Best Friends Return

So the Callenders are home from vacation and therefore Allison, Rachel and Tyler have their best friends back. It has only been a little over a week since they have seen each other but you would have thought it had been months. Allison and Rachel could barely wait to see them. Tonight was date night for the Callenders so Jacob and Abby arrived just in time for dinner. As the 4 of them sat at the table eating all they could do was laugh at each other. They just sat for about 20 minutes and laughed at anything that was said. I have to admit it was really loud during this time and there were moments where I almost asked them to calm down, but then I found myself laughing with them. Best friends have been reunited, all is good!

The Crash Will Come

After a long weekend at the lake, the only thing the girls could find the energy to do was sit and stare at the TV for 1.5 hours of Monstors INC. While mommy and daddy cleaned the lake house, the girls tried to use as little energy as possible...

We called them by name, offered them ice cream and told them they could stay up all night - it didn't matter - they still wouldn't look at us...

Tubin' Solo

Allison decided she wanted to tube even though there was no one else to go with her. Mommy and Daddy rode in the boat and watched the big girl take her first solo ride (of course we were going so slow the boat was in danger of barnacle build up...)

Allison Finally Goes for Broke

This weekend at the lake Allison proved once and for all she gets the whole "holding your breath under water" concept...

Fun at the Lake

I just jumped on someone's wireless network down here at the lake... Isn't technology a wonderful thing?

Another Reason Why I Believe

I was having one of those spiritual/religious conversations with a friend recently - You know the one - where the friend expresses that they too believe in God and are spiritual, in the following ways:

• God is energy
• My god is the same as your God
• All roads lead to heaven
• At least I'm a good person
• Christianity teaches exclusivity and is therefore intolerant of others
• I believe god exists, but exerts very little influence over our lives
• I don't necessarily believe in a heaven or a hell
• Satan exists in peoples minds so we have someone to blame for stuff

Sound familiar? Have you ever talked with someone like this for any length of time? It's difficult because there is no common ground in the origins of our beliefs. We want to quote scripture, but they don't view it as being the infallible word of God. To us, the Bible is our guide into all truth. To them, truth is subjective - if you believe it to be true, then for you it is.

And so it happened that somewhwere in the middle of this fascinating conversation my friend made a comment that still echoes in my mind today. I was expanding on the Christian belief that all roads DO NOT lead to heaven - that the only true road is the one that passes by the cross. He was listening politely (though this is the part he believes to be intolerant and exclusive in nature) and then said in a very matter-of-fact way:

"Well, you know how it is, if I was in a plane that was going to crash, I would probably call out for Jesus to save me too. After all, isn't that what most people would do in that situation?"

I didn't flinch, and continued to listen to the statements that followed, but inside I was reeling. What had he just said? He does not believe in Jesus right now, but if faced with impending death, he just might be convincd that it would be prudent to call on Jesus to save him...

And that's when it hit me. This is yet another reason why I believe in Jesus Christ. It's the simple fact that many non-believers will suddenly believe when faced with death. Many of them do last minute business with God to make sure their affairs are in order before leaving this life. But the cool part is this: it really doesn't happen the other way around! I've never heard a story where a sold out Christian said, "Oh no! I'm going to die. I don't believe in God! I don't believe in God!"

Have you? If so, I apologize. But in my experience it just doesn't happen. Why? I really can't say other than to suggest that every person (on some level) understands the following truths:

• God does exist and is more than just energy
• Humans need God in order to be certain about eternity
• If we cry out to God, He has the power to hear us and save us

Sure people live their entire lives as if this is NOT true, but when faced with death and an uncertainty about eternal life, many recall the truth about their Creator as if it were burned into their minds with a hot iron.

Just another reason why I believe...

Mexico | Day 3 & 4

Okay so my husband is sitting here calling me a cheater since I am writing about two days in one blog, but day's 3 and 4 were pretty similar so I figured why not. Oh, by the way I need to throw out a thank you to Todd Ruth and Corey Mann. The pictures I am putting on the blog from Mexico are from the two of them. I wasn't allowed to take our digital camera so my pictures are still being developed. So thanks guys, you two rock! Now on to Day 3...

Monday, July 25- Normal morning routine. Up around 8:00am, breakfast, quiet time, small group time and then off to Douglas for the second time. Today I got to help make the kids happy meals when we first got there. We made ham and cheese sandwiches and then put them and a bag of chips, bottle of juice, cookies and some toys in bags for the kids. The kids at Douglas today were at VBS all morning and most of the afternoon so we put the bags in the frig and the kids were able to enjoy them for dinner. After setting up for our lunch and then cleaning things up from lunch I headed outside to do some manual labor. I helped backfill dirt along a wall where the sports court will someday be. To some of you this may sound like a piece of cake, but this was not just dirt. It was muddy and clay like with a bunch of rocks and pieces of cement in it. There were about 5-6 girls working on this one section. Some of us were using picks to chip away at the rocks and cement, some of us were picking up rocks and throwing them into the area we were backfilling and others were actually using shovels to backfill. We worked in this one area for quite a while but it was tons of fun. One of my favorite parts was when we found this huge cement piece that needed to be moved and it took almost all of us to move it, but we did it.

After we finished up our work for the day we got about 45 minutes or so to play with the kids. They had just gotten back from VBS so we face painted, blew bubbles, did crafts and just hung out with them. We then left and headed back to where we stayed for normal evening routine of dinner, showers, worship, debrief and then bed.

Tuesday, July 26- Same morning routine and then I was off to Douglas again. This was probably the hardest work day for me the whole week. In the morning I was put on a crew that was responsible for back filling along a cement wall again, but this wall was much bigger and there was a lot more to do.

At moments it felt like we were getting no where, but we continued to plug along with the help and encouragement from others. After lunch I got to help fill buckets full of cement to go along the sports court. This was a lot of fun and again I was able to work with some great friends. After finishing this task it was then time to play with the kids. I had a great time and had found myself looking forward to spending time with these kids. The kids at this home are the ones who never see family. There are normally about 100 kids there during the school year. Most of the kids go home for either the whole summer or parts of it. The 25 kids that were there this week are the ones who don't see family and never get the chance to go home. I really grew to love the kids at this home. My heart just broke for them and I wanted to do all I could to just show them as much love as I could in a week.

So at this point I am half way through the week. I was going to bed every night praying for Daryl, the kids, and those watching the kids. I was surprised at how well I was doing with being away from them all but I knew God was calling me to be in the moment as much as possible and I knew that He was taking care of my family. It also helped to have some good friends on the trip with me. It felt like being at GCC even though we were a few thousand miles away!

Mexico | Day 2

I know I know, I said I would do Day 2 yesterday, but I was with family and friends last night talking about the trip and then today when I did try to post I messed something up and lost everything I had written. I will say I am still trying to process everything I experienced that week. All I know is that I am trying to stay focused on Christ and follow his promptings no matter what. So with that said Day 2.

Sunday, July 24- We got up this morning and had breakfast, then quiet time and off to small group time. There were 5 total people in my small group-myself, one other leader and 3 students. I really enjoyed small group during the week and really got to know the others in my group. After small group it was off to church. The church service was 2 hours long and was entirely in Spanish. The message was being translated through headphones that we wore. My favorite thing about church was the worship. The songs they sang are songs we sing at church and there were moments when I could hear those around me singing the song in English while the worship band was singing in Spanish. It truly gave you a glimpse of what Heaven might be like one day!

This is a picture of all of us in front of the church.

After church it was off to Douglas, one of the children's homes. We call them orphanages here. We got there and brought in pizza for the kids, they rarely get pizza so it was a treat for them. After lunch we cleaned up a bit and then I headed outside to get to work. I worked the rest of the afternoon with Debbie and Corey Mann filling in concrete blocks that would be the outside of a sports court.

This was one of the days where it rained pretty good, but I managed to stay pretty dry. I have to admit it was kind of nice when it was cloudy because it kept it from getting too hot. After finishing our work at Douglas we headed back to where we stayed and had dinner, showers, worship and then some free time with the rest of the team.

This was a great day! I had so much fun meeting the kids at Douglas. I feel in love with this little girl named Pamela. She was way too cute. I found out later that she was actually the daughter of the family who lived there with the kids. It was also a ton of fun to work with Debbie and Corey and I found out I love cement work!!!!

Will the Real Tyler Please Stand Up

This will probably scar Tyler for life, but I needed to prove to all of you that he definitely has the potential to melt down just like any other child... Of course the girls did the same thing, but lucky for them it was pre-blogging days. We video taped them doing the same thing, but unfortunately it's analog and I don't have time to convert it into something usable here - sorry...

Mexico | Day 1

Well I am home. I arrived home from my first mission trip on Saturday around 4:30pm. What a week, I don't even know where to begin. I am definitely a different person. I asked God to change me while I was gone and He showed up and did just what I asked. I saw things this week that blew my mind and I cannot stop thinking about them. Even though I am home and back into the normal routine I find myself thinking of Mexico and the friends I spent the week with many times throughout my day. It was an awesome week and I want to thank each and every one of you who helped me financially or through prayer, I could never have had the experience I did without you.

I thought what I would do is go through my week with you a little at a time so you know what we did everyday! So here is the first day.

Saturday, July 23- I left my house around 7:00am. Todd and Jami Ruth (some of our great friends) came and picked me up so that Daryl did not have to drag all the kids out that early in the morning. I have to admit it was really hard to leave. I had said goodbye to the kids the night before but I still had to say goodbye to Daryl. I found myself crying and then the Ruth's showed up and I could see tears in their eyes (they had just said goodbye to their 6 month old son for the week) and then the tears really started to flow. I pushed through it and off we went. We met the rest of the team at the church at 7:15am. We got all of our stuff on the bus and loaded up into a bus and the church shuttle. The 49 of us headed out at 8:00am for Chicago O'Hare. We got on the toll road and were about 2 miles down the road and blew a tire in the shuttle. So those of us on the shuttle piled off while the tire was being fixed. Back on the road we got in no time flat and arrived in Chicago before the bus did.

We had a great flight, it took us about 3 hours from Chicago to Monterrey. We got off the plane in Monterrey and you could feel the heat. The Back 2 Back staff met us and we loaded into buses headed to the Back2Back campus. It was about a 45 minute ride. We got there unloaded the buses got ourselves settled into our rooms. All the girls were in one big room and the guys were in another. We then had dinner and then headed outside to the palapa for worship. We then had some time to talk about what our day would be like tomorrow and then basically off to bed.

Some of my thoughts about this day:

-Monterrey is surrounded by mountains which I did not know, it was really beautiful.
-Hurricane Emily had hit the week before we went and therefore some of the roads we took to get to the campus were flooded along with being really bumpy.
-Worship outside at the palapa was great. It was basically a hut outside with chairs set up. They had a worship leader on staff for the summer and he was great. It was awesome to worship with mountains in the background and some of your best friends by your side.
-I found myself thinking about my family and what they were doing and hoping all was well.

Tomorrow Day 2 in Mexico!