Summer Vacation

We have just recently returned from our Summer Family Vacation, and I must say that Ben did a good job planning! He took the responsibility very seriously, and I likened him to Clark Griswald from "National Lampoon's" - he made sure we all had a good time and we didn't have to tie Granny to the top of the station wagon!

The first night we stayed in Chattanooga at the official Choo-Choo Hotel and Curry loved it! We played downtown in a park and road the Tennessee Valley Railroad - and Curry loved that, too! We left Chattanooga and headed to the Deep Creek Campground in Bryson City, North Carolina. Yes, we camped with two little and yes, we had a great time. It was wonderful being in the outdoors and even more wonderful not sweating! We played in the creeks, Ben and Curry took a "waterfall shower", and cooked spaghetti. It was great!

We played in downtown Bryson City and found a book store that carried the most Thomas stuff I have ever seen in one store! The boys went crazy and played their little hearts out. We left Bryson City heading to the Cataloochee Area of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Let me just say that you would not accidentally stumble across this area! We drove 7 miles up a curvy, moutain road that a lady at the park described as "unimproved road". In Mississippi, we call this a dirt road! The drive was well worth it. We loved the area and saw elk, a rabbit, an owl, deer, and turkey!

We left Cataloochee, a little unwillingly, but we headed to Bulls Gap, TN to see Aunt Nee-Nee and Uncle John. A good time was had by all as we played, went to a waterpark, shopped at K-Mart (I love K-Mart!) and caught lightning bugs (thanks, Uncle John!). Our favortie day was spent on top of Max Patch, a bald that lies along the Appalachian Trial. It was beautiful and Curry got to fly his first kite, which Uncle John and Ben got to rescue! We had a great week of rest and enjoying God's creation - we serve a mighty, creative God!

VBS 2009

Birthday Time Already?

This weekend we celebrated Cade's 1st Birthday. Wow, how this year has flown by! Cade is such a great little boy and he thoroughly enjoyed his party. Not sure if you can tell by the pictures, but he realy liked being the center of attention! We are now heading to Memphis to celebrate with my sister, Courtney, on her doctoral graduation. Way to go, Aunt Nee-Nee! After that, we will wrap up Curry's first year of preschool and will look towards planning his 3rd birthday party - and if you are attending, be warned - the theme will be TRAINS! We have been learning lately that through good times and bad, God is always faithful.

Home Safe and Sound

Thanks for praying for us and for supporting our work in Nicaragua. We had a wonderful trip - very successful!

Here are the final stats.
Professions of faith from adults and older children - 178
Medical Patients Served - 2,467
Prescriptions Filled - 17,159
Dental Patients Served - 455

We also distributed Bibles and befriended many people. Thanks for helping us serve the Lord by serving people.

Nicaragua 2009

Ready to Be Home

We had a good day touring Nicaragua today. We went to the market in Massayah and then to a volcano and a scenic lake with little shops and local music, but we all really want to be in Mississippi.

Tammy Guyse and Linda showed the market who was boss. Lins, you will like the shirt that Ann Culpepper and others helped up pick out. David Tynes has a surprise for the kids that might make our church a little more festive this Sunday - Margaret, get ready.

Mrs. Alice, Linda, Meredith and John are good.

Frank, ask Ann about her experience at the market. Oh, and send her another suitcase for all her new stuff. The economy in Nicaragua is improving hourly thanks to the Americano.

Thompson Lidell did an excellent job of our final devotion this morning. We are all proud of him. Good job Thompson. Bryan Fenton says that Darlene is comming with us next time (so get your passport).

Sorry no pictures today, but you will see plenty Sunday night at 6:00.

Lins, I miss you and the boys. Can't wait to see you guys tomorrow.

A good week in Siare

We made it back. What a week. We will spend the night in the misson home celebrating the weeks works and resting some. Tonight we will have a banquet and tomorrow our Jacksonville frineds will leave as we go out to see some of the sights and markets in Nicaragua.

Siare
Siare was a beautiful but extremely remote village. We were high in the mountains with no real proper village area - just rough dirt roads and scattered houses. We were between 4,000 and 5,000 feet in elevation which made for wonderful weather. Scattered showers, cool nights and lots of breezes.

The isolation of the village made it difficult for people to get to the clinic. We know of people walking for hours on very steep mountain roads to visit the clinic. I am always impressed with the gratitude of the people and with the determination that they have for getting to our camp.

Coffee: The climate and elevation of Siare make it ideal for growing coffee. The coffee plants grow in the shade of larger trees, and the hillsides everywhere are covered in plants that are budding and will produce ripe beans in October. There was a small processing plant in the jungle behind our camp. We discovered it on a short hike on Wednesday.

As always, the kids in the village stole our hearts. Our childrens church team did a fantastic job. David Tynes was a pretty good actor in our Exodus skit. He was pharoah. Go figure. Heath and Brent Wade were big hits on the baseball field. They came prepared with a wiffleball set and every free moment they had a crowd of ninos wanting to play. Larry Watkins would be so proud of you, Heath.

Our evening worship services were very well attended every night. It was so refreshing to worship with our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters. The picture to the left is from our last night of worship. Brother Hogan is playing the maracas and dancing with Adolfo.

Ok, we all had a good week. Other people need the computer, so I'll log off. Thanks for praying. We will give a full report on Sunday night at at Carterville.

Praise the Lord.