Hannah and her friend last day of school.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Packed and ready

Everything is packed. I cannot believe we got everything in our bags. I really am married to a master packer. Good thing we have 5 teams coming in case I forget anything.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

1 1/2 days til our summer adventure begins!

Sunday around 1pm we leave for Detroit! I cannot believe the time is almost here to us to leave for Haiti. The hardest part will be leaving family and friends. This morning, I thought about the time we spent 6 weeks in Russia away from everyone when we adopted Katie. It was tough being away but the time went so fast. This is this is the first time we have been able to go anywhere with our kids and what a huge blessing that is!

Thank you to all of you for the prayers, financial gifts and just being there for our family! God has put SO many wonderful people in our lives and we could not do this without all of you! God has called us all to play different parts but we are all missionaries!! Our prayer is that we take every bit of ourselves out of this and just let God show us what He wants and not what we may want!

These last few days have been crazy. Trying to fit in last minute visits with family and friends.

Caleb was able to spend Tuesday night with his best friend, Ryan! I love this picture!
The only reason that Caleb is doing so well with leaving Ryan behind is because Ryan goes away camping for the whole summer so they will both be gone!

















Last night was my mom's birthday so we had a fun hot dog cook out with my family. The weather was perfect and we were able to have one last campfire!!

Tonight, Nate's family will be coming for another cook out (may end up inside with these storms coming). I also promised that the kids could have their best friends over tonight for one last sleep over before we go! Call me crazy, but I am looking forward to this!! My kids have some AWESOME friends and I love each of these kids dearly!

We have been planning this mission trip to Haiti since November. I cannot believe it is almost here. I know that the time will go fast there. I pray that each day is used to Glorify the Lord!

We are super excited that we have 5 teams traveling down to be with us. We have people we have never met coming down and we have some close friends coming down and it makes me giddy!! :)

I hope to be able to post to the blog from my phone. They may not be huge posts but I hope to be able to write something.

Nate put this in our church bulletin but I wanted to add it here as well. These are just a few prayer requests for the summer.

We know and appreciate that you will keep us in your prayers while we are gone. We will do our best to keep you updated. If you want to send us an email, we would love that, and will do our best to respond back. Our email is telltheworld5@gmail.com Here are a few specific prayer requests:

• That the curriculum that is taught will take root and that the new Christians will receive the foundation of faith that is so desperately needed.
• That Haiti would be spared from hurricanes this summer.
• That our children will adapt quickly and be bold witnesses for Christ.
• That we would be spared from sickness and harm.
• That the teams that come would be strong ambassadors for Jesus Christ and that they can share hope to those who have none.
• That we would be open to God's leading in all situations and that we see His power displayed in and through us.

We will arrive back home on August 19 with many testimonies and stories to share. Thank you for your prayers and support.