July 2014 in Review

We enjoyed a busy July as our family went to several revivals, helped/attended VBS, fellowshipped with friends, sang at a few churches, and settled into our new home.

Revival – July 6-11, 2014

The first week of July was filled with the revival at Pleasant Ridge Missionary Baptist Church, morning and evening. Our family was encouraged and refreshed as we listened to God’s Word preached.

Bro. Roger preached the revival.

At the close of the revival, there was a church-wide fish fry. We enjoyed yummy food and wonderful fellowship!

Friends

Some missionary friends were able to come on Friday and fellowship with Pleasant Ridge.

Elizabeth and Julia

Amanda and Janell

Nikon vs. Canon

We also joined Rock Hill Missionary Baptist Church for their revival on July 23 and 25. Friday night, we enjoyed an ice cream social . . . and music, of course.

Jamming

Camp Christa – July 13-17, 2014

Christopher, Daniel, and Amanda were able to trek up to Cortez, Colorado, to help with Camp Christa, a camp for the Navajo and Ute Indians. The Lord blessed them with a fantastic camp with several professions of faith. A full update with pictures will come later.

Vacation Bible School – July 23-25, 2014

We were excited to join Pleasant Ridge with their VBS this year. Rachel, Joanna, Naomi, and Ashlyn enjoyed attending the classes while Karen, Amanda, Elizabeth, and Samuel helped. They learned about Gideon, Ruth, Nehemiah, Peter, and Esther and how they were ready, obedient, faithful, bold, and courageous.

Ashlyn with her teacher

A good-sized group showed up for VBS

A Day in Hazlehurst, MS – July 27, 2014
Sunday morning, we joined Shady Grove Baptist Church and had a wonderful time sharing.

Daniel, Timothy, and Samuel setting up – they have a system worked out

Mom, visiting before service

Daniel, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Samuel

For lunch, we were graciously treated to the Kountry Kitchen.

After enjoying a meal with good ol’ home-cookin’, the Lord gave us the opportunity for an impromptu singing at the restaurant! We are grateful for this extra blessing to share God’s truth in song!

Singing at the Kountry Kitchen

For the evening service, we were at Hopewell Baptist Church, around Crystal Springs, MS. Again, the Lord blessed us with a wonderful service and we enjoyed meeting new people.

Daniel, Amanda, Elizabeth, (Timothy), Rebecca, Joanna, Samuel

Singing at Hopewell

Daniel, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Samuel

Amanda

At Home in Mississippi
We have adapted to our new home in Mississippi, though David comments that we are “just camping out.” It has been a blessing to fellowship with our friends up here and see how the Lord is leading our family in this new stage of life.

Friendly competition

Samuel and friend Kyle

Playing games with friends

We were not able to grow a garden this year because of moving, but the Lord has provided produce through friends. We were blessed with over 500 ears of beautiful corn and okra, peas, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

Joanna, testing out a new way to silk corn with the air compressor

Rachel, shelling peas

Corn-husking party!

Elizabeth and Timothy

Timothy grew new ears! 🙂

Christopher and Amanda

Ashlyn helped pack the bags

Life in a trailer is different, but God’s grace is sufficient and He is helping us adapt to these cramped quarters.

Ashlyn has decided to try violin – maybe she’ll be our next violinist!

When the weather is nice, we enjoy eating outside so that most of us are at the same table

Elizabeth, Naomi, and Ashlyn decided to play a cat-and-mouse game

Ashlyn (mouse) and Naomi (cat)

Ashlyn (cat) – “I’m gonna eat you, mousie!!!”

Naomi (mouse) – “Does she see me?”

~*~*~

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 

(Matthew 7:7-8)

Mt. Pisgah – Senior Camp

We had a few days’ break after Junior Camp then Senior (Youth) Camp started up, June 23-27.

Bro. David giving the rules and regulations of camp so that everyone could have fun

Preaching/Teaching

We were blessed to have solid Bible preaching/teaching throughout the week of Youth Camp. In the morning teaching sessions, different men taught on the different aspects of a worship service: prayer, music, praise, and preaching. 

Bro. Ben, teaching on prayer

Bro. David taught on preaching.

Daniel taught on music.

The preacher for the week was Bro. Scotty, who used God’s Word to give vital warnings concerning our modern worldview and culture to the youth.

Bro. Scotty, preaching about relationships

Bro. Scotty

Throughout the week, we had morning and evening devotions. Different men taught the boys or group devotions and a few women taught the girls’ devotions.

Bro. Kelly giving a morning devotion

Mrs. Audrey giving the girls’ evening devotional

Singing/Music

Bro. David urged the youth to meet the standard of singing that the Juniors had presented the week before. We’re not sure they were able to meet the volume or enthusiasm, but they tried. 🙂

Throughout the week, various youth played for congregational singing.

Also, with the fun songs of Junior Camp preceding us, it was requested to teach the other youth these songs.

Some of the co-counselors from Junior Camp teaching the rest of the campers songs

The Boomerang Song (“Your sin will be finding you out – AHA!”)

There were many specials throughout the week given by the campers and others who attended the camp.

A boys’ special

B.J. sharing a song

Singin’ Round the Piano

Bro. Jason, Bro. Thomas, and Bro. Ben

The Lairds

The final special by all of the young men

The final special by all of the young ladies

Sword Drills

One of the fun and friendly competitions of the year is always the Sword Drills. Each room competes and is narrowed down to the final boy and girl competitors.

Sword Drill Finalists – Sarah won!

A new twist on Sword Drills: bid how little time it will take you to find a book and race against the timer

Bible Quizzes

Bro. David did an excellent job putting together Bible quizzes for the year. He almost stumped the youth, but they managed to answer most of the questions.

Activities

Again, Bro. Matt organized the activities and everyone had a blast.

They’re not campers yet, but they still had loads of fun.

An amazing water-balloon-filling invention

Again, there were some serious checkers and chess tournaments.

Brother-to-brother combat

Bro. Scotty and Bro. David in Noodle Knights War

A car race! Somehow, the BMW always won . . .

Who can blow the ping-pong ball to the other’s side first?

Timothy vs. Timothy — and yes, Timothy won. 😉

~*~*~

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Mt. Pisgah – Junior Camp

June 16-18 was the Junior Camp for Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Association. We had three days packed with great teaching, fun activities, and sweet fellowship.

Preaching/Teaching

Bro. Harold was the preacher for Junior camp and revisited many of the stories of faith from the Bible – Noah, Moses, David, and others.

Bro. Harold

Bro. Harold used a lot of visual aids to help the children understand elements of the Bible stories better. One day, he marked off the perimeter of Noah’s ark. Another day, he had some of the co-counselors and helpers draw a life-sized Goliath. The children loved it.

Walking the perimeter of Noah’s ark

The joint-effort to create Goliath

It needed that extra touch by one of the campers

The finished Goliath

For the morning devotions, a few of the young men shared.

Timothy

Kyle

Music

The children this year loved singing! They were very jubilant as they sang hymns of praise to God.

A few of us Teros taught the children a few fun songs like “The Boomerang Song,” “This World Ain’t All About You,” and “My Bible I Left on the Church Bus.”

Rebecca and the co-counselors helping with the songs

Some of the girls decorated the sidewalk with lyrics from the songs they learned

There was a lot of special music during the week.

Some of the girls singing

Bro. Harold

Sword Drills

All of the campers get an opportunity to participate in Sword Drills (finding different verses in the Bible).

The challenge narrowed down to Marcus and Natalie. Marcus won.

Bro. Harold challenged the Sword Drill champion . . . and lost . . .

Activities and Etc.

There were many inside and outside activities throughout the week.

Who is this?

Lauren did an amazing job coordinating the activities

The chess and checkers tournaments were a big hit.

In the kitchen

The co-counselors cleaning after the campers went to bed

Presentations
Each classroom shared songs, Scripture, and lessons that they learned during class.

Displaying the lions they made while learning about Daniel in the lions’ den

No, Bro. Kelly didn’t scare off the other kids 🙂

Junior Camp 2014

Co-counselors and helpers

~*~*~

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

June 2014 in Review

June was a full and tough month for us as we participated in several ministry opportunities, two camps, and also packed up our Louisiana home to move into a 16×80′ mobile home in mid-Mississippi.

One of the most difficult days was our last singing at Council on Aging and nursing home, where we have been singing for fourteen and nine years, respectively. We have had many dear friends in these places and will miss seeing them every month.

David, sharing at Council on Aging

The elderly at Council on Aging

Elizabeth saying goodbye to Ms. Clara

Saying goodbyes

Sharing at the nursing home

Singing

Karen with our long-time friend, Ms. Jean

Rebecca and her deaf friend

We enjoyed a fish fry and Bible study with some friends in Summit, Mississippi.

Fish fry!

Timothy and Joel

Bro. Jason sharing the devotional

Samuel and Judah

There were many goodbyes said this month to friends, music students, and family. We are looking forward to the times when we will be able to visit back “home.”

With friends

And more friends

~*~*~

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

Goodbye Louisiana, Hello Mississippi!

Farewell, Louisiana
“When I Make My Last Move” has been the song on our minds as we’ve been busy packing up to move to our new 16×80′ mobile home in Mississippi. We are very grateful to the friends who have helped us pack, clean, load, and unload on the Louisiana and Mississippi ends.

David says, “How do you move a family of fourteen from 2700 square feet into 1280 square feet? A lot of work and a lot of God’s grace.” It has been amazing to see God’s hand through this whole move — at times, we have grown impatient as we have been praying about this move for over a year, but looking back, it is so evident that God has worked every detail out perfectly. A big THANK YOU to everyone who has been praying with us through this journey.

“All packed up and ready to go!” (oh wait, he forgot his banjo!)

Almost everything but the kitchen sink! 🙂 Ready and waiting to be packed into boxes

We put in a lot of late nights the week of June 30-July 3 as we packed up the last boxes and trekked up to Mississippi. Closing date for our Louisiana home was supposed to be July 3, but because of office delays, it was pushed back and we were so grateful to have it done on July 10. We are very grateful for the Lord’s guidance and the many prayers of our family and friends in this step.

Daniel and Samuel balancing a load as we brought it from the shed out back to the moving truck in the front

Going through stuff, we have found a lot of forgotten things — needless to say, one of the younger children always picked it up and said, “Oh, I love this! Can I keep it?”

Ashlyn and Amanda rolling up the rug

Perhaps it wasn’t “all work and no play.” By the way, Ashlyn decided that bubbles really don’t taste good. 🙂

Ashlyn and Naomi helping us get boxes inside

The first of the two moving trucks — Daniel was our official moving truck packer

Packing up for our second load

Finally in Mississippi

We are very grateful for God’s grace through this whole process of moving. It is not easy to move a large family, but God has answered so many prayers! One of our main prayers was that this would be as stress-free a move as possible. There were really no points in which we felt stressed out (a few points of overwhelment, but the Lord helped us through). God is so good! We are now looking forward for God’s guidance in the next steps of settling in Mississippi.

Rachel and Timothy unloading at our new Mississippi home

This Magnolia tree will probably be a family favorite (Daniel, Samuel, Timothy)

Playing “tent” while everyone else is unpacking (Ashlyn, Naomi, Joanna)

~*~*~

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not; They are new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

May 2014 in Review

The busy month of April quickly morphed into a busier month of May!

Ministry Opportunities

May began with Bethel Baptist’s homecoming in Kentwood. It was a joy to worship with our friends and fellow-believers at Bethel.

David, preaching

Elizabeth and David visiting

Fellowship meal

Joanna and a little friend

The younger girls singing

Timothy, Joanna, Rachel, Ashlyn, Amanda, Naomi, Rebecca

The second Wednesday found us again at Council on Aging and Grace Nursing Home.

David, sharing a devotional with the elderly at Council on Aging

Visiting

Singing at Grace Nursing Home

We had to adapt our singing group for May as Daniel took a two-week mission trip up to Colorado to do construction projects at Camp Christa, with missionary Jason Walters (blog post here)

Family Time

Samuel on down participated in the second Youth Night of the year, where they answered questions from John 3 and did Sword drills.

Rachel and other friends participating in questions

We enjoyed spending some time with some old friends, picking mayhaws at their little farm.

The younger girls enjoying a ride

After picking up with our hands, Mr. C offered his pecan picker, which did a much quicker job!

Again, several weekends were spent in Mississippi, as we worked on the property and buildings, preparing for the next step God has for us up there.

Naomi in our overgrown clover

Christopher, Joanna, and Elizabeth working on burning the pile of branches

Timothy enjoying the riding mower that God blessed us with

Setting up tents when the weather was beautiful

Ashlyn and Naomi

Joanna, Elizabeth, and Rachel roasting hot dogs

Karen and David, cutting grass

Ashlyn helping Rebecca make camp jewelry

Ashlyn has been so much better with her asthma, but still has times when she needs a little extra help with breathing treatments

Daniel, Samuel, and Karen figuring out the location for building our new house!

One of Karen’s newest quilts

  

~*~*~

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

April 2014 in Review

April was a busy month; however, we did not bring the camera every place, thus have a lack of pictures. The Lord gave us opportunity to sing at a variety of places: Creekside Baptist, Pleasant Ridge Missionary Baptist, Council on Aging, and Grace Nursing Home.

CHEF Conference

One of our family’s yearly highlights is to help with the Louisiana CHEF (Christian Home Educators’ Fellowship) conference. This year, Christopher, Amanda, Elizabeth, Samuel, Timothy, and Rachel were teachers and Rebecca and Daniel helped on staff. There were 127 home-school children split among five classrooms with eighteen teachers. They taught the children principles from God’s Word including Making Christ the Center of my Universe, Super Sonic Obedience, Looking Out for the Other Guy, Team-work, and shared the salvation message.

Samuel helping with crafts

Timothy discussing planets

The crew of home-school team-leaders at lunch

Amanda teaching a class

Lining up

Most of the kids in large group

Samuel, Amanda, and friend Janell leading songs

Parent presentation

Half-Way in Mississippi

In the past year, the Lord has been preparing our family to transition to mid-Mississippi. We are excited that He has provided us a place with three acres and a trailer in Newton County, Mississippi. We have been spending time up there, working on the property (around 844 pine trees!), preparing things for when God sells our house in Louisiana and allows us to move up there.

Rachel, Ashlyn, Joanna, and Naomi working in the trees

Naomi and Ashlyn

Daniel, Samuel, and David, finishing out a shed for non-climate controlled storage

Naomi

Naomi, after a long day’s work

Ashlyn enjoying a free ride from Daniel

Christopher, Daniel, and Samuel

Timothy and Rachel

Timothy

Ashyn

Naomi

Of course tagging along behind big brother’s work is fun!!

Timothy

~*~*~

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.” Isaiah 26:3

March 2014 in Review

March found us traveling to Missouri, Illinois, and Mississippi.

March 9, 2014

We visited the church Karen’s brother pastors in St. Louis, Missouri. We enjoyed the day with the congregation of Bayless Baptist.

Bro. Mark Carpenter, pastor

Daniel, Amanda, Naomi, Elizabeth, Timothy, Joanna, Rachel, Samuel, Christopher

Daniel, Amanda, Naomi, Joanna, Timothy, Rachel, Samuel

March 30, 2014

We had a wonderful Fifth Sunday Community Sing with the United Methodist Church in Jackson, LA.

Karen, visiting with a few ladies at United Methodist

Timothy, Samuel, and Daniel before service

Daniel, Amanda, Elizabeth, Timothy, Rebecca, Joanna, Samuel

Enjoying fellowship after the service

Around and About
We enjoy a mini family vacation when we went up to St. Louis.

This is what it looked like when we passed through Arkansas and entered Missouri

Enjoying dinner at Lambert’s in Sikeston, Missouri

One of our favorite places we visited was the St. Louis Science Center. We enjoyed taxing our brains over the multitude of puzzles available.

Putting together arches

Most of the children under the largest arch

Timothy and Samuel with a Blue Angel in front of the Science Center

We headed over to Illinois to celebrate the wedding of our cousin, Michael.

Daniel (far right) was honored to be a groomsman

Our last fun visit was the St. Louis Zoo, with our cousins.

Ashlyn and cousin James

Naomi, cousin Hannah, Joanna, Rachel

Enjoying a picnic lunch

Ashlyn and Samuel

Cousins! Rachel, Naomi, Hannah, Joanna, James

Joanna, Hannah, Elizabeth

~*~*~

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.” 

Isaiah 26:3

February 2014 in Review

February has been an incredible busy but incredibly wonderful month! 

February 1-10 – Mt. Pisgah

We began the month with a ten-day trip up to Decatur, Mississippi, where we stayed at the Mt. Pisgah Baptist Association and did some work around the place.

Cleaning out dorm rooms

Cleaning out Sunday school rooms

Replacing doors

Replacing posts

Fixing sinks

Cleaning up trash — during a snow flurry

Cleaning walls for painting

We also found time to have a lot of fun with friends around the area

Lacie, Amanda, Ashlyn

Ashlyn and one of her favorite pastimes

David and Ashlyn

Annsley and Joanna

Playing on mattresses

(They DID pick them up when they were finished playing)

Playing “Signs” with the L family

The “story game”

Enjoying dinner at “Five Guys Diner”

“I like Five Guys!”

February 2 AM – Little Rock Baptist

We had a sweet time joining the congregation of Little Rock again.

Bro. Gene – pastor of Little Rock

Daniel, Timothy, Amanda, Elizabeth, Rachel, Naomi, Joanna, (Rebecca) Christopher, Samuel

Daniel, Timothy

David, preaching

Enjoying meal and sweet fellowship

February 2 PM – Blue Springs Baptist
This trip up to Mississippi, we met three new churches and had a lovely time meeting new friends.

Visiting before the service

David, sharing

Elizabeth, Rebecca, Samuel, Christopher

Amanda

Joanna

Daniel, Elizabeth, Rebecca, (Samuel) Christopher

David, preaching

February 8 – Youth Night

We joined Mt. Pisgah’s Youth Night. Dr. René Freret with BEAMS Bibles was there and brought dozens of boxes of Bibles for believers to ship to multiple countries over the world.

Unloading Bibles for believers to take to the post office and ship out of country

More and more Bibles!!

Dr. Freret preached a message to the youth

After the message, each age group of children went to the front for Bible drills and questions. Samuel, Timothy, Rachel, Joanna, Naomi, and Ashlyn enjoyed participating.

Kindergarten Sword Drills

Ashlyn and a friend, Alivia

Naomi and Andrea

Senior questions

The congregation

After Youth Night, we again joined the N’s for yummy grilled cheese and fellowship and games.

The little girls playing store

Daniel and Samuel playing a short, small game of ping-pong

Foosball

February 9 AM – New Prospect Baptist
We enjoyed another Sunday of visiting new churches and fellowshipping with believers.

Almost everyone up there

The congregation at New Prospect

David preaching

Fellowshipping after the service

Untangling cords and cables

February 9 PM – Arlington Baptist

Tuning up

Bro. Bryan, pastor of Arlington

David, sharing

Timothy

Elizabeth, Rebecca

Daniel, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Samuel, Christopher

Amanda

February 15 – Grace Baptist Valentines’ Banquet
We joined Grace Baptist with their Valentines’ Banquet at the Dinner Bell in McComb, Mississippi. Besides a good meal, we enjoyed fellowship with our friends and sharing in song.

Joanna, Elizabeth, Jessica

Jessica, Ashlyn

Ashlyn and a very old, out of tune piano 🙂

Enjoying the meal at Dinner Bell

Ashlyn

We had to crowd into a corner to sing, but everything worked out well

Besides the congregation of Grace, several of the workers were also listening

~*~

“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” Psalm 19:7

January 2014 in review

January was a very quiet month with singing, though we had many days of getting together with friends and spending sweet time fellowshipping.

Happy New Year!

We are grateful for God’s blessings and protection on us as we lived through a full, busy, and eventful 2013. We are looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us for 2014.

Elizabeth and Ashlyn with a sparkler

New Year’s Day was spent with Karen’s uncle and aunt, where we enjoyed a nice little feast, fun and games.

Ashlyn captured another “reader”

Joanna, Naomi, Jessica, and Rachel

With Friends and Family

We filled many days of January relaxing and visiting with family and friends.

With friends and cousins (Picture courtesy of Mrs. Liberty)

Volley-ball!

Games

Ashlyn and Christopher

Walking the road with cousins

Naomi and Ashlyn

White Stuff in Louisiana!
We were thrilled to enjoy some “winter weather” in Louisiana! First, we had a light snowfall which sufficed a pleasant walk in the woods, a few small snowmen, and a small snowball fight.

Naomi, Rachel, Elizabeth, Joanna

Ashlyn and Naomi with their little snowman

Then, everything in Louisiana shut down for over a day of severe ice; in some places, we had 4-6 inches! The children enjoyed slippin’ and slidin’ down the road and pulling each other on “sleds.”

Rachel

Joanna

Naomi

Our ice trek down the road

Daniel

Naomi on our “Southern sled” — a garbage can lid

Our relaxing January has opened to a BUSY February with a lot of singing/ministry events. We covet your prayers as the Lord opens up opportunities for us to sing and minister the remainder of this month and in March.

~*~

“But He knoweth the way that I take; when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:10