A Day Off!!!!

I am so excited about today, I am taking the day off.  It will be a much needed break!  No school(we did it yesterday), no boys, and no housework.  Can somebody say STARBUCKS? Shannon and Ethan are in NW Arkansas this week hunting and going to Razorback games.  So, me and Meg are enjoying some peace and quiet.  Today we are taking the day off  and going shopping (for what I don't know).  We are also going to eat at Taco Villa, very excited about that too.  To make things better, tomorrow I will be heading to Little Rock to a womens conference, by myself. And, I will be spending the night so, that means two days alone.  Did you hear me, two days to myself?  Not that I don't like my kids or Shannon but, when you are with them 24/7 sometimes you just need a break.  I am sure all you moms out there can relate.  Especially you moms who homeschool and are with the kids ALL day long.  I am so glad that God has blessed me with this time off.  He always knows what is best for us!  Thank you God for your many blessings.  

Shannon and I seen this on a church sign last week and we really liked it.  Sometimes we read church signs and think, that makes no sense, but this one was so true.  Here is what it said,

IF JESUS LIVES IN YOUR HEART, NOTIFY YOUR FACE.  Think about it!  

Busy, Busy, did I mention BUSY!

We have been so busy here lately! I want to recap on our business;

1. The number one most busiest thing in our lives right now is homeschooling.

2. Traveling every weekend and sometimes during the week, that's crazy!

3. Cleaning the house? Who has time for that? Most of you know that I am a huge clean freak, or maybe I should say I use to be. Since we have moved here in June, I cleaned the whole house for the first time last Saturday. Don't think that I never cleaned the house! I would just clean what needed to be cleaned at the time. And, remember I had been sick since the first of the year.

4. Reports! That is a full time job in it's self.

5. Now, I ask you, how on God's green earth am I suppose to have time to do all this?

Seriously, I know that God has called me for such a time as this. I know that we are living in the last days and time is running out. I know that He seen something in me that I didn't see in myself and He knows that I can do all these things. Some days are better than others but, it is all worth it. I have been reading a book by Mark Batterson and it is very encouraging. Here is a quote from the book that really spoke to me, "Adventure begins the moment we start pursuing a God-ordained passion". Believe me, I have started on an adventure from the moment Shannon and I decided to follow our God-ordained passion. When I say God-ordained, I mean the passion that God gave us deep down in our hearts for another country. The passion that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this is what you were created for. We know that most people think that we are crazy, as do I, sometimes. We didn't chose this adventure for ourselves but, God chose us. We had to be obedient to Gods calling. When I stand before the Lord, I want to hear the words "Well done, my good and faithful servant". I don't want God to ask me, "Why didn't you go?" All I can do is trust Him!

Now on another note, here are some pic's from last week:

Me and Meg at Pizza Hut in Little Rock

Ethan and Megan with their favorite thing, a goodie basket. Thanks Wynne First!

We got to church early on Sunday night so, the kids decided to play some soccer.

My kids

When Shannon and I got home yesterday this is what our kids were wearing. Don't they look cute.  Just thought I would share.

Weekend pics

Ethan and Megan eating lunch in Rogers

The gang at Madison's game

Madison cheering

The weekend! Yeah!

Let me start off by telling you how our week went. Over the weekend we were in Stuttgart and West Memphis, we spent the night in WM Sunday night. We come home on Monday and then on Tuesday we get up, homeschool, then leave at one to head to Highland. For those of you who don't know where Highland is, it's by Ashflat. It took us about 31/2 hours to get there. Shannon preached a fellowship meeting there and then we drove back home. We got home around midnight. We get up on Wednesday morning, homeschool, and then head to Benton First to preach their Wednesday night service. Thursday comes and I am so glad, finally one day to stay at home all day. Shannon has to preach a funeral on this day so, I am homeschooling by myself. (which wasn't bad) Now, it's Friday, we get up, homeschool, pack, head to Russellville to get our tires rotated. After we get our tires rotated, we head to Alma to eat with some friends, whom we love. Now, we are off to Fayetteville to spend a couple of nights with Shannon's mom. We will be preaching at Rogers Sunday morning and we don't have a service scheduled for Sunday night. (which, I am not complaining) We are so tired! This coming week will be a little slower. We will be going to Jonesboro on Tuesday to preach another fellowship meeting. That is the only service that we have during the week. I cant even remember where we will be the next weekend. Isn't it sad that I just live by a schedule? Not really....

Like I said we are at Shannon's mom and we will be spending some time with family so, that's good. I will try to take some pic's and post them when we get home. Hope everyone has a great weekend and God bless.

Random Pics from the weekend

These pictures are in no certain order...they are just "random".

Megan and Ethan traveling

This is Megan with McKenzie and Taylor Blann at West Memphis

Megan and Ethan got gifts from West Memphis First and they were so happy.  They loved it there.  We had a really good time meeting the pastors and the church people.  They were all so kind to us.  

This is Megan and her JBQ team

Megan and Ethan at McDonalds in Stuttgart.  Can you tell who thinks it's stupid to get their picture taken in these chairs?  And, I didn't even tell him he had to.  

This is Megan speaking at Stuttgart First.  She also spoke at West Memphis.  She does a really good job.  

This was lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Stuttgart.  The food was so good!

This is Shannon and the kids with the pastors from Stuttgart Trinity.  

Kids night out

This is Megan with Laken Stanek

Laken hit the jackpot on one game.  She was so excited.

This is Chandler Stanek

Can you tell who didnt want their picture taken?  I guess they think they are too old for that.

The whole gang Ethan, Meg, Chandler, and Laken

Last week was Ethan's birthday and we didn't have a party.  So, we decided that we would take the kids out with a couple of their friends, Laken and Chandler Stanek.  We went to Razorback Pizza in Russellville.  We ate pizza and played games.  The kids had a lot of fun.  Then we were brave and took them all to Wal-Mart.  

We will be getting up early tomorrow to go to a JBQ meet in Russellville.  Then we are off to Stuttgart for the Sunday morning service.  We will be at West Memphis Sunday night for a missions convention.  Our itinerating (aka traveling for Jesus)  is going well.  We are at 41% on our budget.  Our departure date is August 09 but, we talk to Springfield last week and they said we may get to leave sooner than that.  They first said January and it freaked me out a little bit because that is only three months away.  There is no way that we could be ready by then.  We have a van, house, and everything in it to sell.  Plus, we still have to raise our cash budget and we are just now getting started on that.  So, I am sure January is out of the question.  However, the end of April is not.  If we have our monthly budget raised and our cash budget raised by then we will leave.  If not it will still be August.  

I have a great praise report.  Shannon got a call last week from his sister saying her that her church wanted to support us.  We had went and preached there back August.  You will never believe how much the pledge is.  You ready for this........$200.00 a month.  Did I mention that this a Freewill Baptist church?  Praise the Lord!  

I am finally feeling better and I am so thankful for that.  I have not felt "normal" since January and that is a long time not to feel good.  I hope and pray that I am well on my way to recovery. For all of you who knew about Shannon's back problem, he is not having surgery.  They were able to give him two shots in his back and some PT and he is doing great.  They had scheduled for him to get three shots but, he is doing so well that he is not going to have to get it.  God is so good to us and we are so thankful for his blessings.  Thank you for praying for our family.