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.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

July 10-July 31 {Mega Post}

***Updated with more photos.***
(cuz there just weren't enough...)

July 10:  JR and I headed to Peterhead.  After running errands while the kids were in VBS, we ate lunch as a family (with the addition of Kelli), before heading to the airport.  As we were hugging the kids good-bye, G broke down and said, "don't go to Scotland without us!"  Naomi hugged us and was dismissive. (I'll get back to this later.)

JR and I boarded the Airbus A380.  The flight was not full, so during the taxi-ing for take-off, the stewardess moved us to a row of 4 seats.  We had tons of room!

We synced our movie for "The Hunger Games" and enjoyed our drama-free flight.

July 11:

We arrived in Paris at 6 am (local time).  Since we just lost our "night" we headed for coffee.  The airport was really nice and fully stocked with swanky shops, and PlayStation 3 Stations. :)
Our final flight took us to Aberdeen where we were picked up by Billy, Holly, and Hannah Strachan.  We all visited as we made the hour long drive to Peterhead where we were dropped off at Dianne Strachan's home.

Since William and Dianne bought the Mondeo (the car we drove last summer), we were able to use it again.  (It was almost as if we'd never left!)

Needing another caffeine boost, we made out way to Symposium for a pick-me-up. When we walked in, Paul, the owner, greeted us warmly and tried to remember our order from last summer.
JR taught the lesson Wednesday night.  We were greeted by missed and loved faces.

I will admit to fighting dozing off during the lesson.  I was going on hour 36 of being awake.  (JR had taken a 2 hr. nap.)

Meanwhile, back in the States, Kelli took our kids to the hotel pool.


July 12:
Symposium is referred to lovingly as "the office".  A lot of ministry takes place here.  As we were sitting waiting for my meeting with Sam, Billy walked in. ;)

I had a lovely visit with Sam.  She is such an up-beat, positive girl. 
JR and I reconnected with "town life" during the afternoon, and for the evening meal, JR met up with Jordan, and I had a lovely dinner with Stephanie.  Stephanie is awesome.  We bonded last summer over parenting, crafting, and just being low-drama people. :)  I'm so glad I had a chance to meet up with her!
After dinner, Stephanie dropped me off at Wendy and Donald Sutherland's home so I could meet back up with JR. When I got there JR and Jordan were deeply engrossed in Fifa Worldcup on PS3. But after Wendy and Donald got home, we had a good visit with our brothers and sister in Christ.
Back in the States, the kids finished up a very fun time at VBS.

JR and I were able to web-cam with the kids almost every night.  The first night we got to talk to them, G told us that N had cried the first night we were away because she thought I loved G more than her because I hugged him more as we left.  (oi, talk about breaking my heart)  So I called her over to the screen so I could look in her eyes and tell her that I only hugged him more because he was crying.  She seemed fine after that.

But G had a hard time while we were away.  I think it might have been a little too early in our transition to leave him.  But he stuck it out.

July 13:

Thomas and Rachel treated us to a great lunch.  And after we ate, Rachel and I stayed at the table and visited, while our men shot some pool.  Good times.
Friday nights are when the teens get together.  In addition to our arrival, 4 20-somethings that were part of last summer's UK Campaign returned.  David "Epoc", Sara, and Aubrey&Sara were a great addition to the group.
As always, "footy" was played before the lesson time.
And the rain parted for a few minutes, so I walked to the end of the street the church building sits on and snapped some shots of Peterhead Bay.

Here is the church building.
And here's another shot of Rachel.
On to the devotional time...


And back home, the kids got free Chick-fil-A for dressing up as cows.  We actually web-camed with them while Kelli was coloring the black spots. :)

July 14:
JR and I started investigating the housing situations in Peterhead.  It is our hope that we will be able to buy when we get to Peterhead.  We know our home will be a major resource for our ministry, and buying as opposed to renting, tells the community that we are invested for the long-haul.

We loved seeing different properties and possibilities.  This will be another area for fund-raising, so if you are reading this and are in the market for an "investment property"... let us know. ;)

July 15:
JR presented the Sunday morning sermon.
This photo was taken while JR preached the Gospel Message at the Sunday evening service.
Here's a shot of the congregation as they were Sunday night.

Back home, the kids were handed off by Kelli to the Gulick family.  The Gulick's took on our kids to make the household total swell to 5.   (They are crazy... but it was a crazy blessing for us.)



July 16:
Monday... I was supposed to meet up with Rachel for Nazma and the best Chicken Tikka in the world.  But, alas... Sunday night she met with an accident and was home-bound.  So I picked up some tasty items from Ingrams bakery and headed to her flat.

We had a nice visit, even if I never did get my Tikka. :)

After I had lunch with Rachel, I met back up "at the office" with the teens and the 4 from Dundee and we got crackin' on the decorations for the VBS going on later in the week.

And for dinner we headed out to Boddam for a great dinner at the Gaunts.  Maureen out-did herself, as usual.  We got to enjoy visiting with Michael, Maureen, James & Rachel Butters, and their (not-a-baby-anymore) daughter, Emily.  Also, Dianne joined us, and since Epoc and Sarah were staying with the Gaunts, we were able to see them as well.
And back in the States, the kids were having dance parties to "We Run the Night"...


and playing.

July 17:
JR and I continued to help prepare for VBS, look at properties, and visit with church members.

And, apparently, Naomi enjoyed play-dough.

(with Reid and Anderson)

July 18:
Peterhead VBS Day 1:






Last summer we were able to add our hand prints to the wall.  The kids wrote their own names.





I made this for my class last summer and it was still up!







As VBS was ending, I turned around to find Johny Coul!  He had been out of town on Sunday, but when he got home from the fish market, his wife Mary, told him his supper could wait, we were in town.  Since we were leaving the next morning, he wanted to make sure to see us.  (This melted my heart!  We lived down the street from the Couls last summer.)

July 19:
JR and I woke up bright and early to be taken to Aberdeen to make our way home.  We flew from Aberdeen to Detroit to Dulles.  That extra flight is just torture.  But getting to it was even worse. :)  Getting through customs was so time consuming that JR and I had to run our own version of Amazing Race to get to the gate.  (I am NOT cut out for a show like that.) :)

We landed in Dulles a little after 7 and were reunited with our children.  We took Erin back to her home and then got lost on the way from Ashburn to Herdon.  We didn't get back "home" until close to 10.  Needless to say, we were exhausted.

July 20:
FAMILY DAY!  I don't even remember anything specific we did.  I just know we were all together.
*** I just remembered why I don't know what we did.  I read THE HUNGER GAMES.***

July 21:
Saturday, we took a family trip to walk around the mall.  N grabbed a Pottery Barn Kids backpack catalog while we were there, and found a chair in a toy store that she could relax in. :)

July 22:
JR preached at FXCC for the first time.  He did a great job!

July 23:
We headed down to Fredericksburg to spend the day with the Sheets side of the family.  On our way, we stopped by Aquia Harbor to see JR's old neighborhood.

I woke up not feeling well and I only got worse throughout the day.

Keith had bbq ribs and all the "fixins" and I heard lots of laughter and conversation.  (I was back in a bedroom for most of the day.)
2 of Keith's sisters were in town:  Janyt and Kathleen

It was great to see everyone.

July 24:
I still wasn't feeling well... Apparently Naomi and I were both snoring together.


July 25:
Debby arrived in the afternoon, in time for us to spend a little bit of time all together before
JR, the kids, and I headed to Falls Church church of Christ for dinner and JR's class teaching.

It was great seeing so many familiar faces!  Mike Tune fixed some yummy hamburgers and we enjoyed catching up with several people.

The Bighams, Brent, Kelli and the kids, and Debby joined us for JR's class.

July 26:
Despite still being sick, I joined Kelli and Debby in our mega shopping day.  We knocked out the kid's school shopping (clothes/shoes-wise).  We also ate at Sweetwater Tavern.  (OH, the salmon dish was amazing!)

That evening "Fun"cle Brent had the kids playing with glow sticks.
(they were writing the first letter of their names)

July 27:
We spent as much time the 9 of us as possible.  B,K, R&S are (currently) in Thailand, and we were soaking up all the family time we could get.


The Olympic Opening ceremonies were watched.

July 28:
After introducing Debby to Wegmans, we left all 4 kids with her and the 4 of us went to the O's game IN CAMDEN YARDS!

July 29:
All 9 of us sat together in church Sunday morning.  Debby came and was the helper in the class I taught (that contained Rachel and Gideon).  JR filled-in for Phil with the teen boys class.

After church we all headed to a mexican restaurant and then we went back to our respective homes for a brief nap-time.  At 4 we all met back up at the Bigham's house and I took photos.








Crazy kids...
July 30:
JR and I hosted the lunch meal over at the McCain's home.  We had steak and grilled veggies.  The McCain's have a big enough dining table that we were all (Debby, BKRS, Lyle and Pansy, and the 4 of us) able to sit around the same table. :)

Debby squeezed in as much grandkid time as she could before JR and Kelli took her to the airport.

The kids were all wearing their "Opening Day" shirts, so we snapped another photo.

But really... we all know that this is what they are really like.

July 31:
This was the first day that I wasn't sick or out of the country, or away from home... so LAUNDRY was on my list.  As were several d'Lifeful action items.

{Exhale}  I just finished up July 2012!  Where is this year going?
~Daisha

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