All the Way My Savior Leads Me

What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy, Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav'nly peace, divinest comfort, Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know whate'er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well;
For I know whate'er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well.

I plan on sharing my heart with you in my next post, but I'd like you to take the time to read our most recent {prayer letter } to see where God is leading us.

Furlough, Friends and Birthdays

I am sure many of you were wondering if I was ever going to post again!  It has been a long time.  Even though furlough has been busy (we've been from MD to GA and are now visiting churches in the beautiful state of ME) and I have also been trying to finish school (and prepare for the upcoming school year), the main reason I have not posted is because I...ummm, well, I lost my password book.  I don't know why I didn't just update everything sooner - it only took me a few minutes.  Oh, well.  

It has been a difficult furlough.  All I have wanted is to be home...in Ukraine.  But it always is refreshing to meet up with our supporting churches.  We have the best!  It is overwhelming how generous they have been to us, how much they pray for us and really keep up with us.

We have enjoyed making new friends and meeting up with dear, old friends.

  

Sammy turned 4...

I went "over-the-hill" and turned 31 (how did that happen?!)

And baby Abigail *sniff* is now 1 year old!!!

This past year has sure been exciting!  But with this guy around, how couldn't it be? ;)

Waiting on the Lord

As soon as we both heard it, we looked at each other and Eric said to me, "You know what that sounds like?"  "Yeah, the Russians are bombing us..." I replied somewhat jokingly.  We both came up with different things it could be and tried to go through our days ignoring the rumbling, the noise and it lighting up the night skies at night...it was just because we were hyped up about the situation that we were thinking like this, they must just be digging for gas. (The Wednesday night I wrote about when the fields were burning, we found out later was not actually burning fields but the military base near us training.)   We were seeing Ukrainian tanks and military on a constant basis and we knew that the Russians were gathering on the border only 30 kilometers from us.  We couldn't share this with friends and family because they were concerned enough.  But as the week went on, things only started to look worse.  People in our village were almost constantly drunk and some were starting to threaten to get rid of us.  Almost every time we called our church people, they thought we were going to say we were leaving.  When we met with different people and said see you later, they would reply with, if you are here.  They were very sweet to us and a few of them checked up on us during the weeks to make sure we were okay.  There were several times we looked at tickets back to the States, but after praying about it, felt peace about staying.  Thursday night, Eric talked to a few people and prayed all night.  Friday morning when we woke up he told me to pack my bags we were flying out the next morning. 

What changed our minds?  I can't really tell you.  We went from having perfect peace about staying to feeling a sense of urgency about getting out.  Before that day, there were a few things that we did not want to leave without finishing, like Gala's Bible lessons and putting a John and Roman on every door this year (past year) in the village, and we completed all of that just the week before.  Maybe God was just waiting for that to be finished...whatever it was, Eric now felt peace about leaving.  When I went to order the tickets, I kept asking, "Are you sure?"  As we shared that decision with others, it seemed like many of the Ukrainians were actually relieved.  I must admit, I felt like they would feel like we were betraying them, leaving them in their time of need - that's how I felt.  But they were concerned that the Russians were going to start the war in our front yard and how would we get out fast with five little ones?  Some have told us that they don't know if our house or the church will be standing when we get back.  I know it is in the Lord's hands and trust Him to bring us back to our home and to the people He has called us to.  The entire time our prayer was that the Lord would direct us what to do in His perfect timing.  On Sunday, we had a lady come up to us crying saying that she has felt an urgency to pray for us lately and has been praying for us to have wisdom concerning what to do.  I know many of you were praying the same way and we greatly appreciate it.  Thank you!

When we first told the children, they could tell we were upset and started to cry.  Since then, we have tried to make it out like a fun vacation and they will get to see Grammy and Grampy!  They still made sure to tell Vasily to give our dog back when we come home. hehe. 

The kids were pretty excited at finding smileys at the place where we are staying. :)

Our home and the church is being watched by Vasily.  He is staying in our home and checks the church twice a day.  I must admit I was a little apprehensive about this since we have had so many deceive us in the past.  He does truly appear sincere, yet there is always a little bit of nervousness.  I had hoped that Lina and her family could stay, but her husband moved their family to Western Ukraine.  I am glad that they will be safe, or at least are closer to the border if they need to escape the country.

We would truly appreciate your prayers for our people at this time and for us as we anxiously await going home.  We are keeping in close contact with them and Lina and her husband are keeping us up to date with any news they hear that we may not read from here.  Pray also that we may get the rest we need as it has been a long year and we have been running since furlough  Our church people are truly a blessing.  In all the years past, whenever we had to leave the country even for a short period to renew our visas, there was always a dreadful feeling that we would be coming home to a mess in the church and have to start from scratch.  It has been so exciting and encouraging to see those we have seen saved grow in their faith!  Vasily said it was a test for them and that God wanted them to grow more.  What a blessing it is!  It also seems like God may have answered my prayers concerning a Russian mama.  A few years ago, our dear Valentina, our Russian mama, left the church.  I had prayed that maybe God would bring us another one.  Over this past year, God has only drawn Gala closer to our family.  This past week, God brought her to salvation!  She has been very concerned about our family and has said she considers us family  It is exciting to think that God may have answered my prayers when I had almost given up hope.

Bible Lessons

I know I have been the most sporadic blogger lately and I have wanted to share this with you for a while, but we have had people in our home almost constant, so blogging time has been at a minimum.  I am giving 3 Bible lessons now and one of those is to Katiya, Bogdan's mom.  We were so excited when she said that she wanted to start her lessons!

She is on her 4th or 5th lesson now.  My heart was stirred each time I talked with her as it seemed like she was searching.  After the 2nd lesson, she really wanted to know HOW she could be saved and Lina and I spent about 1-2 hours with her talking about how she could be saved.  How exciting it was when she bowed her head to ask Jesus as her Savior!  She has been coming to every single service since then and been doing devotions with her boys every night.  We're praying that God will continue to work in this family and that Ruselan (her husband) and her son, Nikita, will be saved too.  Her lessons are on Fridays.

I am giving two other lessons on Sundays.  One lady, Luda, has also recently made a profession so the lessons are just for clarity.  The other lesson is with Gala.  I don't think she is saved, but she seems to know a lot of the information.  Please be in prayers especially for her lessons.  Pray for me also that God will give me clarity of speech and especially of mind as sometimes it is difficult to give lessons with little ones running around.

VBS

Since we are so behind in updates, we have created a new facebook page which will hopefully help us to better keep you posted with pictures and updates.
In July we had our VBS.  We had about 17 kids coming almost regularly and one young lady professed Christ as her Savior.  It was a fun, yet exhausting week.  If you would like to see pictures I have posted them here at this link...VBS pictures .

Also, we had a safe trip to and from Kiev.  The trains are MUCH nicer then they use to be and they are quicker.  It only took us 4-5 hours instead of the 8-10 it use to take!  The toilets still were dirty so Lydia still refused to use them, but a lot better than before.  There are also a few Dominoes Pizza restaurants in Kiev now!  We are still not eating breads, sugars or processed foods, but we were willing to break it for that...boy was I disappointed when I found out it would take 45 minutes to get there and cost about $35 - one way. :(  I know my husband would have gladly done it for me, but I guess it will have to wait for another time.  We did find a KFC there, which made Eric and Lydia VERY happy.  I must admit it didn't cut it for me, but I had been planning for months to break my diet for a nice big piece of Dominoes Pizza.  I think I need to go make me some cauliflower pizza - in the end, I'd probably decide that I liked it better anyways.

Bogdan's Story

Do you remember Tamara?  We first came in contact with her in October 2009.  In January 2010, Eric started visiting her son, Ruselan, in prison and doing Bible lessons with him.  His wife and two sons were living with another man at the time.  This past year while we were in the States, he was let out of prison and reunited with his "wife" (they are technically divorced).  The Whites and Lina visited with them many times and the boys, Bogdan and Nikita, started coming to Sunday School and the Bible clubs they held.  Over the past year or so, he has heard the message clearly presented, but he never seemed to really pay attention.  I know Lina has wept for them and her desire (and ours) was that they would be saved.  As I mentioned, during our recent Bible Club, he raised his hand saying that he wanted to talk to Lina about being saved.  We were all bursting with excitement!  While everyone was busy with free time and pickup, Lina and Eric pulled him aside and talked to him.  They said he was very serious about it and readily admitted that he was a sinner and could not save himself.  About 30 minutes later, Bogdan bowed his head and asked Jesus to clean his heart!  When he came out, he was glowing, but definitely shy about all the attention.  We are praising God for this decision that he has made.

It is not going to be easy for him, though and we greatly covet your prayers for this young man and his family.  What does he have to go home to?  A father and mother who are hardly ever home...unless they are drunk.  It has also been gossiped that his mother sleeps around.  Please, please pray for them.  They have, on occasion, expressed a desire to change and even called this week wanting to meet with Eric and get their lives right...but they did not show up because they were drunk.  Bogdan is often called the "bad boy" in the family and is treated very harshly.  Pray that there will be an evident change in Bogdan that will draw the rest of his family to God.   

Missing In Action

You know it's been a little while since you made a post when you start receiving emails like, "Are you Okay?"  "How are you guys doing?"  "Time for another post."  I honestly did not plan on going this long without posting, it was just at the bottom of my list...which I still haven't reached.  Each time I'd think of writing, I'd look out at my garden...well, more like the weeds I was successfully growing.  Pulling myself away from the never-ending work - both inside and outside - has seemed impossible.  But I have been given a mild reprimand by my love as to the importance of updating everyone - especially family - and letting you know... We are not really missing, just missing in the internet world because of action. :)

What have you been missing?  I'm not sure I can fully update you, but I'll try my best.

My plan was to do a post on the most beautiful time to be in Ukraine - Spring.  Our particular area is not the most beautiful place in the world, but when spring comes around, it is breathtaking.  There are pink cherry blossoms, white apricot and plum blossoms...just about every fruit tree you can imagine lining the village streets with beauty and filling the air with their fragrance.

We enjoyed the light sweater weather for the short time we had it and the kids rolled around in the grass picking dandelions before we tilled up the ground for our garden.

Since then, the weeks have just flown by.  One of the biggest events was Slavic and Olea's wedding.  We did not have a ceremony for them at the church since they have been living together, but we went with them when they signed their papers.  They had asked me to take pictures for them.  I was very disappointed overall with the photos, but it was really neat to be able to tag along and see some of their Ukrainian traditions - like paying for the bride. ;)

Even though we didn't have a ceremony at the church, we did let them have a special meal following the Sunday service.  Olea had asked if I would make the cake (not because anything I had made looked good, she just loved the taste).  So, not only was I a wedding photographer that week, but also a wedding cake maker.  My rosettes were all drooping because of the heat, but I was pretty pleased with it overall.
 

These are a few of my favorites. :)

At home, I have been trying the kids out on different chores.  I came in one morning when Lydia was supposed to be vacuuming...

...she was teaching Daniel how to do it.   Don't know whether to be proud of my little mama taking her younger siblings under her wings or to be upset at her trying to get someone else to do her job. lol

In between everything going on, we managed a trip to the zoo.  Thankfully it wasn't too unbearably hot the day we went.  The kids had so much fun.  Their favorite part though was the park in the middle and the monkey blowing raspberries at them.  He took us by surprise, then the kids started doing it back.

Strawberry season is pretty much all over, but we (especially Anna and I since we did all of the work) were excited over our first strawberries.

The neighbor gave us a bucket of strawberries plus some, but Anna said she could tell which ones were ours because, "Ours taste sweeter."

With everything that has been going on, this pregnancy has gone pretty fast.  Only 4 1/2 weeks until baby Abigail is due.  The kids are very anxious to meet her.  And while I am SO ready to be done with these contractions which seem to start earlier and earlier and are harder and harder each pregnancy and be done with these pregnancy aches, I feel very unprepared for her to arrive just yet.  I know I'm going to have to let some things go, but I need to at least get her clothes washed!  We still are unsure about the "birthing" plan.  Emotionally it has been a little bit of a rough pregnancy and I have felt very much alone.  The doctor's visits at least have been easier as they "know" me now. hehe.  On one of my last visits the doctor was looking through the list of tests I am supposed to do and said something like, "Well, I would give this test, but I'm sure no one would do it anyways."  (No one meaning me. lol)  And at my visit this week they were all excited about the test results I brought in.  Lina asked weren't they waiting for them, which they replied no to.  It's nice to finally not have them pestering me about everything and finding something wrong all the time.  Now that she is more relaxed, I actually don't mind this doctor. 

Since my mind is starting to have trouble concentrating, I am guessing it is closing time.  Thank you all for your prayers and sweet emails.  I will try to do better at keeping up with you.

Our 1st Ladies' Meeting

{Here in the village, anyways.}

I know many of you have been anxiously waiting to hear how everything went and I'm so sorry that it has taken me an entire week to update you.

The Lord blessed and we had (I think) 12 ladies come, not including the girls and I!  How exciting is that?!  Our theme was "Have You Seen Yourself In God's Mirror?"

While I was waiting for Eric to bring the ladies, I thought I would take a few pictures for you, but, AHHH!  I had forgotten to charge my camera batteries!  I still managed a few quick shots before it completely died.  Eric was running all over the place that morning and still lovingly ran home to get my old camera.

We started by playing the game "What's in the bag?"  The ladies stuck their hands inside of the bag and had to guess what beauty items were in the bag.

 (Olya is the lady with the cream sweater and red phone hung around her neck.)

The second game we played was Design a Dress using only toilet paper.  Our models were Anna and Lydia.

After a delicious meal, made mostly by Lina and her mom, Lina and I put on a skit for the ladies.  It was of a lady who did not feel so beautiful and in an attempt to attain beauty, followed tips she heard would make her beautiful - refusing a mirror. 

I used this as a starting point for the devotional in which I compared that to us striving to be righteous but refusing to see ourselves through the mirror of God.  I did not actually see myself until the end of the devotional.  In closing I read James 1:22-25, and demonstrated the passage by walking up to a mirror looking at myself and shockingly exclaiming, "WOW!  I look pretty awful!"  I then walked and talked about how crazy it would be for me to see myself like that, then go to the store like all was in order and to a party, giving someone makeup advice while I was there.

Most of the ladies who attended are not saved and my desire is that they will not only look God's mirror and see themselves in need of a Savior, but also to repent and ask Jesus to save them.  I would like to ask you to specifically pray for a lady named Olya who is almost done with her salvation Bible lessons, that God would open her eyes and she would be saved.  Also, continue to pray for our neighbor, Sveta and her daughters (Nastia, Masha and Katya).  They were not able to come that day but she has let the older two girls come to Sunday school the past few weeks.  Anna is so excited as this is an answer to prayer for her.  She prays for them daily.

GIRL or BOY?

Flourless/Sugarless Chocolate Cake

Today was my love's birthday and even though he doesn't feel like his birthdays should be celebrated anymore, I couldn't let the day pass without making some type of cake...diet or no diet.  I was planning on trying a doughnut recipe with some coconut flour I had made.  When he headed to the city to go to the bank, I decided to quickly look online first to see if there were any other options and I came across  Healthier Flourless Chocolate Cake.  The kids and I made some cards and wrote what we love about daddy, then we started making this super, easy cake.  I must admit I was a little skeptical...until the house started filling with the smell of chocolate.  After that, I practically danced throughout the house, barely able to contain myself.  I felt like when we were first dating when I would wait for his visits.  I kept glancing out the window waiting for him.  The kids were just as anxious as I was.  We couldn't wait to surprise him!  I'm excited to say that it was not disappointing.  We will be adding this fudgy, brownie tasting cake to our permanent recipe "box".

Anna said that daddy would put her card in his office and keep it to remember their times together after she got married. ;)

Even though it is his birthday, he has been working so hard to help me prepare for the ladies' banquet we have coming up (a big reason why I have been absent from the blog).  He has been cutting paper flowers for me to put together and anything else I've needed help with.  Don't know what I'd do without him, or Sister Lina and her mom.  They cut out all of these roses for me.  What a blessing!  I didn't have to do any of the work and just had the fun job of putting them together.

Would appreciate your prayers for our ladies' meeting.  It is on March 9th in celebration of the big holiday, Women's Day -March 8th.  I am unsure how many will come, but we have invited over 20 women - most of them unsaved.

Across the World

 {Sammy's first hayride at a dear church in Maine during their mission's conference...just a couple weeks before we flew out.  We love you guys!}

I apologize for being absent from the blogging world for a little while.  I did some lurking, but didn't feel much like writing.  The last three weeks we were in the states were filled with 2 missions conferences, a ladies conference I went to with my pastor's wife (yes, Eric watched ALL the kids AND cooked and cleaned!  I need to get away more often. ;)), and my parents made a quick (2-day) last minute trip up from Florida when we were in VA to visit.  Even if it was a quick visit, the kids made so many memories and had a great time visiting with them.  Then there were all of the good-bye's.  I also wasn't sure if I was going to be able to continue to use this blog as I have no more photo uploads available...can you believe that? ;)  BUT I found out, I can just open an account with photobucket and use URL!  

{Anna at the kids first hayride.  They went twice!}

We flew out of Dulles airport Thursday evening and arrived in Moscow, Russia about 9-10 hours later.  Then we walked around the airport, slept in the waiting areas, walked around some more...we had an eleven hour layover, so we had plenty of time.  We didn't like walking around much because of the attention we attracted {4 kids + luggage}.  We felt like celebrities with our own paparazzi!  Serious!  Every time we were walking around people would take our picture and talk about how many kids we had.  Some even would squat down ahead of us and take our picture while we were walking, each kid dragging along a rolling bag.

We have now been in Ukraine for about 10 days.  Our first Sunday went well, we had at least 21 not counting our family.  Tamara has started coming again and seems very sincere and faithful.  Her son, Ruslan (whom Eric did Bible lessons in the prison with), has visited with us a few times and has promised to come to church, but hasn't come yet.  I think the hardest thing about church is that Valentina, our Russian mama, is no longer coming and has talked to Eric about removing her membership.  Sometimes I am okay, knowing that God has a plan and His plan is always best.  At others, it is extremely heartbreaking.  I want to say, "Never again will I allow myself or my family to become so close to someone."  But is that wrong?  I don't know.  We have to love, and I don't think I could help that, but we definitely can't put our faith in man.

Since we have been home, we have been busy unpacking, organizing, starting school again (a post about that soon for those who have asked about what we are doing), working on paperwork...there never ceases to be work.  In fact, I almost waited to start school just so I could get things more in order, but I am SO glad I didn't!  That first week was so hard as no one would sleep at night.  I had Eric moving furniture at 3 AM!  The kids didn't sleep either and many times, we'd just let them play in their rooms (we've worked it out so that the boys have a room and the girls have a room...again, I'll save this for another post).  Finally, it seems we are adjusting to the time change.

{Uncle Micah knows how to win their favor, just pull up Cinderella. ;)}

Another exciting thing that's happened is Eric started teaching the adult's Sunday School class IN Russian!!  Yesterday was his first day and it sounds like he did pretty good.  Slavic helped him a lot, he said.  (Lina, the church translator, teaches the children's Sunday School.)  I know he'd appreciate your prayers as he plans to continue teaching in Russian.  Also for our registration.  Without it, we will have to leave the country again.  That would be so difficult, especially at this time.  It would also be nice to have our heating system working.  Our little electric heaters are doing a pretty good job at the moment.

I would love your prayers too that God would direct me in how to wisely use my time.  I have a long list of things I would like to do, but I don't think it is possible to do them all.  I would LOVE to learn the Russian sign language, start an English class using the Bible, I'm also starting a children's bell choir, then there are ladies' meeting ideas, I'd love to pick back up my violin, learn to play the flute {I may just have to wait for my kids to do those and just stick to the piano}...anyways, you get the idea.  I'm a BIG dreamer.  At the moment, I am just trying to help the kids get into a routine and get things organized around the house.  My prayer is that God will give me wisdom as I slowly add in things and that they would only be what He desires for me to do.

{Goodbye kisses}

Well, hope I haven't overloaded you with my update.  Looking forward to sharing with you some more specific posts soon.  Thank you all for your prayers, kind emails and comments.  What an encouragement they have been!

Update from Joyce White

Here is an update from Joyce White in Ukraine.  We were SO excited and wanted to share it with you all.

 

First day of Bible Camp went well.  We had 10 children, 2 teens from Bro. O'Brian's church came to help.  What a blessing they were.  It made it so much easier on Lina and I with them to help play games and do crafts!!! Praise the Lord they are going to come back and help for the rest of the week.  Slava (Slavic) helped with a skit that went over VERY  WELL!!  The kids loved it and Mike was so caught up in watching the skit he forgot to take any pictures!!

 

I think we will probably have more tomorrow.  Ola is bringing 3 of her neices and nephews and all the children said they were going to bring a friend tomorrow, so we will see.  Nastia's father agreed to let her come and we told her to bring Masha too.  Masha had a fun time.  The camp is for children 6 to 12 but we aren't turning any away no matter their age.  A lady from a near by village (I did not recognize the name) that goes to a Baptist church brought 3 of her grandchildren.  She thanked us for having something for the children.   Keep praying.  I trust that the Lord is going to give some of these children for Sunday School.

 

Although we have not had many for church - usually 8 to 10.  We have had wonderful services.  You can feel the presence of the Lord.  We have 3 to 4 lost adults every service.

 

Will keep you up to date about the Bible Camp and will send some pictures at the end of the week.

 

Thank you for your prayers!  Continue to pray for the youth of Vvedenka and for the lost attending the services.

Bible Club in Ukraine

 I haven't had the time to share with you what we have been doing lately, but this just could not wait.  This is something that is dearest to my heart - the children of Ukraine.  It has long been in my heart to do a Bible club, but, just like with David, it was not God's desire for us to be the first ones to start this.  God allowed us to purchase the building last year and we are just now getting it to a place where it is ready to be met at (thanks to the help of the White's filling in for us).  They decided to start a weekly-one day Bible Club at the house first, then a week long club on the church property later.  They will be meeting every week on Tuesdays.  Please be in prayer for these clubs and the Week camp (VBS).  Pray also for workers.  The Lord knows there is no other place I'd rather be right now, but in His time.  Below I have posted the email from Joyce White.  I know it will be a blessing to you. 

 

We had our first Bible Club yesterday and we were very pleased.  Lina was so excited!  We knew that we would have 5, prayed for 7 and prepared for 10.  We had 14 children and 2 grandmothers come. (We only invited children we knew - 4 all together- they invited their friends) Then with Mike, Lina and me we had a total of 17.  One thing Lina and I learned is that we will not be able to do Bible Camp without some help.  We are going to encourage Vala to take off work the week of Bible Camp and help us.  We are also going to ask Slava to help.  We are praying about asking one of our  friends from Kaliningrad to come help us.  She is a wonderful Christian young lady and is great with children.  She would be a big blessing if she can come.  All the kids said they would be back next week and would bring a friend.  We are making preperations for 20 - I hope that will be enough.  - By the way, I'm using a lot of your stuff.  I've almost used all the card stock paper you had here, plus a lot of the scrap booking paper for the crafts.  I'll replace as much as I can while we are home.  I plan to get as much as possible for the Bible Camp while we are home.  The main thing we need is visual aids for the lessons and some craft stuff.

 

The hope for your church to grow is in the children.  If you can win them, you can win their families.  Not only was Lina encouraged but Mike and I were too.  When we get back at the end of July we will spend more time trying to reach the children. We now have 6 families that we can visit! We believe that having the Bible Camp at the end of August will help to get children in Sunday School in September.

 

Got to run, I've got to get all the crafts organized and most of them cut out so things will go smoothly next week. 

 

In Christ,

Sis. Joyce

Where are We???

If you are a little confused as to where exactly we are right now, I'm sorry...I'm still trying to figure that out myself.  (Okay.  Not really, but it is taking some time to get myself together.)  The week after we arrived in the states, Eric's parents called and said that they had room for us, knew a christian midwife and wanted to come get us.  SO...after a looong car ride, we are safely in Maine.  The Lord has just been blessing again and again and we are looking forward to spending the holidays with family.  And, if you notice my little ticker on the side, it's not too much longer now until we will be welcoming our little guy.  I will be meeting with the midwife tomorrow and I can't wait.  I found out that she and her husband were not only good friends of Eric's parents (they were in his parents' wedding), but that they had also been missionaries until the Lord brought them back to the states because of health problems.  I'm just amazed at how the Lord has brought everything together.  Now, just waiting for Papa to come home in 3 more weeks...at least, praying our little guy will wait. ;)

When we arrived in Maine, there was still a little bit of snow on the ground.  The kids had a blast playing in it while it lasted.  I cannot believe how warm it has been in Maine! 

The view behind the house is absolutely breathtaking and I don't begin to do it justice...the rock wall, the rolling moutains, the sunsets...beautiful!

The kids have loved having time with Grammy and she is loving every minute with them as well.

Sam is enjoying having a buddy to hang with...Him and Uncle Trav "playing  basketball".

They love cuddling with great gram as well and love helping her search for words.

Whenever Uncle Travis heads out to work, they think they need to help.

The Lord has answered so many prayers and one of the ones He recently answered was for a van.  It has been such a blessing!  Anna was SHOCKED when I got behind the wheel and asked "Mom, are you ACTUALLY going to drive???"  And she is also offering driving advice.  When we were in Virginia, I started pointed out stop signs to her and talking about them.  She makes sure that I stop at every single one now.  The first time I stopped at one, then continued driving.  In a concerned voice she said, "Mom, it's a stop sign.  You're supposed to stop."  After I told her that I stopped, now I can go she replied, "The sign says stop, Mama.  Not go."  hmmmm.  Think we need to explain that one more.

Well, this post has taken me about 2 weeks to write and I know Papa's dying to see some pictures so I guess it's time to just post.  Computer time is rare lately so guess I need to just push the perfectionist aside and get you caught up a little.