A Week of Missions in West Virginia

Last week, our family had the blessing of being able to spend 5 days being part of a missions team in the southern part of West Virginia.  We were there to take part in ministering to people in a very poor, drug ridden town that is full of hopelessness.    Our specific job, as a family, was to scrape and paint the house of an older gentleman who had lived in the same town his entire life, and spent over 40 years working deep in the coal mines.   He was a kind man who loved to share stories with us as well as family pictures.  We were honored to be part of his life for that short week.  We also took part in an outreach in the town park which was a great place to meet and greet more people from the area.
My hubby and I both left the week feeling like that was one of the best weeks of our life.  The experience of serving and sacrificing, as a family along side some great christian friends(some old and some new) was more amazing then I can express.   We saw our kids work long days and we saw them give of themselves over and over.   The Bible studies, the devotions, the meals together with fellow team members, the learning experiences, and the exhausting days all came together to make for an inspiring week.

Mission As Life

We are now taking some time to travel and rest together.  We loved West Virginia so much, that we are staying for a bit to take advantage of some beautiful state parks.

See You Soon!

Mission Home

Break Time

The Crew

Free time in the evening

Watching the train go by(this happens very often)

The lil' kids and I weeding a garden, and harvesting onions.

Outreach in the park

White water rafting trip with friends at the end of the week.

Homeschooling Parents

I LOVE this!
 

Pop Tarts and Butternut Squash

The past few months, I have been able to devote more time to the job of keeping my family healthy.   This has been such a huge blessing.   Between my littlest one having a health issue and renovating our home, the 2 years prior to this point were a little crazy.  
 The day hubby and I accidentally walked into a  health food store over 16 years ago was our first introduction into making better healthy choices in what we feed our bodies.  My ideas on healthy eating have evolved with time.  And also with time, we have had ups and downs concerning the healthy choices we made.   Different seasons in our lives have either made it harder or easier to eat healthily.
Recently, we bought a juicer.  This buy was very much inspired by Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. I have seen a few "health" movies in the past that are similar to this one.  This movie blows the rest out of the water.  I would highly recommend it to everyone. My eldest and I watched it one night while hubby was out of town.   We were captivated and inspired.  When hubby got home, he got to watch it too.  By the end of the movie we knew that buying a juicer was in our future.   I won't bore you will the benefits of juicing.  :o)  There are many.  The movie would be a great introduction to juicing for anyone interested.
In addition to juicing, we've been eating more raw foods and plant based meals.  With these changes, I've really felt a change in my health.  

A week ago, I tried making Pasta with Butternut Squash Sauce.  This was a great find!   I was not a huge fan of Butternut Squash, but was a huge fan of the blog I found it on.  The creator of the recipe said she could lick the bowl clean.....so I was thinking that it had to be good!
So, we gave it a try.   I can so see why she licked the bowl clean.  Seriously Delicious!!!
I have since made it for my mom and a friend.  Both LOVED it and asked for the recipe.      
                                       









Poptarts are a yummy quick breakfast that most kids love.  On my search for some new breakfast options, I came across these.  A healthier fresh version of the boxed original.  What we loved was the simple fun time that we had making them.  They were very yummy too!  None of my kids liked the fresh strawberry in it, and my boys were happier with one filling instead of 2

We all love this lil' guy!

I woke up today feeling much better.   I have a better understanding of what brought me to such a bad place. Yesterday was the culmination of  2 weeks of a bit of depression coming together with a really bad afternoon that ended with a chaotic night.
My childhood was one filled with a lot of rejection and a ton of negative thoughts about myself.  I gave my life to the Lord at age 15 and I can say that He changed my life.  Very slowly all those negative thoughts began to be replaced by positive ones.   Very slowly the rejection I felt started to come at me less and less.   The person I am now is so incredibly different then the person I was then.  Yes, I still look similar and have the same personality.   But, the inside has changed.  The way I feel about myself and the way I see the world around me is different in a great way.    Unfortunately though, every once in a while, those feelings come back and creep up on me.   A few weeks back, I became overwhelmed with so much doubt. Little by little I began doubting my ability to nurture my children, to make a good meal, to clean a house, to grow a tomato plant.....just about everything.   As the negativity began to fill my mind and heart, it also started seeping out of my mouth.   I became a negative wife and mom.

The Bible has a lot to say about our mouths, 

our lips, our tongues, for our speech betrays us. 

What is down in the well will come up in the bucket

                                             -Vance Havner

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, 

but that which is good to use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers

                                               -Ephesians 4:29

This continued for a few weeks until yesterday it became a perfect storm.  

So last night, after my mini breakdown, I prayed, and read the Bible and The Power of a Woman's Words.  I am sure you get why I read the 2nd one. :o)  
 I finally broke out of my slump.  

It felt so good to be overwhelmed by peace instead of negativity.   Gods word is powerful.

I came across that Family Circus comic last night.  It really was so timely.

Being a mom is super hard, fun, exhausting, crazy, overwhelming, exciting, adventurous, and many more adjectives.    On my best day it is a formable task to nurture my 5 wonderful kids 24/7.   On my worst day it is a an insurmountable mountain.

I am thankful that I am not alone on this journey.  I have family and friends who lift me up with encouraging words and understanding hearts, and a Lord who bears my burden so that I may be free.

A few quotes from The Power of a Woman's' Words 

So live that your wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip

                                    -Will Rogers

The reason a dog has so many friends is because he wags his tail instead of his tounge

                                             -Author Unknown

The deepest rivers flow with the least sound

                                                    -Quintus Curtius Rufus

Life as it is today

So much of this is my life.   





To night was especially hard.   I put my head down and let the stress flow down my face in the form of tears.  It is hard being a mom.  It is hard meeting everyones wants, desires, and needs.  It is hard balancing it all.  I want so badly to keep a clean orderly house, have the best creative lesson planed, teach my girls craft making skills, tend to a bountiful garden that I can feed to my family, make nutritious meals 3 times a day, instill in my children great character,  teach them the Word of God that will be a lamp unto their feet, and live in a way that leads them to our Father in Heaven.  This last one is the most important.
I so cherish and love this time of my life.  I so badly want to do a great job.  God has blessed me with the opportunity to be an integral part of 5 of His children whom He loves so dearly.   
My human imperfections seemed to shine so brightly when life got a little messy today.   I want to be like the mom in Family Circus.  Hair is nice, pretty dress on, and still looking calm in the midst of chaos.  Somehow, I don't think that is how I looked.   


My house is now quiet.  I will ignore the mess and put my nose in the Bible and The Power Of A Womans Words

Tomorrow is a new day where I shall strive to be a beacon of peace in my home.

I'm sharing this because it is real, and wanted to share some realness that did not look so perfect.

Our House on Wheels

Years back, we bought a travel trailer that became our introduction to the RV world.  We enjoyed some great trips in it.  We were hooked!    We sold the trailer a few years ago knowing that we would be moving up to a motor home eventually.   The travel trailer was great, but a motor home was going to be a much better fit for our family and our lengthy traveling that we wanted to do.   So after a year and a half of searching, we finally found the one.   This RV was a seriously great deal, and we are so thankful that it came across our path.  Our hope, is to use this RV to see God's amazing creation, meet and enjoy the company of people from different parts of the country, reach out to people who come across our path with the love of God, bond together as a family, and create some awesome memories!

We took a lil' trek over to Orlando. This was to be a trip to get used to driving the RV, learn how to use her, and work out any kinks.   Learn we did!   Everyday was a learning experience, with the last day being the day we learned the most.  In hooking up at the state park, we indadvertedly flooded the back of the RV.   With more then an inch of water to clean up and no way to get it out........it was time to go home.  No harm done(just a bit of cleaning), we accomplished our goal of educating ourselves.  :o)

We will take 1 more lil' trip to "test the waters" before we take our first long trip.  In a few months, we'll be heading to West Virginia for our first family missions experience.  

  

Below are a few shots from our lil' learning experience.

 We were blessed to be able to visit with family.  

The kids were thrilled to see their cousins!

Excitement does not describe how I felt when we were offered a marine biology class at the beach!!

Saltwater Studies popped up in a homeschool group email one day, and ours lives have since been enriched with a greater understanding of God's creation.

Below is a glimpse of one of the classes my 11 year-old was blessed to attend.  

I sit in the back of the group and soak up all the info that the teacher shares.   

What an awesome class room!!

Of course, the lil' brothers don't mind hanging out either.

Swinging Siblings

Homeshool Group Easter party

                             

We've outgrown strollers

11 year-old having a study Hall with friend

Picture from Palm Sunday service at park

Son and his Pipa

My 9 year-old and his friend are a future Cirque du soleil act