Where Would You Like To Go?

June 30, 2011

Prayers Please!

We are so grateful for all of your love and support.  This journey began far before we were even aware of it.  The Lord in His soverignty, sketched out every step - long before we were born.  We are filled with joy and peace in knowing this!  The next 48 hours will be adventurous to say the least - please keep us and our families in your prayers.  Thank you for letting us know that you're praying - those are the sweetest words to hear!! 
Ryleigh promises to keep you updated - love you all!!

Last Week in the States

Words are falling short...so this will just be mostly pictures...
our family...dad was taking the picture :)
sleeping with Aunt Alanna
All 3 of our bdays are in July
We had a family fish fry at Pop and Nanna's
Aunt Chesney loves her niece!
Singing along with the children in VBS and Lhi Lhi
Enjoying VBS night with Aunt Laura and Uncle Tim
Sent Aunt Alanna off to Centrifuge
Joshua and AnnaLaura headed off to Centrifuge too!
Sent Aunt Chesney to Southeast Asia
We watched Aunt Chesney fly off
Showing great Mamaw her cute dress

Playing with great Pop
Snoozin with great Nanna
If mom wasn't busy cooking all of my favorites then she had Ryleigh in her arms
Ryleigh ended up liking her cereal by the end of the week
Took our "4th of July" pics since we'll be in Joburg then!

We've enjoyed our time back in MS with both families and can't believe that in less than 24 hours we'll be headed to Africa!

June 29, 2011

Packing, Packing, Packed!

After some help from our enthusastic packing princess...
We finished!! 
 Ryleigh says "don't leave me!"  :)

June 28, 2011

Will it all fit??

Here's what we have "narrowed" it down to 3 days before leaving...



The question that remains is...will it all fit???

Wait...that's just mine and Ryleigh's stuff...hmmmm

Marvelous Monday (with a few tears)

Yesterday was indeed a marvelous day (even though there were a few tears!). 
Ryleigh tried cereal for the 1st time...
Both of my sisters left yesterday - Alanna headed to youth camp for the week & Chesney left to serve through BSU summer missions.  Ryleigh was trying to spend every last second with both of them.  She helped Aunt Alanna get ready...
Aunt Chesney then tried to see if she'd fit in her suitcase...
Ryleigh gave Aunt Alanna a goodbye hug...atleast till Friday...
Ryleigh met one of our favorite families - The Grubbs - for lunch in Jackson...
We gave lots of hugs and kisses to Aunt Chesney...
Ryleigh thought it was time for her to go too...
I know I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again but, I love these girls and am so proud that their lives reflect Who they serve!!

June 24, 2011

Friday Five

1.  We started our drive to MS last Friday, stayed in TN for the night and then finished the drive on Saturday.  We were glad to be headed that way!!
2.  Sunday we celebrated daddy's 1st Father's Day
and got to hang out with the WHOLE family!
3.  We spent some time at Meme and Sam's

4.  We had fun with Grandma, Gran Gran, and Uncle Jeff, Aunt Katie, Austin, & Kaylee as MUCH as possible - no matter where we were!

5.  On Thursday, David came to meet me  - he even wrote me a lullaby - mom said it was super sweet...I'm sure I'll like it once I get older!  Of course he thought I was cute but that I looked even better in crimson!!


June 21, 2011

Why?

A few answers to some of the "why" questions...answered by people who say it a little better than I can ;)
Want the short version?  Just read the purple :)
Want the "Nickolee" version?  Read all of it  :)

Why go to Madagascar?

"You live among the least of these:
The weary and the weak.
And it would be a tragedy
For me to turn away.
All my needs, You have supplied,
When I was dead You gave me life. 
How could I not give it away so freely?
And I'll...I'll follow You into the homes of the broken, 
I'll follow You into the world. 
I'll meet the needs for the poor and the needy,
God, I'll follow You into the world. 
Use my hands, use my feet,
To make Your kingdom come.
To the corners of the earth until Your work is done.
'Cause faith without works is dead,
And on the cross, Your blood was shed,
So how could we not give it away so freely?"
Follow You by Leeland

Why go when there are lost here?

Romans 15 (exerpts) - "I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.  It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written:
“Those who were not told about him will see,
and those who have not heard will understand.”"


Why do you think it will do any good?


"You're the God of this City

You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are
You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are
There is no one like our God"
God of this city by Chris Tomlin

Why?
Because He has called us and our lives are to be a living sacrifce for Him and His glory.

June 20, 2011

Praying for Chesney

A week from today one of my "little" sisters will leave the country for the 1st time ever.  Chesney (who's not so little anymore) will be teaching at an international school in Malaysia for the month of July. 
I'm beyond thankful for my relationship with her as my sister but even more importantly I'm grateful that I can call her my sister in Christ.  She is a beautiful woman of the Lord, inside and out, and I'm so proud of her for following where He is leading her this summer.  What a fantastic example for my little girl to follow - I am blessed that Ryleigh has such amazing women of the Lord to look up to.

We're blessed to have LOTS of prayer warriors reading this blog and so I thought it was a great way to have people lifting her up over this next month.  I know she'll appreciate it too ;)

June 19, 2011

Fantastic Fathers

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

To my amazing husband who has been an absolute natural at being a dad...he was in love from the 1st time he held her.
Steve - I am more in love with you today than I was yesterday - I pray that grows for the rest of our lives.  Ryleigh is such a daddy's girl and EVERYONE knows it.  I love that you make her smile as much as you make me smile.  We're quite content to be your girls!  Thank you for being an example of His love to each of us, every. single. day.

To my dad - words can't express how amazing it is to have a dad who imitates how our heavenly Father loves us - all 3 of us are blessed to have you as our daddy.
My dad has taught me to always have a sense of humor (which sometimes happens and sometimes doesn't), that it's okay to cry sometimes (or all the time), and despite all the joking - I've never wondered for one moment if he loves me or is proud of me - He's always made sure that I've known.
To my "father-in-law" - which I'd never really classify him as - blessed beyond words to have such a fantastic addition to my family through marrying Steve.  He loves me as his own and I could never ask for more than that. 
Oh and Ryleigh wishes you both a happy father's day as well :)  She doesn't know that there is a seperate day for grandfathers later on!