Costa Rica Bound!!!

Hey everyone!!! Many of you already know this, but Michael and I are leaving today for a mission trip to Costa Rica with a group of 14 people. We will be gone from February 25-March 4. During our trip, we will be working in the city of San Jose with orphans, “street kids,” and the very poor. My parents are taking care of the kids while we’re gone. We would be so grateful if you would pray the following things for us:

1. Safe travel for our team
2. Health for our team, for our kids, and for my parents!
3. That our team would work well together
4. That God would use our team to accomplish His purposes in Costa Rica
5. For the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of the people we will meet
6. That we would demonstrate Christ’s love to the people we will minister to in Costa Rica

We are so excited about this opportunity God has given us, and I'll post pictures when we return! Thanks so much!!

Summer

R is for Rabbit...

Griffin's teacher asked me to make a rabbit cake for the class--now, I like to cook and bake, but I've never made anything like that. I told her I'd be happy to, but warned her that it wasn't my gift. I was a little unsure about it but the kids seemed to love it! That afternoon during the kids' "rest" time I was walking by Griffin's room and he asked me to come in...he said, "Mommy, thank you for making that rabbit cake and coming to my class. I really enjoyed that!" It made it totally worth it!!

We had some friends over last week, and Collier actually had a little friend, Sarah Kate, to play with--it was too cute! Of course they were playing in a Thomas the Train couch--life with older brothers!

One last thing, last week the boys were wrestling around playing on the floor and all the sudden they paused. Griffin looked at Anderson and said, "You're my best friend." Anderson replied, "I your best friend?" And Griffin said, "Yeah, cause you're a boy, and you always want to play with me." And then they got back to wrestling...I love those boys!

Fun Family Times...

We enjoyed the pretty days we've had lately (right now they're MIA)--it's been SO great to play outside again!!
Collier LOVES to swing...can you tell??

Anderson (and Griffin) will play in some dirt in our backyard for hours--literally! It's fun to see their imaginations at work!

Playing baseball on a beautiful afternoon...

Getting ready...

...to smack the ball!!

My sweet girl loves her sweet daddy!

We went to the beach with Michael's family for a long weekend--the weather wasn't great, but we still had a really good time! Here's the kids playing with Papa Dave...
The boys caught some little fish off the dock..

One day we went to the Armament Museum, and the kids loved seeing all the planes!

Anderson is our cuddlebug--such a sweet heart!

Collier playing with Papa Griffin (Lex)!

Lilies of the Field

Anderson has the sweetest little friend in his MDO class this year. His name is Buddy, and they just hit it off and LOVE playing together! We discovered that they also go to our church, and his parents have such a heart for the Lord. His mom, Jama, has started a children's clothing line called "Lilies of the Field." She has some really cute things, but the neatest thing of all is that she is using her love of sewing in this way to support a ministry called Cooperative Outreach of India. They help the poorest of the poor in India, and she will be helping to provide sewing machines for some of the women there. She is having a party in her home here in Homewood on Feb. 17, so if you're local stop by and see her cute stuff! Even if you aren't in Birmingham you can go to her website at http://www.lilieschildrensclothing.com/ to see her things and order online--you won't just be getting great clothes but helping women in need across the world!!!

The party at Jama's house is Feb. 17
6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. (drop in)
at the home of Jama Ketcham
322 Woodland Drive, Homewood
rsvp: jamaketcham@gmail.com

On a side note--turn your speakers up way loud and enjoy this AWESOME song we've been singing at church lately--I can't get enough!!!

Collier's First Haircut and The Circus!

A couple weeks ago Collier had her first haircut at this cute place called Sweet and Sassy! We didn't have much taken off--just evened it out a little bit. She sat on my lap and did very well overall!

Here we are before:

And after with a glitter star on her cheek:

Last week we took the boys to the circus and they had a blast! Here they are before we left with their faces painted from school that day: