Trip to Africa!

Thanks everyone for donating and for praying for us as we travel to Africa!  Here is the itinerary to keep everyone updated on what we will be doing!

Flight Information
May 28:   Delta Flight 2209  Leaves JAN at 11:31 AM, Arrives ATL at 2:09 PM
                Delta Flight 238 Leaves ATL at 5:20 PM, Arrives AMS (Amsterdam) at 8:15 AM
May 29:   KL 565 Leaves AMS at 11:15 AM, Arrives NBO (Nairobi) 8:15 PM

June 8:     KL 566 Leaves NBO at 10:30 PM, Arrives AMS at 5:40 AM
June 9:     Delta Flight 175 Leaves AMS at 9:00 AM, Arrives ATL at 12:55PM 
                Delta Flight 2303 Leaves ATL at 3:00 PM, Arrives JAN at 3:27 PM


Trip Details
May 28: Flights

May 29: Arrive in Nairobi 8:15 PM, Head to guest house for the night

May 30: Rise early.  Journey to Marsabit.  Arrive early evening.

May 31: Travel to Kargi in the morning.  Set up camp.  Afternoon medical clinic.

June 1-June 4: Kargi medical clinic

June 5: 1/2 day in Kargi.  Depart for Marsabit

June 6: Rise early.  Depart for Sweetwaters.  Afternoon Safari.

June 7: 1/2 day at sweetwaters.  Depart for Nairobi.  Shopping in the markets.  Sleep in  guest house.

June 8: Elephant and Giraffe nursery.  More Shopping.  Depart for USA!

June 9: Arrive back in Jackson at 3:27 PM

I can't wait to share all the ways God will work!
Please be praying for us!

Meditations in the Night Watch: The Tale of Raven Road: A True Story

Meditations in the Night Watch: The Tale of Raven Road: A True Story: "The Tale of Raven Road O nce upon a time in a distant millennium, there stood a house. She was a lovely house and would be highly prized..."

Miss Mustard Seed

I have found the most amazing blog!  The author is a mom who refinishes old, forgotten, or broken furniture and makes them beautiful!!  I have two pieces of furniture I would like to refinish like she has done...
hmm... I feel a few new projects coming on!

Here is my piece

Here is the piece she refinished!!



Here is the dresser in our bedroom:

 And a chest of drawers that is similar...

It's almost identical to my very favorite one of her pieces...

She went from this:

To This:

She Isnpires Me!!  What do you think?  Should I do it?





Living in the Tornadic South

    Since Wednesday night, my heart has been heavy thinking about all of the victims of the vicious, unrelentless tornadoes.  Since I was a little girl, I have always been one of the weird ones who actually gets excited about thunderstorms and bad weather.  I guess it's because I have always been amazed at the way all the conditions have to be perfect for a storm to begin rotating.  I LOVE watching storm chasers.  It's also because I feel safe and cozy inside my house while all the scary sounds are outside and I don't feel like I can be hurt by them.  After Wednesday, I realize that I have always been very wrong about being safe.  I knew watching Thursday morning that I was witnessing something historic even before the death toll began rising. It's amazing to me that everyone celebrated a beautiful, warm, flowery Easter with family and friends.  We celebrated the resurrection of our savior and the love he has for us.  Then, four days later, people are hunkering down, hanging on for dear life, literally.  Those people had no idea when they woke up on the morning of April 27 that when night time fell, they would no longer have any of their belongings and some would no longer have their loved ones.  It makes me realize how precious life is and how unimportant material belongings are.  The number of people who have died related to these storms has now reached 318, making this the deadliest day for tornadoes since the Great Depression!  Mississippi has lost 34 people with 163 injured.  14 of those deaths happened in Smithville, MS; population ~900.  1822 homes were damaged in MS alone!  Alabama has lost 228 people, 30 in Tuscaloosa alone (2 of those were students).

Here is a link to some amazing stories of people who survived:
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/28/survival-stories-emerge-from-souths-tornado-tragedy/

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
 -Matthew 6:19-21


The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
The Lord is enthroned as King forever.
The Lord gives strenght to his people;
The Lord blesses his people with peace
-Psalm 29:10-11

In this world you will have troubles.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world,
 -John 16:33


"Praise You In This Storm"

I was sure by now
God You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear Your whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away
And I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to you
And you raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find You

But as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth

These two videos gave me chills






Historical tornadoes from the Associated Press:
In march 1932, tornadoes killed 332 people, all in the state of Alabama
In April 1974, a series of twisters killed 315 people in 11 states
And the largest death toll: March 1925 when 747 people were killed by tornadoes that raged through 3 states; in that outbreak, a single 219 mile long tornado killed 695 people


...What a mighty God we serve

Lent

I have not fallen off the face of the earth!  I actually decided to give up blogging and reading others blogs for lent because I was spending so much time everyday looking at blogs!  So, I am finally back to it.  It did give me more time to spend in the word and to focus on being content instead of having house fever from looking at all of the home deco blogs (which are my weakness)!  So, alot has happened since my last update!

Joseph and I are officially going to Kargi, Kenya in Africa on a mission trip
I got a job at Methodist Inpatient Rehab
I have two more weeks of school left!  The end of seven years of education is finally in sight!
Joseph's track team are district champs and CHS ivitational champs!
I have signed up for my first mini triathlon!!

I have lots of pictures to upload from the past month!

Have a wonderful week!

This is overdue...

It is OUR blog after all.  I'm going to add to the blog for my very first time after about a year of its existence.  I'm disappointed I haven't done it before now, but I'm not embarrassed enough to keep from giving an attempt at a blog post.  I'm not too savvy with the pictures to post and I don't have any creative or cute ones to put up anyway like Kristen does so you'll definitely know that this one is straight from me.  She is very talented and creative and I've come to learn over the past year and a few months of marriage that she makes up her mind to start a new project and then becomes very good at it.  Blogging is not one of those projects that I think I'll be quite as talented as she is, but it's about time I earned my name on the url bar up there.  So here's a few things that have been going on through my eyes.

CHS
This year has been a huge learning experience.  When I took the head coach position at Clinton, I really didn't know how much that job description entailed.  Kristen has been incredibly supportive with the time that I've had to devote to planning, scheduling, practices, etc. that coaches have so much time taken up by.  But I can truly say that I'm very blessed to be in the position that I'm in.  I've gotten some very valuable experience and I don't think you're ever really "ready" for great opportunities.  You just have to take them and know that God opens doors and has you there for his plan.  We are doing a lot of learning on the run, but I feel very confident that I'll be a better husband, man, and professional through these lessons. 

Today we had our season opening track meet at University of Louisiana Monroe.  It was not ideal for coaches or athletes.  Pouring rain, wind, and dropping temperatures were what we knew we were walking into with a meet director that was not going to make a weather call for the meet until the last possible second.  I told our athletes before we left that, "we can't control the weather, but you can control your effort and your heart.  Everyone is on the same wet track and we give all we have every time out.  We were made to give God our best, rain or no rain."  
We got rained out after 2 events (Boys & Girls Long Jump and the Girls Shot Put) .  We came in 1st and 2nd in the Boys LJ, 1st in the Girls LJ, and 4th in the Girls SP.....and not once did they mention anything about the rain.  They were soaked and shivering.  In fact, I never heard anyone on my team ask anything except "what time do I get started?"  I was proud.   

Unknown to them, I wasn't letting anyone else run out there, we'd have gotten someone injured and sorry if you're a ULM fan...but they aren't worth getting my kids hurt over.

Here's our dates for meets if anyone wants to come check us out.  We have some talented athletes (some who don't know their potential yet) that I think will be competitive this year if their coach doesn't mess them up too bad.
March 10 - @ Madison Central
March 24- HOME MEET @ Arrow Field
April 2 - Mississippi State University HS Meet
April 9 - Mississippi College Meet
April 15 - @ Pearl HS
April 20 - District Championship @ Arrow Field
Regional Championship - TBA
May 7 - North State Championship @ MSU
May 13-14 - State Championship @ Pearl HS


Kristen has gotten dinner ready for us and it smells pretty good so I'm going to grab a bite.  Hope to do this again before too long.

God Bless

Spring has Sprung!

Lately, I have been doing some spring cleaning and budget improvements on our little apartment! The warm weather has inspired me! Here are a few projects I have been working on:

This is a table I have had for years!  My mom gave this to me because she didn't have a place for it.  I didn't really like the awkward shape, but I kept it.  I have had it in my guest bedroom since we moved into this apartment.  She has been telling me that I needed to paint it!  I finally got the urge to paint it and here are a few before and afters!  I LOVE it!

Before:

 After I unscrewed all of the pieces of the table, I began painting with a creamy white.

 Then I sanded away and distressed until I got to a spot that I liked!

 After:

 

And it's finally in its home!

 We planted geraniums in a little window box off our balcony!

 They are about to bloom!

 I recovered the bench for my dresser!  I wish I would have taken a picture of the ratty before fabric

 Burlap Table Runner!  I was inspired my another blog! I got to really use my sewing machine!  I am so excited about the final product!

 I catered a wedding on Saturday night and they didn't want to take all their flower arrangements, so I got some beautiful hydrangeas out of the deal!

 We were in need of something to go over our TV, so we found a piece of painted tin.  I LOVE it!

Here is a close up of the detail!

 Here is part of a proverb I am memorizing thanks to my wonderful mentor!

 And lastly, I made some homemade tea cookies on Sunday!