A Birthday Wish!

No, its not my birthday or my wish.  But it is my sister's birthday, and she has a birthday wish worth sharing!  For all the times you have forgotten to get someone a birthday gift, let this be the time you make up for it...below you will find the "Help a Pastor Buy a Truck" campaign details straight from the heart of my sister herself.  Praying that you would receive much joy from whatever you decide to do!

Here's the long and short of it, starting with the short: Pastor Azindow needs a new truck and I'm turning 28 on Feb. 1. My wish? Raise $2,800 in 28 days to help fund the purchase of a new truck! Please help make my birthday wish come true and help a pastor buy a truck!

Here's the long of it: Pastor Azindow is one of the pastors Videre works closely with, and he is vital not only to the ongoing sustainability of Videre's program, but to the sustainability of the church in Yendi, Ghana. He is also the one who made sure that I was well taken care of and fed while I lived in Yendi. I learned this week that Azindow's truck is on it's last leg. We lovingly call his truck the Holy Spirit truck, because that's that only way it could have possibly kept going for this long... it's nearly 20 years old!

For my birthday, I would love, more than anything, to be able to raise $2,800 to go towards the purchase of a new truck for Pastor Azindow! There are many ways this can be broken down, but the simplest way is to have people giving $1, $2, $3 and $4/day over the course of the 28 days in February to help fund Azindow's new truck. Honestly, I'd love to see $20,000 raised and be able to fund the entire purchase, however, neither of these things can happen without YOU!

Would you consider linking arms with me to help make this happen? Your donation is not only impacting one person; it is impacting families, villages, and ultimately the Kingdom of God! With your help, I know we can do this!

SAVE: Save $1/day, $2/day, $3/day or $4/day for the next 28 days.

GIVE: Give that $28, $56, $84 or $112 to help fund the purchase of Pastor Azindow's new truck.

SHARE: Share this campaign with all of your networks! Share it on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Instagram and/or your blog! Send out a quick text or email with a link to this page! Call your grandma and tell her to write a check to Videre and put "Pastor Azindow's Truck Fund" in the memo line! Or just grab a megaphone and tell everyone around you! It doesn't matter which route you decide to take, just get the word out there!

My Favorite Reunion!

About twice a year, my dear friend and college roommate, Bethany, comes to Texas (from Washington State) with her husband and two sweet sons to visit.  She's lived in Washington for awhile, but it doesn't make me miss her any less.  My other college roommate, Jenny, lives near us, so whenever the Flints come in town, we always make a point to have a reunion of some sort (sometimes with kids and husbands, and sometimes without).  Here are pictures from their visit over the Christmas holidays...I'm already looking forward to their summer visit!

...if you're wondering where in the world our husband are, they are busy trying to get the kids to look at the camera! It was no small miracle to get that top picture of just the three of us without all the kids "hanging" around.

A Piece of Art

A new student just joined Katelyn's class a couple weeks ago. His name is Carston.  I've met him once when I went to read to her class.  He was nice enough, I guess.  Today Katelyn came home with a drawing (this is not unusual), but the drawing was from the new boy, Carston (this is unusual).  Did I mention that the drawing had hearts on it????  Our conversation went something like this:

Me: "Wow Katelyn!  This is a neat picture."
Katelyn: "Yeah.  Carston drew it for me."
Me: "Really?  That was thoughtful of him. (Pause) Did he draw one for everyone?"
Katelyn: "No.  Just me."
Me:  "You should show daddy!"

Our Shooting Star!

 

 

Every week at Katelyn's school, one student from each grade level receives the "shooting star" award.  Students who receive this award are chosen based on a specific character trait they exhibit.  So...you guessed it!  This past week, our sweet Katelyn was chosen as the kindergarten "shooting star."  She received the award for exhibiting the character trait of curiosity.  In case you're wondering....this is a good thing!  When she went to the library with her class, the librarian told the kids to visit a particular website that would help them practice their reading.  However, there wasn't any documentation given to the students to take home (reminder: these kids are five and six years old...I can't remember things like that on a daily basis, and I'm 35!!).  Because Katelyn LOVES to read, she was insistent on me finding this "mystery" website.  She knew exactly what it looked like and what I would need to do once I got there.  Problem was, I could never get there.  Finally, in a moment of desperation (for both of us!), I decided to e-mail her teacher and ask about said website.  She e-mailed back an eight-step process to get to the page that Katelyn recognized.  So....her teacher told the librarian that Katelyn was the only student in all four classes of kindergarten who tried to find the website...thus the character trait of CURIOSITY!  Way to go Katelyn!  We are so proud of you and every bit of your curious self!

A Week to Remember!

Dave had some meetings outside of Austin in mid-November, and since my parents live in Austin, they suggested that he bring Anna (since she's not in school yet) and drop her off at "MaMaw and PeePaw Camp" for the week, while Mommy and Katelyn stayed back to enjoy some time together (and Mommy had some time to herself while Katelyn was in school during the day!).  It was a win-win situation all the way around!

 Anna reading to her cousin Sloane

 MaMaw and "Baby" Anna

 Anna lovin' on her cousin

A train ride at Zilker Park

 Playing at the park

 On a walk to the neighborhood donut shop

 At the donut shop with her favorite--a strawberry sprinkled donut!

 Katelyn and I had lots of fun together too!  Katelyn called this our "sassy" faces.

 And some happy faces...we went to IHOP for one of our date nights!  She loves their pumpkin pancakes, so we try to go there one time during the fall to enjoy them!

In addition to the IHOP date, we had something fun planned for each day we were together!  A date at Souper Salad, shopping for Operation Christmas Child gifts, cuddled up on the couch watching "Little House on the Prairie," going to her school's book fair and music program, playdates with friends, and much more!  

We are so thankful to the Lord for this unique and memorable week!

Family Pics 2013!

We enjoyed another opportunity to have some family pictures taken this year!  Thank you Chera!

Happy Belated Fall!

Wow!  I guess I'm just going to have to start posting my entries in seasons.  One post for the Spring, one for the Summer, one for the Fall, and one for the Winter!  Katelyn has almost completed her first semester of Kindergarten and she still loves it as much as she did the first day!  That brings us great joy!

We did a lot of fun things this Fall, so I'll just post a few pictures and call it a day (or night, since that's when I'm writing this!)

 What's the Fall season without the official "pumpkin picture?"  Thank you Calloway's Nursery!

 Katelyn had another great soccer season! Go Cats!

 A sweet reunion with friends we met when we lived in China.  They moved to Austin, and we got to see them on one of our trips down there.  We had a great time at Sweet Berry Farm with you, Smiths!

 

Katelyn even got to cut her own bunch of flowers!  Don't worry...this was one of the organized activities offered at the farm.  I didn't just pull a pair of scissors out of my purse and set her loose! :)

  The girls had a blast trick-or-treating together at Halloween this year!  Katelyn was a ballerina, and Anna was Minnie Mouse.

 Knock! Knock!

Waiting to give candy to trick-or-treaters!

 We decided to venture out to the State Fair of Texas this year!  Katelyn has been asking for awhile to ride a ferris wheel, so we figured go big or go home....we all four loaded up on the 212-foot tall ferris wheel, and the only one who was scared was mommy!  It was an awesome experience and a very fun memory!

 

 Katelyn (and the rest of our family!) cheered the Baylor Bears onto the Fiesta Bowl!  Sic em bears!!

We had a great Thanksgiving in Austin with my family!  We all traced our hands and wrote on each finger different things for which we were thankful!  At the dinner table, we each shared what we wrote and then stuck them on the Thanksgiving tree my mom made.  Yet another special memory...

We always enjoy the chance to see Baby Sloane (and her parents--my sister Jessica and her husband), and Thanksgiving was no exception!  Can't wait to see you guys again soon!