Family trip to Arkansas

Not a vacation. A trip. Because Brian and I are firm believers that a vacation involves just he and I. Don't get me wrong, we dearly love our kids and love going on family trips with them but our definition of vacation includes not listening to kid movies in the car, not wiping bottoms and not hearing "How much longer till we get there?":)

Our first destination on our trip was to The Crater of Diamonds State Park. Sigh. Hmmmm, where to start...Well somewhere along in our 10 year marriage I learned it's not all about me but still have to come back to that realization.

Really??? I could have sworn I remembered reading in our vows, "For better for worse, for richer for poorer, it's all about Lisa and she gets decide where to go on all the family trips."

Anyhow, you get the picture. Brian really wanted to take the kids there and go digging for diamonds so I put on my old shoes and a smile and got my hands dirty. Caleb, not surprisingly, loved it. Christopher and Caitlin pretty much sat in a wagon and ate snacks the whole time. The funnest part for me was going into the gift shop with Christopher and purchasing a 99cent crystal that looked like a diamond....which we then played a joke on Brian with it. He swears he didn't believe it when he saw it. But I saw him eyein' that sucker close up. :)

None of us got to experience the bell ringing in our honor of finding a diamond but, I'll admit, I did have some fun searching through the mud and imagining myself finding a 40carat diamond. Yes, someone actually found one that size believe or not!

We then went to Lake Catherine State Park where we spent the rest of our time there in a cabin. I felt like I was living in The Little House On the Prarie, so quaint and charming. There was a beautiful dock that was designated just for our cabin where we spent most of our time when we were at the cabin. The boys had a ball fishing. Caleb caught about 15 and Christopher; well, he caught 2, but he can boast that he caught the biggest fish.

An unforgettable moment happened on that dock. I was inside taking a nap with Caitlin and Caleb while Christopher and Brian were out there fishing. When I woke up and went outside Christopher came charging up the steps saying, "I have two things to tell you mom. First, I caught a fish. And second, I stepped on Jesus."

"What? You stepped on Jesus??"

"Yes, I stepped on Jesus."

Then Brian chimed in and said, "He accepted Jesus." Oooohhhhh! Brian shared with me that Christopher, out of the blue, asked him what they do when they go to heaven. Their conversation continued which ended with Brian leading him to Christ.

Really, could it get any better than that? Surrounded by God's beauty on a lake with your daddy and having your daddy talk to you about who God is and shepherding your heart to His. I don't think so. We found a rock for him to keep and paint to remember his spiritual birthday.

We finished off our trip with a hike to a beautiful waterfall, a fun boat ride, a visit to Hot Springs and more than one stop at Cracker Barrel. It was a great family vacation. I mean trip.

Made my day

Today the kids and I went to eat lunch with Dajia, our mentee, at her school. There is a little boy in her class that is on my heart. Dajia has told me about Jahkeevian who gets picked on a lot and gets in trouble a lot. She said, "He always looks mad." I turned around in the lunchroom today and glanced at him and sure enough he was sitting at the "you've been bad table" with a mad look on his face. It makes me sad to think about what the possible reasons are that he's acting the way he's acting.
So I said to Dajia, "Will you do me a big favor?" She said yes. I said, "When lunch is over will you take this blow pop over to him and tell him it's from your mentor and will you also tell him that I think he's a real special boy?" I thought she might be a little hesitant about it but as I was cleaning up I saw her talking to him and he looked up at me, flashed a big smile and mouthed the words "thank you" twice.
That made my day.
I don't know if there is anyone telling him at home what a special kid he is and how much God loves him but I hope that my small act reminded him of that Truth.

Where shoud I start?

I'm standing in my kitchen trying to figure out if I should start with the dirty dishes, put the groceries away, empty the trash, unload the dishwasher or transfer the the wet clothes into the dryer when I hear the boys yelling for me to come outside.....

Caitlin has stepped in dog poop. Well I guess my decision was made for me...start with the dog poop.

Service Day

Today our church, Watermark, participated with 30-40 other churches in the DFW area to go out and 'be the church'. There were loads and loads of school buses taking folks all over town to pick up trash, paint, clean up, etc...

Our bus went to Charles Rice elementary in southeast Dallas where we cleaned bathrooms, lockers, classrooms and whatever else we could find. The kids did such a great job working hard with happy hearts. I was told their favorite part was riding to and from the church in the schoolbus with all their friends.:)

At the end, we left notes in each classroom for the teachers. I hope the staff and kids at Charles Rice elementary were blessed by our efforts!