It's Sugar Bowl Time!!!!!!!!!

What an eventful night, I delivered some pineapples to some Georgia fans tonight!!!!!!!!!

I love you guys & Georgia!!!!!

Go Georgia!!!!!!!!

My Goat Bella!!!!!!

So for Christmas my Best Friend (who is such an awesome person) gave me a goat!!!!!
It's not just any goat, it is a special goat!!! It will be given to a family in a foreign country who is in need of a goat for survival. You know most of the time people just pick up a gift without really putting too much thought to it. But their is nothing like getting a gift that you truly love and knowing that person put forth an effort to get you just the perfect thing. This is probably one of the best gifts I have ever been given and I have no physical object to hold in my hand. But knowing that my friend knows my heart for the nations and is not scared to go out of the box and give me the most unusal gift ever. . . . . .PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!

So during the 10:00 service today the kids helped me name my goat. We agreed upon Bella!!!!

Two Very Excited Big Brothers

Jordan Michael Green

10lbs 2 ounces

22 inches long

Our Crazy New York Rides!!!!!

We walked out of Macy's looking for a Cab (cause Stacey wouldn't ride the Subway after she saw the poo) and the tut-tut driver from West Africa begged us to ride in his cart. 3o Blocks and 4 near death experiences later we arrived at our destination with one worn out African who first checked his tires before helping us out of the tut-tut!

STACEY SAVES MRS. JUDI!!!!!!!!!

After getting lost in the subway and running to jump on the wrong train all of Mrs. Judi did not make it on before the doors shut, but you know Stacey was there to save the day!!!!!

New York Santa!!!!!!!!!

I was all excited about coming to New York and seeing a real New York Santa!

I was here 2 days before ever spotting a Santa, but once I did can I tell you he was my kind of Santa. Check out the pictures to see why .........

It's hard to see but Santa is talking on his cell phone!!!!Santa is texting!!!!!

I don't want to hear another word!!!!!!!!!!!

Thugalicious Need I Say More ..............

It Snowed Today!!!!!!!!!

Talking on the phone (which I was constantly getting fussed at for today) in Serendipity 3 drinking me a Frozen Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate!!!!!











My New York Princess Hat!!

This was our adventure on the subway today!!!

So far today we have had a slam packed day!!! We started off at NBC Studios this morning for the Today Show. We then adventured out on the subway and headed to China Town where we did a little shopping. We then came back uptown and spent the most of our afternoon at Serendipity for a late lunch. It was snowing when we left the resturant. We are heading out to a show in a little bit so their is more excitment to come.............

The Adventure Begins

This is me & Angie standing in line waiting for a cab at the airport! This is me in front of Heaven (Hershey Store)

This is me in Heaven (M&M WORLD)

As you can tell we have made it to New York! We had a smooth flight. We didn't make any friends on the flight though we were apparently a little loud, we got sshhed can you believe that????
Let me give you a small glimpse:
So we were on a direct flight from N.O. to New York. Angie has a guy sitting next to her that she is trying to make conversation with, so she asked the guy "where are you going?" He says "New York", she looks at me and says "what a coincidence he is going to New York too can you believe it?" Not to mention we were all going to New York!!!!! Then half way through the flight Angie pulls out her pad and pen to play hangman, she did not want to be rude so she asked the guy if he wanted to play hangman with her and Stacey he said "no I'm good!" So I'm rolling laughing at them and Stacey looks over at me and says "I'm going to cut you" everyone on the plane turns to look at Stacey and she bust out laughing saying"I'm joking, really I'm just joking, I have no sharp objects!!" So as you can see it was a very eventfull day!!!! Stay tuned it can only get better................

Heading To The Big Apple

Tomorrow I'm heading to New York!

This is a first for me; a trip for no reason, with a few people I don't really know (definitely a group put together by God)! With this group their will not be a dull moment, so stay tuned...............

This is what it is all about!!!!!!!!

Check out this awesome video!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xstLRWHgD2Q

Me and Samuel

Here is all 7 of them together for the first time on Thanksgiving Day!

Newest Arrival

Samuel Adam Perkins
8lbs 6ounces 21 1/2 inches long

Adoption Workshop

For more information check out the following link: http://www.healingplacechurch.org/flier.php?id=20

Todays Scripture

The Lord's Promise of Victory - Isaiah 43

"14 This is what the LORD says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:"For your sakes I will send an army against Babylon, forcing the Babylonians* to flee in those ships they are so proud of.15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, Israel's Creator and King.16 I am the LORD, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea.17 I called forth the mighty army of Egypt with all its chariots and horses.I drew them beneath the waves, and they drowned, their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick.18 "But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.20 The wild animals in the fields will thank me, the jackals and owls, too, for giving them water in the desert.Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland so my chosen people can be refreshed.21 I have made Israel for myself, and they will someday honor me before the whole world.

God & Barbers

This is a really good explanation of why God allows pain and suffering in the world. It's an explanation other people will understand. A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said:"I don't believe that God exists..""Why do you say that?" asked the customer. "Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists , would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine loving a God who would allow all of these things."The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and un-kept. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist.""How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!""No!! " the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.""Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me.""Exactly!"- affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world." If you think God doesn't exist...try Him, go to Him, He loves you and will be there for you." Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps if you're not willing to move your feet .

WILDERNESS?????

I know many of you have been wondering if I was still alive since I have not blogged in almost a month. I apologize to my 2 whole fans :) ! Love yall!

Right now I'm reading a book titled "Just Enough Light for the Step I'm On" by Stormie Omartian. I try to read a chapter a day and so far every time I pick it up to read a chapter it's exactly what I need to hear. Well today was no different of course so I read the title of the chapter which was "Knowing how to pack for the wilderness". I'm thinking to myself this is going to be good. So I start reading the chapter and I'm thinking to myself oh please don't tell me I'm about to step into the wilderness and then I read this: "The wilderness is where we are forced to leave behind the familiar, the comfortable, the past successes, the accomplishments, and the old bag of tricks that always worked before. The wilderness is where God takes us when He wants to get Egypt out of our hearts. He wants to separate us from all that we crave, so that all we crave is Him. Just as God wanted to get the taste for Egypt out of the Israelites' mouths, He wants to get the lust for certain comforts out of our appetites, too. It's not that He doesn't want us to ever be comfortable. It's just that He doesn't want us to depend on the comfortable. He wants us to depend on Him. He doesn't want us to love the comforts more than we love Him. When God aims us in a new direction, we have to let go of what we've known, be willing to embrace the unfamiliar, and trust that He will sustain us on the journey." As I was reading that it hit me I don't have to fear it I'm already there. The awesome thing is, I know as long as I stay focused and learn all that God has to teach me the first time around I will soon be stepping into the promise land. How awesome is that??????

Being a Lion Chaser

Right now I am reading "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day". One of the best books ever!

What if the life you really want, and the future God wants for you, is hiding right now in your biggest problem, your worst failure...your greatest fear?
I'm about half way through the book at this point but I have already made a concious decission to be a Lion Chaser from here on out! Here is a couple of phrases from the book that got me:

• You can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right.
• When we don't have the guts to step out in faith and chase lions, then God is robbed of the glory that rightfully belongs to Him.
• Don't let mental lions keep you from experiencing everything God has to offer.
• Opportunities often look like insurmountable obstacles.
• If you don't have any problems you don't have any potential. Here's why. Your ability to help others heal is limited to where you have been wounded.

To Be Continued . . . . . . . . .

Close Encounter

Heather and I waded out into the ocean this morning where I had my first ever live encounter with a stingray. I was about to put my foot down on its tail as I noticed it. It was about 4 feet long. I turned around and told Heather to run. She had no idea what it was, so she assumed the worst, a shark. We took off back to shore and Heather turned around to make sure I was behind her and at that moment their was a huge wave coming up behind me and all she can see is a large black shadow in the wave. For those of you who maybe concerned, we both made it back to shore safely.




After my encounter, this is how I spent the rest of my time on the beach.

Life at the Beach

Long awaited vacation is finally here!!!! Today was our first full day on the beach, and I am so proud to say I did not get burnt for once. I do not have many pictures to post due to the fact that I left home without my camera, I did however bring my camera charger. All I can say is apparently it was a blonde moment! I do have a few pictures we took with Heathers phone check them out:

Just Cause

I know it's almost been a week since I have blogged! Everyday life has been a little on the boring side this week. It took me almost a week to get back in the swing of things and get over the jet lag. I'm now back and ready to go, hopefully this week I will have some blog worthy events!

Back to Everyday Life

Coming back to the states is always the hardest part of every trip for me. It is the only thing about going on mission trips that does not get easier. Every trip I become less and less germ conscious and each trip I get a little more and more adventurous with the food I eat. But coming back to every day life I think gets harder and harder with every trip. I see the difference I can make around the world and then I come back to everyday life that seems so monotonous. I would rather be out there making an impact in the lives of children throughout the world.

We Are Home!!

The hardest part of the whole trip is always saying good-bye to these little faces!!!!

We made it home last night after traveling for 38 hours! I never remember being as tired as I was when I finally got home. I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow!

Now I have to get back into the swing of every day life. It's not easy to come back and move on, knowing there are places all over the world where I can make a difference.

The Last Few Hours

We spent our last few hours in Mozambique at the church for Sunday morning service. It was an awesome service. We recognized the cooks and leaders who went through the leadership training all week. We presented the cooks with Cooking for Christ aprons. I had never seen anyone so proud to wear that apron as those 8 ladies were. It was AWESOME!

After having the opportunity to experience church at 6 of our 7 campuses so far (hopefully I will have the opportunity to check out #7 in the near future) I have come to the realization that no matter what HPC campus you are at they all know how to stack them chairs!

Hlame Game Park

So we arrived at the game park at around 5:30pm Thursday afternoon. Their was no electricity but we did have fully enclosed rooms this time. So once we got their and unloaded our stuff we had about an hour and a half until dinner. Well with no electricity what is their to do??? So Tina drew a hop scotch in the sand and Judy taught us how the Brazilians play hop scotch (apparently Americans play it the same way, must be old school or maybe I never played hop scotch as a kid. Not sure which!) So the hop scotch did not go over so well, so we then switched to the hand smack game. It took us several tries (not because of Tina :)), but we finally got it.

We had a great time! We saw lions, elephants, impalas, hippos, and several other cool animals.

The Drive to Swaziland

So Thursday afternoon as we are driving to Swaziland to go on a game drive, Jay is talking to Jennifer on the phone. Jennifer tells Jay to tell me that she has been reading my blog, but that I have not had any pictures of Jay on my blog the past few days. Here you go Jenn:

So then Mrs. Sherrie chimes in and says that I have not put her picture on my blog at all. So this one is for Mrs. Sherrie!

We were a little bored on the drive, but it wasn't hard for us to keep each other entertained for the 2 hours we were in the car. We had a great time just riding along laughing!

Teddy Bears

I know I said yesterday was the day I had been waiting for, but I also could not wait to pass out the teddy bears that our kids made during VBS. We showed them the picture of our kids holding up the bears that they made for them and then showed them the bears and their faces just lite up they were so excited! We were only able to bring 300 bears with us and we had 350 kids show up so we had to give the older kids candy instead.

Best Day Yet

Today was my most favorite day of the trip so far, but also the hardest. We had at least 450 kids show up today. Today's theme was walking on water. So for our craft today we were going to give every child a pair of flip flops and have them decorate them with strips of material. Well it took us the whole time just to size the kids and pass out the flip flops, a lot longer of a process than we had originally anticipated. Today was the day I had been waiting for for months. The idea of having the flip flops for a craft was my most favorite, because the kids would be walking away with something that they really needed. I was so excited about today, until half way into it when we ran out of the larger sizes. I had to tell kids we did not have a pair to fit them. They were shoving their feet into flip flops that were up to 4 sizes too small. We had a few that a smaller size was just not an option and I had to watch them walk away upset because they did not get a pair. It broke my heart!

A little girl checking out her new flip flops after having them put on.

She is holding on tight to her flip flops and her baby brothers!!!

My sizing chart I made to measure the kids feet with. You see the gap in the middle, that is the sizes we did not have so we had to go bigger which caused us to run out of the bigger sizes so fast.

A Walk Along the Indian Ocean

Well I actually had a few minutes before dinner to take a short walk along the beach. Where I picked up a coconut and drank it's milk!!! Seriously who believes that??? :)

Day 2 of VBS in Africa

We had around 400 kids today. Today's theme was Jonah and the whale. Our craft was salvation Bible candy, the game was potato sack races and then our story of course was about Jonah. The kids loved it, their little faces just glowed!

I have never seen kids so excited to do a potato sack race!!!!!!

Kids continued to come all day!! The one fact I was told today that shocked me was that some of these kids walked as far as 3 miles to come today!!!! They are so hungry!!!! Not just for food, but for God and to be loved on!!!!

We waited until the end of the day before we told them that the Bible Candy was really edible. A few of them figured it out before hand, but they were so excited!

1st Day of VBS Mozambique Style

Well this is the view of the Mozambique Campus this morning! We had over 300 (had trouble getting an accurate count) kids show up for VBS today. It was an awesome day! They all received a t-shirt as they came in this morning and got their picture taken. We taught them the lawnmower song. Mrs. Sherrie told the story of David and Goliath while Jay and Abraham acted it out. It was awesome!

This is were I spent most of my day. I sat in the car printing out the kids pictures on a portable printer as Jay took the kids picture. We started at about 11:00 and at 4:30 when we left I was still printing pictures. Seeing those kids get so excited over seeing a picture of them self makes it all worth it! I love it!!!!! No place else I would rather be right now!!!!!