You are our cuddler...our hugger...our smiler...our joke teller...our football stat teller.
You are the one that Tyler wants to play with...
and also the one that Hailey seeks out to make-believe with.
You are quick to offer help...if it involves something sweet for you.
You are a sweet caring friend...and generally the calmest one in the midst of crazy.
You have a tender heart for the Lord...and we hope that will continue always.
You are my helper...and one my biggest encouragers!
You are sweet while still being tough.
Strong and yet sensitive to those around you.
You are my joy and my crown...
my sunshine and laughter...
my great big eight year old!
And we love you!
Happy happy Birthday!!!
We have not had time to stop this summer...it has been one fun thing after the next!!
I went on Tyler's missions trip...so it was only fair to go with Amy to camp.
(I'm sure SHE would have been just fine without me...but this camp sounded too fun to pass up!)
I am teaching fifth grade girls on Sunday morning and on Wednesday night so I was blessed with these cutie fifth graders for the week!
Kaitlin, Ansley, Lily, Macy, Abby, Caroline, Caitlyn, Macy, and Ava.
(yes...that made for a confusing week having two Caitlyn's and two Macy's)
Caitlyn is my youth leader on Sunday mornings teaching and she was my youth leader at camp.
I seriously could not have done it without her.
She filled in all of the gaps and made sure everyone was where we needed to be...on time...and all together!
The theme for the week was: Boot Camp.
My job for the week: yell and scream at the kids - make them do push ups and runs -
oh, and teach them the Bible!
Not sure how excited they were to learn from me after being their drill sergant...but they all did great!
It was fun for me to get to know so many different people during the week of camp.
Serving alongside of each other definitely brings out...the BEST! :)
This is one of Amy's counselors...BECCA!! She is so much fun and Amy loved having her!
Obviously my reason for going to camp was to be able to see my girl throughout the week.
I loved seeing her smiling face at breakfast...playing the games...or hanging out at waterfront.
And wherever she was...Ella was probably right there with her!
Boot Camp is known for it's mud run.
The kids talk about it all week long.
he counselors dread it all week long.
And EVERYONE has to participate...young or old!!
Here is Amy right after she went through the mud run...
and right before her dear old mom attempts to go through!!
Unfortunately she went through with the sixth graders at a different time -
so I wasn't able to get live action shots of her running the mud!
And even more unfortunate...
there were plenty of bystanders that DID catch me going through the mud!!
Face first...eating that yummy slush!
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. -John Maxwell-
So thankful to have served under this Wonder Woman!!
Sean Lee has been the director of children's ministry at Carmel for over 27 years.
It has been such a priviledge to watch her lead and love on all of us that serve as well as all of the kids!
She was not afraid to get dirty...literally...all the while showing us how to lead!
She is one I greatly admire...respect...and love!!
And she made a pretty intimidating commander...especially when wearing her beret!
I think by the end of the week Amy caught on to the "why" of me coming to camp...
definitely her :)
Amy's cabin of girls.
On the giant swing!
Acting out the Bible verse.
Making a camp memory...with Ella!
Sixth grade is the last year for kids camp...so they try and make it the most memorable.
They have special traditions that only the sixth graders get to participate in as well as a performance they give on the last night.
They get to pick if they want to do acting, stomp, or choreography to music.
Amy picked the last one and here is a video of her group's performance...
She was in the back so it was a little hard to get her on screen...and then there were a couple of times that I forgot I was filming ;)
But she did a GREAT job!!
And this video does a fabulous job of recapping our week!
I am so thankful to have been able to make memories alongside of my sweet girl.
I pray that the truth of God's armor and His assignment for her life will be the biggest take away for her this week!!
We have been watching a lot of Cupcake Wars lately.
So when we were asking Jackson what he wanted to do for his birthday...it was not a surprise when he said...CUPCAKE WARS!!!
Jackson challenged three of his friends (along with their siblings)...to come up with the:
1) best tasting cupcake
2) most creative cupcake
&
3) the best poster representing the cupcake.
The teams were formed and the timer was ticking away...
the challenge had begun!!
Here is one of the finished team's cupcake!
Yum....
Each of the teams had to present their cupcake and poster to the panel of judges.
The Fire Cupcake team
(Ellie, Jackson & Molly)
The American Flag Cupcake team
(Hailey, Mack & Tyler)
The Strawberry Shortcake Team
(Evie, Amy, and Lillie)
The Orange Delight Cupcake team
(Nick, Louis, & Ruby)
The panel of judges took their job very seriously.
They sampled and tested and asked questions of each team leader...
The ruling was...JACKSON as the winner!!
The victor had the privilege to smash his winning cupcake in Daddy's face...
It was a super SWEET night...with lots of SCRUMPTIOUS memories...and DELISH fun!!!
Happy happy Birthday, Jackson!!!
Tyler had been asking to go on a mission trip for awhile...but Jason and I weren't quite ready to let him go off into the wild wild world. The middle school at church was planning a trip to inner-city Charlotte...so it was the perfect solution!
We stayed in a gym/church near uptown Charlotte. We didn't find out until we arrived that there was NO air conditioning!!! Ah!!!
It served as a very HOT reminder that we were indeed on a missions trip!
Each day we would get up and head to a local ministry that serves refugees.
Project 658 offers different resources to the surrounding neighborhoods. They hold English language classes, Bible studies, and varying different classes on job skills. They provide free meals and have a store that the visitors can pick out clothes and necessities.
We hosted a VBS for the children that attended the classes with their parents.
We had SUCH a fun time with all the kiddos that week
...singing, crafting, playing, dancing, and memorizing God's Word.
Tyler was put on the praise and worship team.
This was not what he had been hoping for...
dancing...singing.
But he ended up having a great time getting all of the kids excited about worship!
All of the kids that attended were so sweet.
But one especially stole Tyler's heart...he would hold his hand...sit in his lap...and talk in his cute little voice.
He had Tyler wrapped!
In the afternoons, we would head to an apartment complex that houses most of the refugee families.
There we would do whatever we could to have fun with the kiddos and try and engage the parents. We hosted a free barbecue, painted faces, played soccer...
more soccer...and even more soccer!!
The evenings were spent back at the church/gym spending time going over the day.
I have been on many different missions trips...as the student...as the leader...but this was the first as a parent.
I loved watching Tyler interact with the kids...those his age and those younger than him.
To watch ministry become tangible for him.
To watch each opportunity he had to share the love of Jesus.
I am so thankful that I was able to go and share in this special week with him.
