seats (not enough chairs) waiting VERY PATIENTLY for their bread. I looked out into the crowd, and no words can even begin to descibe how beautiful these children were. They weren't concerned at all about who wore what, but they were genuinly excited to be at church. Not to see their boyfriend, friend, or whoever, but to learn about God. Josie did an amazing job teaching Children's church. She taught on the Lion's story. It was great. Carol translated, and the children all sat on the ground, mezmerized. Then we taught them the first part of "Jesus Loves Me", and they taught us a dance. (now if you know me, that in itself is an entertaining sight!). Anyway, we had fun! I can't wait for VBS to start tomorrow, pray that Ms. Sherry's bag gets to us, it contains some material we need for this week. I love you guys and miss you!

My husband rocks!!!

What woman can say that their husband would let them go half way around the world to do a job she does everyday in Baton Rouge, and watch her 5 children while she's gone? MINE!!!!!!!! Baby, you're the best! I love you so much, and miss you sooooooooooo much! I can't thank you enough for this! You rock!

it's all in how you say it!

We just sat down at a small "pasta" joint in Maputo. We were cutting up. I was trying not to laugh at how many times Becky would ask "it says beef, is it really cow?". All of a sudden I heard Jay ask for a hamburger. You will have to go to Becky's blog(becky-perkins.blogspot.com) to get the full story, but I needed that laugh!!!!!!!!! I'm excited. We have church tomorrow, and Ms. Sherry said I can go out with the kids when praise and worship is over. That's what I've been waiting for!!!! I can't wait to love on me some babies!!! I miss mine terribly, but it's ABSOLUTELY worth it!! I will never second guess my decision (although it wasn't mine!). I miss and love all of ya'll!!!!

It's 2 a.m.

for those of you that know me, I am not a morning person. With that said, I have no choice. We got into Africa last night around 8:40 our time, 1:40 BR time with out much incident. I got sick on the first leg of the flight, and we lost one of Ms. Sherry's suitcases (well we didn't lose it, the airlines did). Isaac and Carol picked us up from the airport and drove us to the hotel. Now since I've never been to Africa before (looks ALOT like Mexico) I thought we'd be staying at some low key hotel. Not quite. We are staying on the Indian Ocean! The view is GORGEOUS! I know we won't be spending any time there, but it's not a bad scenery for quiet time! It's 9:32 am here, which means ya'll are all asleep, or just going to sleep. When ya'll wake up, remember to pray that we change the world! I love you Jope, Emma, Nick, Jacob, Cameron, and Michael.