She Gets It

I am always amazed by my girl Emma. I am blessed beyond measure to call her my daughter. She is truly the kindest person I know and has such a heart for other people and a love for the Lord that is inspiring. You just can't be around her and not see it...and she's only seven.

Emma became a Christian this past fall in our van on the way home from a Sunday School mission project with our church. We had a long drive home and she started off asking a lot of questions about the children's home we were just serving at. She then became very persistent with good questions about Jesus needing to be her personal Savior. Emma's had lots of spiritual questions over the years that she's talked to Will about, but this time was different...she began talking about her sin. She said she understood that she did bad things, that these things separated her from God, and she needed Jesus to forgive her. She said she wanted Jesus to be Lord of her life and asked if I would pray with her. She wasn't just "asking Jesus into her heart" (whatever that means), she was truly recognizing her sin and her need for forgiveness. Ummm....yes I will pray with you while driving my silver Dodge mini-van up I-55. What a privilege for me to be there and I'm so thankful the Lord allowed me be a part of it.

Since then we have talked to her about the seriousness of this decision she made to follow Christ with her life. There are now reasons why we do things like obey our parents, be kind to others, read our Bible and do our very best in school. We are to glorify God in all we do. Same as adults as for kids. It's not about her being lazy and making an F on a test, but it is about her not doing her best to glorify Him...and she gets it. She also has to come into service with us once a month to observe communion. She doesn't exactly look forward to this part, but she needs to partake in it now that she's a believer just like the adults do...and she gets it.

The other night the 4 of us were eating dinner and we were talking about how excited we all were about Costa Rica. We asked them if they were sad at all and would miss anything. They both immediately said no because God has asked us to do this. Emma sat there thoughtful for a moment, and then asked "How do we do this again? I mean, I know we're going to Costa Rica to tell people about Jesus, but how do I do that? Do I just walk up to people and say hey let me tell you about Jesus...or what do I say?" Love it. Evangelism 101 taught by my seven year old. We told her again about loving people, glorifying God in all she does, and look for times to share what God has done in her life...and she gets it.

Matthew 11:25-26: "At that time Jesus said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure."

Walking in Memphis...and dodging bullets

We decided to have a family weekend Memphis style. What better way to celebrate the 4th? Will was actually a guest speaker in a large adult SS class on Sunday where he told about our journey, gave several points on the question "Why", and then I came up to help him answer questions at the end. It felt strange being the missionary speaker when we haven't actually been missionaries yet. And seeing my family's picture up on the big screen was nerve-racking as well. This is getting real folks!

After church, we went down to Service Over Self (SOS) with the young couples class to clean up their facilities before the next youth group came in to stay. SOS does a great ministry in the Binghampton area of Memphis helping clean up the city and build houses for those less fortunate. Our family was assigned bathroom duty which ended up being pretty gross. Emma and Jack were troopers and did everything we asked them to do. We were very proud of their willingness to serve and help without complaining at all.

Once we finished cleaning, our family headed downtown to hang out in Memphis for the rest of the day. The temperature was blazing hot, the people were friendly, the views were amazing, and of course the food was awesome...a perfect Memphis day. We went to the rooftop of the Madison hotel with the amazing view of the Mississippi River:

Jack said it was too hot on the roof & found a shady spot under a table for him & his coke

Next we decided to walk down main street with the trolleys and make our way to The Peabody Hotel. We got there just in time to see the famous ducks make their grand exit down the red carpet & up the elevator to the roof.

After this we decided to go eat at Rio Loco for dinner until it was time to go to the Memphis Redbirds game.

At the end of our day we went to the Redbirds game with our old neighbors the Matochiks. While we were there I get a text from my mom saying that they were eating dinner across the street from the stadium at TGIFridays and a guy was shooting in the lobby of the hotel connected to the restaurant. They hid under the table and were eventually herded out the back door of the restaurant. It ended up being a domestic dispute, but two people were killed, one of them being a Memphis police officer. From the game we could hear tons of sirens and helicopters, but they managed to keep the game calm and contained. You really never know what to expect in Memphis, but we enjoyed our time with friends and the fireworks at the end of the game.

Mom looking pretty good after her near-death experience. She claims we have no pictures together, so here is proof that we have at least one.

We sat on the bluff so the fireworks were really really really close

Which seemed cool until smoke, burning paper and gunpowder come raining down on us the whole time. Emma was laying on the ground gagging after it was over the smoke was so thick and Will had to dig black ash out of Jack's eye. Note to self: Redbirds fireworks are overrated.

Then today we finished off the weekend at the Magowan's house visiting with them. They will be moving to Nashville in a few weeks so we wanted time to just hang out before both of our lives get turned upside down. And I found 3 huge packs of bottle rockets in our move, so I thought Bart and Christy would just love it if we brought them over to share.

Don't Forget the Camera

We are about to embark on the biggest journey of our life so you would think the camera would be around for everything. But, we have recently had a beach trip with my family, 2 going away parties, my 32nd birthday party and Jack's 4 1/2 birthday party and have forgotten the camera every time. "Don't forget the camera" is now said constantly in our home and it's about to be the story of our life. We are leaving July 29th to live in Costa Rica to be missionaries through Latin America Missions (LAM). We will be attending language school for one year and then help in pastor training in Latin America. We are already experiencing all the emotions you would expect, but we are mostly excited about what lies ahead. We rented out our home in May and are living in some apartments until we leave. It has been a smooth adjustment to more simple living and we are enjoying our summer in Memphis with family and friends. Here are some things we've been doing:

Emma before her hair cut of 8 inches

And after...she loves it

Jump rope camp at Riverdale...we'll miss that school

Dance recital with Dance Dynamics...tap costume

Jazz costume...definitely her favorite

NKOTBSB concert for my birthday...awesome

VBS at Grace Evan...I taught Emma's first grade class

Both kids got to go to horse camp at Oak View Stables where I grew up riding

Lily, Emma's favorite horse who is now 15...I actually trained her mom Banjo before this horse was even born...makes me feel old

Big boy Jack...wasn't afraid at all

Emma riding Lily

They had a lot of fun...thanks Nana & Pappy!

Jack swimming lessons

Now a very good swimmer

Loves to jump off the side

Wednesday was Will's last day of work at Grace Evangelical Church. He has been on staff there for almost 10 years doing youth ministry and most recently young couples and mens ministry. This is becoming very real as we are all at home now busy packing and getting rid of things for the big move. Our church is taking a mission trip to Costa Rica next week and were so kind to go ahead and take 3 bags down there for us. Here is the jeep all loaded down: