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Some churches play loud music, some hire clowns, some rent bouncy-thingys...our church?  They just let missionaries stay there.

And who wouldn't want to visit a church with a face like that? :)

Don't you feel bad for Eric? hehe

Don't feel too bad...he bought the water guns.

You can just tell by their faces they are enjoying this!!

She takes after her Mama! :)  That's my girl!  Get him!

I tried getting a picture of them all together, but it was pretty hard to get them to sit still.

Except for Sammy...he cracks me up!

And what was Daniel doing while his brother and sisters were soaking papa?

Playing with his new toy from the Dupree family. :)  We love you guys and LOVE the sandals and toys! 

I just added it up today, and we have been to 10 churches this month {2 missions' conferences and 2 revivals}!  I know we have the SWEETEST churches!  Our van is always overflowing with all of the gifts they are showering upon us!  We end up leaving wishing we had more time to visit and help them.  Each time we go into a church, we see so many needs.  Our hearts are burdened for the churches of America, we wish we could help, but we are not called to stay.  Furlough has been refreshing and it has been so nice to meet many of you and hear that you are praying for us.  I have been surprised by how many of you have prayed for us to be able to have children!! ....you can stop now. ;)  Even with all of this, I am ready to go home.  I pray that this time in the states will only make me more useful for the service of Jesus Christ in Ukraine.

Мы любим вас Валентина, наша дорогая русская мама!!!!!

Cake Pop Fun

Hmmmm....I take that back.  More like "Cake Pop Mess".  hehe   The kids and I stuck our hands in and made cake pops about 4 weeks ago when we were visiting my grandmother and aunt.  The kids absolutely loved them!  They could have eaten them all in one sitting.

We tried letting the kids help,

 

but it wasn't long before Sammy decided it was better to take out huge chunks and eat it instead of crumble it. :)

 
After a few times of my balls falling into the chocolate when I went to dip them, I decided to dip the sticks in the chocolate, into my cake balls then let them sit in the fridge for a little while until the chocolate hardened in the cake pop.

 

 Makes me want to do some more!

While Lydia was gone with daddy one morning {she called it a date ;)}, Anna blew bubbles with my grandmother.

Since we were there for a conference {everyone was SO sweet!} and we were all sick, we didn't get to spend a lot of time with them, but we will be back!

 WE MISS YOU MAMA!  SEE YOU IN JUNE!!!

You Have Arrived!

AHHH!  That has become one of our favorite things to hear...when our gps finally announces our arrival.  The kids always excitedly ask "Is this our new home?" hehe.  You can tell they are MK's. ;)

Life in the Curtis van has been CrAzY!  I've barely had time to get the laundry done between conferences, much less make a post, but I thought I'd give you a quick update on how we're doing.

After my last post, we drove down to Georgia for a conference.  The normally long ride was made even more interesting as everyone was getting sick.  The Lord brought to my mind this sweet missionary wife and her furlough travels/sicknesses and all I can say is God really gave her a lot of grace!

We are still having fun, though.  We take LOTS of time to "smell" the flowers along the way.

They enjoyed helping put John's and Romans together at our church's scripture work day...

...but it wasn't long before they were off playing.  If you ask Anna how many best friends she has, she'll tell you "a LOT." 

After trying a few things, I think we've found a way of packing that works for us.  Thanks for all of your suggestions!  We have a shoe bag, a Bible bag and a diaper bag.  Then 2 LARGE duffle bags - one for the boys and one for the girls.  In them, I have mesh wash bags which hold/separate all of our undergarments.  Since our kids are little and we end up carrying everything, fewer the bags - the better.  We also have a "cooler" bag between the seats with snacks.

Please continue to pray for us as we travel.  Pray also that we may go back to the country we love and are called to.  It seems like missionaries in Ukraine are going through so much right now.  This sweet and dear missionary family has recently had their visas denied.  We also just found out that the Hudson family, missionaries to Kiev Ukraine who came back to the states because of visa troubles, won't be returning this week as planned because Mrs. Catherine Hudson has stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, which has moved to her liver.  My heart aches for this family and I ask that you keep them in your prayers.

Like the Duggars

{The kids sitting with our Pastor}  

That's what they said about us at the bank.  Eric's response?   "Not yet.  Give us a few more years."