Life Lately

It's THAT time of year again! Time to pack shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child!

To be honest, I can't even believe that Thanksgiving is less than a week away.

This year, it definitely snuck up on me!

 Packing or unpacking??

Zach fully understood what we were doing (packing toys for another child) but it was tough for him to let go of the matchbox cars that he's holding in his right hand. 😝

Whew! All packed and ready to be dropped off at church.

 He loves Play-doh!

I moustache you to go to bed, little man.

We were able to squeeze in taking our family pictures at this gorgeous location last weekend.

I can't wait to see them!

Zach has his very own Santa, quite literally. Mr. Francis (the 85 year old gentlemen whom we've befriended who works at Walmart) is always giving Zach stuffed animals. I'm not even kidding, we have about 8-10 stuffed animals to date, over the last year or so. On this particular day, Mr. Francis (who always sits by the front doors as a greeter) saw us checking out and bolted out the doors. Then we saw him frantically putting in dollar bills into the claw machine to try and win (yet another) stuffed animal for Zach.

We watched from behind but to no avail. He said, "Sorry, Zach, maybe next time." 

We said our goodbyes, packed up our groceries, and I started backing out of our parking spot.

Then we heard a knock on Zach's window. Sure enough, it was Mr. Francis. Even though I told him not to, he tried the claw machine AGAIN and this time, he won Santa. What a sweet man! 😄      

Helping Dad with maintenance around the house.

We managed to make a trip to the Living Desert and these three rode on a camel.

Zach loves all animals. Even stinky goats.

Although he was unsure of the lorikeets at first.

They were quite loud and aggressive so he wasn't sure what to make of them.

 After seeing the old black and white movie, "The Birds", birds sort of creep me out.
That's a nervous laugh I'm doing.

 Help! Morgan kept trying to torment me with the birds and they were landing all over us!

The flapping of their wings in my ear gives me the heebie-jeebies! 😱 

Faith was so calm. She was the bird whisperer and loved the experience.

 See what I mean?

 Grace was a bit unsure at first, too.

 After a second visit to the exhibit, she was more comfortable.

 Thank goodness I wore a hat!

Let's just say that Morgan got some souvenirs to take home with him. 😜 

Zach was more comfortable the second time around, too.

He loved feeding them nectar.

It was quite the experience!

It's Spider-Man!

Climbing everything.

One of the reasons I've been missing around the blog lately is because I've been working on the start of a new Orphan Care Ministry at my church. The launch date is December 3rd and we're making a video announcement at all 3 services this Sunday. Exciting stuff!!

The ministry is called One Less. I'll be sharing more about this soon but for now, this is the chicken scratch that Morgan drew for me when brainstorming ideas about the logo.

I'll share what it turned out to be in my next post!

So yeah, on top of normal, regular, everyday life (which is extra busy this year because of Speech & Debate for the girls and preschool with Zach), I'm starting a new (and much needed) ministry.

Please pray for me when you think of it. This is not my territory. I've been involved in many ministries but I'm out of my comfort zone and feel very inadequate about starting one. And yet, I've never been so sure of any other calling on my life. God has a plan and I'm feeling very much like this is my Esther moment.

I can't wait to see what He does, through me, and in spite of me.