Philippians 4:8-9

"Whatever is TRUE,
whatever is NOBLE,
whatever is RIGHT,
whatever is PURE,
whatever is LOVELY,
whatever is ADMIRABLE -
if anything is EXCELLENT or PRAISEWORTHY -
think about such things. Whatever you have learned from me, or seen in me -put it into practice. And the God of PEACE will be with you."

I have been writing scripture on our mirrors with a dry erase marker. Today I was reading in Philippians and wrote these verses on our bathroom mirror. It's great to have as a reminder while I brush my teeth or give Abby a bath. I was standing in front of the mirror reading God's words and when I looked past the words I saw my reflection. I saw God's word being spoken over my entire body. It was so humbling to know God speaks his promises into my life. Those beautiful attributes that are true of God are also true of me because I am a child of God and His Spirit dwells within me. Praise God!!! I encourage you to do the same. Write scripture on a mirror (preferably a full length one) and read it out loud while standing directly in front of it. Know that that is God's word being spoken to you.

The time has come.

This morning we said goodbye to Rob, Esther and Ashley as we watched them pull away and head to the airport. They are no longer Connecticut residents, headed to their new home out in California (LA area). A new chapter begins for all of us now that they will be living across the country. Oh, how we will miss them so much and pray the Lord will surround them with a new church family and friends very quickly. Tim and I decided to randomly spend the night last night at my parent's, so we could maximize our time with them. We stayed up pretty late reminiscing about growing up. We all realize this is part of life. My parents actually grew up in California and moved to CT in 1983. We went back to visit family just about every year to two years. Their move hasn't really hit me yet, because Abby and I will be headed out there in a week and a half. My mom left with Rob and Esther and my dad will be going with me. I have no idea what I would do flying 6 hours with a toddler by myself. It will be very interesting.

Happy Birthday Tim!

Yesterday was my brother, Tim's, 31st Birthday. I remember when he turned 26 and for some reason I thought that hit the old mark. Now that is my age and we are all getting older. Brian and I missed most of the fun jet skiing and hanging out at the beach because we had to shoot a wedding. That went well, I will post pictures on my photo blog as soon as I finish editing two weddings in front of it. Brian's photo skills definitely improve with every wedding we shoot, but he is still the best assistant! It's a great time for us to hang out together. I'm quickly realizing the more work I take on means less time with Abby. I'm not liking that too much, it's a tough thing to balance.

Tim and Jess with their nieces. Notice how big Ashley is getting. 5 months old and already in 12 month clothing! Her torso is as long as Abby's.

wow!

Just saw the new batman movie. Man alive, that was one heavy movie. God knew I needed something light, so he allowed Bambi to cross the road in front of our car on the way home. My heart nearly melted and now I feel a lot better after sitting on the edge of my seat and stomach being in knots for the past 2.5 hours.

The past few days

We've been keeping busy.Wednesday we had nine high school girls over for girl time and Brian. We had fun swimming in the pool, grilling out and playing games. Abby's friend, Cai, spent the night and for some reason both children were up and ready to play at 6:30am! I had such a blast watching them together. I have to share this one story... they were upstairs running and playing. Cai tripped and fell while Abby just stood there and laughed. Then Abby turned around, lost her balance and fell, so Cai laughed at her. I thought it was hilarious. They are so cute.






















where is my raisin?

Happy Birthday on the 4th!

Esther's last "Esther Fest" on Candlewood Isle. Fun times playing Wii, going to the beach, going for walks, swinging in the hammock, playing Settlers of Catan, and chilling with friends and family and of course, fireworks!

Bahamas Trip (part 2)

Well our week in the Bahamas with the youth is nearly over. We will be heading home tomorrow after an amazing week of fun and ministry here. Here's some more highlights from the second half of the week...


We finished up our work projects at the Adventure Learning Centre completely both our demolition of the goose pen as well as the ridiculously long boardwalk through the swamp/wetlands area. It brought us great joy and satisfaction to see those come to an end.


The ministry portion continued at the AIDS camp as we deepened relationships with the patients there and had the opportunity as a team to chip in together and meet some physical needs they had there. On our final day (yesterday), the students also got the opportunity to visit a neighborhood where many Haitian refugees live. It was a powerful time seeing the conditions they live in, but mostly just hanging out and having a blast with the kids there.






















Today was our last full day here and we had a team day out to downtown Nassau. We had some time to shop at the local straw market and shops, ate some local food for lunch, took a ferry ride to Paradise Island to see the Atlantis resort, then got approx. 3 hours to spend at the beach. It was a good finish/reward to the week to relax and reflect on all the good things we saw God do throughout the week. We are all exhausted and I can speak at least for me when I say we're ready to come home. It's been a lot of fun and we accomplished a lot and really bonded as a team. God is good.


I added some photos to the original album listed 2 posts down but I also created a second album located here...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3350620&id=751730230&l=6701b

In loving memory of Grandpa Sollars

I was driving home today and praising God for the most magnificent rainbow I have ever seen. It made me think of the first rainbow God placed in the sky as a reminder that he would never flood the earth again. I thought, wow, if that isn't perfect evidence of His existence then I don't know what is. No sooner did I think that, I received a call from Brain's mom that Grandpa Sollars (Brian's dad's step dad) had gone to heaven.
Grandpa Sollars had so much zeal for life and God. He talked about the Lord all the time. I remember him always smiling, joking and laughing. He was such a genuine, giving man. Even as he grew older and his health got worse he would be the one visiting and serving the sick. Grandpa Sollars had Emphysema and found it very difficult to breath. I was delighted to think of Him taking his first breath in heaven as the best breath of air he has every taken!

Please pray for Brian's side of the family and his parents. They drove up here today, from NC, to visit Abby and me. They got in tonight and will detour out to Illinois to be with Grandma Sollars.

Bahamas Trip (part 1)

Hey everyone!

I never post on here, but we've got some wireless internet (at times) at the camp we are staying at in the Bahamas so I thought I'd post a few photos and stories for you to enjoy.

First of all, we are having a great time. The flight down was good and then the first day we got to go hang out here and swim with the locals...

The first day of work was a little slow. We were clearing a nature trail at an adventure center for children. It's a pretty sweet setup, but the work was a little slow that day (and HOT!). We did get to play with machetes and hack into some coconuts so that was fun...

Today was rainy but good. The rain made the temperature a bunch cooler and the work we had was more intense and rewarding. We started ripping up a boardwalk through a swamp area in the nature trails. We also demolished an old goose cage in the petting zoo area. It was pretty hard work, but we saw a lot of immediate results. In the afternoon, we got to go spend a few hours at a AIDS camp. There are 26 people living there who all have HIV/AIDS. The conditions aren't great there, but the people are terrific and we were so blessed to be with them. We'll get to spend the next 2 afternoons there as well so we look forward to building deeper relationships with the people we met today. Here's a shot of my group with Ms. Moxie...

She was an incredibly joyful lady who read Scripture to us and encouraged us and sang to us. What a beautiful thing to have such incredible joy and excitement for the Lord in such a tough situation. I'll try to post again soon. In the meantime, there are more photos up here...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3325177&id=751730230