Guest Writer

My name is Ally. My mom, asked me to write a little "exciting paragraph" from my trip. 32 people from my youth group recently got back from an amazing trip to Tijuana, Mexico. On July 12th, we flew down to San Diego, spent the day on the beach, then drove down across the border. Sunday morning, we immediately met our families and got to work. This wasn't the type of work I had ever done before. I had gone to Mexico three previous times, but my work then was mainly focused on children or women. Now, I was solely working construction. If you try to imagine 32 high school teenagers trying to build a house, you never would have thought how hard we all actually would work. We were split into two groups, and each group made one full, complete house - from nothing to being lived in. We had four work days, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to finish the task. The house I worked on was going to be lived in by a recently divorced man, who had a child he was never able to see. Before we came down, he was living with his parents and brothers in a small, two room house - barely big enough for them. Our team, laid cement, built 7 walls, put a roof up and tarred it, and gave the house a stucco finish. Both teams successfully completed each house. Our team was very connected, and we worked together well, in a very encouraging way. It was amazing to see how big of an influence our group had been. On previous trips, you would only be able to lay the seed and hope something comes from it. On this trip, we saw the actual planted there. A week after our group left, there was a follow-up meeting with the man living in the house and a local pastor, telling the man that our group of kids went down to help him out, using the love of Christ. We just wanted to show him love and compassion for everything going on in his life, by giving him something we were able to give. This was one of the best trips I have ever been on. God was working in Mexico.

Who is in Control...the big picture

Yesterday my son went flying with one of his best friends. It's hard to believe but his friend Chris got his pilots license this week. I have to admit, I still remember Chris as a young boy so the thought of flying with him or even having Loren fly with him is rather scary.

When I saw some of the pictures they took my first thought was... look at all those controls, oh my goodness. It reminded me of my life and who is sitting at my control panel.

Sometimes its hard, sometimes very hard to give up our control. I have to admit that sometimes I try to take over, I try to make God my co-pilot. But when I think of all those buttons and knobs, I really dont want to be in control. God knows which buttons to push and which knobs to turn, He can keep me heading in the right direction. He is my pilot, I am so glad that He is in control!


The other thing that I saw was some awesome photos of our house, our subdivision and our city. They really made me think of how different things are when we see the "big picture." God has our picture, sometimes I want to see so much more of it than I get to. Sometimes I truly think I forget its even there. You know the times, the times when He says NO, or when He sends us bad news or bad situations into our lives. Its easy to forget there are reasons and that God does have the big picture. I can't wait to see the BIG PICTURE and how God has weaved all the days of my life together.

The Fireworks!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

My siesta weekend

What a great weekend we had. My SIL, Sister in Christ, Siesta, Friend.......Angie Baylis came over for the weekend and we had a great time! It was a last minute trip that went off better than any well planned vacation!

We ate at a couple of hole-in-the wall type restaurants you know the ones...not much to look at but they have the best omelets in town and the waitress' who have been there for 20 plus years!
Or the famous Boat House, which sits on the river, has outdoor seating and a great Friday Fish Fry.

We relaxed by the pool and played a golf scramble with my husband and son and then had a relaxing late afternoon with drinks and a card game while we waited to order our dinner. We even got in some shopping, with a great purchase from J Crew.

We even spent time blogging with each other and Angie showed me little tricks she has learned with her blog, and she even set me up with a gmail account!

But the best part of the weekend was the fellowship of family. How blessed we are to have such a wonderful family and to truly enjoy spending time with them!

Thanks so much for coming over Ang! I had a great time being with my siesta!

Criminal Justice?????

This is what happens when your Uncle finishes his first year at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee with a Criminal Justice major. Christian absolutely adores his Uncle Loren...and this is their new game for the summer, which he absolutely loves. The offense this time was "stealing" a box of crackers from his Uncle! Im afraid before the summer is over they'll be singing ... "bad boys, bad boys...whatcha gonna do." It seems there's a fun, crazy Uncle in every family.....here's proof of ours!

Cousins

My niece Megan and my daughter Ally!