THAT Class Scavenger Hunt

Last night, our Life Group/Sunday School class had our quarterly fellowship. We decided to have a scavenger hunt & then eat "breakfast for supper!"

My friend, Penny, and I came up with the idea this summer while we were spending the week as counselors at Kidz Kamp. The children had a scavenger hunt to find God's promises each day. They gave us clues as riddles & we had to search the camp grounds to find them. Most of the sponsors enjoyed the scavenger hunt as much as the kids, so we decided that would have to be our next fellowship!

And we predicted correctly...they were SOOOO competitive! We decided to have 3 of our most competitive couples be team leaders so they could add to that competitive spirit!

The teams received their first clue & they were OFF! At each destination, they had to take a certain picture & email it back to us at the church to "prove" they were there. They also had to write down God's promise that we left at each place. Then, they opened their colored envelope to get their next clue.

It was so much fun to get their pictures & see them actually finding our clues & enjoying themselves!

Their last clue led them back to the church & we enjoyed a breakfast feast! To end the evening, we had box folding session to get ready for Operation Christmas Child.

Thank you, Missy, Nancy, & Grant, for helping us by watching our children!

I was really proud of my husband for creating the clues...he's pretty clever. And Penny came up with the picture ideas...they were great too!

Here are a few of the clues...

1. Go to the place where the teens like to roll. It's under the horizontal slats where parents sit in the shade. Where is it?

2. Drive the route that passes the sod on which the Tigers play. Continue past the sharp curve to the heavenly city. Go to the place where men launch their barques. Where is it?

3. Drive toward the city where stands the dihydrogen monoxide tank with an image of the man of Troy. Pull into the haven of rest between the asphalt ribbons en route. Where is it?

4. Go to the storehouse of food whose name contains a stream. It will be on the aisle with the Jewish bread treats. Where is it?

5. The gold & black letter arose this summer. Go to the seats under the PA. Where is it?

6. Head east on the highway whose number is prime. Turn right at the business who rules the air in this "country." Where is it?

(See the comments section for answers.)

Gotcha Day!

A dear friend of mine, Monica, told me about "Gotcha Day" when she adopted her two children from Christian Homes several years ago. She told us that it's a good way to explain to their children how they were adopted and got to bring them home. We have always talked about how that would be a good tradition to begin in our family but it seems that each year we get too busy and forget to celebrate. Well, this year was different. Because Ethan is 4 now, we decided it's time to start the tradition and make "Gotcha Day" special, so he can understand what a miracle he is!

We were able to be at the hospital when Ethan was born, but he was not legally ours for 48 hours after he was born. Those two days were the most difficult because the birth mom has the right to change her mind during that time. We were fortunate to have a few hours on the evening that he was born, but the second day we didn't even get to hold him. We only got to see him for a very few minutes in the hospital as we met his birth mom's mom & grandma. That was an extremely difficult time. Then, on September 7 (Thursday afternoon) at 3:51 pm, he legally became our son! We got to take him home from the Abilene Hospital!

It was such an exciting time! My heart stills beats a little faster when I think about the entire LONG 16-month process. He is such an answer to prayer. It's so neat to see how God worked everything out just perfectly even though we couldn't see that through some of the tough times of that process...like another birth mom choosing us, meeting us, the church giving us a baby shower, and then having her change her mind and keeping her baby. However, God knew Ethan was meant for us and if we had adopted the other baby, we would not have Ethan! It's so much easier to be on this side of the trial, isn't it?

So we celebrated Gotcha Day with sweet Ethan last week. We used the top of Ethan's birthday cake and he got to blow out another candle and open another gift. We had a wonderful time celebrating the day we "Got him!"

We love you so much, Ethan Daniel! You bring a smile to each of our faces every single day!

Memory Verse #18

Evan & I are still working on Romans 12...we're going to work on verses 6-8 for the rest of this month. It has been a good topic of conversation to explain to Evan about spiritual gifts and how we need to do whatever God has gifted us to do with all our might and use it for His glory!

Romans 12:6-8 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

My Baby Turns FOUR!

Time passes so quickly...it seems like just a few days ago we were in Abilene waiting for Ethan to be born. And now he turned FOUR YEARS OLD on Sunday! He is such a bundle of life and has such a vivid imagination. He has the brightest blue eyes and can make the cutest faces when he's in trouble (and when he's not...it just makes it harder to discipline him when he is so cute).

We were so blessed to have our entire family come and visit us for the weekend to celebrate his birthday. I don't think I could have made it so special without them. And Ethan also got to celebrate his birthday with a bunch of his friends from church. Daddy was great to grill hamburgers & hot dogs for everyone as we enjoyed the nice air conditioning. :) Big Brother Evan was a great ring leader for the kids...he later told me that he did not want to ever be a clown for birthday parties because all of the kids would beat up on him and tackle him like they did at the party. He had a blast though! He is so proud of his little brother.

Ethan requested a frog cake (specifically a leap frog cake but then he found an example of a stacked cake that he wanted because it was the "tallest mountain")...it was the most difficult one I've attempted so far but we were pretty pleased.

We wanted him to have a very special day. And we think he did. We'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story. (And I can't figure out on this new layout how to space them out so I can write captions. So...now your imagination will have to kick in. :) Or you can comment & I'll write back. :))

I'm Having Fun

I am really enjoying the practice I'm getting with making cakes lately! This week I'm working on Ethan's birthday cake. Of course, he chose the most difficult cake I've ever made...a 3 tiered frog cake.

It's my fault. I found several frog cake ideas because he wanted a "Leap Frog" cake (which is NOT the popular item this year). I printed them out and asked him to pick one...never did I think he'd pick the "tallest mountain" (his words). So I'm experimenting with creating frogs, lily pads, cat tails, and rocks with a homemade modeling chocolate recipe I found.

It only took me about 1 1/2 hours to create the first 2 frogs but then I started getting a tad bit faster. :) Here are some of my creations so far.

Stayed tuned for the final creation...his birthday is Sunday, so it won't be long! :)

Memory Verse #17

It seems that all I've had time to do with this blog lately is post my memory verses. I am going to get back into it more regularly but life has been super busy this summer. I'll have to post my "SumMER SumMERy" soon.

So here are my verses. I'm going to work on memorizing Romans 12 with Evan. He has to do this his Fit to Serve class. He has to memorize 1 or 2 verses each week. So here's what I have for this time. (I already memorized Romans 12:1-2 when I was younger and Romans 12:3 was one from last year, so I'm just polishing up on those.)

Romans 12:1-5 (NIV)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy & pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

For by the grace given me I say to everyone of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Memory Verses #15 & #16

OK, so I've haven't posted anything in a month & even then it was only my memory verses. I guess the summer has been pretty busy & then my computer has been dying a slow & painful death because a virus has been attacking it. It makes me not want to get on here much at all...my brother, the computer guru, even said my dear computer might not make it until Christmas!

So...I'm hoping to update you soon on some fun & festive times we've had this summer, but for now I'm just going to post my verses & head to bed.

Memory Verse #15

Jeremiah 29:11-13
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart."

(Verse 11 has been one of my favorites for over 20 years when my friend, Pam, shared it with me, but I decided the next 2 verses are pretty special too. I need to commit them to memory as well.)

Memory Verse #16

3 John 1:4
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

(I read this verse during my quiet time this morning and thought, "that is my hope & prayer for my boys!" I need to keep this in the forefront of my mind so that in whatever we do, we try to teach them God's truths.)