Have You Herd about Free Chick-fil-A?

In case you missed it, please vote for our picture!
We dressed up as cows for CFA Cow Appreciation Day, July 10.
We were traveling from Alabama to North Carolina that day and stopped to get free food for breakfast and lunch. Look at that tray FULL of free food--just for being silly!
I previously posted just one picture of our cute cows. I finally downloaded all the photos off my second camera, my point and shoot, and found these cute shots.
In return for seeing such cute kiddos, would you please do us a favor and VOTE FOR OUR PHOTO in the CFA contest we entered. AND, would you please email at least 5 people with the link and ask them to vote? I know that if everyone who voted would get 5 more people to vote, we could be in the top 20.
We would love more free Chick-fil-A food. Please help us out!

Back in The Big D

We arrived safely back in Texas on Tuesday night...a week ago now. It took me a few days to get my bearings and get back into the routine of life at home. I had no idea a two week trip would throw me off so much. I think it was a combination of the traveling, being sick, and finally getting to see my family after a year and a half!

This will be a random post (as if they all aren't random).

I entered our kids in the Chick-fil-A photo contest associated with Cow Appreciation Day. Please, please vote for our photo. Go one step further and email some friends and ask them to vote for us too, please. We need lots and lots of votes to win. Win? Yep...we win goodies if we're a finalist photo and even more goodies if we're the top photo. Stuff like free food and a savings bond. Click the link here and enter your info. You have to submit a name and email address then confirm when you get an email. It's simple, quick, and would be much appreciated.

On another note, my mom is leaving this evening after being here for a month. We've enjoyed our time with her very much. The kids love when Nana reads to them or plays something silly. The other night we had a nice water fight in the back yard with buckets, water guns, and the hose.
The last of this random post...embarrassing pictures. I got my hair cut. I've been growing it for a while--say for 2 years maybe. I kept cutting it to try and keep some sort of style as it was growing. Now that it's finally longer, I can't do anything with it. I've discovered I don't like wearing it up much and it's so hot. It takes forever to dry and straighten and still doesn't look that good when it's done. So, I went shorter. I'm only posting this because I found it incredibly helpful to find some blogs with before/after shots when I was searching for styles. So, I thought (though the pictures are not very good), it would be fun to post before/after shots here too. She cut it shorter than what I was aiming for, but it will grow. I imagine I'll like the length in another month or so. And, I really didn't want the layers around my face, but they'll grow too. Overall, it's got more shape and I think I'll like it. What do you think?

^ Before

^ AfterThe picture I took with me.
(Overall, her hair is longer, so my stylist cut it too short.
But, my stylist also cut layers on the side of my face
and I don't like that. Next time...we'll just keep the sides longer.
Plus, I need to figure out how to style it. I just did it yesterday.)

Fun with Family

Some random pictures of our trip...

Megan with her sister, Margaret

Jenna and Allie, Megan's niece, look at a photo book

Allie has the most beautiful blue eyes

Charlotte (Megan's niece) stops momentarily for a sweet (and very rare) pose

Nana/Grammy (Megan's mom) poses with her grandbabies

Rylee and Jenna with their Aunt Mar-Mar

Jenna, Asa, and Rylee with Grandma Oakley (their great grandma)

dressed up as cows for CFA's Cow Appreciation Day

We enjoyed some time at the beach on Friday. The kids loved the sand and waves.

A stomach virus has been giving us some grief the last few days. It looks like we're on the mend, but we would appreciate prayers for good health as we wrap up our time in NC. We will head back to Texas on Monday.

We will be sharing at Calvary Chapel Jacksonville tomorrow and would appreciate prayers for our time there, as well.

Visiting the Southern States

Our long drives to visit family have gone well thus far. We arrived safely to Alabama to visit Ron and enjoyed spending time with him. The kids just love Uncle Ron to pieces.

We had a full day of driving from Alabama to North Carolina on Friday. It just happened to be Chick-fil-A's Cow Appreciation Day, as well. CFA gives away a free entree to anyone wearing cow apparel or accessories and a free meal to anyone dressed head to toe in cow. So, Mom, the kids and I all dressed as cows. I made little faces for us to wear and we added spots to our clothing. We enjoyed a free breakfast in Opelika, Alabama and a free lunch in Augusta, Georgia.

We've been enjoying our time in North Carolina. The kids have had a blast playing with their cousins, Allie and Charlotte. They also got to see my cousin's children for a short bit on Tuesday. We've been swimming, jumping on a trampoline, and riding the golf cart.

I can't seem to make the pictures work, so this short post has the following (from the top): visiting Heather & her boys in Wilmington, Asa & Jenna jumping off the diving board at Uncle Bobby & Aunt Linda's, Rylee twirling as she jumps off the board, and Asa with Ron.

We appreciate your continued prayers that our trip is safe (accidents can happen even when you aren't driving long days!), that we can raise additional support, and that we will just enjoy this time together with our family!

On The Road

We are on the road this month. We (Megan, her mom, and the kids) left Texas on Tuesday and headed to Louisiana. We spent the afternoon and evening with Megan's aunt and uncle and enjoyed amazing food and good fellowship. We love Aunt Linda and Uncle Bud and hope to spend more time with them now that we live so close.

We left Louisiana early, early Wednesday morning and drove to Alabama, where Megan's brother lives. We are spending today (Thu) with Ron and will leave early, early Friday morning to drive to North Carolina.

Megan will share at Warsaw Baptist Church on Sunday (July 12) during Sunday school and in the worship service. (If you live near Warsaw, NC come join us on Sunday at 9:45 am in Powell Hall.)

Megan and the kids will spend the week hanging out with family--playing, swimming, laughing, talking. The kids are really excited to see their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Joel will fly to join the family on Thursday. I'm sure the kids will be happy to see him by then! We will share at Calvary Chapel Jacksonville on Sunday (July 19).

We will all load into the van again on July 20 and spend two days driving back to Texas.

If you will be nearby, we would love to see you while we're in NC. We hope to visit with as many people as possible to enjoy fellowship and share about all God's doing in our lives and in Asia.

We would appreciate prayer for our trip. Please pray as the Lord leads. Here are some specific requests we have:

-safe travels (no car problems, happy traveling toddlers)

-be a blessing wherever we go (bringing laughter, joy, and fun)

-good times of sharing about GFA and our calling (at the 2 churches and with individuals)

-raise additional monthly support for our family (we are close to full support, but need additional partners to commit to consistent giving)

Join us in praising God for some amazing provisions--our kids did very well in the car to Louisiana and then to Alabama (12 hours in the car!). Megan's mom arrived safely and will be staying with us for the entire month! Both churches in NC welcomed us to share this month!

God is so good.

*We hope to post some pics soon.

Blog Makeover Maybe

My friend Beth is offering to help makeover someone's blog. I've entered to win. She has a really cute new look that you can see here.
Beth is a sweet sister who has two adorable kiddos and writes really well. Her stuff is entertaining and informative. It's fun to learn new things about your friends as they blog about their everyday life. Go check out her blog.

*you might be wondering why there's a picture of wheat. i like wheat. i like the symbolism of wheat. i've always liked it, but the other day i realized that it was something i integrated into our marriage from before i knew i liked it so much. on our wedding day, joel and i took pictures in a wheat field. we didn't ask permission b/c we had no clue who to ask. i saw the idea in a magazine and thought it was neat. turns out, our very dear friends own the field and saw us taking pictures as they drove to our reception. that made it doubly cool. and, those wheat pictures are some of my favorites. so...i think i'd like to possibly incorporate wheat into the design of our blog. but, maybe not. this is a cool wheat picture anyway.

Summer Visits

Friends and supporters of ours came by for a brief overnight visit last month (can you believe it's July now?!).

Nate & Terri were a hit with our kiddos. They were sad to see them leave.
Joel and Nate have been friends since they were children. It's such a blessing to now be doing ministry with one another. We enjoyed some good meals together, and Joel gave them a tour of the GFA office. I was able to steal a few minutes of Terri's time to get some Photoshop tips. She's a very talented artist.
Nate & Terri, thanks for taking time to come see us. Come back soon!