Restoration Ministries in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Well, as of 4:30 this morning Kyle and Adia, along with a team from our church, are headed to Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was hard to say good bye, for 12 days, but we are all willing to do it because we see what God is doing through Restoration Ministries for the people of Sao Paulo and through the lives of people who take the step to go on trips like this and have their eyes opened to so much more than you can see in the western bubble we live in. Kyle has worked so hard preparing to lead the team for this trip and I am so proud of all the effort he has given this. For those of you who are just checking this out to see what the prayer needs are I posted a few pictures from the trip last year so you can get a glimpse of what they are doing. Thank you for the prayers and for all the generous donations from so many!
When the team arrives they will head straight to Camp California, a camp the ministry owns but can not afford to run without teams coming and hosting the weekend. They bus in about 70 kids who have a chance to run, play, swim, feel loved and feel safe for a whole weekend with no worries! The theme of the weekend will be God Is Extreme! this year so all the lessons they teach will be geared around the x-game sports (God's love is extreme, God's word is extreme and God's followers are extreme).

From Camp CA they head back down to the city where they spend half the days visiting people in their homes who want prayer and want to share their story. It was a heart breaking experience for them last year as they met children in prostitution, single moms struggling to take care of their sick children and so much more. Also by the picture above you can see the living arrangements are awful and it can really make you think twice about our petty complaints when you realize how many people around the world live like this. Oh what we take for granted!!!

The other days of the week the team will spend time at day centers around Sao Paulo where kids know they can come for fun, love and snacks. They have a small lesson at these and then do crafts, play games and just love on the kids. This picture was from last year when Adia participated in skit. She will do the same this year. The topic they asked us to teach on is God's Love and what that is. The team will really try to hammer home the point that God's love is a free gift we can do nothing to earn and nothing to loose. A lot of these children have no concept of what unconditional love is and so it can be tricky trying to explain that.

Some of the other things the team will be doing are cooking the staff and church families an American Breakfast, teaching a Biblically based view on personal finances, painting a day center, teaching a painting class for some of the kids who have shown artistic talent and so much more.

Thank you for checking this out and for your prayer support. I look forward to updating on how it all went when they return April 7th.

There will be an update meeting on April 20th at 1 o'clock at Oak Hills Church in Folsom.

February Fun (this is long... sorry)

Avery's latest obsession is finding hidden picture books. She started with some Highlight magazines which prooved to be way too easy for her and has now finished all the I Spy books and 2 Where's Waldo's. I love this picture because she fell asleep doing her favorite thing and she happens to be wearing her favorite color.

This one is of Kenyon doing one of his favorite things... oh the joy of being a boy! I thought it would be easy to remove his hand after the picture but I was wrong. I'll save this for future blackmail.

This is what happens when you don't come the first time your son says "mom, I need your help". I guess Adison was really jealous of Kenyon's bath and she just couldn't wait to get her clothes off.

Getting ready for Valentine's Day. Anything with paint is always a hit!

Adison enjoying the park. She is way too cute huh?

Waiting for dad to get out of the shower so they can open the Valentine's Day gift from us.

Leaving for our V.day Party at the park.

We had a wonderful candle lit family dinner made with love for Daddy on Vday! We all had to go around the table and say one thing we love about each person it was tons of fun and really cute to hear what the kids had to say. The kids enjoyed having sparkling cider (or "spicy" as Avery calls it) and homemade lava cakes for dessert.

Here is our newest toy (a late b.day gift for Adia made for ages 8 and up). It looks innocent but this thing goes 10mph and is an accident waiting to happen. The funniest thing is that Kenyon is way too young for this and his hand isn't even big enough to reach the brake. He is also too light and everytime he takes off the thing does a wheelie. I haven't decided if it is funnier watching Kenyon on it or watching Kyle trying to catch him and keep him safe.

Family Fun

We enjoyed a quick visit with my wonderful cousin (more like a brother) OJ and his son Kolton/Trouble. Thanks for stopping by OJ and we look forward to seeing you in July. For those of you wondering where I am in the picture... somehow I was forced to take it instead of being in it. I'm so bummed.

Something New:
This is a picture of Monavie and all the fruits that are in it. Monavie is a juice that OJ's family spends mucho money on for all the amazing health benefits. Kyle already is in love with acai berry and that is the main ingredient. He left Kyle and I a bottle and we will report later if one month of 4oz a day has any noticable benefits for Kyle (I'm letting him have the whole bottle... aren't I nice?).

More Medical Issues!

Our family is turning into a medical joke and I just thought you all might find it interesting. I hate posts with no picture so I added some from a few weeks ago. Just to get your attention.

Here is the latest... Adison has her 7th ear infection in her 16 months of life. The Dr.'s want to put in tubes but I need to do some more research before we make any decisions on this. Kenyon is still trying to recover from pneumonia. Kenyon did recover from some hip virus that caused him to limp for a few days. I'm still struggling to accomplish anything in a day due to pregnancy, gal stones and a recent sinus infection. Kyle mentally has had it with all of us who can't seem to stay healthy. Adia and Avery are great and thank the Lord because I can't deal with any more appointments, co pays or sickness.

May the New Year bring you all better health than us!

Happy Birthday Jesus

Every Christmas Eve after we go to a a special church service our family loves to come home and have a birthday party for Jesus...

Let the Party begin!

(mom won't start until everyone has Christmas jammies on)

Kenyon broke the pinata (the donkey fit the theme and Kenyon said "we needed" a pinata for the party)

Everyone had fun playing pass the present and lucky little Avery won the prize!

Happy Birthday dear Jesus... Happy Birthday to you!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Dad's Are Fun

What would a weekend with dad be without someone getting hurt... I mean without having tons of fun!

Kyle must be thinking "Well I haven't hurt him yet so let's see if this will do it" at this point mom starts getting mad and all the bikes get put away. Mom sure knows how to ruin a good/unsafe time!

Dad stole Adia's bike so she had to borrow Avery's.

CRAZY Camera Moments

I love that every year we send out a picture of our kids all smiling and looking happy and nobody gets to hear what I'm saying to get such big smiles. Things like "Kenyon if you don't look at me you are going to get a spanking" or "Adia quit trying to help and just stay looking at me" or "Avery no you can not have a snack right now" or best of all "Hold Adison down. I don't care if she cries."

Here are a couple of our failed attempts this year:

Here are some cute shots that don't take so many threats since my kids LOVE to pose... if you are wondering how my kids turned out to be so in love with modeling that would have to come from Stacey and Kyle's sister's influence. So not something I passed on to them!