SURVIVOR RETREAT

The Smash Series

~ OUTSERVE, OUTLOVE, OUTLAST ~

The First Fall Mini-Retreat was INCREDIBLE!!

Our Students came out READY to STAND, READY to LEARN, and with OPEN HEARTS to hear about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!

We had some Incredible Games, SURVIVAL Techniques, and FUN!!

BUT... more Importantly... we got to ALL get quiet... Listen... and Hear from our Savior!! The Messages were Sweet, Personal, and Straight to the Heart. Our Worship was Purposeful, Authentic, and Glorifying.

We ALL Learned a lot on this Retreat... About Priorities, About STANDING, About being BOLD to the Call... and about Persevering... even when you don't want to!

We even had a Massive Rain Storm at 1am... that eventually sent all our campers to Shelter (despite their DEEP DESIRE to "SURVIVE" it!) ... but even that... didn't DROWN out their Enthusiasm!! Even after sleeping on wet blankets! What a GREAT Spirit!!! :)

It was SWEET! Thank you for your Prayers!

Upcoming Retreat News!!!

We are VERY EXCITED to be having a Mini-Retreat this fall! We haven't done one of these before, as we pour so much into the Spring Retreat. We just really felt like our kids NEED this right now... and so do we! SO... next weekend we are heading out of town for some RENEWAL! Please pray for our Kiddos and the SMASH leaders! Our THEME... SURVIVOR! The SMASH Series!

New Pics

Here are few New Pics, and a Few Older pics from last Spring.

Caleb and Kaylee on his birthday at the Bowling Alley.

SMASH Update!

The SMASH Ministry continue to plug along! We have had our usually Every Other Friday night events with LOUD VOLUME, Fun & Games, and HARD TRUTH! Chris is doing a series right now on Spiritual Warfare... and for good reason! We are all feeling it!!! BADLY!! The Kids, The Teachers, US! We feel the major BATTLE going on in our lives and in the student's lives. Please pray for them! Please pray that the Holy Spirit moves in POWERFUL, Exciting ways that will allow for REVIVAL amoung our Teens.

We have continued our SMASH Unplugged sessions also. This is Small Group Bible study and a time for the students to dig in DEEP. Amanda is leading the Girls, and what a blessing she has been! She is teaching some of the Attributes of God. She studies and digs in deep to get a "GOOD STUFF!" Chris and Jonathan have the guys split between them and are working on building the group to be unified. Please pray on these lines as well!

SMASH in the PARK!

SMASH'A'LIZING!!!

We had our FIRST Smash'a'Lizing event last Saturday! We want SMASH to reach out the community this year, and we started that by having SMASH in the Big City Park. All the families were invited and we all sat out under a big tree right next to the major walking track. We played games, we fellowshipped, and we worshipped the CREATOR in HIS Creation! We had song sheets that were translated, and a translator for Chris. Chris shared an Amazing message about God's love! It was a great "Nuts and Bolts" Salvation message. We had some vendors come up, and one fella who shared about his motorcycle accident. Even though we didn't have the Brasilian turnout that we had planned for.... One of our new families were there... One of our non-believing families... and they just SOAKED in the message! The Lord has his MIGHTY Purposes!! It also showed us which of our Smashers were really wanting to serve and had a heart for service. It was a great day!! We will continue these on a every 2 month type basis!

Caleb turns 6!!

My Baby Boy turned 6!!

It seems like just yesterday we were meeting him for the first time in Hong Kong. I took time to pull out about 30 of his Baby Pics that Sarah & Rachel had taken of him in HK. His story is so God-Sized! He has TRULY been LOVED so much by SO MANY! I just had to post a few of his baby pics here! The Lord has blessed me, as a mother, beyond all logical reason and explanation! I'm so thankful that the Lord is in the MIRACLE BUSINESS! ... Amazing Grace ...

He's such an amazing fella! I'm so proud of him!!! He is in a class of only 5, and happens to SHARE his Birthday with another boy. They had a fun Double Party at school, and then we took him out for Bowling that night! (his choice!). He also loves for anybody and everybody to join in with him... so we invited the Staff and Staff kids. We had a great night! He actually beat the other Staff kids... who are Teenagers! :) He got a big kick out of that! AND... His FAVORITE present of all.... A Bible! Now that he can read, he wanted a Bible that didn't just have pictures... he wanted a Bible like Dad's! So we got him a small sized Young Readers NIV... no pictures! He's so proud of it!!! No sweeter sound than my precious one asking..."Hey Mom & Dad... can we sit together after dinner and read the Bible?" ... He's a Whiz at memorizing Scripture also! Tonight... he was singing..."Children, obey your parents in the Loorwd, for this is right...." :) We had to joke about recording that and playing it back when he is Sixteen! ...but all joking aside... nothing is sweeter than knowing (at least for now!) your child desires to know more about Jesus! AND... he's even EVANGELIZING! He conducts his OWN "SMASH Meetings" with some of our friend's kids... where he says he "Tells them all about Jesus!" :) We may just have a little evangelist in our hands! God is So Good! He has BIG Plans for this special child! Chris and I are so thankful to have him "on loan" for a few years... please pray for us to continue to mold him in the correct way.

I know that some Adoptive parents remember birthdays as the anniversary of another event: the Amazing, Brave, SELF-LESS courage of a birthmother. The day after his birthday, I took time to explain some of this to him... and had some precious moments. We prayed for her together. And then ... Of course... in true Caleb style...this In depth Mom-driven discussion ended with "So tomorrow, after school, can I ride my bike at the school?" ... classic ...

Please join us in praying for his Amazing Birthmother & Birthfather.

Back in Brasilia!!

We arrived back in Brasilia on July 29th. Ready to start our new year. We spent a few days relaxing and trying to refresh. We were a bit too busy over the summer time to really be able to just Chill. So it was very nice to have several days of Family Time, and getting back to routines. We started inservices on August 4th and they comprised of meetings in the mornings and lots of time to work in our rooms in the afternoon. That was nice.

Every year I teach different subjects. I was excited to find out that 4 of my subjects are ones that I have taught before!! YEAH!! This Fall semester I am teaching: Life Science, Biology, Chemistry, Algebra I, Geometry, Drama, and American Literature. The Literature is a bit of a stretch, but I'm really enjoying it!!

Chris headed straight into all his Finance work... in fact, he never quite STOPPED that during the summer. Every day during the summer, he would log on to the Brasilian bank, pay bills, reconcile accounts... all of that!! So, he didn't really get any kind of break!

Caleb started the FIRST GRADE!!! That's so awesome!! :) He's with the same 3 other boys from last year, just missing his sweet Zambian girl friend! His teacher is amazing, so I'm sure he will have a good year! :)

We lost some really great students last year... and we were really afraid that the lose of those key people would be the focus of the Jr & Sr high. And it was for a few days... BUT... PRAISE THE LORD! We have 5 new students in the Jr & Sr High!! So, our actual student totals are up to 31 for the 7-12th grade! YEAH!! And, we hear that we may have a few more! We are very excited about any new opportunity to share Christ with our international students! They are just so amazing... so many countries, cultures, beliefs and experiences... all centered right here in Brasilia! Amazing!!

Please keep praying for us and all we do here!! I'll be posting some SMASH updates very soon!

Keep on Checking!!

I know some of you have been loggin on and seeing the same post over and over again. BUT, I'm back tracking some posts from the summer. I will try to add more in over the next couple of days, then update you about the new semester! School starts on THURSDAY, August 13th!! It's closing in fast! So... things are a bit psycho now... but all's well! I'm trying to add in posts.

THANKS SO MUCH for checking in!!! :)

Delayed.... but not Dismayed!

Ok... so we didn't quite make it to Brazil as expected... But, we are definitely welcoming the REST!!! YEAH!!!

We got held up in Memphis, so we didn't make our connection to Rio. Delta only has one flight A DAY to Rio, so we are waiting until tonight to fly. They (of course) didn't let us have our luggage... but they did give us little shaving kits with a toothbrush, toothpaste, all the other basic essentials, and t-shirts! YEAH! Something to sleep in! Here is a pic of Caleb and his! He kept jumping on the bed singing "I'm an ANGEL, I'm an ANGEL!" ...that he is!... LOL!

So... As I sit in Barnes and Noble and Caleb plays with the cute wooden Thomas train set with a new friend... I thought I would update the BLOG.

YES, I KNOW... I'm way behind!!!! ;) Thanks to those who graciously reminded me! :p BUT... I do have a few reasons for not blogging April and May. Those months were really hard for us! I didn't send out any of my emails either (if you want to be added to that list, reply or email me!) ... but those were tough months. It would have been hard to be encouraging. I do TRY very hard to include mostly encouraging and happy posts... and unfortunately some would have been fabricated. On *THIS SIDE* of the events, it's much easier to find the God Moments! :) So... I will now update these posts!! :)

ALL POSTS AFTER APRIL 4TH ARE NEW!!! If you haven't been here in a while... then you can just pretend it's all NEW and I didn't get behind! :) For those of you who check this Regularly - SO SORRY! - and you can catch up now! :)

Summer Memories!!

Old Friends...







New Friends...











Family...















Fun!!!!





















It was an incredible Summer!! It was another Psychotically Busy Summer... but really awesome!! From hanging out with Nana & G-daddy, Chuck, & Brooklyn - Riding bikes, eating SOUTHERN cooking, SALSA, shooting fireworks. Fun Memories with Mimi & Jennifer, Madison & William. To our AMAZING HOME GROUP FAMILY!!! *Always There to hang with, help out, meet our needs, laugh, cry, hug, encourage, love!!! To meeting incredible

people at the NICS Pre-Field orientation - Mel & Tobin, BUNKIN' BUDDIES, Incredible SMALL

groups, New Brasilia Staff, Crazy John Richards!! Hanging with Murrell... (the list goes on!). To 'Re-connecting' with Kelly & Vaishali and my MC College buddies. Seeing our Hong Kong friends! Speaking and being encouraged by Colonial Hills and Bible Church of Cabot!! 4th of July BBQ at the Williams', swimming & TONS of fun at the

Townsends!

The Most INCREDIBLE Wedding of two of the most INCREDIBLE People (Meg & Casey) - in North Carolina!! (with some Pre-Wedding Chill time at the lake with most of the Brasilia crew & Herring family!!). Museums (Coke, Aquarium, CNN, and Smithsonian!). Staying at the Amazingly Peaceful "Chateau de Folgelsong!" Cruisin' in the Olds!... Ahhh.... A truly great summer....



































God is so good to us!! He always provides... He is always faithful! We are so blessed to be so loved!! I wish we had a month for each group of people... We know we didn't get to see everyone, and for that we are so sorry... But we felt so encouraged by so many!!


















Thank you to all of you who made our "Vacation" so special!!! :)

My Momma!

Happy Birthday to my Mother!!

What a blessing she has been to me for my entire life. She IS the Proverbs 31 woman to me! She is always prepared, rising early to work for her family, and attending all her duties without idleness.

She is always caring for others. She has stayed in the hospital with people for surgeries, she tutors anybody and everybody, she's always making quilts for those who are sick.

The Greatest Blessing, and one for which I can NEVER Re-pay, is her attention, love, care, and time when I was sick. If any of you reading this don't know... in February 1999, I was diagnosed with Cancer in the bone of my left arm. It was aggressive, so I had to also have aggressive Chemotherapy and Radical surgery. Mom put her life on hold for TWO YEARS to be with me, stay with me in the hospital, care for me. Chris and Mom had a "tag team" approach. Mom took care of me in the hospital, and Chris took care of me when they discharged me. Both had to deal with stuff you would NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT!! TRUST ME!!!

My Mom is an Amazing Leader, Servant, Teacher, and Pastor! The Lord has blessed my life with her!

Thank you, MOM, for ALL you have done for me. Happy Birthday!

Ahhh.... AMERICA the Beautiful!

It never ceases to amaze me of how much I love that American Flag! It brings so much joy to my heart to see them flying all over the US around the 4th. What a beautiful site. I found myself wanting to take as many pics of them as I could. I would stare at them.... especially that BIG one on Goodman Road at the Nissan Dealership. That's my favorite one.

There's another one at my Mom and Dad's house. They fly it out in the front. It has now replaced the giant Dogwood tree as our favorite Family Photo spot. Interestingly, one of my girls from BIS asked me the other day... "Is it required for everyone in America to put a Flag up?" (this was after she saw my pics from summer) At first I said "of course not, there's not that many.... well.... actually... there are... A LOT OF THEM!! In fact, most people do fly theirs all year long too! I guess we're just really patriotic!" :)

I love that!!! I love that everyone finds ways to CELEBRATE our nation... no matter the "economic downturn" or the political garbage. God is Great! He planned our Government to be rooted and based on HIM! We must praise HIM for that! Despite the issues, our country was built upon HIS promises.

PFO 2009

We arrived back in the US at the end of June. We were asked to be advisors for our network's Pre-Field Orientation. It was amazing! 180 new teachers heading out to the "ends of the Earth" to spread the GOOD NEWS of JESUS!! AWESOME!!





We had an Awesome time there! It was TOUGH... Long Days, Late Nights, and VERY Early Mornings. But it was still really great!

We really got to know the other advisors and our new staff, as well. As part of being an advisor, we lead small groups. I had a small group of 5 girls. It was really a blessing!!! It is so amazing how close you can get with people you just met, because of your "LIKE-MINDED-NESS!"


Chris had an AMAZING Group also! He had 3 couples and a single guy. It was a great set-up!!






I'm glad I made Life-Long, World-Wide friends!! :) Please pray for all of them as they deal with the massive transition of living overseas. Many are new teachers and young, or new teachers that have changed careers! :) The Lord is going to do Great and Mighty things through them all!!

CALEB GRADUATED!!

My Angel Baby graduated from Kindergarten! Amazing!! He had a Great Year! His teacher is so amazing! I just can't say enough great things about her! She has a PASSION for JESUS and I have to say... that is her greatest quality! She is so good with her kids! She LOVES them!!





Caleb has learned to READ this year! He knows how to add and subtract, count by 2's, 5's, 10's. AND SO MUCH MORE! :) He's doing so good!!! :)






Here are some pics from Graduation. His class is so diverse! There are only 5 of them... but they come from 5 different countries, have completely different complexions and ethnicity. They are a Beautiful representation of Heaven!! The only girl, Nana, is Caleb's best friend!! She is such a blessing! Her family is amazing! God is so good!! :)

The Prom!

The High School wanted a Prom again... so I got it all fixed up for them! :) It was really a very nice evening! Amanda was my Right Hand Gal... plus some!!! She was AMAZING! I learned a new decoration trick using tissue paper, which was FAR better than just balloons. It was SO NICE... the new campus can be quickly turned into a very romantic, peaceful place at night! We cut off all the lights, and put some spotlights up on some of our trees. We "MADE" a dance floor by enclosing an open patio area with some Black TNT (paper/plastic like stuff - we use it for everything! and it's super cheap!). It was really Incredible! The kids were very surprised that we could make the school, NOT feel like the School! :) They helped out with some of the planning, and a little of the decorations and invitations and all! It was very nice!!! :) Very Memorable! :)