Our Mission Statement

As a family of servants of God, we seek to Glorify Him by offering our lives as living sacrifices, being intentional about engaging people with Christ and the Gospel, and using the talents and training He has given us through grace to proclaim the Gospel of Grace to those near and far.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Weekly Review {April 10-15} "Our Trip Back to VA"

Tuesday, April 10... The kids went to school... JR went to school...

I had TONS of errands (including dropping off clothes to be sold in a consignment sale) all over Shelby County.

I packed up the clothes and things we'd need for the rest of the week and went to pick the kids up from school.

As soon as we got back to our apartment, JR loaded the car and we headed out for Virginia.

Well... an hour into the trip, both kids get runny noses.  (these kids are rarely sick)

True to form, our family is great on road trips.  We made one stop before we got to our hotel in Pigeon Forge.

Since we don't have cable/satellite here in Memphis, we are always excited to stay somewhere that does have it. :)  Our hotel room was no exception.

"Chopped" was on the Food Network!  But wait... all 4 contestants were Iron Chefs!!!!  Well, you can be assured that all 4 of us stayed awake until midnight watching that! :)

We got up the next morning and hit up a pharmacy before making the rest of the trip to Fairfax, VA.

Again, we stopped only once, and arrived at the Fairfax Church of Christ building at 3:30pm Wednesday afternoon.

We met up with Phil McKinney and were treated to Caribou Coffee before the dinner at the church building.  (JR and I got coffees at Caribou Coffee the first afternoon we ever spent together.)  (And now that I remember it... April 11 is the anniversary of us meeting.)

The church meets for dinner and a debriefing time on certain Wednesday nights this quarter as they focus on reaching those in their acquaintances who do not know Christ.  It was a blessing to be able to see people we have not seen since we left VA right after Gideon was born! 

Phil introduced us to the group and allowed us to share briefly about why we were there and why we are called to Peterhead.

Gideon and Naomi were so excited about Bible Class.

Within minutes of Naomi meeting Phil McKinney's youngest daughter, Rylie, the girls were inseparable.  I even think that Phil's middle daughter, Taylor, got over the fact that Gideon was a boy.  They were instantly friends as well.

Phil and Angie McKinney hosted us for our time there.  They are lovely examples of having "family" wherever you go. 

Thursday we ate lunch with some of the FXCC staff at Potbelly's.  (yum)  And Thursday night, while Angie graciously watched the kids (and played tons of board games with G) JR and I presented to the Distant Missions Committee.

The DMC were such a blessing for us to present for.  They were engaged and encouraging and uplifting.

Friday we ate lunch with the rest of the staff members at Red Robin.  Everywhere we went we were able to share about our love for the people of Peterhead and the opportunity God is placing before us.  And we've had at least  20 people already start planning visits to see first-hand what we are talking about.

Friday afternoon we chilled with the McKinney's at a near-by park.
 Naomi and Rylie

Taylor and Gideon


Then we went inside and Phil introduced G to Legos Star Wars on the Wii.  Gideon was in Heaven!!!
The little girls played a princess game on the Wii as well...
Gideon loved all the board games the McKinney's had.

We, once again, left the kids at the McKinney's and JR and I went to eat dinner with 4 of the 10 elders.  This had the potential to be nerve-wracking, but the men we met with were gracious and pastoral.  We were blessed by our conversation with them.  Sharing about Peterhead makes me even more ready to be there and be reunited with the people who have grown dear to us!

Saturday morning, the family met Phil and Aarolyn Hayes and their two kids at Chick-fil-A for breakfast.  We met Phil and Aarolyn while they were still just engaged in Tallahasee.  They were part of our small group with Meridian Woods and then God moved them up to Fairfax.  It was great reconnecting with them, and getting to see their 2 children.
The rest of Saturday we took some time to set our affairs in order.  Jr did some homework and studied, I packed us up, and we stayed close to the McKinney's house.

During the evening, JR drove out to Crystal City and met up with "Lanky" and Andy, and the women in their lives.  We were unable to make it up to Andy's wedding last year, but JR finally got to meet Andy's wife.  We look forward to all getting together soon.  

Sunday morning, we packed up and headed to the church building.  JR's dad met us in the parking lot and joined us for worship service.

Phil introduced us to the congregation and called the whole family up on stage.  We were then surrounded by the elders and they laid their hands on us and blessed us in prayer.  Once the kids and I returned to our seats, Jr lead the communion thoughts.

 (I wouldn't have thought to take a photo, except that I saw several people using their phones to take photos of us while we were on the stage.)

After the service, many people came to talk to us.  David Himes introduced himself and as soon as he mentioned his name I realized that we are related.  :)  (I hope I'm getting this right...) His grandfather was a brother to my maternal great-grandmother.

We got to see more of our friends who we hadn't seen yet, and because the kids were begging to stay for class, we pushed back the time we were getting on the road and stayed.  And we were blessed for having done so.

We finally got on the road at lunch time and headed all the way back home.  We stopped 2 for (maybe) a total of 30 min.  JR had just mentioned how we were making great time and then...

We were one car behind the cars affected in this wreck.  We were stopped for almost an hour.

We made it home at 12:30 am Monday morning.  JR had an 8 am test.  

We made it... We were blessed by our trip... And we're home.

~Daisha

2 comments:

RPorche said...

Cool! I'm glad you guys were not in the car accident. Sounds like it was an intense few days. Thanks for sharing! We love you guys and are excited and prayerful for your future.

Deborah said...

Glad you had a great trip. My, my, those McKinney girls look like their momma!!