I have been quite lacking in my blogging over the last few months.  I realized the other day that I haven’t recorded anything about our lives since July.  July, I tell you.  I immediately got overwhelmed about trying to catch up on all of it, so I am skipping a few months and starting with October.  I have also been painfully horrible about taking pictures lately, so I am going to just go with what I have.

For fall break, we went to Santa Rosa Beach.  It’s been quite some time since we’ve all been to the beach.  We were pretty excited about this one.  We dug in the sand, went on walks, played in the water, and stuffed our faces like crazy.  For the first time, we also got to go to the Air & Space Museum.  I can’t believe we’ve never been there before.  It was so, so fun!  There were all kinds of giant planes, and the boys were in awe of all of them.  It was also super interesting reading the history behind them.  The trip was so great, and we were majorly sad to see it come to an end.

For the past several years, we have gone to Boo at the Zoo.  We heard some pretty bad reviews about this year’s, but we decided to risk it and go anyway.  We got there right when it opened, grabbed dinner, and got started on the festivities.  It was the perfect plan and allowed us to miss all the craziness of the crowd 🙂  We loved the hay ride, the games, and the trick-or-treating.  We especially loved getting to go with friends!

Our school held a Math Night in October.  The boys loved doing all the games.  Maddox mostly loved hanging out with Ava, but Hudson really loved the geometry station.  It was fun just spending a night with other families and hanging out with each other.

The boys always want to carve pumpkins, but they can rarely do much on their own.  When it comes to taking the guts out of the pumpkins, they usually wimp out and Nick ends up having to do most of it himself.  They still love it, though, and I love watching them gross out over it 🙂  While Nick carved, the boys ended up painting their pumpkins.  Maddox was crazy excited about painting.

One of our favorite things about October was our camping trip at Tims Ford State Park.  We loved this park!  The campgrounds were super clean and roomy.  Ours backed up to the lake and was kind of set back in its own little cul-de-sac.

We ended up going to Granddaddy’s Farm, a pumpkin patch right down the road.  It was so fun!  We got to do a corn maze, went down giant slides, fed goats, and bounced on the popper.

When we got back, we spent the rest of the day playing games, reading, eating, and hiking.  They also had a special presentation by a park ranger about the birds of Tennessee.  We all LOVED that part.

When it was time to leave, Maddox immediately passed out.  Clearly the weekend was a success!

Hudson decided right after Halloween last year that he wanted to be Boba Fett this year.  We always like to do family costumes, so the rest of us followed suit with Star Wars people.  I really didn’t want to be Leia (since that seems to be the go-to for girls), so I decided to just girl-y up Han Solo.  Nick and I made a deal that I would make Maddox’s costume if he made Hudson’s.  It ended up being pretty easy to just glue the fur on to a sweat suit for Maddox.  Hudson’s was  much more complicated, and Nick brilliantly imagined how to create each part of the costume.  For the belt, he cut up cereal boxes and made them into tiny boxes and glued leather onto the cardboard.  It was pretty impressive.

We spent Halloween with the Hobnecks and the Morgans trick-or-treating in Mansker Farms.  It was the perfect night, and the boys got gobs of candy that they can never possibly eat.

Well, that brings us up to November.  I will hopefully be able to do that in a more timely manner this time.  Hope you all had a great October, too!

This summer we ended up really leaning toward history-based outings.  We have also kind of started a tradition of doing a trip right before school starts.  It’s a good way to get away and make us just hang out together as a family, without all the “school is coming!!” distractions.

In sticking with our historical theme, we decided to go to Williamsburg.  We ended up visiting Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown.  We teach about all of these in fourth grade, so it was fun getting to experience so much of that history in person.

We decided to drive the nine hours to Williamsburg.  We really enjoy road trips…like the part where you actually drive in a car and load yourself down with snacks, movies, books, art supplies, etc.  Unless we are going a really long way, we would almost always rather drive than fly.  The boys are BIG fans.

Once we got to Virginia, we started seeing signs everywhere for a drive-thru safari park.  We ignored the signs for awhile, but then we started feeling like we must really be missing out on something amazing.  We ended up deciding to stop, and we were so glad we did!!  We got four big buckets of food, and got to feed lots of animals.  The elk was the most exciting, and the ostriches were the scariest.  I’m pretty sure those things would’ve pecked your hand right off to get to the food.

I had to hang basically my entire body out the window to get this shot, but thankfully I wasn’t attacked and snagged a good picture 🙂  When we finished the drive-thru part, there was food all over our car, and it definitely smelled like animals in there, but it was such a fun experience.

At the end, there was a walk-through zoo part.  We got to see an armadillo, sloth, and several other things we don’t have at the Nashville Zoo.  The penguin area cracked us up because the penguins just live inside of an air conditioned shed.  I don’t know why, but I just thought that was the most hilarious/bizarre thing.

Jamestown was AMAZING!!  I have taught about it for so long, and it was sooooo awesome to see what it would have looked like.  There was a Native American area and a fort area.  We got to walk through re-creations of the Native American homes, shave deer fur, scrape a dugout canoe, try out some games they would have played, and look at their weapons.

We also got to go on re-creations of the ships.  It was crazy seeing the tiny spaces they lived in for such a long time as they were crossing the ocean. Maddox managed to face plant down one of the sets of stairs and scrape up his entire leg, so that was a bit of a damper, but he bounced back pretty quickly 🙂

In the fort area, we got to walk through homes, see weapons demonstrations, try on armor, and do lots more fun stuff.  There was a walk-through history app that gave you missions to complete along the way, which just added to the fun.

After Jamestown, we went to Yorktown.  It was set up like the original camp.  We got to see them shoot a cannon, heard about medical care, saw how they dried fruits, and saw what their sleeping quarters were like.  There was also a museum where it said things like, “Please TOUCH,” which I loved.  So opposite of most museums where you can’t touch anything.

The next day we went to Williamsburg.  I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never been hotter in my whole entire life than the day we were at Williamsburg.  I’m talking miserably hot.  Like melt-your-face-off hot.  It was so hot, in fact, that it was rare to find anyone not standing in the shade.  You could see people darting from shade spot to shade spot, just to keep the sun from blistering their skin 🙂  I’m not making that up.  At one point, we had to stand out in the sun for a fire truck demonstration, and within about 30 seconds I was sweating so much that it was running into my eyes.  It was that hot.  We did still manage to enjoy the day, but I feel like it would be nice to go back again one day when we can really enjoy everything and not just try to figure out which buildings would offer the best air conditioning 🙂  I got so flustered, that I did’t even take many pictures, which I really regret.

My mom’s maiden name is Shields, so we thought it was cool that they had a place called “Shields Tavern.”  We ended up eating dinner there, and we were even more excited when we saw that the menu said James Shields. That’s my grandfather’s name, so it just felt like it was meant for us to eat there 🙂

The thing I loved most about Williamsburg was how interactive it was.  The boys got to stomp clay to be turned into bricks, play colonial games, be part of the fire brigade, study fossils, do infantry training, carry barrel buckets, and do a bunch of other stuff.  When they checked off enough of a list, they got special pins for their accomplishments.  It was pretty exciting.

So…if you’re looking for a fun, historical family vacation, Williamsburg is a great spot.  I would recommend not going in July, though 🙂

Well, school has been in for two weeks now, so I would say summer has definitely come to a close.  It was hard getting back in the routine, but it has also been exciting to see the boys start a new year in school.  They have both been super pumped about school, which just makes my teacher heart happy.

I figured it was about time I finish blogging about our summer, so I’m going to attempt to wrap it all up in this post.  Warning: It’s LONG.

We had a great Fourth of July.  For the past several years, we have done a combo Happy Birthday America and Happy Birthday Kristen party.  This year we had an all out meat fest, since I put my sister and Nick in charge of the meat.  Believe it or not, we did eventually eat all that meat.  We also had another massive fireworks display, orchestrated by Meagan, Nick, and Kneff.  I’m happy to say they didn’t catch anything on fire or blow anything up, so I feel like that’s a win.  The pictures are all foggy because it was so stinkin’ hot and damp that night that my lens kept fogging up.

Hudson really loves karate.  He has stuck with it since he was four, and he shows no signs of stopping.  This summer he was promoted to a green belt.

We finally checked out the Nashville Library.  I kind of can’t believe that we’ve never been before, but I’m really glad we finally went.  There was a really great puppet show, crafts, and of course books 🙂  The Finns came too, so that made it even better.

We also did a bit of a historical tour this summer.  We started off at Pinson Mounds.  Since Nick was moving to fourth grade, we thought it would be fun to check out some of the historical Tennessee sites that we teach about in fourth grade.  Pinson Mounds was a great spot.  We checked out lots of mounds and learned many new things about early groups who lived in Tennessee.  It made our history nerd hearts swell.

Nick and I celebrated 11 years of marriage on July 8th.  Pretty unbelievable to think we have been married that long.  We aren’t fancy people, so we like to keep anniversaries pretty low-key 🙂  We spent the day antique shopping, book shopping at McKay’s, and eating dinner at The Pharmacy.  It was such a lovely afternoon/evening just talking and hanging out together.  Nights like that are my favorite.

We also took Hudson to the Tennessee State Museum.  He was really into all the exhibits, especially the Native American section.  Nick got to learn lots of new things, too, which was nice since he can use that info while teaching this year.  I was really proud of how curious Hudson was about what each thing in the exhibit was.

My sister works for the Sumner County Anti-Drug Coalition, and each year they put on a rodeo in Gallatin.  We got to attend this summer and really enjoyed getting to be a part of it.  It was my first rodeo experience.  Better late than never, right?

Hudson and Nick both attended Susan’s Gym & Swim camp one week, so Maddox and I had a few mornings together.  One of the mornings we enjoyed a nice, messy donut date.  The kid loves some chocolate donuts.

We also watched our fair share of movies.  The boys love quiet nights all cuddled up on the couch, eating popcorn, and watching a movie.  It’s kind of my favorite too.  This particular night we were watching a Star Wars movie, of course 🙂

We got to go see The Secret Life of Pets at the drive-in with the Morgans.  We always love the drive-in, and it’s always even better with friends!!

One day we went to Old Stone Fort with the Hobnecks.  It is another historical spot that we teach about in fourth grade.  We had a lovely day hiking around the site and playing in the water.  We also got to eat tasty Mexican food for lunch, so that made the day even better 🙂

Hudson did a swim team this summer.  They swam every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday night (which was quite a commitment).  He loved every minute of it, though, so that made it worth it.  He is such a good swimmer, and we were really proud of all his hard work.

The Nashville Library did a summer reading challenge.  We participated and ended up getting free passes for Climb Nashville.  It had never even occurred to me to take the kids there, so I’m so glad we got this little push to go.  It was the most fun experience EVER!!  The kids loved climbing and loved getting to try something new.  They got a little nervous when they got too high, but I was proud of how quickly they learned.  We definitely have to go again soon!

One of my summer projects was to repaint the pantry doors.  They were a dark brown before, but I wanted to brighten them up a little.  I promise it felt like I put about thirty coats on them to get the yellow to cover the brown, but it was so worth it in the end.  I really love the way they turned out.

Hudson did a lot of drawing this summer.  Pretty much daily, he would sit down with his little art pad and sketch out a few drawings.  He went through a phase where he really loved making up his own superheroes and drawing them.  I thought they were pretty impressive, and it made me love his imagination even more.

Our 1970s track star 🙂

We spent a good bit of July getting our rooms ready.  Hudson thought this vacuum was the coolest because it made him look like a Ghostbuster.

Kristen and I took Hudson and Miley out for a fun night.  We went bowling, ate some Blue Coast, and then went for a bike ride.  It was so fun having time with just the two big kids.

Within three weeks, we had a broken pool motor, a broken water heater (which flooded our laundry room, resulting in having to rip up the floors and replace them), a broken garage door opener, a broken washing machine, and a cracked piece in the van.  I thought the streak of broken things might never end.  However, the craziness has settled down now, and we got some pretty, new laundry room floors out of it 🙂

Nick turned 35 at the end of July.  We celebrated with dinner at Smokin’ Thighs and an Escape Game.  We made it out of the room in 38 minutes, so we were feeling pretty proud of ourselves.

We spent our last official day of summer with the Hobnecks and Morgans at the White House splash pad.  It was a really nice splash pad, which made me wish we had gone more often over the summer.  After the splash pad, we enjoyed a tasty lunch at Zaxby’s.  It was the perfect ending to a fun-filled summer.

Whew!! I may have set a record for the longest post ever, but I have finally wrapped up our summer.  I hope you all had a great summer, too!!

Well, it feels like summer is already almost over, and that just makes me so sad.  We like to stay pretty busy in the summers, and I feel like that is mostly because I feel the need to soak up every spare second.  We do spend plenty of time at home, but we really like getting out and about.  We don’t get to do that as much during the school year, because Nick and I are just WAY too exhausted, so we milk the summer for all it’s worth!  Plus, the boys tend to argue a lot less when we aren’t at home 🙂

We met the Finns out at Cages Bend one Saturday for a day filled with fun.  We played in the lake, had water balloon and water gun fights, played on the playground, played lots of games, and just hung out and relaxed.  It was such a fun, mini getaway.  The boys already want to go back.

Hudson went to his first overnight camp with church.  It was only two nights, but I was surprisingly nervous about it.  I’ve never thought I would be that parent, but I totally was.  I started getting all these crazy thoughts about things that could happen, but I had to just get over it and send him anyway 🙂  He had an unforgettable time.  They swam, did life-size foosball, played putt-putt, worshipped, and learned more about Jesus.  Doesn’t get much better than that!  Thankfully, Annemarie was there so she could send me lots of pictures!

While Hudson was gone, Nick had camp, so Maddox and I had some bonding time.  We had a fun day at Opry Mills with the Morgans one day.  We checked out the Lego Store, Disney Store, and even some girly stores 🙂

We also took Maddox out for a dinner date to Plaza.  We will always and forever love Mexican food!

When Hudson got home from camp, he passed out on the couch.  He rarely naps anymore, so this was a sure sign of a successful camp!

We also went to Beech Bend for the first time.  I hadn’t ever thought about going there, but Kathy and Brylee were going and invited us along.  I am so glad they did!  One side of the park is an amusement park and the other side is a water park.  It wasn’t very crowded, so we got to pretty much walk on to every ride.  On the water side, there were slides, kiddie pools, a lazy river, and all kinds of fun things to do.  This may have to become a summer tradition!

We also had a fun Kelley sleepover night.  The big boys all stayed at our house, and Maddox stayed at the Kelleys with Amon.  These boys always have the best time together!  They make up the best games and pretty much laugh constantly.  I love their friendship.

For Melody’s birthday, Melody, Susan, Laura, and I all spent a fun day in Birmingham.  We went shopping and had lunch in Homewood.  Then we went to see the Southern Living Idea House.  It was a really fun experience, but we were not all that impressed with the house.  Just not any of our styles at all 🙂  We still had the best time just walking around and talking about everything in the house.  It was so fun celebrating Melody that way!

On the 3rd, we watched fireworks from the canoes.  This is our fourth year doing this with Susan and the Kelleys.  We always go over to Mr. and Mrs. Kelley’s for dinner and then head over to the lake to load up in canoes.  We get super close to the fireworks, and it’s just the best view ever.

That brings us to July 4th, which I will save for my final summer post.  It’s been a fun one, and I’m so thankful for the summer time we have!

We REALLY love summer.  It’s so amazing to get the chance to have so much family time together.  And it doesn’t hurt that we don’t have to get up at 5 AM every day and rush around to get out the door.  We’ve had such a lovely mixture of relaxing around the house and getting out and about.

Nick and I had a date night.  We did dinner at Mad Donna’s and then went to see If/Then at TPAC.  Date nights just do us so much good.  It’s good to feel like adults and have time to just talk.

We took a trip to the zoo at the beginning of June.  We’ve actually only been once so far this summer since it’s been so darn hot!

Hudson had his birthday party a couple weeks late.  We did a super simple swimming party at our house.  The kids had a great time just splashin’ around.  We did cake and ice cream and that was it.  I felt like it was the easiest party we’ve ever had.

We went to see Mary Poppins at HPAC.  We knew several people performing in it, so we couldn’t wait to see it!  We decided to take Maddox along this time, and he actually did really great.  Despite the fact that it was during his nap time 🙂  It was such a great show and we were so impressed with it!

We’ve been going to the library pretty regularly this summer.  Lucas joined us one morning and then we stopped by Chick-fil-a for a yummy lunch.

This was just too cute not to take a picture 🙂

The Wests and Hobnecks joined us for the $1 movies, a pizza lunch, and swimming at our house.  We always love our time with these friends!

We also tried out the ice cream shop on the square in Gallatin.  It is the cutest place.  They have fresh produce, a few groceries, and home made ice cream.

In case you didn’t hear, Finding Dory came out in theaters.  We went to see it with the Browns.  It did not disappoint.  It was so fun being back in that underwater world again.

After the movie, we met Pop Pop at the car show in the Publix parking lot.  I’m pretty sure it goes on every Saturday night, but this was our first time.  Pop Pop wanted to look at every car, and Hudson had to take a picture of every car.  It was hilarious.  Nick and Hudson were the most impressed with the Delorean.  

Father’s Day was fun and pretty low-key.  The only thing Hudson wanted to get Nick was a Chewbacca mask.  So…that’s what we got.  They all had a grand ole time trying it out.  We spent the rest of the day swimming, eating, and lounging.  Doesn’t get much better than that.

We’ve done TONS of swimming.  This is our first summer with a pool in our backyard, and we have definitely taken advantage of it.  One day when Miley and Hudson had basketball camp, Maddox and Declan had the pool all to themselves.  They were loving it.

Our friends, the Johnsons, also came to visit from Georgia.  The kids had the best time just playing around the house and hanging out.  They slept in a fort, went to the Adventure Science Center, and did lots of swimming.  We enjoyed their visit and can’t wait to see them again soon!

I’ve still got lots to say about this lovely summer we are having, but I think that’s about all any of us can take for one post.  I’m hoping to get caught up on the rest soon!

May was the craziest month EVER!!  I really, truly believe that it’s true.  It’s like we just squish as much as possible into it.  I always think maybe I can simplify May, but it never happens.

We had a Science Fair at school.  Second graders made posters centered around the theme of “force.”  Hudson and Nick decided to have C-3PO explain the force of gravity on each planet.  He drew C-3PO and all the planets on his own, and he was so proud of his work.

During the Science Fair, we also had the Book Fair going on.  Mrs. Stone, our librarian, asked Nick to dress up in a Chewbacca costume.  He LOVED getting to walk around as Chewbacca, and the kids were either enthralled or totally freaked out by him.  It was hilarious.

We had a girls’ night out the same night as the Science Fair.  We started out with dinner at Pinewood Social and then went to a Songwriter’s Night at The Listening Room.  Such a fun night!

Maddox finished up his soccer season in May, too.  He wasn’t the most aggressive kid on the field, but he sure did have fun running around and laughing with his friends.  Miley and Declan came to cheer him on, which made him oh so happy.

Hudson’s teacher, Mrs. Ingham, got a group together to go see Kate DiCamillo at the Nashville Library.  Mrs. Ingham read them one of her books in class, so they were all big fans of her.  Hudson and I went downtown a bit early and ate lunch together.  I love one-on-one time with that kid.  After lunch, we headed to the library to hear Kate DiCamillo speak.  She was hilarious, and I instantly became an even bigger fan of her.

The Morgans had a movie night in their backyard.  We ate ridiculous amounts of pizza, candy, and popcorn, and we watched The Force Awakens.  It was a perfect night.  The Morgans are the best hosts.

The boys have also been really enjoying riding bikes on our cul-de-sac.  It’s pretty traffic-free, which is nice for me.

We had field day at school.  It was fun getting to see both boys participate in the day.  The weather was perfect, the stations were very well-organized, and everyone had the best time.  It was probably my favorite field day to date.

We also did a walk for Huntington’s Disease.  It was a very small event, but the boys loved getting to meet the Star Wars characters there.

National Chocolate Chip Day is in May.  We baked up some tasty chocolate chip cookies and gobbled up every single one.

I also finished a half marathon.  It was 12 weeks of training, and tons of work, but I’m glad I did it.  Laura is a running machine, so she basically heard birds singing and saw rainbows shining, but it wasn’t quite as lovely for me.  Basically, every time we went down a hill, we had to go right back up.  Right around mile 11 I thought I was going to DIE.  However, that did not happen and I made it to the end.  Mark that off the bucket list!

My dad and Barb always take Hudson to the Lego Store for his birthday.  He got to pick out a set for his birthday present and then we went to eat at Chuy’s.  This has quickly become a favorite tradition of his.  We all love it!

We also did some canvas painting.  Maddox did a glue/salt canvas, and Hudson did a dot design with q-tips.  Clearly the boys were not into wearing clothes that day 🙂

On Hudson’s birthday Nick made him some Yoda pancakes.  That night we went to eat at Swaney Swift’s where he enjoyed a delicious chocolate shake.  He looks crazy old in these pictures, which just makes me want to cry big fatty tears.

Mrs. Ingham also had an awards ceremony on the last day of school.  I was able to attend and was so proud of Hudson.  He had such a great year!

And May pretty much left us all feeling like this.  I’m pretty sure we could have slept for a few days once school got out!

I’ve always viewed this blog as simply a kind of scrapbook for our family.  I love being able to look back at old posts to see pictures and think back on old memories.  Even though April is long gone, I want to make sure to put those memories into words and pictures.  So here goes…

We of course had to pre-order the new Star Wars movie.  Hudson wanted to watch it the instant it arrived.  We weren’t quite sure about Maddox watching it, so I ended up watching a movie upstairs with him while Nick and Hudson watched it downstairs.  Maddox chose a Preschool Prep video, which left me sitting upstairs feeling like I got the short end of the stick :).

Nick and I stayed over night at the school lock-in.  We looooooove the lock-in, but the day after is always a little rough.  Let’s just say there is a lot of movie watching and electronics playing going on that day (and a lot of snoozing being done by the adults).

We went with the Morgans to see Frog and Toad at Nashville Children’s Theatre.  It was the cutest show!  I was so impressed with the sets, and it was just way too adorable.  All the boys were enthralled the entire show.

A group of us went camping at Fall Creek Falls.  We stayed Friday night through Sunday morning. We played games, roasted food over the fire, hiked, played on the playground, and had all sorts of fun!  We had several upcoming birthdays to celebrate, so the last night we decorated the site and ate some delicious cookie cake.

When my mom moved into her new house, the previous owner left behind a cool loft in the garage.  She promised Hudson he could decorate it however he wanted.  He decided he wanted to spray paint, so he got to go over one afternoon and spray away.  He was in heaven.

He’s also been trying out some LEGO experiments lately.  This challenge was to build a bridge from LEGOs to see how many pennies it could hold.  He got up to 300 pennies before he stopped.

I spent most of April training for a half marathon.  It wasn’t my favorite thing I’ve ever done, but it sure did feel good to see all those burned calories so early in the morning.

The boys hopped into the pool mid-April.  I couldn’t even put my feet in, and they were out there just splashing around.  Crazy.

We celebrated my sister’s birthday with a fun girls’ night out.  We ate the most delicious dinner at Flipside.  If you haven’t tried their tater tots covered in queso and bacon, you are really missing out.  Healthy? Nope. Delicious?  Yes!!!!  We also strolled around 12 South a bit and got cupcakes at Sprinkles and coffee at the Frothy Monkey.  I ended up with a stomach bug and couldn’t fully enjoy the night, but it was still a great night!

I was able to take a day off and go as a chaperone on Hudson’s field trip.  We went to the Adventure Science Center and had a blast!  I loved getting to go on a field trip as a mom and just enjoy time with him.  It was fun seeing him interact with his friends, too.

And that’s April…or at least the things I have pictures of 🙂  Now all I’ve got to do is get to work on May and June!

I have put off another post about Swaziland because I am having a hard time figuring out how to adequately describe our trip to you.  I feel that words make it very difficult to describe this incredible place and the incredible people that live there.  I will try in my inadequate way to tell you more about our trip, but I do want you to all know that I am not even remotely doing justice to this experience.

The Ngungwane care point has experienced some difficulties recently.  The people who are in charge of the land are not cooperating very well.  As a result of this, they have not been able to add the playground or garden that many of you helped support fund this past year.  One of the go-go’s families generously donated an enormous piece of land across the street from the current care point.  The plan is to rebuild the building, run new pipes for the well, and add the playground to the land across the street.  This will make things easier for everyone involved and give the go-gos and kids a safer place to spend their days.  We spent time one morning walking around and praying blessings over the land.  It was incredibly beautiful and made all of us crazy excited!

On one of our last days, the go-gos presented us with gifts.  They did this last year, but it was on the last day, so we were completely caught off guard when they did it earlier in the week.  I told some of our team that I had not yet mentally prepared myself for it to be that day, so that made the tears flow much more than I had hoped :).  The women are just incredible ladies.  They care for and feed the kids day in and day out.  They work tirelessly to provide a loving place for the kids.  It is so humbling for them to spend their money on a gift for us.  It is such a testament of the love in their hearts and the friendships we have created with them.  These are friendships we all treasure and are so incredibly grateful for.

Our final day at the care point was spent as “Fun Day.”  Fun Day is basically like a carnival day.  We had a bounce house, face painting, temporary tattoos, and game stations.  There was lots of music and dancing and a special meal for all the kids.  The choir came and performed the most beautiful songs.  The kids also did a program for us that left us all in tears.  This day is the strangest day because it is somehow the best day and the worst day.  It’s great because we have such a fun time with the kids, but it’s the worst because it’s also the day we say goodbye.

At the end of Fun Day, we had a special moment with the go-gos.  We were able to present them with our small gifts, and Laura spoke the most beautiful words to them about how much we love them.  One of our Swazi missionaries translated her words and hearing Laura’s words and then them being translated into Siswati was just too much.  All of us, including the go-gos, were just big blubbering teary-eyed messes.

I want to also mention the care point shepherd, William.  William is charged with ministering to the kids at the care point.  He has such a multitude of duties that I cannot even name all of them.  He has an amazing relationship with his community.  During one of our home visits, I was struck by how incredibly gifted he is with people.  I sat and listened to him converse with the grandmother there, and he continually engaged her and made her laugh.  He translated for us and had such a loving disposition toward everyone.  As we were leaving, I told him how I didn’t want to embarrass him, but I also wanted him to know what a gift he had with people.  I feel that God truly called him to the position that he is in.  I know God is going to use him in amazing ways.

I also want to celebrate our AIM staff.  We had two Swaziland staff members, Bongani and Ncobile.  They spent their week tirelessly serving us and the care point.  They helped with all of our activities with the kids and provided a great environment for us.  They helped us to understand the Swazi culture and had the best conversations with us.  We are so grateful for their help!  Bheki, our driver, was also amazing.  He was our driver last time, so it was so great to be able to spend the week with him again.  He probably thought we were the most ridiculous people he had ever met, but I know deep down he really loves us. We sure do love him!

Amy was our American missionary while we were there.  I cannot say enough about how much we loved her.  She answered our endless questions, fed us, led us wherever we needed to go, advised us when we needed advice, went on the safari with us, and put up with our ridiculous conversations.  We joked with her the whole time about how we wanted to hear her say we were her favorite team by the end of the week 🙂  I truly believe that Amy and her family were born to be a part of this community.  God is using them in incredible ways, and I felt so blessed to witness it.

The last day of the trip wass our day to decompress.  To come down a little off the emotions we had been experiencing all week.  It was supposed to be a fun day, but Kyle woke up in the middle of the night terribly sick.  We were all worried for her, but our team nurse, Christy saved the day.  Amy found an IV and we all watched enthralled as Christy put it in for Kyle.  We all just thought it was the greatest thing to watch, although not really because Kyle was feeling so horrible.

After Christy did her thing, we all headed out for our day of fun (sadly, without Kyle :().  Amy surprised us with a trip to a coffee shop called Mugg & Bean.  We had several coffee drinkers who hadn’t had real coffee all week, so they were a bit thrilled with this surprise.

We then headed to the market for some shopping.  I have firmly decided that I am not a huge fan of markets because the people selling things make me feel like I need everything they are selling.  It’s so hard to say no, but also impossible to buy all the things they would like for us to buy :).  We did come out with some pretty exciting finds.  We then went to a little shopping area for lunch and did some more shopping there.  I forgot to take a picture of that :).

After shopping, it was time for the most exciting part of our day.  The Mkhaya Game Reserve.  We began with a sunset safari into camp.  We saw hippos, giraffes, rhinos, warthogs, and tons of birds.  We even got to see five and six month old rhinos.  They were already gigantic, but so adorable.  Once it started getting dark, we headed into camp.  They provided us with a delicious dinner, which included some delicious crusted potatoes and wildebeest meatballs.  We actually slept in the middle of the game reserve!  While this was terrifying, it was also my second time so I was able to sleep this time 🙂  In the morning, we took another sunrise safari.  I ended up sitting next to a British couple that was also there. They said things like “brilliant” and were basically bird experts, so this added to the already great experience 🙂

Again, I want to remind you that my words cannot even begin to explain what an incredible trip this was.  We were so blessed by so many people.  God orchestrated every element of this trip, and we were all just honored to be a part of it.

We returned Tuesday morning from Swaziland.  I wanted to record some thoughts about the trip while they are still fresh.  I feel like the best way to describe our trip is through pictures, so I’m going to let the pictures tell the story.

We set off Saturday, May 28th for Swaziland.  Our team consisted of nine members.  A few of us previously knew each other, but for most of us this was the first extended time we would spend together.  We flew from Nashville to Detroit to Amsterdam to Johannesburg, South Africa.  In all this took us 32 hours!  It was definitely not our favorite part of the trip 🙂

We took 27 suitcases with us.  Eight were packed with our personal belongings.  The other 19 were filled with 50 pounds each of supplies for us to take with us.  It was such a blessing to be able to collect so many amazing supplies to contribute to the kids and adults at the care point.

The next day we drove to Swaziland.  We got settled in at the guest house, had a few meetings about our trip, and met the staff that would be helping us during the week.  On Tuesday morning, we made our first trip to the Ngungwane care point.

This is the view driving into the care point.  Much of Swaziland is very developed…paved roads, restaurants, etc…but then there are parts of Swaziland that are drastically different.  These areas are made up of dirt paths and homesteads where people live in homes that are mostly made of concrete blocks with a metal roof.  Some are even simply rocks and wood.  The care points are located in these areas.  Basically, each care point is set up within a community and kids in that community walk to it each day for discipleship and food.  Adventures in Missions helps support these care points, but their main goal is to provide resources to aid the Swazi people in running the care points themselves.

Our role on the trip was simply to love on some kids.  Although this seems like such a strange role, it is so beneficial to the kids.  Many of them live in child-run or grandparent run homes, so they don’t always get the love and physical contact they need.  Beyond that, we also did crafts, sang songs, and played games with the kids.  We watercolored, played with play-doh, made bead cross necklaces, made picture frames and took Polaroid pictures of the kids, and colored prayer posters.

We also made two home visits each afternoon.  During these home visits, we took supplies for each family.  We sat and talked with the families and prayed for whatever they requested.  To me, this is somehow the hardest and best part of each trip.  It’s extremely difficult to see how little they have, but it is also so powerful to see how joyful they are despite their circumstances.  Both times I have visited, I have been struck by how little material things seem to matter to them.  I am sure they would prefer to be living differently, but they trust God to provide their needs and are so crazy thankful for everything they do have.  Seeing their incredible joy amidst (what we would call) such loss and hardship is such a glaring contrast to how most Americans feel.  Where many of us think we need more and more stuff to be happy, they know that joy does not come from material things but from God.

Another great part of this trip was the shoe distribution.  We did not do this last time, so it was a new experience for me.  We were able to pass out a new pair of shoes to every child.  We also gave each child a shirt with the care point name on it.  Every child was so incredibly grateful and each time we handed out a new pair I had to fight back tears.  Something about the looks on their faces just made me feel God’s presence so fiercely.  Seeing those shoes on all the little preschool feet was the highlight of my week.  It was such an honor and privilege to be even just a tiny part of it.

I still have about a thousand more things to tell you, including Fun Day, the go-gos, and our safari, but it’s just way too much for one post 🙂  The main thing I want you to know is what a life-changing experience this was for each one of us.  The kids and adults we encountered in Swaziland blessed us beyond measure.  Their personalities, love, and joy crawled into our hearts and made an indescribable impression on us all.  My prayer is that each of you would someday have the opportunity to feel God’s presence in such a powerful way.

We took it pretty easy this spring break, which was just what we needed.  My goal was a nice mixture of family time and also being somewhat productive.  I felt like we balanced that pretty well. Go us.

We kicked off our spring break with some egg dying at the Morgans.  Jill did such a great job getting all kinds of fun kits and taking care of all the details.  The boys went to town and dyed every single one of those eggs.  She also got white shirts for all the boys and used the extra dye to let them tie-dye shirts.  Genius.  It was such a lovely, perfect afternoon.

Hudson had Hudson K. and Sol over for a sleepover.  We took the boys to Grand Ole Golf to play some putt-putt.  They were all hilarious.  I love this friendship.

While we took the boys to play putt-putt, the Kelleys took Maddox to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate Amon’s birthday.  Laura sent me this picture, and I cracked up.  Maddox looks like a creeper, but it’s the cutest picture EVER.

We also did our fair share of crafting.  We made some salt dough egg ornaments and put them on that little tree in the top corner of the picture below.  We also water colored some paper eggs for a banner.

On Friday, we went hiking with the Hobnecks at Montgomery Bell State Park.  We had never been there before and really loved it.  It was a great family trail that even Maddox had no trouble with.  It ended up being a FREEZING cold day, so we hand to majorly bundle up.  Kristen’s dad even ended up making a fire at one of the stops along the way.  We sat and snacked and warmed up by the fire.  It was such a fun day.

On Saturday, we went out to Green Door Gourmet for an egg hunt.  They had chicks and rabbits to pet, Easter Bunny pictures, live music, crafts, games, and an egg hunt.  If you have never been to this event, you need to go next year!  It was so much fun!

We spent a large majority of the week doing yard work.  We trimmed shrubs and trees, pulled weeds, spread mulch, cleaned up the pool area, potted flowers, organized the garage…whew!  Makes me tired just typing it.  Hudson was a HUGE help.  He could actually do most of the things we were doing and was super eager for his next job.  I always feel like being involved in stuff like this is so good for kids.  When we finished, he said how good it felt to have done all that work.

We had a pretty low key Easter here at the house.  We had gone to church on Friday night (which was a great decision!), so we were able to get up and lounge around a bit before the festivities began.  We had some family over for lunch and did an egg hunt.

Since we had eaten a nice, big lunch, we weren’t very hungry for dinner.  Nick and I enjoyed some leftovers, and the boys ate popcorn and goldfish for dinner while we watched The Peanuts Movie.  They have never gotten to just eat popcorn for dinner before, so they thought it was the greatest thing ever.

We went out for donuts and ran tons of errands on Monday.  And did more yard work.

On Tuesday, we had planned to go the zoo, but when we arrived the line was all the way out to the back parking lot.  I have NEVER seen that many people at the zoo.  Even Hudson said there was no way he was going in there.  We decided to head to Fannie Mae Park instead.  The Hobnecks met us there and the kids played for a long time.  We then walked down to The Dog of Nashville for some delicious hot dogs outside on the patio.  It was the perfect way to spend our day.

We also spent more time in the swing and hammock.  I told you it was our favorite 🙂  Hudson did some reading while I did some napping 🙂

We wrapped up our week with a road trip to Atlanta.  My sister was already there for a conference, so we drove down Thursday to meet her.   We went to Ikea Thursday afternoon/night and then went to the World of Coca-Cola on Friday.  We offered the zoo, aquarium, children’s museum, or World of Coca-Cola and the boys chose World of Coca-Cola.  We were all a bit surprised  with that choice, but we really enjoyed it.  We got to sample tons of beverages from around the world. (Never, ever drink a drink called “Beverly”.  Really.  It’s disgusting.)  We also got a small tour of the bottling process, saw pop Coke art, watched a 4D show, saw memorabilia, and got our picture with the polar bear.  It was a really neat place.

(Nick writing his Coca-Cola memoirs :))

I am sad to see spring break come to a close, but that also means we are that much closer to summer break!!!  It’s crazy how fast this school year has flown, but I am so glad that we will soon have lots more family time together!