Fun with family and friends

Mid July we had our quarterly family celebration of birthdays. This is Jackson and his cousins, on my side, enjoying Ma's garden. Jase and Evie are two peas in a pod. They take care of their younger cousin! We are looking forward to the new addition to Jase's family, a baby girl from China!

Also just wanted to say thanks to those of you that were praying for Mark and the mens group from church that served in the inner city of Chicago. For those of you that did not know, Mark and two other youth leaders took four middle school boys to the South side of Chicago to help repair a house and volunteer at Sunshine Gospel Ministries. God was so good. Not only did He provide protection, but the guys felt as though His hand was guiding them and providing divine appointments on a daily basis. This was a great trip for ministering to many and tons of spiritual growth!

Here are the leaders and youth that took the trip with Mark.

front row-Parker, Brody, Hank, Patton

back row- Tyson (youth pastor), Mark, David

Here are some the kiddos that they met at Sunshine ministries.

This is Shataria and her little brother. Shataria lives in Chicago, but she is like a daughter to our youth pastor and his family, not to mention very precious to us. Pray for her and her family. She will be flying to GA in August to spend a year with Tyson and his family so that she can attend school while experiencing a loving, Christ-centered family environment.

July 4th at the lake

What a fun fourth with family! Mark, Jackson and I spent a few days at the lakehouse with the extended Beckler family. We ate like pigs and enjoyed catching up with everyone. Jackson also got to enjoy some time with his twin cousins Will and Charlie. These are the most precious babies. They are such miracles. They were born early at 27 weeks, but they are doing great now at 5 months of age. Jackson has a hard time keeping his hands off of them...as we all do!

There were babies everywhere! This is Bryan, Jaime, Mark and all three babies on the dock. It was a fun relaxing week.

SuperWow week

Hello everyone, we have just returned from a fun-filled week at Superwow. Mark, Jackson, my mom and myself, along with three other youth leaders ,from our church, took 17 kids to Ft. Walton Beach, FL. It was such a great trip- just reminding us of our purpose in Jesus Christ. God is really working on our family. Please pray for us as we seek God's guidance.

Jackson had his picture made with Brock Gill. He is a Christian illusionist. We loved him. Jackson was pretty fond of him too!

Here are some of my girls from Superwow. They were awesome! (Joanna, Amy, Me, Brittany, Claire, and Kim)

These are the guys from Mark's room. (Parker, Patton, Carson, Mark, and Brodie)

This was also Jackson's first trip to the beach. He loved the ocean, crying when we took him out! He turned 8 months old this week. I can't believe it. He still has no desire to crawl-which I am actually okay with-he'll get there soon enough, knowing that my life will never slow down at that point. haha. Hopefully we are going to the lake for the fourth so I hope to have another post in a few days.