"Thanks Mom"

"Thanks Mom!!"  

For so many things!  My sister says it better than I ever could over here thewrightstuffforus .  (Thanks for putting it into words so well, Gretch.)  

And thank you for teaching me how to be Mom to them...

And wife to him...

Without your example I would have even more blunders in these roles.  You are my go to when its time to celebrate or cry.  When the girls have victories you celebrate with us like few others.  When we hit a road bump you pray life few others.  AND when I call and ask you for three straight weeks of your summer and mile upon mile of travel because we have these crazy adventures in the works you answer "yes" without flinching!

I love you more than you know Mom! 

(And by the way, be prepared for me to have more some, any pictures of you and me together.  I have none?!?)

This Smile... A Year in the Making!!

 Though it is a bit fuzzy when cropped to this size, this smile will remain crisp in my mind!
One year ago my sweet Haleigh took on challenge of becoming a "Memory Master."  Hours and hours we poured over the twenty-four weeks of material.  It was a crazy weekend leading up to the testing with Sophie's Artios play, food prep for the cast during practices and plays, and lots more.  There are many excuses I could use but in the end Haleigh did not become a Memory Master.  (Becoming a Memory Master mean mastering all twenty-four weeks of material, recalling it all without prompts or missing any of the facts.  And there are LOTS of facts.  Its an all or nothing test.)  It was crushing to her, to me. Or was it?  In that moment of as she cried and felt the disappointment my heart broke.  When we got home she had me quiz her on each piece of information that she had missed.  Then we celebrated her hard work by getting her ears pierced.

Fast forward to the start of co-op 2014 - 2015 and Haleigh decided this year she WAS going attain the goal she fell a bit short of the past year.  We tried to stay on top of the material throughout the year.  We worked hard and put in the hours and hours of work memorizing the Latin, the states, the trails, the geometry formulas, the irregular verb conjugations, and on and on.  We were on track, feeling good about the end goal when WHAM!  Haleigh and Mark came down with the flu, allergies flooded her, frustration and worry flooded me.

The weekend leading up to the test was less than fun.  We proofed (covering all the material in one sitting) the three times we were supposed to proof but it was not pretty.  The reminder that she did not have to test was discussed, but she was adamant that she wanted to do this.  She had to know she could!  (Even though just weeks after she had tested last year we found she has some learning challenges that would give her every reason to not expect herself to reach this high goal she had set.)

I wanted to shield her, what if she couldn't do it?  I watched her at the closing of co-op last year as she fought back the tears hard as the list of Memory Masters was announced and she was not on it.
BUT, last Monday morning she woke early, reviewed all the material one more time, and we headed to the test.  I couldn't eat, I was a mess as I proofed other students.  She was taking it all in stride.  I wanted to cushion the testing because I felt there was reason to lower the bar for her just a bit.  But God kept pushing me out of the way whispering, "When she gets it you will not doubt that she reached that bar at its highest point."

 As I peeked through the window and got a thumbs up from her proofer I was sweating.  Mark was texting often to see how things were going and why on earth it was taking so long.  This testing that started at 9:00 was finally over at 2:00 with one proud Memory Master and one Mama over the moon with excitement, thankfulness, joy and another lesson from The One who loves her even more than I do!!

This past Thursday was our "Closing Ceremony" for co-op.  When the part of the night came and our dear director was about to announce the Memory Masters I am not sure which of us was closer to bursting!  Haleigh was beaming as she lined up with the others who had reached the goal.  

She did it!!  Memory Master 2015!

A friend once told me, "The more you trust God, the more you will love God."  Over and over God has asked me to trust Him with my Haleigh and oh how He has been faithful and oh how I love Him!

and we're back....

hello!

I can't believe it has almost been a year since I fell off the blogging wagon.  It was a sudden stop mid Mexico trip update when life honestly just overwhelmed me.  We had a few bumps along the road last summer and I had to let something drop.  BUT, God is faithful.  He has continued to carry us through the bumps while bringing us closer to Him.  Now as He is calling us to step into one exciting summer we are gathering up our prayer warriors and rebooting the blog to relay prayer requests and trip updates (as well as some day to day moments.)

Here is a bit of an intro to what's ahead...

Dear Friends and Family, 

Summer is quickly approaching, and as we anticipate warmer days and a slower pace, we are also excited about upcoming mission opportunities. The purpose of this letter is to share with you our next steps in this journey.

As many of you know, last summer Mark, Sophie and I traveled with twenty-nine others from our church to partner with Back2Back ministries in Monterrey, Mexico. Many of you partnered with us in both prayer and support, and for that we are eternally grateful. Through this trip, we learned that Back2Back is an amazing ministry dedicated to serving orphans and their caregivers by showing them tangible examples of Christ’s love. Just a few of the many examples are how Back2Back (along with  strong partnership) provides psychologists and tutors for the  children to help them overcome some of the monumental deficits from their already tough circumstances.  Since bringing on the psychologist at the orphanage we visited, six children and their families have been reunited after months of working specifically to educate these parents on the importance of parental support and family structure.  They have helped these families shuffle work schedules and reach out to extended family for assistance to give these children the stability that family can provide.  (You can see more of what Back2Back is about by visiting Back2Back.org.)

This year, God is leading our family on numerous short-term mission trips. He is leading Mark and I to visit our longtime friends who are now long-term missionaries overseas with a population unreached by the gospel, He is leading Mark and Suzann (my mom) back to Barranquilla, Colombia with E3Partners- this year Sophie will be going alongside, also He is leading me back to Monterrey. However, this time I will have a new “traveling buddy.” Yes, Haleigh will have her first opportunity to serve God outside of the US. Our self-professed future missionary will have the opportunity to live out her favorite Bible verse, Acts 1:8, “… and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  

This year’s trip (June 13 - 19) to Back2Back looks incredibly different from last year’s.  First, Mark will not be going, and this alone puts me way out of my comfort zone.  Second, the close-knit women from our community group will also be staying home, so that their husbands can find out first hand what God is doing in Monterrey. We are eager to see how this further evolves our community group dynamic. And finally, our Back2Back trip is only one week after returning from our overseas trip.  SO, we need your prayers!!!

Please know that each of you are precious friends and family and we covet your prayers. In fact, as the trips draws closer, we would like to send you specific prayer requests. Also, we would like to commit to better partner with you by sharing our experiences of how God is using our feet on foreign ground with your prayers backing us to be part of His story. I will be restarting our family blog… neveradullmomentcall.blogspot.com to allow for timely prayer requests and updates.  Also you can send me an email if would would prefer email updates (call619@att.net.)

Finally, IF and only IF, you feel God’s leading you to help support this cause financially, you can send a check to Fellowship Greenville with “Call Back2Back” on the memo line to Fellowship Greenville, 3161 S Highway 14 Greenville, SC 29615-5906.

Thank you in advance for your prayers and love!  We look forward to updating you on the blessings you will be part of!!

the how and who of our trip

 At our church one Sunday morning last fall,  several "Go Journey Teams" had tables set up to let folks know about the different mission trips planned throughout the next year and to invite anyone interested to gather more information.  A dear friend of mine had been on a trip to Mexico with Back2Back Ministries and couldn't say enough great things about the organization.  Based on her and her husband's experiences the church had explored the option and decided to partner with Back2Back for an upcoming trip.  Mark and I were manning the Faith@Home Center just down the way from all the tables and I mentioned to Mark that we should consider going on this Mexico trip.  Perhaps scope it out and see if it would be a possible trip for us to embark on as a family.  All of the sudden he disappeared.  Then he was back, "Ok, we're signed up and I've requested the days off work."

"WAIT! WHAT?! We're signed up for what?"

In the conversations that followed I found out Mark had been praying for my next mission trip.  Our Cali, Colombia trip with E3 was several pages ago on the calendar at this point and he didn't want me to get too far away from the experience and forget the amazing way God uses, refreshes and renews when you step out of your comfort zone and go on mission with Him.  Over the next few months the team was shaped, information was given, funds were raised and needed items were gathered and packed.  We were off...

 Oh yea, when I said "we" were off,  that we included Sophie.  It turns out several kiddos were going on this trip.  So instead of a trip to see if this could be a step toward our "family on mission" dream, it was our first step into that dream.  Not the whole family yet, but one step closer for sure.

 The "we" also included 28 others.  Now that's a lot of folks to take a trip together.  Some in this group I honestly didn't get their names to stick in my brain until we were headed out of Greenville.  Many of these sweet faces I have had the privilege of living in community with for several years. Then there are the faces I knew, but  I didn't know the stories that went along with them.

So, that is the how we ended up on this trip and the who that made up the team.  That was the easy part.  What did I learn on this trip and experience?  That is a little harder to wrap up into one or two posts, but that is what I'll try to do...

So... What Have We Been UpTo Lately??

 Time is flying and I keep wondering what we've been doing that continues to allow my "to do list" to grow faster by the day without allowing me time to mark much off as being complete.  Here is a picture drop of my excuses.  

This one isn't really a good excuse because it was a Daddy date!  I skipped out on the excitement of Comicon to have a little me time (I did spend it sorting in the school room.)

 Next, came one of our favorite weekends of the year, Memorial Day!  I couldn't wish to spend this long weekend any other way.  Our community group set out for our second annual retreat:  waterfall hiking, kickball, gaga ball, lake time, smores, worship and really lots of sweet time together just being!!

(I hope to get an extended blog on that soon.  I have so many sweet pictures of this precious time.)

 After finishing The Secret Garden, one of our favorite books of the year, I couldn't take it any longer, we needed to get our hands in some dirt and plant some flowers.  Each of the girls claimed a "piece of earth" and their hearts could not have been more full!

 Simple Times Farm, was our last field trip of the school year.  Oh it was a fun day full of hayrides, candle making, washing laundry as they would have before our modern conveniences.  We even made our own butter, from the milk of the cow we actually got to milk.  (Perhaps another upcoming post.)

 Haleigh and Mackenzie each completed their first full Suzuki piano book.  They worked hard in preparation for their book recital where we had special guests of all the grandparents.  Both girls did an amazing job playing all their pieces and Sophie performed a beautiful piece on her violin.  Following the recital we all had a great dinner and precious time visiting together.

 The day after the big recital, Mackenzie and Haleigh headed to West Virginia with Grandma and Poppy. Two days after Mark, Sophie and I headed out on a big trip with this amazing group of folks from our church.  Where were we headed?  Monterrey, Mexico to partner with Back2Back Ministries.  To say the trip was amazing would be an understatement for sure!!

Since we all returned home we have had a full week of swimming lessons.  Sophie attended Artios Outpost camp with lots of sweet friends.

Mixed in with all that have been just regular summer moments, tackling summer projects when we can...

 and enjoying lots and lots of sweet sister time!!

Now that we are about a month out from our Mexico trip you would think I have settled in my mind all that was stirred by our trip.  Not. At. All!!  I am still processing lots, digging in to seek what I am supposed to do with so much new insight, and most of all this feeling that God is calling me, us, to more.  I hope the next posts of this blog will pop up within the next week as I sort through some of it.  Mostly I need to remember all God put in front of us throughout the week and all the challenges He is laying before us now that we are home...

Happy 4th!!

Hoping your 4th is dripping with fun, family and a heart full of thankfulness!

The Small Grab

Its funny how some random small thing can just grab your heart.  

As I was in our schoolroom I came across this page from one of the test prep books we used to prepare little minds to focus and little fingers to fill in bubbles.  I hadn't seen this page in detail until alone one evening sorting.  It grabbed my heart in such a way it brought tears to my eyes (much to my surprise!)  That our home is her school and that I have the privilege of being teacher and Mom, that reality pushed my heart toward gratitude and forced me to look back over the year.  We have learned things that are easy and tough.  We have struggled to push through hard learning days and hard life lessons.  We have cried when falling short of goals and celebrated victories when goals were not just reached but surpassed. 

Its been a year, like every other, with unexpected curves but we got to take them together and for that my heart is so incredibly thankful!!