Goin' to the Land!

Today after I get off of work we are heading to Coleman County...The Land...as we refer to it, and we are so excited. I for one am ready to get out of Amarillo!! It's strange because living in Brownwood we had opportunity to 'get out of town' alot more! We'd go to dinner and a movie in Abilene, or go hunting at the land, or maybe head to Arlington for a quick weekend trip...but not here. There is NOWHERE close enough, or cheap enough, to go to get out of Amarillo!

But this weekend we are. I took off work tomorrow so that we could meet Cliff, Debbie, Grandpa and Grandaddy out at the land. We get to stay through Saturday afternoon then drive back Saturday night. The house out there is almost complete so we are going to work on it a little more. I'll post pictures when we return.

This week has been a pretty fast week. I have totally put off working on a paper this week! It is due Monday night, 8 pages on an intervention method (Groupy Play Therapy), and I have maybe 3 pages written. But, I'm really not going to do much until Sunday except research online. I'll finish it up Sunday and Monday before class. Monday is my last class, just have to go in and turn in my paper and do evaluations. Woo hoo! I've already signed up for my next two classes for the fall. I'm taking a research methods class online and then a social policy class through UTA. I found out I have to find my placement by December. Man, am I overwhelmed! I wish I were in Brownwood to choose one because I am familiar with all of the agencies. I am praying that God would direct me to the right place.

We leave for Kenya in 7 days. Please be in prayer for travel, for the orphans we'll meet and for our hearts to be sensitive to God's leading.

Family and friends please know I miss you and love you ALOT! I often think of each of you and think of sweet memories. My friend Audra Parris had her baby recently and I have yet to get to speak with her personally. We've been playing phone tag. She named him Dublin, isn't that so cute! I wish I could be close to Fort Worth to hang out and celebrate this time with her. Also, Dom is graduating in 6 days! I want to be there to celebrate that awesome occassion! I hate distance, but please know I am thinking of you both. And I am so proud of you Dom!

Route 66 Roller Derby!

Today Cliff and I took the three summer interns to the Route 66 Roller Derby! It was a BLAST! Totally red neck and crude, but such a great time. This is the roller derby's first year here in Amarillo. Today we watched them play against an Oklahoma team and boy were these ladies rough. There was definitely a fight that broke out about halfway through. Here are some pics from the day. The one of the program is my ultimate favorite. Take a close look!

These are the interns. From front to back: Lindsey, Robbi, and Sarah. Sweet sweet girls! They are soo much fun to be around. Sarah is going to start a roller derby team in Abilene. Watch out Abilene!! Roller Derby will take the place by storm!

This is the roller derby program! CLASSIC! HAHAHAHA!

And here they are in action....hard core roller derby!

Camp Xtreme

Camp Xtreme was awesome! I was so proud of Cliff in his leadership throughout the week. Here are a few pictures of the kids that week.

This pic is of some of the guys at the Luau

The guy on the left is Bradley Maybin, he is the youth minister and came to spend a night one night of camp. The guy on the right is Brad, he is one of the youth interns and was a great help this week.

Sarah is Cliff's assistant this summer and she is standing with Rashthanic (sp?) who moved to the US recently from Iraq.

I took this group of kids hiking for one of the afternoon activities. We had a blast hiking the cliff. It was actually pretty challenging and very hot, but totally worth it once we made it to the top.

This was the group that led our music. Juli and Gary are the worship leaders from FBC Canyon. This was their second year to lead music for our group. They had their team of kids lead the singing with them and do all of the motions to the songs. The rec team from Hardin Simmons is up there with them in this pic. They were so great and a huge help!

I absolutely love this pic of Kaleen. :) She is our tiny sixth grader who hiked up to the top with he flip flops on. She was taking up the back of the group and looked WORN OUT by the end of the climb to do the zip line. She's adorable!

This was the first group of sixth graders to do the zip lines. Some of them were quite nervous, but acted all brave the whole time! I got to do the zip line after these girls and it was a blast!
Here are four of our sixth graders. They worked real hard to get cute for the Luau! We're gonna miss them in the children's ministry this year. From left to right: Rachel, Caroline, Meredith, and Madison. :) Fun girls!
This is Lindsey, Cliff's intern, and Martha his secretary. But Martha is really much more than a secretary. She was the Children's Interim minister before Cliff came. She is a HUGE help and so so sweet. We are very blessed that she continues to help out!
This is the stage. Cliff worked really hard to make it cool this year. One of the other groups made the awesome shadow pics and they had the banner made to use year after year.

Finally, this is a video I took of Cliff pumping up the group. I thought ya'll would like to see him in action. I'm so proud of my husband!! It is so much fun watching him do what he loves.

We're Back

We made it back from camp yesterday afternoon. I will post some pics tonight or tomorrow. I'm at work today and Cliff is relaxing at home. Camp was awesome! More to come...

Camp

Cliff left for camp yesterday, the kids left today around noon and Ileave tonight around 9 after I am released from class! So so excited to get out to Floydada. I think it will be a very hot week, but also one of great bonding time with our 50+ kids. I am praying that the kids will learn another aspect of worship this week, that they will have a new perspective of our awesome God and that the relationships fostered this week will grow to trusting relationships where we can encourage the kids to continue to grow in their faith, or claim a faith of their own. I'll post some pics when we return!

Camp time!

Camp Xtreme is upon us!! Cliff leaves Sunday to get ready for Camp which begins Monday. This week has been very busy preparing for everything. Cliff and his interns have worked tirelessly! We are praying that this years camp will be the best yet. I get to go Monday night after class or Tuesday morning if I'm too tired, we'll see. I'm not sure how long it takes to get out to Floydada where camp is held.

This past weekend we didn't do much. We relaxed and did some running around. It is nice to be at home on a weekend. We've actually had several quiet weekends lately and this one will be no different I don't think. The cruddy part is that we have no family or friends to visit! That part stinks!

We do have a couple friend moving to the area though. Hannah and Joe are either moving to Pampa or Amarillo. They were our college friends and then forever friends after we graduated. Hannah and Joe served on the church staff with us at FBC Brownwood. I'm thankful to have them in the area soon. Hannah will be teaching for Clarendon college in Pampa and we are praying for Joe to find a job in the area.

I am finally all better after my salmonela poisoning. I had a whole interview with the health department and everything. Wierd experience. Still have no clue where I contracted it. I am so thankful Mom, Dad, Trish, Dakota and Cliff didn't get sick. Praise the Lord!

I will post pics of the fourth weekend soon. Just haven't taken the time! Cliff and I are soo excited about going to Kenya. I ordered some craft supplies from oriental trading yesterday and it is beginning to sink in that in about a month we'll be off to another country! I can't wait. I pray that we will be able to connect with the kids and really encourage them in their faith. Please pray that our hearts will be prepared as well as the hearts of the children in Kenya. :)

Cliff and I are also itching to get out to the land near Coleman. For those who don't know Cliff's family has some hunting land in Coleman county. They have been building a "house" out there for family and friends to sleep/eat in. We get to go the weekend of the first and WE CAN'T WAIT! I sure wish we could get out there more!

God is good to us and we could not be more grateful for his provision! We still don't have a house, but we are definitelyin hot pursuit of the right one. Keep that on your prayer list as well...I'm ready to have all of my things in one place.

Until next time! Love you all! come see us soon!

Camps, Cramps and More Camps!

That title pretty much explains our week here in Amarillo. Cliff was camp pastor for three camps this week! He spoke to 1st and 2nd grade girls at GA day camp at a campgrounds near Amarillo. Then Tuesday through today he is teaching twice a day to kids participating in Upward Basketball Camp here at the Famil Life Center. Then last night he preached at GA resident camp for the older GAs. He did such a great job. There were even some girls who made some decisions last night. God is so good to Cliff helping him be creative and speak truth in love to these kids. He says that he loved doing all of this and hopes for more opportunities to do camp pastoring stuff.

Me on the other hand...I was poor Cliff's burden for the week. ;) I was sick! Sunday I started feeling sick, slept four hours that afternoon then went to church thinking I was fine. I wasn't...went to work Monday thinking I was fine...I wasn't! I left at 2pm that day feeling dizzy and cramping soooo bad. After getting up every half hour through the night I went to the doc in the box at 8:00am when they opened. Three hours later, a bag of saline solution, a shot, and other embarassing happenings I found out that I had a gastrointestinal bacterial infection that had spread to cause my bladder to be infected! I had gotten really dehydrated so they put an IV of fluid in me. Now two days later I am finally feeling like a normal person again. Thank the Lord...just in time for the weekend. :)

Update: I just received a call from the doctor....the cause of all of the cramps and other terrible things was from salmonella poisoning! Crazy...I have no idea how I got it. They said to keep eating bland food, one problem...I was craving Schlotsky's and had a sandwich for lunch...not so bland. I hope I don't suffer for that later! :)

You know what I kept thinking when I was feeling so terrible?? I was thinking that there are billions of people who live with this kind of pain day in and day out with no hope for medical help or relief. No relief from the harsh conditions of their living environment, no relief with clean water and healthy food to regain strength. Check out my favorite blogs and see the one on Real Hope for Haiti. As much as I was begging God to make me better, I was humbled to realize that I am blessed to live where I am to have access to medical care and a husband who takes great care of me. Remember those kids in the pics on that blog next time you're sick and be thankful through the pain!!

Thanks Cliff for taking such good care of me even though it has been a hectic week! I love you!

Miss you all family :)