I Am A Guest Blogger...

Come visit me here and here at Thrifty Mommy today. I am participating in a 24 hour blogathon for charity.to celebrate today (the longest day of the year.) So pop on over and see what is happening.

International Village, Atlanta, Georgia: Day 3

Once again we woke up to Pop Tarts and cold pizza and then headed out to another site to pick up trash. This one wasn't near as nasty as the first. We went to an apartment building and some of the residents even came out and helped (mostly the children). I didn't really get any pictures because my hands were really dirty and I didn't want to touch my camera. While there, we did get to meet the on site missionaries. Their names are Tim and Catherine Palmer. Some of you who read, may have heard of Catherine. She is an author and writes Christian fiction. She and her family are very precious and they know exactly what God wants for them. Right now that is living in the "slums" of Atlanta to work with these international people who have never heard of Jesus. She actually gave some of us autographed books. I was excited because I love, love, love to read. Anyway, if you want to learn more about their mission work, she has a blog. Head on over and read her stuff and see what they are doing to help the people that live near them.

After the trash pick up, we headed to work with the kids for the last time. And we brought water balloons with us. The kids were so excited.

This little boy wasn't interested in the water balloons at all. He just wanted to kick the soccer ball. I played with him quite a bit. He was so cute but didn't speak any English.

I was so wet.
This is our group picture with the second group of kids we worked with. We were all wet and gross but everyone had a smile on.

We headed home about 4:30. We were stinky, nasty, and tired but we couldn't leave Atlanta without a stop here.
I was very glad to be home (11:00pm) and see my babies and hubby. I missed them a lot but it was a great trip.

International Village, Atlanta, Georgia: Day 2

This morning started bright and early with cold pizza and Pop Tarts. We headed out for our Service project. We went to the soccer field (which is also where lots of Mexican men hang out and drink beer.) It was crazy. The only time I had ever seen anything worse was in the Dominican Republic. (If you have ever been there you know what I am talking about. They just dump all of the trash they generate on the side of the road.) We prepared ourselves with trash bags and latex gloves.
It actually started out okay. I even said, "This is not near as bad as I thought it would be." Then someone found a hot spot. As I walked down the bank this is what I saw.

It seemed hopeless but we kept plugging away until we had 60 trash bags full. I hummed praise and worship music to keep myself focused on the tasks. Because it was really nasty trash. And I had to remind myself why I was there.

Look at their faces. Don't they look thrilled.

After a quick lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches, we headed out for another hot day with the kids. I think I will just let the pictures show you what we did.




After a long afternoon with the kids, we headed back to take showers and get ready for a night out. We left about 6:30 and went to Medival Times. It was a lot of fun.

The entrance to the castleStanding in the mistThis was our knight, Jesse. He wasn't a very impressive night and he lost but we still cheered for him.
One more day and we are headed home.

International Village, Atlanta, Georgia: Day 1

On this particular Mission, we were smack dab in the middle of the International Village. This is where lots of different countries (and languages) are represented. When we arrived, the guy in charge of Whirlwind Missions, came and gave us a briefing on the area and how to approach this thing we were doing. After his speech, we went for a quick lunch and then headed into our mission field. Our first stop was an apartment complex in Chamblee. When we arrived, there were a few children hanging out and we quickly recruited them to help us find "friends." We walked all over the apartment complex gathering children to come "play" with us. I quickly realized the majority of these people spoke Spanish. So I realized I could communicate pretty well. I was so surprised at how trusting these parents were to us. If a group of Spanish speaking people walked up to my door and wanted my children to come play, there is no way I would let them. But they were more than willing to send children with us. Not only did we have school age children, we had lots of little ones. Anyway, our first day was a nightmare. We had no control over the children and they were rowdy and reckless. There were several older (middle school) children that seemed to be leaders. Even though we had several children who caused problems, there were several sweet children who really listened to what we had to say.

Just look at their sweet faces.

The second place we went, the children were much younger and much more controllable. And once again, the parents were eager for their children to go with us. At the second place, we had an empty apartment with a table so that helped a lot. We learned really quickly that we should separate the kids after the Bible Story to get the crafts and recreation done. So we did.

So the guys took a group to play soccer.

And the girls stayed behind to work on a Salvation bracelet.

Then we all came back together for a snack of PB&J. The kids really liked that. This little girl was especially popular with our youth. Even though she didn't speak one bit of English, she had them all wrapped around her little finger.
I am so surprised that right here in the middle of the Bible belt with a Baptist church on every corner, these people know nothing of Jesus. I guess it shouldn't surprise me. We probably have the same problem right in our own back door. They don't even know the simplest things, like the Christmas story and all about Easter. We as Christians are really not doing our jobs when it comes to the people in our own backyard. We are more than willing to spend our money on missions overseas and send money to children we have never met ( Don't get me wrong! I think these things are wonderful.) But we are neglecting our neighbors.
On this trip, we slept at North Peachtree Baptist Church on the floor in classrooms. When we returned to the church, we were hot, sweaty,and exhausted.

But it didn't stop us from roller skating! Skating is one of my all time favorite activities. So as tired as I was, I couldn't miss out on an opportunity to skate.

We didn't plan for near enough kids for crafts and snacks and what is a trip without visiting the local Walmart. So off to Walmart.

This was definitely a first. For those of you who live in big cities, you've probably seen this. But for us country folk, this was definitely picture taking material. And to make a lasting impression on Atlanta, we decided a ride would be in order.

Johnny was our guinea pig. We prayed it wouldn't flip and it didn't.

We finally made it back to the church and after a hot shower, I collapsed on my sleeping bag.

I'm Back!

What a whirlwind trip! I knew nothing about the trip when we left and it ended up being great. We worked in the International Village in Atlanta, Georgia. Very few of the people there spoke English. Most of the English speakers were school-aged children. So I got to use my limited Spanish skills (and I did okay if I do say so myself). But we were very busy. I will be giving you all the details later (with pictures, of course). I did not go on this trip with my church so I didn't really know the people on my team. But I am home with new relationships and I will be posting more about this trip as the week goes on.

Here is a picture of our team. All in our hot pink and camo! Don't we make a great team?

On another note, we made another trip to the ER tonight. Who was it this time? Jack, of course. Jack and Gabe were playing pretend football (whatever that is) upstairs. And this is what I heard:
THUMP!!!!
Gabe: "Oh, Jack! Are you okay?
Jack: "Waaaaaaaa, I want Mommy! I want Mommy!"
So, off to the ER!

Poor Baby!

Waiting for an Xray! And the verdict is in.
He has a broken collar bone. He is wearing a figure 8 splint and he is in a lot of pain. But the doctor said it would heal in a couple of weeks. So no more pretend football. For a while, anyway.
I'll post more about the trip when things calm down a bit here.

Headed Out Of Town

Not on vacation but on a mission trip. I am going with a group of youth and 5 other adults to Atlanta. We will be working on a service project( Maybe painting over graffiti). and doing two backyard bible clubs each day. We will leave at 7am in the morning and return late, late Saturday night. It will be a short trip but a very busy one. I will bring my camera and post pics when I'm back. Please pray for a safe and successful trip. Pray that there will be many lives touched by this trip and that God will work in awesome ways to bring us and others closer to Him.

A Long, Hot Day

Yesterday we headed to Greenville ( a 45 minute trip one way) so we decided to do lots of errands. Gabe had an orthodontist appointment at 3:00. We loaded up about 11:00 and went into our town. When we got there about 11:20, Gabe said, "Oh, I think I forgot my headgear." Since gas is so cheap, we turned around and headed back home. We hit the bank and CVS (of course) while in town.

At CVS, I left the car running (with air) and left all 4 children in the car. I'm a little paranoid about doing this but I was only going to be gone for a couple of minutes to pick up some cereal. I told Gabe (my responsible child), "Lock the doors and do not open them for anyone." While in CVS, a friend of ours walked up with her two girls and said, "How did you manage to get away from your 4 kids?" I quickly told her they were all in the car with instructions not to open the door. She responded with, "Let's test them." I agreed and stood in the doorway to watch. She went and knocked on the window and Gabe just looked up at her and waved. She kept knocking and trying to get him to roll the window down. He refused. I went to the car and got him to unlock the door. I was very, very proud and she commended him on obeying his mother.

Anyway, we finally made it to Greenville, after stopping to get Jim's Father's Day gift (can't tell you what it is because he reads this blog). We stopped by the movie theater to get a list of the free Summer movies. We went to CiCi's Pizza and picked up a reading form for the Feed Your Brain program. We finally ate lunch around 2pm at our local favorite, Taco Casa. After lunch, I ran through the drive thru at Dunkin Donuts and ordered my 99 cents Coconut Iced Coffee. Yummy! But I'm scared to ask how fattening these things are. Finally it was time to go to Gabe's appointment. Guess What!? Gabe is getting his braces off. I have to go back and get heavier wires and Gabe gets his braces off. No more head gear. You should have seen him run out of that office jumping and screaming. He is very excited and when we came home, he told his dad that his head gear was just a souvenir now. (I'll probably still have braces when Maci Clare is getting hers off.)

Afterwards, we headed to Publix to finish my grocery list. (Our Publix was out of some of the things I went to get.) The kids were great even though it was a long, hot (102 degrees) day. I rewarded them with a trip to Krispy Kreme. We love their doughnuts. They are the best. We bought two dozen (with a B1G1 coupon) and we got 8 free doughnut holes (coupons). The kids immediately dove into the sweet treats and we headed for home to dive into the pool.