"3" Party!

 I love these 3 kiddos!  Beau, Whitney, & Hayden all turn 3 within a month of each other, so we decided we needed to get together and celebrate.  Amy, Hayden, Beau, and I loaded up one morning and headed to Fayetteville.

They were all glad to see each other, but Whitney took a while to warm up.  In the mean time, Beau and Hayden played dolls and beauty shop together:)

These 3 are something else!  They were SO excited to blow out candles and eat cake!!

 I can't even tell you how many pics we took, and this was pretty much the best:)

Yummy Yum!!

 Whitney got a new Power Wheels Jeep for her birthday and she took both the boys for a ride.  Heaven!!

 We tried again to get them to pose for a picture.  Not happening!  Whit got a strangle-hold in this one.  Ha!

 Oh how I love these kiddos!!!

I'm SO very thankful for good friends that I can share this stage of my life with.  Even though Sharon is "far away" now, our friendship hasn't changed a bit.  And, Amy SO gets my "boy drama" and I love that I can talk to her about 3 year old boy stuff and she really gets it! 

 Love you girls!!!

We have a teenager!!!

 We officially have a teenager is our house!!! Wow!  How is that even possible?????  Blake turned 13 on October 15, 2012.  We celebrated in several phases due to Travis going to Guatemala and GaGa being in the hospital.  

Blake's first "party" was a couple of Saturdays before his birthday.  NaNa, PaPa, Trisha, and Malory came down to celebrate.  Blake got lots of fun stuff.  He really wanted clothes and he got quite a few!  He also got a DVD collection of Dick Van Dyke seasons from Malory and Trisha, and his big gift of the day was a new bike from Nana and PaPa!!!

Beau wanted to help SO bad.  Blake was super sweet and let Beau pretty much open all of his gifts:)

 Blake is a card reader.  Always has been!

 My handsome boy.

 He wanted me to make Reeses peanut butter cupcakes instead of cake.  They were yummy!  They had a mini Reeses cup in the middle and homemade peanut butter frosting!  And of course, his favorite Blue Bell, "The Great Divide" on the side!

 Of course Beau was right in the middle of the candle blowing also.

 Blake got to pick where we went for dinner and he chose Red Lobster!  Yummy Yum!!

 On Sunday evening before his birthday we had Nonnie and Poppy over for birthday dinner.  Of course, Blake chose pea pie!  He wanted an apple pie also, but with Travis gone it just didn't quite happen.  So, we went to Geno's for ice cream instead!  His big gift on this day was a Kindle Fire HD from Nonnie and Poppy.  We also got him a case it for it.  He is in love!

 The next day was his actual birthday.  Our tradition is to get checked out of school for lunch on your "real" birthday. NaNa came down and Blake, Beau, NaNa, and I went to Lin's Garden.  Blake loves Chinese!!

We still haven't had a "friend" party yet.  He can't really decide exactly what he wants to do.  I'm hoping he and Evan can decide on something and do it together with their friends!

I'm SO proud of the young man that Blake is becoming.  He is so sweet, kind, well-mannered, and loving.  He is such a big help with his little brother and Beau looks up to him so much.  He loves God and is a good example to everyone around him.  I can't wait to continue to watch him grow.  But, time could slow down just a little!

Brown Belt

Blake tested for his brown belt on Oct. 13 (2 days before he turned 13).  He totally rocked it!!  I was SO proud of him.  He has come such a long way and has really excelled at Kuk Sool Won.  It's nice to know I have a protector:)

Master Tim tying his new belt on.

 Blake with Master Tim!

And our traditional picture every time he has gotten a new belt!!

GOOD JOB Blake!  We are SO proud!

Remembering GaGa...

 We said our final good-byes to GaGa on Sunday October 7.  He had been admitted to Mercy a little over a week before with a diagnosis of pneumonia, bronchitis, and congestive heart failure.  After he was stabilized he made a very deliberate decision to refuse any further medical care.  That was a very hard thing to hear, but he was certain and never waivered in his decision.  So, he was moved to hospice very soon there after.

We spent a long week with him there.  There is something about knowing that the end is near....Nice to know so that you can say all the things you want to say, but on the really good days...it leaves a lot of time to question whether or not you are doing the right thing.  But, through the whole thing, we always knew we were during exactly what GaGa wanted.  

I was very thankful for a couple of visits from Brother Ronnie and Jeff.  It was nice to talk over some of the thoughts we were having and to have someone you really trust verify the decisions that were being made.

My mom only left the hospital for a few hours over those 10 days.  She was amazing and I know that it was exactly what GaGa wanted.  My Uncle Hugh V, Aunt Jan, and cousin Hugh V also came.  So, there were always lots of people around who loved and cared for him.

I spent a lot of time thinking back on some of my favorite memories of my GaGa.  Since he and Dessa never had children, Kyle and I always felt like we were their surrogate grandchildren.  When we were little he would always decorate the outside of our Christmas presents with candy.  Lots of Lifesavers suckers for me and Hubba Bubba bubble gum for Kyle:)  I LOVED those gifts then, and as I look back they are even more special now.  

We never went to visit NaNa in ElDorado without several visits from GaGa and Dessa.  GaGa  has always called me "little girl" and did up until the very last time I talked with him.  He loved my children so much.  He was espcially fond of Beau.  He would light up every time Beau came in the room.  And Beau loved him too.  They had a sweet bond and I'm just so sorry that Beau won't get to grow up getting to know GaGa more.

He was 96 years old.  An amazing life.  And the best part is that he was a devoted follower of Christ.  There is no doubt in my mind that he is in heaven now with Dessa in a perfect body enjoying every minute!

We knew the funeral would be very small.  That's just what happens when you out-live all your friends:)  We (mom, dad, Hugh V, Jan, and I) went to ElDorado for the funeral.  We went to view GaGa at the funeral home before the service.  Jan had picked out red, white, and blue flowers and they were absolutely perfect.  GaGa was a veteran of WW11 and it was such a sweet tribute to him and his service. 

 The inside of his casket had a United States Army plaque.

 The US flag draped his casket.

 We didn't expect anyone at the service except for Bobbie, who had been GaGa and Dessa's housekeeper and before they left ElDorado, their primary caregiver also.  But, 2 other friends from his past showed up.  A very nice surprise.  One lady has some really awesome stories to tell about GaGa and Dessa when they were much younger.  So cool to hear;)

 Jan and Bobbie saying their good-byes.

 GaGa's headstone.  Ignore the other stone above it, it had been moved there for the time being, and would be moved back to it's correct spot after the funeral.

 So hard to say good-bye.  The service was really beautiful.  They played Taps, and folded the flag and presented it to my Uncle Hugh V.  He has also been in the military his entire life, so it was very fitting for him to received the flag.

 We bought some fall flowers to leave in the vases on their headstones.  It was a cool day, and they seemed perfect.

It was very hard to walk away, but we KNOW that GaGa is now in heaven.  Thank you Lord for a wonderful life.

Beau & friends....

 I guess a sure sign that your baby is growing up is when they start get invited to "real" birthday parties.   A little bittersweet:)  A few Saturdays ago Beau had 2 parties in one day.  Fun stuff!

We started at Dexter Coston's party.  Beau and Dexter are good friends from church and it was SO fun to see them together.  Three is such a fun age!  Mischelle had some cute games planned and Beau was all up in the action!!  He loved this bean bag toss.

 The Scogin's came down and Whitney was playing hard to get.  She was facing the wall and we told Beau to go stand by her to take a picture, so he faced the wall too.  Ha!  He tried hard to cheer her up:)

 Cake time was great!  Dexter looked SO cute in his engineer hat.  All the party decorations were SO cute!  Love these kiddos!!

 Later that afternoon Beau went to Weston Huckaba's party.  Beau calls his Weston Hucklebee.  Cracks me UP! They are friends from church and are in the same Mother's Day Out class.  He looked so big sitting in this big chair!

 The Spiderman cake was delicious!

 Beau and the Birthday Boy!

 A pic of all the kids at the party.  It was the best we could do:)

 Another night we ended up in NWA and stopped by to see the Scogins.  These two just make me happy!!! 

I'm so happy that Beau is making friends and that he loves to play!

Guatemala Trip - part 6

Saturday-Our travel home day.  We were up around 8ish and had breakfast.

Because we skipped one night of devotions, my time was shuffled to the morning before we left to go back home.  In retrospect...definitely God's timing.  In one of our meetings before we left, Jeff wanted us all to lead a devotion time during the week.  We all selected a certain day.  Mine was sometime during the week, in fact I think it may have been Tuesday - the day some of our group was sick.  In the weeks before we left, I would read verses and wonder/ask God if this is what I should share while in Guatemala.  I kept coming up empty until I looked back at verses, thoughts etc.. that I had been writing down in a notebook for the past couple of years.  That's when I came across this little gem.  Ecclesiastes 12:13...Fear God and Do what He tells you.  Which brought Acts 1:8 to mind and then Matthew 28:19-20.  I also came across this - Our goal is...We must simply stand before God with a prepared and willing heart & then let God do His Work.  In my part 1 post, I made the comment this trip was not on my radar - obviously it was on God's, he had been preparing me for awhile.  It's all about Perspective.  God knew all along who would go, what we would eat, what we would laugh about, who would get sick, who we would visit, who we would pray with and who would except the free gift of salvation. 

What a trip.  I'll go again.  I may not see some of the same people this side of heaven again - but everyone will have a place in my heart and memory.

We would pack up and leave the Arkansas House around 10:30a.  We checked in and all said our goodbyes to David and Glynis - It's been a great week!

We all made it through security without any issues.  We had lunch in the airport @ McDonald's.
We boarded the plane and were off to Atlanta.

 

We had wi-fi on our international flight when we were close to the United States, the delta app worked for free.

We landed in Atlanta.
We made it through customs.  Luckily I didn't get in trouble as I followed Evan's football game via text in the custom's line.  There were signs everywhere telling us to turn off our cellphones and that not to use them.

We had to have Chick-fil-a while we were in ATL.  Jeff & I both wanted a Dr. Pepper with ours...we forgot that Atlanta is Coke country.

We boarded for our last leg to Fort Smith.  It's at this time I was very thankful for Randal Barbry and him booking our last flight to Fort Smith.  I'm not sure I would've have made it on a bus ride from XNA.  The Guatemalan's Revenge was catching up with me.  Thank God again for imodium.

Erin picked me up at the airport, used the best airport bathroom in the United States, picked up my luggage and headed home.  So glad to see my family.  This was the first time I had been away from them for an entire week.

I'm glad to be home...but I miss our friends in Guatemala.
They speak Spanish - We speak English, however this barrier didn't get in the way.
They use the same bible we do, they sing the same songs we do.  Love for others and Love for God knows no boundaries.

Guatemala Trip - part 5

Friday-
We slept in a little later today.  We were up having cornflakes & OJ by 7a.  We packed up the van and were headed out by 8:15a.  We would head towards Antigua for some shopping and free time before heading back to the Arkansas House in Guatemala City before dark.  This would be our last full day in Guatemala.

David & Glynis live in Antigua.  Glynis wasn't able to join us during the week because she had gotten sick prior to our arrival.  She was feeling better so that was our first stop.  She had baked a cake and some cookies...and they were delicious.

David & Glynis's home.  Provided by the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

After snacks & visiting we went downtown for shopping in the market, lunch and shopping/touring in a jade store.

 The Market.  I bought the boys "Guats Up" t-shirts.

 The town square or zocalo in Antigua.  Reminded a few of us of Jackson Square in New Orleans.

We had lunch in Antigua at the KFC of Guatemala - Pollo Campero.  It was good.
We loaded up after shopping and headed back to the Arkansas House in Guatemala City.  We had access to wi-fi again, so we facetimed with family and caught up on the happenings back in Arkansas.  We even followed the score of the Greenwood football game.  We packed our bags for the next morning and went for dinner at a local mall that had a food court.

We wrapped up the night with a devotion, share time and prayer.

End of Day 7

Guatemala Trip - part 4

Thursday would be our last day in the village of Bolivia.  We would be heading back to Guatemala City on Friday.  We started our day with pancakes and OJ...I highly recommend the pancakes @ the Hotel San Bernadino Restaurant - very tasty.

It had rained the day before so the river was up and rolling.  Another Live Action moment with a man floating down the river behind a some logs with his dog riding on the logs  I think Francisco said the man was his brother or brother-in-law.  Brice and I had a great time calling out the Live Action moments during our 2 days in Bolivia.
 

We continued visiting house to house with our full crew today.  Josh and Susan were feeling much better.

For the January trip our group will be able to use the schools in each village.  We were able to pray over both schools while we were there in October.

One of the saddest visits today. A lady had broken her leg 3 years ago - it still had not healed.  Guatemala has socialized medicine.  We prayed with her, her mind was still sharp - but she was suffering.

We visited until lunchtime.  We served another large group today - lots of kiddos.  I tried a tortilla with peanut butter today - pretty good.  The group food connoisseur, Brice - made the suggestion.

Here a re a few more shot of the river and Francisco's property.

As we were visiting house to house, we were also inviting them to a worship service later that day.  After lunch we had a worship service on the river.  Another awesome experience.  We had the benefit of some translation this time...however, we followed along, knew enough Spanish to pick up a few words and worshiped with everyone.

They gave us all Guatemala knitted bags before we left.  WoW what a humbling experience.  We cried, we laughed, we hugged.  To not know the language and to have never met any of these people before...we had developed a relationship, a bond and a closeness through this week that made it very hard to leave.  I wanted to come back the next day and continue working and serving.

Here's a final shot of our entire group after the worship service.  How fitting that there's a lady praying to accept Christ in the foreground.

We left around 3p to head back.  We said our goodbye's to Ingred, Alex and Walter.  What a blessing to serve with them this week.

We had dinner at the hotel restaurant then went into town for ice cream. Here's the crew for the week: Josh, Brice, Jeff, David, Susan, Amy & Miranda.

A Great Day - An Amazing Week.  I want to go back.Thank You God!

End of Day 6