My Champions with cats and snails...

Remember the cat from last week? Well, three days later Caden entered the cat in a pet show. The cat won "Best Dressed", "Longest Tail", and then, believe it or not... "Best of Show". Here he is with his cat and trophy. The cat is now with Grandma, and we are back in San Diego.

Back in May, the boys entered an essay contest sponsored by Petco. The prize: four tickets to a Padres game, lunch, and a behind-the-scenes tour of Petco Park where the Padres play. Last week we received a phone call saying that Carson had won!! The essay topic was: If you could have any animal for a pet, what animal would you choose and why? Here is Carson's winning essay:

I want a snail because they are cool. I like how they look, and sometimes they have a pretty shell. I would give it water and feed it lettuce and tomatos. I would let it crawl all over me except for my face. I would play with it everyday.

Pocket knives, Stinkbombs and Tatoos

We have spent some time at the county fair here in my hometown this week. Those of you who grew up in a small town could possibly understand, but for the majority of you, the county fair might seem like a foreign world. Think animals (cows, pigs, chickens, rabbits, sheep), carnival rides, covered shelters called "camps" where families gather each night to eat and "visit", and food sold by locals (the best ever - I've had real Mexican tacos, cilantro rice, a yummy Mexican rice drink, homemade ice cream, and a BBQ topped baked potato with cheese and peppers!). Tonight and last night the boys played a game where they would win tokens, and then trade those tokens in for prizes. What did they trade for? A pocket knife, some stink bombs, and some temporary tatoos. That along with all of the animals and dirt is a little boys dream world.

a Texas return

We're in TEXAS!! Our family flew in last Wednesday to spend some time back in the Promised Land with family and friends. Joey has already headed back to the big city, but the boys and I will be here until the 28th.

Do any of you want a cat? An odd question, I know. We have come across the most precious little cat this week. The boys can't bear the thought of leaving it without a good home. It looks to be 3 or 4 months old. I am fairly sure it is a boy. He is solid black and very sweet, easy going, and sociable. This cat has been carried around by both its head and its hind legs by Corban this week; it acts like a little rag doll. Send me an email or add a comment on the blog if you are in an adoptive mood! The boys will be ready to interview you next week (I'm not kidding - they are taking this very seriously).

Mission Trails Church

On Sunday, Mission Trails Church had its very first public service. Sunday was one of those days that make the "Best Days of Your Life" list. Everything went perfectly! Our service was held at a local recreation center inside the gym. The children were set up in tents outside. We had 130 people at our first service. Around 50 of those were family, interns, or helpers from other churches in the area. The other 80 were people from our community who came to see what this new church was all about. We were blown away by the response we got from the people who attended. They are interested in the church, in Jesus, and in helping the local refugees here in our area. Earlier in the week, we made lunch for the local fire department. When we told them about our church, they said they wanted to bring the fire truck out on Sunday for all of the kids to see. So we had an amazing fire truck tour for the kids during Adventure Kids. We are praising God for making the day such an overwhelming success!

Karen Refugees

Joey and I had an amazing experience yesterday afternoon. We went to visit with an apartment full of refugees from Myanmar (Burma). These refugees, most of which have lived their entire lives in refugee camps because of severe persecution, have recently been relocated here to San Diego. They have church in one room of another church's building, but their is no one helping them to get life figured out here in America. Only three could speak some English. Two knew how to drive. One man has no legs. They need jobs, education, and diapers for their precious babies. They were such a loving group of people, and they treated us as their special guests. As we walked up to the apartment, we placed our shoes on a huge pile of shoes outside the front door. We walked in to see a room with no furniture and over 25 smiling faces looking up at us from the floor. There was a beautiful woven straw mat on the floor in the corner that was reserved for us. With limited interpretation, we began to tell them about our church and how we wanted to help them, to meet any needs that we could. We drank the unusual drink they gave us, shared a meal with them, and made some new friends. As you look at the pictures below, pray for these people and for the many more that arrive here each month. One of the men shares Joey's vision for reaching the lost (in this case the Buddhist among his people) and telling them about Jesus. The man standing with Joey is the pastor, Samoo. The man in red has no legs and needs a wheelchair, preferably an electric one since it is his only way to get anywhere. The woman in purple is Risamoo; we were in her home. The bowl shows the food that I ate (with my hands!).

Cousins are here!!

On Thursday, Jeremy, Misti, Jenna and Hudson arrived. Our kids and theirs had been counting down the days for several weeks. The boys wore their Glen Rose Tigers shirts to the airport so that Hudson, our Tiger fan, would recognize them. (Thank you to the Swearingens for the shirts!) The kids have been to the beach, Chuck E. Cheeses, the park, and have played, played played. We could not have survived this weekend (our first church service and a couple of outreach events) without their help. They will be flying back to Texas on Tuesday; we can't convince them to stay.

The Port

Here it is.....Carson's port. This chunk of metal lived in Carson's chest for over two years. It was accessed (a needle placed through Carson's chest and into it) over 100 times! Carson took this picture. He is still sore from surgery, but he is glad to have his port in his hand instead of his chest.
The surgery was a breeze for Carson on Friday. He wasn't nervous or scared. On the way home from the hospital, he told Joey and me that if he didn't believe in Jesus, then he would have been scared. He said that Jesus was there with him, so he didn't have anything to be scared of. Our courageous little man is at the end of his long journey. We praise God for his health and for his life

They're here!

Our Interns have arrived! We have a wonderful group of guys and girls that have come to spend their summer helping us get Mission Trails Church started. We've kept them busy working hard and playing hard this week. They have been an unbelievable help already in the short time they have been here. We wouldn't be able to do this without them.Steven, Sarah, Nate, Marty, Kim, and Ashley

School

Our family has had a wonderful year of homeschooling. We have had fun! Beaches and birds have been our most popular topics over the past four months of living in California. We will continue to teach our kids at home next year with Caden in the third grade, Carson in first, and Corban right in the middle of it all.