Belize Mission Trip

Karson decided the minute he found out about the Belize mission trip that he was going.  He...with the help of family...raised money, saved bday and Christmas money and even worked to get the rest.  So proud of him. 

 

Most of the group at the airport.  A few more met them later.

 

Karson and Ryan.  And no..I did not cry. :)  He went with his best bud Ryan and his parents, Chris and Andrea.  Chris is the preacher where we go to church.  And Andrea is a really good friend of mine.  As hard as it was to let him go, I knew he was ultimately in God's hands and that the Irvins would treat him like their own.  Andrea was really good about texting me and putting updates and  pics on FB.

I felt much relief when I got the message that they landed safely in Belize.  Here was the first pic they took there.  Below are a few posts from Facebook that showed what the group did while there.

 

 

 They taught Daniel at VBS then held a basketball camp.  The previous 2 years GBF has helped build the basketball court.  This year they got to inaugurate it.  Our group played 2 different Belize teams.  Apparently the Belize teams were bragging saying little Belize was gonna whip big USA.  Well...USA won!

The above pic shows USA team after the 2nd win.  And yes...that's all SWEAT!  Karson said it was HOT all the time.  And they had warm water to drink...no ice. 

 After they'd been there a few days they went into Orange Walk and ate at a place that served American type food.  They'd had enough of chicken and rice and chicken and rice.  These two boys ate an ENITRE pizza and enjoyed milk and ice cream.  Definitely a treat.

 The last day they went to Caye Caulker island.  They had to travel 45 minutes in a water taxi to get there.  They were supposed to have hotel rooms with A/C.  Unfortunately when they got there the island had no power!!!  Karson found a cool-ish place in the hammock.  He said as long as you could feel the sea air it was bearable.  Further into the middle of the island was sweltering.  They eventually got the power back on. 

 

 Before leaving the island, several went snorkeling.  Karson said it was so cool!  He had neat stories to tell of the sea creatures he saw.

Here are the boys...not very happy...in the Belize airport.  Their flight was delayed almost an hour!

 So glad to have this boy back in America.  He did say he is VERY thankful for all that he has.  His first request?  Whataburger with a large icey drink!

One week later, he and Ryan shared their Belize experience with the VBS kids.  Makes a mom proud!! :)

Camp Evergreen

Reagyn was SOO excited about Camp Evergreen.  She was super pumped to see all of her Lubbock church friends!

 

Leah, Sabrina and Boo

 This is the first year Karson was too old to go!  sniff sniff

Addisyn was big enough to go too!!

Callie & Reagyn

Sabrina, Callie, Reagyn and Leah 

 6th grade girls class

Thanks to several Facebook friends, I was able to get these last 3 pics from camp.  The theme was summer Olympics.  They had fun competitions like the toilet plunger javelin throw, toilet paper launching, frozen chicken bowling, burger building and the usual messy day competitions. 

They learned Bible stuff too!  The armor of God and sovereignty of God were discussed.  They also talked about Isaiah 40:8 which says, "The grass withers and the flowers fall but the word of the Lord endures forever."  They all pitched in and made a dog house for the resident dog at camp.  That night at campfire, the dog house was burned!!  As it burned you could see a metal cross that was not burning.  It illustrated the point so well Reagyn talked about it repeatedly after she got home!  She could even recite the verse.  LOVE Camp Evergreen!!! 



Roaring Springs

Tim's family, Jami's family and Nana all met us at Roaring Springs for a few days.  It was so much fun to be back there!  Seeing old friends and just hanging out. 

 The girls checked out the origination of the spring.

 The first day the pool had just been cleaned.  I think the kiddos had more fun without all the water in it! :)

 Nana brought her 4 wheeler so Karson took Danielle and the little kids for rides.

 Jayton practiced driving Boo and Eastie around.

Nana and Addi Roo

 Tim did all the cooking...which was delish!  His outdoor kitchen is the bomb. 

 Boo gave rides too!

 Easton kept us laughing with his "stink eye" look.  HA!

 This was right after they all got pushed in the pool! 

Zoey and I watched from the side.

Thanks Nana and Tim for a great trip!  Looking forward to next year!! :)  Maybe Jeff can join us then.

Student Life Camp 2016

Karson and I went to Student Life Camp in San Angelo.  I was not planning to go.  The original adult sponsor's son broke his arm.  I was asked to step in at the last minute.  And I am so glad I did!  We stayed on the Angelo State campus in the dorms.  I was in charge of the girls.  I enjoyed getting to know them better.

.The theme was Set Apart and the main scripture used was 1 Peter 2:9.   ^"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

 Worship was amazing!  Seeing and hearing so many kiddos worshipping the Lord all in one place.   

WOW!!  These 4 guys are pretty special:  Braden, Cameron, Ryan and Karson.

Our youth group chose the mission track at camp.  That means instead of recreation with most of the campers, they chose to serve. One group went to Meals for the Elderly where they prepared and delivered meals to people.  Another group went to an assisted living place.  My mission group of 8 went to a nursing home for 3 days.  Karson was in my group. 

This was a mostly Medicare funded place.  These people didn't have much,  if any,  family.  Most were surprisingly young.  The director we worked with said most had made poor life choices and were dealing with the consequences.  We served lunch, played bingo (English and Spanish!), made popcorn, colored with the residents, made snow cones and pancakes.   

I was amazed at these kiddos.  They went WAY out of their comfort zones.  They made friends with the residents, fed them and played games with them.  When our time was up they didn't want to leave!

 

 Here are a few of my mission group students.

  Another of the 4 waiting for worship to begin.

 Karson, Corbin and Ryan 

Karson even posed with me!  He wasn't thrilled with my going to camp with him at first, but I think he enjoyed it anyways.  I loved seeing him serve others at our mission site and more importantly grow in the Lord.  He amazes me!  He and Ryan decided to sponsor a child from Haiti through Compassion International.  They will each pitch in $20 per month.  This will provide food, clothing, housing, education and Bible studies for this child.  WOW!  With no prompting from me, he decided to sponsor and even had a plan for how to pay for it.  He's an amazing kid.  So proud of him!

Braden, Karson, Cameron, Ryan and Hayden

Camp was an awesome experience.  So blessed to have gone! :)

Langston's Crossing

Not too far from our house is a place called Langston's Crossing.  It is a cool place on the Bosque River.  Because of all the recent rains the river was deeper and moving.  Karson and Reagyn floated in their tubes, swam and threw mud at each other.  Makings of a fun afternoon!! :)