Happy Birthday Shannon

Today was Shannon's 36th birthday. I really can't believe that he is 36. We celebrated his birthday in Branson. It is our family tradition for the "birthday person" to pick where they want to eat on their birthday. So, Shannon picked Montana Mikes. Ethan was so glad because he knew that he would get to eat steak too. Funny how boys are, huh? We had a really good day. To top the day off we went out for ice cream at Marble Slab.

Shannon - Hope you had a great birthday! You are a so much more than I deserve.

Goodbye Van!

WE GOT RID OF OUR VAN! It was a sad day, but a great one too. Yes, I almost cried! I know crazy. Now we are carless. Is that a word? We still have two months left and we will be driving Shannon's grandparents car. Thank you Jesus!! Please continue to pray for our budget to come in. We still have around $1400 in monthly commitments that we need to raise. Here's the kicker, we need to have it done by the end of July! So, please pray! We know that God is faithful and will provide. It may be at the last minute but He will come through, He always does.

Here I am saying goodbye to the van

Timbo Valley - up by Mt. View

Weekend

We are still tired from the weekend. We got home around midnight Sunday night. It is so worth driving home because we get to sleep in our own beds. We are heading to Timbo Valley tomorrow night for a service. We are staying home this weekend. Praise the Lord! Actually we are staying home the next two weekends. We actually unpacked our suitcases. Can you believe it? Here is a picture from the weekend.

Matt Bates, Dustin Sanders, and Shannon (Matt is the youth pastor at Fordyce)

Church Camp/Weekend Services

We got back from camp yesterday afternoon. We came home VERY tired! We had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep the night before. We love camp! There is no place like it. We had a really great time and made many connections.

After our afternoon nap, we took the kids out for pizza. I think they had cabin fever. They kept begging us to take them to Wal-Mart, so we did.

We are in Fordyce for services in the morning and El Dorado for the night service. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am so glad because I am so tired of all this traveling. We are still in the process of getting rid of everything, so keep us in your prayers.

Me and Chrystal Buchanon

The Scottsville Crew

So Busy

I have been so busy that I have not had time to post anything on here.  We have been traveling so much, getting ready for our yard sale, and I have been sick.  Over the last two weeks we have been in Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas.  In between all of that we had a big yard sale.  It has been CRAZY!  Oh, on top of all of that I have been having migraines.  It has not been fun.  The sale was good, but sad.  It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.  Can you imagine putting things that you love in a yard sale and basically giving it away?  It's ok, I am over it now.  It is all replaceable.  Now, it's on to the next thing.  We are still trying to sell our house, please pray.  And we are still trying to get our budget raised.  I can't wait to get to Costa Rica so maybe we can slow down!  We are in Malvern this morning and Pottsville tonight.  Then we are going to camp Monday morning.  This will be our last youth camp :-(  Ok, I will stop rambling now. 

This is a great friend of ours from Dexter MO.  She use to baby sit Ethan when he was a baby.   

Party at Uncle Jerry's Cabin

Yesterday the Pruitt family had a going away party for us.  It was at Shannon's uncle Jerry's cabin, which is located in the middle of nowhere.  Really!  It is on the other side of Jasper.  You turn at the Low Gap store.  Do you know where that is?  When you are driving to the house you really feel like you are driving to the end of the earth.  But, when you get there it is so worth the drive. It is so beautiful!  He does rent it out to a lot of church groups.  It is a great place for a retreat.   I am not going to try to name everyone in the pictures, that would be too much.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Here is the great house 

On the way there we did get lost.  (imagine that)  And you know how men are, we were not going to call Uncle and tell him we were lost.  (imagine that again)  We did a lot of laughing driving up in the mountains, in the middle of nowhere, in the pouring down rain, hitting lots of pot holes, and LOST!  I finally called Shannon's cousin Michelle and she told us how to get there.  So, we finally get on the right road and we almost get to the house and there is a tree over the road.  Not a big tree but big enough that it had to be moved before we could get by. We are still laughing!  Shannon, still in his dress clothes, gets out and starts moving this tree.   Note: when he gets out it is not raining.   He starts moving this tree and it starts pouring down rain.  By this time I am laughing so hard I am almost crying.  What do I do?  Take pictures. That's right, it's raining so hard that I have to turn the windshield wipers on to take pictures.  I have posted them below in a play by play.  Hope you enjoy!  

 Shannon trying to decide what to do

 It's raining so hard that you can't even see him

 Still working in the rain

 Shannon yelling

Laughing because he has water dripping from his chin

Whats been going on..

It looks like it has been a while since I have posted anything.  I thought I better post something before people start complaining.  

Whats been going on:

We came home from Florida, stayed at home for three days, and left again on Monday.  During that three days, I went through mail, did laundry, did reports, and repacked.  Not to mention getting the kids school ready.  They should be finished with school this week.  And I am sooooo glad.  Ethan told me that he sure does hope that he can go back to school next year because homeschool is so much harder that regular school.  They have done really well but, I am ready for them to go back to school myself.  I am praying that we wont have any problems getting them enrolled in the school at Costa Rica.  

I am getting ready for the "big sale" which will be the first weekend in June.  I hope that I can be ready by then.  I have already went through Megan's room and now it is on to Ethans.  We threw away 4 bags of trash from Meg's room.  How does a child collect that much junk in less than a year?  I have no idea!  We will be selling our furniture at that time too.  So, when I say "big sale" that means everything.  What will we do until August?  With our schedule, we wont be home very much so I think we can manage.  We are also praying that our house will sale very soon.  Please pray with us about that.  Oh, and while we are talking about prayer, pray that we will have our budget raised by August.  And, that Shannon will be able to fill the rest of our calendar up.  And, that the churches that we have already been to will partner with us on a monthly basis.  Ok, I didn't mean to get carried away with all the prayer requests.  But, you cant have too many people praying.   Thanks for all your prayers!

(Since we are so busy, I don't know how often I will be able to blog.  I will try my best!)