one big happy

I’m sorry for the lack of posting friends.  We got back from our big Texas/Mississippi trip a couple of weeks ago and have had some cool/important things going on.  Also just trying to get back into the groove.

I do have lots more to share about our trip 🙂  Thanks to everyone who was praying for us!  We really are so incredibly blessed.

Last post was about the drive into the Lone Star State and getting to stay with our awesome friends in Iowa Park, TX.  The next stop on our three week tour was with an amazing family near Weatherford, TX.  These people know how to do family right!  Back in the day when Branden first graduated from high school, he moved from Denver to Kansas City and interned under this sweet couple doing children’s ministry.  That’s basically where it all started!  Now, 17 years later, they are still pouring into our lives and ministry – such a great blessing!

I really do mean it when I say that these folks know about family.  I’d actually thought for quite some time about what it might be like to stay in their home for a few days and just glean from their parenting/family raising wisdom.  So you can imagine how awesome it was when they opened their home to us during part of our trip!

Here are J & F, truly amazing people:

And here is their beautiful (and I mean that in EVERY way, seriously a good looking, big hearted lot of individuals!) family – all twelve of them!

Their oldest is 24, their youngest is 3 🙂

Our time with them was full of conversations about life and ministry, homeschooling around the kitchen table, and lots of playtime in and around their big, blue house.  And mealtimes were a lot of fun too 🙂

This is J and Branden, getting things done and talking about life.  Branden is so blessed by their relationship and so am I.  Part of what they helped us with was printing shirts on their t-shirt press!  Here, they’re making the screens before getting to the printing.

We stayed in their awesome camper during our time there 🙂

They also have some animals – chickens, ducks, bunnies and these sweet Havanese dogs that they breed!  The boys definitely enjoyed our time there.

Here  are half of their kids and all of ours!

Our boys especially loved hanging out with this guy – E is five years old, fitting perfectly between our 4 and 6 year olds.  They were inseparable!  One (of many) things that I’m excited about with this ministry, is that our kids will remember traveling and meeting people of all ages and backgrounds, and that they’ll build friendships with kids all over the country!

Thank you B family – for all your hospitality and for just continuing to be a blessing and example to us in family and ministry!