1st catching up of the summer - Mission Trip

A lot has happened since I posted last, my friend Karen and I decided to go on Mission Trip with our children (we each have two) but without our husband, not because we didn't want to go with the men (trust me, when an F1 went through where we were that first night oh how much I wish my husband was there with us) but because they couldn't leave work for different reasons, the wonderful woman who organizes these trips told me "if you still want to go and serve I know you are capable of doing it with your kids and without your husband" that was enough for me to say "sure I'll do it, as long as I can find a partner to share the road trip" so Karen came on board and off we went.  We left the last Friday in June early in the morning, along with several other vehicles loaded with people of all ages, we went to Mallory, West Virginia.  Mine country, pretty similar to the place we went last year (Lynch, KY). Had an awesome time, it was hot, we slept on air mattresses, Emilia slept on her pack-n-play for the last time in her life because she could only fit there if she slept diagonally :) but I knew it was the only way to keep her contained and asleep so we did what we had too.  If you would have told me you will be sharing a room with another mom and her twins that are 6 years old and one more lady I would have said NO WAY, my kids will never fall asleep in those circumstances but you know God can do anything, these kids not only felt asleep each night, they even took naps at the same time.  Nothing is impossible to God!!  We worked on different assignments, like watching our kids so the other moms could go, we had a total of 6 children that were too young to be working but even as that the first morning we were all cleaning tree branches from the ground as that tornado went through.  That was a scary moment but I put on my brave face to keep my children calm.  God put His arms around us and the building we were staying was intact.  It still gives me chills when I think about what could have happened, Emilia and I were in the playground outside a while before this happened and I finally told her we had to go inside, if we would have stayed out there those winds would have done a number on us ... Thank you Lord for keeping us safe!!!!!!!!!!!  The rest of the week was somewhat normal, we had lots of rain one night and the other building got flooded, bats came out of the gym where lots of our youth were sleeping and you know how it goes, it's mission trip!!!  Have you ever been? you should try it, you get to know your group in such a different way, it grows you closer, you grow tremendously, you appreciate everything 100 times better when you get home, although Nicolas didn't want to come back home, for some reason he just loved it there, 107 degree weather, no AC in some of the buildings, showering in a little shower, but for some reason he had the best time and asked me the last night as we were getting ready to go to sleep "mom, why can't we just stay here?" I said "well what about Daddy?? wouldn't you miss him?" he said "well he can always move in with us!" Love that simple mind of a child.

There were a couple of funny moments, if you are traveling with kids you know there will be plenty of those ... as we were getting ready to take a shower one night, there was a lady in the shower next to us and Nicolas decided to take a peek, thankfully it had a shower door so you really couldn't see much but you could see enough to know there was a naked lady there, he said "mommy!!!!!!! Look at this, it is so funny!" GREAT!  I calmly told him that it wasn't nice to peek on people when they were taking showers and thankfully the lady that was in the shower was so sweet about it ... phew!

Another night in the shower he said "mommy, this shower is nice but my daddy couldn't fit in it" :D

The funniest of all - the last night we were there we had "Mexican food" for dinner (I put it between " " because I'm sure a true Mexican would have a heart attack if they saw what we ate, it really wasn't Mexican but I guess the American version of Mexican food) and another lady and i sang a song in Spanish, it was fun.  It brought back sweet memories of my childhood because it was a song that I used to sing in church growing up, all this to say that when Nicolas realized I was going to sing and on top of that in Spanish, he said "mom, I'm going to my room, come get me when you're done!" :D :D

Emilia did excellent considering she is a determined 2 year old who hates to be confined in one space, she went right along with the big kids and she wasn't afraid to speak her mind. One day in the van when we were coming home from our July 4th celebration (we went to a national park that had a pool with a huge slide, it was tons of fun, then we had hamburgers and hot dogs) the older kids were being loud, by then they were so comfortable with each other they were playing/joking/fighting like brother and sisters, she told them "GUYS! Be quite!! I'm trying to sleep!!" my little girl will always make sure her opinion is known ... uh oh :)  She didn't mind working, she helped wipe tables after meals, she attempted to sweep floors and if it was up to her she would have done everything she thinks she is capable of doing LOL

The last night we were there I thanked Nicolas for going with me on this trip, he hugged me and said "I couldn't survived without you Mommy!!" my heart totally melted, sweet boy!!!!

It was so much fun to go with the kids, learn, grow, work and burn up in 100+ weather all for the good cause of working for the one we believe!!!!!!

Can't wait 'til next year!

 Handsome boys!

 Cuties at breakfast

 Big kids getting ready to jump in the pool together

 Mother and son going down the big slide together

 Catching our breath afterwards - Nicolas did it by himself over and over and over again ..

 Fun at the park

 my sweaty little girl at the park on July 4th

 Our bed for the week

One tired Momma!