Samaria Project 2009

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Acts 1:8

Our beautiful team!

Last week we headed down to New Orleans, specifically to the French Quarter, for our Samaria Project. The Samaria Project is the 2nd part of the three year mission plan that we do with our teenagers. Last summer was the Judea Project where we did a week of local missions in the Cookeville community. (Next summer will be the Ends of the Earth Project, when we go out of the country...where? we don't know yet.) While in New Orleans we worked with Vieux Carre Baptist Church in the French Quarter, just a block from Bourbon Street. We had a great week ministering to the community. We did various things like: window washing for businesses, giving out snack packs for businesses, artists outreach (on the square), cooking a meal for the homeless, coffee outreach very early in the morning, a coffee house concert at the church, and relational/conversational evangelism. Throughout the week, we ministered a lot to the homeless there...many of them new us by name by the end of the week. We had many beneficial conversations about God throughout the week, that we were really thankful for. There is so much that I could write and many stories to tell, but to write them all it would take me all night. Ryan and I are very proud of our youth. They worked hard throughout the week, and did what was asked of them. Hopefully, we will be able to go back to the French Quarter at some point. I hoped that the teenagers would fall in love with the city, and the people there...they did! We all (for the most part) want to go back.

We blew out not one...

but two tires on the trailer on the way to New Orleans. We left Cookeville at 7:30 am, hoping to make it to New Orleans before dark, but it just didn't happen. Thankfully, we were close to a Walmart both times, and were able to get new tires!

here we are at the Mississippi rest area

We went to a Mardi Gras museum one afternoon (during the super hot time)...Here's my favorite dress.

One outreach that we did during the week was free window washing for the various stores in the French Quarter. Well, Matt's group (Haley and Coleman) got locked out on a balcony. It was hilarious seeing them up there when we went to tell the store owner that they were locked out. They could see the square from the balcony...so at least they got to hear some music:)

Ryan and Chad (good friends:)

Chad, Claire, and I...we were in a group together the first two days

Hannah, Sarah, Paige, Me, and Claire

We went to get masks one afternoon. It was fun to try on masks and hang out:)

Friday night the youth band played a coffee house concert at the church.

(Chad, Evan, Ryan, Haley, Matt, and Coleman)

Chad playing and singing "Desperate Man"

Haley singing "Walk With Me"

Yes, I do have a picture of Ryan:) haha!

D'Angelo, Ryan and Danny

Ryan and I out by the river

Tera and I

Coleman, Tera, and Evan being silly

At the I Max theatre right by the river, they have a dinosaur exhibit going on right now. I wish that Josiah and Aedan could have been there so we could've taken them there. (We didn't go, ofcourse...but, they would have loved it:)

Ryan, the allosaurus, and I

Special thanks to Gigi for coming and staying with Josiah and Aedan!! They definitely miss their Gigi!

Aedan: the pterodactyl

Yesterday while I was in the kitchen taking care of some dishes, the boys were playing in the living room. I heard a loud sound...it sounded like someone landing on one of our side tables. Aedan was crying, so I figured that he was the one hurt. The top of his lip was a little scratched, and I could tell that he had hit his face. He cried and cried for a long time, and kept motioning that his tongue hurt. (Maybe he bit it, too.) I figured out that the were pretending to be dinosaurs...pterodactyls! I asked Aedan if he was trying to be a flyer, and he said "yes".

Aedan's fat lip

you can really see the black and blue gums in this picture

a good day

Josiah had a rough couple of days earlier this week. I'm not sure what his problem was, but he wasn't a whole lot of fun to be around. FINALLY, though, we had a good day yesterday! Yay! I'm hoping that his bad mood has passed since Gigi is coming soon! Anyway, back to our "good day". We went to the pool yesterday morning and swam. Rachael, Caleb, and Charis came, too, so it was fun to hang out with them. This is Josiah and Aedan's first time in a big pool this summer. They did well. Josiah and Aedan stayed in the water almost the whole time. (We were there for two hours.) In previous summers, Josiah has wanted to get out of the pool and wander around. Aedan liked the water a lot, too. He was cracking me up wanting to continually swim toward the deep end. He kept saying "I do it". He was making me nervous, though, with his eagerness to swim for the deep without my help. The kids did races in the pool, organized by Caleb:) I don't have any pictures, though...too busy with Aedan.

After dinner, Ryan and I had some errands to run. We went to JC Penny for me to get a couple more tank tops for New Orleans, and to Kohl's to get some more shorts for Ryan. We also went to Baskin Robbins to get ice cream. They boys did well. Of course, Josiah (my non-sweet eater) just played in his ice cream, but Aedan ate his:) We ran into Evan and the Wilder sisters there...hi Peyton, Bethany, and Reagan!

the throwing game

VBS 2009

This past week was our VBS: Boomerang Express...the Austrailan Outback. Peter was the focal character of the week that we all studied...looking at his moments of faith, disbelief, and of how God worked in his life. I co-taught the 5th and 6th grade girls. We had a great time and all worked well together. After the teaching hour, we went on mini "field trips" each day. We did a video scavenger hunt, went to the pool, collected can goods for the Care Center in town, went to the Mustard Seed Ranch (a boys' and girls' home), and also an assisted living home. Josiah and Aedan did well (for the most part) during the week. This was Josiah's last year in the "workers' kids" class. Next year he will move up to the 4 year old class. Wow...he is growing up!

sickness is still taking a toll...

Aedan asleep on the floor.

Who needs a bed?

my sick little man:(

All week long, Aedan has had a cough, and it seemed to be getting better...then it was worse!!! He had a fever some Thursday, so I took him to the doctor today. He has an ear infection in both ears, bronchitis, an eye infection, and is also coming down with some type of stomach bug! WOW! I think this is the sickest that either one of my kids has ever been! We started him on antibiotics, some eye drops, and pain medication for his ears. Please pray for Aedan, and that he'll feel better soon. Also, that everyone else stays healthy.

No smiles from Aedan

Aedan has had a hard time napping on his own this week with his coughing, and eye infections, I'm sure. Here I am holding him while he's napping.

Up close picture of sick little Aedan:(

Burgess Falls

We had a really busy weekend with church events and responsibilities this weekend, so we decided to head out to do something as a family Friday evening after dinner. We went to Burgess Falls state park, south of town. They have a really wide trail that runs above the more "rugged" trail, which is great for the boys. They love walking on trails like this and of course, picking up rocks and sticks. Once you get down to the falls, there's a safe area where the kids can stand and look at the falls. Burgess Falls also has a great playground. Once we finished the trail and some snacks, we headed there next. We happened to run into some acquaintances of ours, the youth minister, Daniel and his wife, Faith, from the Methodist church. Ryan has known Daniel for a while, and I recently met Faith at the MOPS (moms of preschoolers) meetings that I recently started going to. We had a fun time hanging out with them and their kids on the playground. They have three kids who are very close to Josiah and Aedan's ages: Caleb who is 3 (born in Dec, like Josiah), Stephen (who turns 2 next month), and also a little baby girl, Sarah Beth, who I think is about 8 months or so. The kids all played great together, and we enjoyed the adult company:)

ready to go!

hugs!!

walking on the trail...Aedan does his best to keep up! He definitely wants to walk if he can. As soon as I get him out of the car (when he sees Josiah is going to walk he says, "I walk."

Aedan and Ryan

I realized when we were out that I don't have many pictures of just Aedan and Ryan together.

up the hill

the falls:)

checking it out

Ryan and Aedan

I didn't get any pictures of us with Daniel and Faith with their kids on the playground. I didn't want to seem like too much of a weirdo. I'll save the picture taking for next time we hang out with them. haha