Thanks to all of you who have contacted me about supporting my trip to Central & Eastern Europe both through prayer and through financial donations! What a blessing to have you alongside this journey with me!
We have been enjoying a fun week so far! Every morning I go to workout before Jay and the girls wake up. Tuesday morning I had the most wonderful surprise waiting for me a I topped the hill from our apartment complex. God had a show performing! What a wonderful way to start the day...and can you imagine the show from that hot air balloon to the left of the sun (you have to look hard to the left to see it)? What a show...isn't our God amazing?
On Wednesday nights, I get to work with the children's drama and choir called Ultimate Adventure. I have been with them for about 6 months now and we have already performed one musical and are working on our next one. We have a great group of kids and they enjoy it so much! Steve our music pastor leads and we just help out. We don't normally meet on the stairs, but he wanted to get them in rows and not sitting in chairs to sing this song. Here is a little sample of the wonderful time I am honored to enjoy every week...
Today, we had to be at the Dr. for those yearly, before school well visits. Our appointment at 8am and we found out about half way through that they BOTH were getting their 2nd chicken pox booster. Virginia also had to get her 2nd Hep. A shot! They were not happy and I had NO idea so had not warned them at all. I am one of those very honest parents that walk them through the whole thing before we get there so that there are not any surprises. You should have seen their faces when they heard the word SHOT!
Luckily, the Dr. left the room and the 3 of us were in the room alone long enough for me to talk them down. We discussed about how panic makes everything worse, how clenching our arms makes it hurt more, and the importance of prayer...and BREATHING!
Virginia was really upset before...but as the shot went into her arm...she STOPPED crying! Go figure! We talked about how that was a learning moment. She knows now not to anticipate how much something is going to hurt...just wait and see. She said it wasn't bad at all!
Anli was her typical precious self. I wish I had a video (it wasn't the time to pull out the video camera in their moment of duress) to share with you how cute that girl is! She began to pace and talk it out. She said, "I am not going to panic right now. It's just a pinch. It's the best thing for me, because getting the chicken pox as an adult (are you dying yet?) is much worse (still pacing). I am going to breath so that I won't tighten my arm muscles. That makes it worse...right mom?"
That moment is logged into my memory. I love that about her! It helps that she reasons at the age of a 15 year old too (we learned that from her testing!). She is able to work it all out in her mind and she didn't shed ONE tear or even tighten up at all. It was amazing! I couldn't have done that well.
Anli chose a real digital camera that even takes movies! It was less than $20 (she had to put some of her allowance with my donation) but she is so thrilled to have her "own" camera. I told her she could share some on the blog from time to time! 
So, after that not so pleasant surprise their mommy promptly took them to Wal-Mart for a wonderfully pleasant surprise! They have spent the afternoon enjoying both the band aids and the presents. They are both so different, but what a precious moment to hold them in my arms as they endured pain for the good.
It reminded me how we are in the arms of God each day. Yes, we have hard things that are complete surprises to us. They hurt and sting. But, just like my girls got to endure that shot wrapped in my arms on my lap today...we are always in the arms of our Heavenly Father. And unlike their finite mommy...our Father knows in advance and is loving and preparing us all the way. He knows that those trials that test our faith are making us more like Christ! What a beautiful God we serve!
This weekend we are off to some fun, fun, fun times! I'll post later with photos!
This is Trey and he was a whiz at driving this golf cart! He is the Barber's son...so he has his own golf cart at home too. The kids spent the afternoon at their house taking rides through the yard and the neighborhood riding in it!
Daddy was in charge of teaching about golf. I have NO idea about golf and tried to hit a few myself...one time I never even got close to the ball. The girls did really well though!
Virginia spent most of the time in front of the ball machine working on her hitting. Sometimes the balls came a little fast and hard...she looks like she is fighting wild balls off here! What a stance!
After all the fun at the Country club, we headed back to the Barber's house to shower and relax. The kids ran wild, played Rock Band and Guitar Hero, rode golf carts, played pool and basically we didn't see them all afternoon. Until the food arrived...yummy Slopes BBQ and tons of desserts. Julie and her family made homemade ice cream that was out of this world!
About the time we were leaving, they got the ramp out! Anli looks like some kind of Xgames girl with that helmet. She had a blast and did really well. Needless to say, as a mom of girls, I don't see much of this kind of stuff often. I was a little nervous...but she survived just fine!
Anli worked on the salt shaker.
Sunday was an amazing day of worship! We enjoyed challenging words from Anne Graham Lotz about keeping Jesus the focal of our lives, ministries, and jobs. It was great to get the chance to meet so many people and worship with them. There were over 50 countries represented at this convention! What an opportunity to see a little glimpse of heaven as we worshipped together raising hands and lifting voices to God Almighty!
I told you that as I went to the restroom before the service began...I met with Karen Kingsbury and her mom. We visited for a while and enjoyed sharing what God was doing in our lives. She was truly amazing in her humility and love of others (see former post). 
That night we went to a concert that featured Nicole C. Mullen. They had lots of artists share about the power of music in their lives...along with retail owners who shared stories about people who were affected by the music lyrics of certain song. It was very powerful to hear those stories and worship together again.
Nicole sings "Redeemer".
OK, you HAVE to get this CD when it comes out. This band is a family who are all classically trained musicians...two from Julliard. They sing and play all sorts of instruments desiring to "bring the Renaissance of music back to the church. " They are the Annie Moses Band and their Christmas CD is due out in November.
Jeremy Camp was awesome and the testimony he has of loosing his first wife is inspiring to us all. He was much more than a musician...he was an encourager.
The floor was always buzzing as over 10,000 people, 500 retailers, and 50 countries were represented. It was organized chaos...and so much fun! 
This is just one of the numerous examples God gave me to individually share His work in my life and our ministry. This sweet lady ran up to me after the book signing was over and asked if we could talk and if there were any books left. God truly blessed our time. I will share tomorrow the amazing things God taught me this trip. I have shared a few things and I want to expand on those deeply. I have been changed by those things God shared with me. This is photo of the intimacy God brought to such a huge convention.
Here is the only photo of any book signing. This was the last lady that came through...and Jay was able to run out of the booth and get a photo of this sweet lady. It was really busy during both signings (we signed over 150 books in one hour...that's about 1 book every 15 seconds). So we didn't have time for photos and videos. It never even crossed our minds! We were just so thrilled to have the honor of meeting that many people and talking with them for just a brief moment. It was humbling and joyous to see God's work all over the globe!
