Friday, July 11, 2014

Prayer Requests and Pics

Okay, before I give you a bunch of pictures and updates on our fun family adventures, I'm going to be honest and ask for prayer!

In many ways, this trip is going fantastic.  We are having beautiful weather and enjoying time out in God's creation!  Josh is having really productive booking days.  God is opening new doors all of the time and blessing our ministry at each event.  We see Him moving in and through us!  We are humbled and grateful to be used.  Also, we are all healthy and the trailer and truck are fully functional (no mechanical issues or leaks! Yay!)....

On the other hand, we seem to be under pretty heavy spiritual attack.  Our emotional state does not reflect God's abundant blessing.  Josh and I are struggling to sleep at night, stress and nightmares keep us awake.  Josh is struggling with discouragement and I feel impatient, frustrated, and irritable.  We are being extra intentional about having personal quiet times in the Word, praying together as a family, and listening to sermons.  We know that lies must be fought with Truth and we are working hard to saturate ourselves in the Light.  We'd so appreciate your prayers!  (just as a reminder, you can find ongoing prayer requests here http://stilllearningtofollow.blogspot.com/p/praises-and-prayer.html )

That being said, here are some pics of the past couple weeks! :)


Awesome Fourth of July parade in a little town in central Oregon!

 waiting for the fireworks

still waiting



Ooooh!  Ahhhh!

Snake video at the Douglas County Museum 
(we were here this spring and the boys were so excited to come back)

Explorers!

playing in the river at our campground



 floating on a froggy :p

Crater Lake!


 Aaaaah!  Don't you just love this!?!



that's the "Phantom Ship" in the distance

I'll write again soon!  Love to you all!

Monday, July 7, 2014

Counting my blessings

Sometimes it's the little things  

Like... 
a laundry room near your campsite, when you thought you were going to have to drive 15 minutes into town and sit in a hot crowded laundromat!
and
hot showers for free at the campground, when you expected to be paying 50 cents for 3 minutes of cold water!
and
1 dollar ice cream cones, free wi-fi, and a playplace at the McDonalds near the rest of your errands!

"Thank you, Lord, for these sweet little gifts of love.  You make me smile!"


Thursday, July 3, 2014

A Few Pics just for Fun

Perhaps I've gone overboard on the introspective posts the past couple of days?!  Just in case, I thought I'd just post a few pictures of our adventure the past several days.



Ok, I'll start with this one 'cause it makes me happy! 
We said our official "goodbye"s a couple weeks ago to our wonderful friends moving to Hawaii, but were surprised to have a chance to have one last get together while we were all in Portland!  Yay!
 
We had one day to go visit Mt. Saint Helens and the weather was less than beautiful.
This was our view from Johnston Ridge when we first got to the top.
 
The fog started to lift....
 
 
 
This was as far as the fog lifted :( 
 
We spent hours in the observatory reading, watching videos, and listening to ranger talks...hoping the view would clear!  Although we never got to see the crater, it was still a wonderfully educational and fun day as a family.  We have since spent time at the library studying volcanoes and making plans for the diorama we're going to make soon!
 
 Josh sat in the front row, so he was chosen as the park ranger's special helper! :p
 
Our boys have now become official Junior Park Rangers both at Glacier National Park and now at Mt. Saint Helens.  They are very proud! :)
 
 Josh played at a one day revival at this beautiful chapel in McMinville, OR.
 
 
 
Last Sunday was such a blessing.  We shared at a little church in Eugene and had such a wonderful time of ministry.  The people were so kind and encouraging and were very enthusiastic about Potter's Field Ministries as well.  We are blessed, as usual, by the new friends and partners in ministry!
 
 
Caden spent all day today (completely unprovoked by me) reading his dictionary! 
Yes, you read that correctly!  He would read a word he thought was interesting and then write down what page it was on a piece of paper.  Then Noah was giving him words to look up!  My little men love to learn!