First, because we are so excited about how the Lord is moving and leading people to join our monthly ministry team, here is an update:  We are at 88.4% of our goal – this means we are only 6.6% short of going to NYC to find housing and 11.6% short of moving!  This is huge and we are so thankful for how the Lord is working!

We have been having TONS of appointments, but, we have also been trying to have lots of fun when we aren’t meeting and visiting with people.  Here is a view of the fun things in our week:

1.  Fishing with Pop-Pop and Gammy – The kids love fishing so they finally convinced Pop-Pop to take them in his pond.  They all caught 1 or 2 fish and by the time the worms were gone, they were done, too 🙂  Kinsley was so sad that she didn’t have her “fishing” hat as it is in storage in NYC, so she just had to borrow one of Gammy’s.

2.  The girls have been begging to play putt-putt and we have been waiting for the right time to take them – not too hot, not raining, and having someone to watch Blake for us because we were not going to take him to play (from hitting people with clubs to jumping in the water to losing multiple balls…the possibilities of the trouble Blake could get in are endless).  We had a night with no appointments, so we took the girls out for dinner and then headed to play.

I have to say…it was fun and funny…all in one.  Emerson got a blister on her foot (hence the one shoe in the picture), she didn’t know how to hit the club but refused to have help because she was so good and knew just how to do it, and both girls kept picking up the ball to make it go where they wanted.  Kinsley was actually pretty good but Emerson…bless her heart…she hit the ball in ways I never knew you could.  Needless to say, our decision to not keep score was a good one 🙂

3.  Because we aren’t exactly sure when we are moving, we went ahead and started homeschooling the girls.  When we move, we will decide whether to go ahead and enroll them, finish out the year or semester, or do something different altogether.  So, we went ahead and started school with the girls!  Emerson is doing preschool using the same material I used with Kinsley and Kinsley is starting 1st grade using My Father’s World.  So far, so good!

One thing I do like about this is the fact that I am learning tons of things along with them.  For instance, I don’t care that much for science but one of the best things about My Father’s World is that not only do they focus on science and have lessons and experiments to do, but they have one day a week solely dedicated to getting outside and discovering the world and learning from things around us.  This week, we learned about ants, moles, soil, worms, slugs, snails, and fish.  So, on our science day, we did an experiment with honey soaked bread near an ant hill AND we scored by finding a HUGE spider that was many colors and so neat! Ok, ok…my mom found the spider and caught it in a jar as I wasn’t that brave…but the girls loved watching it for a while before we let it go. And, they had fun getting dirty while looking for moles in mole holes.  First week and no breakdowns…that is success to me.

4.  I grew up dealing with hurricanes and riding them out.  Truth be told, they were always fun for me because I love the unknown of where it will make landfill and it was always a time that our family got to play games and stay inside together and play…most often by candle light.  Yes, I know all the other bad things that come with it and have experienced those as well, but I have fond memories of sleeping in hallways with cousins because the weather was so bad.  That being said, Hurricane Hermine touched down in Florida and then crept up the coast as a tropical storm.

While we mostly got rain and wind, we prepared by making sure we had our favorite foods, picking up lots of rainy day activities for the girls (thank you dollar store!), and having my Granny come join us for the day.  I wanted to make sure my girls had fun memories of hurricanes and tropical storms like I did.  So, we have had a full day…from driving in the nastiness to get Granny from across town to letting the kids play in the rain because they had already gotten soaked just going from the car to the house to riding the rollercoaster in the house to making glow in the dark sand art.  Yes, its been busy.  Here are a few fun pictures of our day.

Thank you for your prayers for our family as we seek to enjoy life in the middle of this transition.  We are excited to see how the Lord continues to provide for our family and paves a way for us to share about Jesus with students and people in NYC.