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.

For the Birds

Our cozy backyard has become the home to many lovely plants and animals. Most recently we have welcomed two sets of expecting parents - a bluebird family and a redbird family. The bluebird family laid three eggs in our birdhouse and yesterday, after much care and preparation, they flew the coop!

We recently discovered that a redbird built a nest in a small tree and so far she has laid three eggs. Curry is hoping for five. We will keep you updated!

A Message From Ben...

Hello friends and family. Monday night I received a surprise phone call from Ben. They arrived in the village of Saire safely and are enjoying the mountains. He was happy to report that they have an actual porcelain toilet to use - and those of you who have been on this trip before know what a blessing this is! Trust me - I can speak from experience!

The team is in a moutain area that has not been visited by a BMDMI team before, so please keep them in your prayers. They are having a few decisions made during the chapel times, but not the overwhelming response that they normally see. Ben asked me to post a request for prayer - that the Holy Spirit would move and that hearts would be turned to Christ.

He did mention that the weather is cooler than they are used to, but I am sure that is a welcome change. The area is very remote (although he called from his cellphone and I heard every word perfectly!) but there is no internet and no real "city" like the last few villages they have visited.

Please say a prayer for the team - they will be in the village until Thursday serving, seeing patients, and preaching. I expect Ben will make a post Thursday or Friday from the mission home with pictures, so check back then!

With Blessings,
Lindsay

We Made It

We made it to the mission home last night aroun 10:00pm! We will be having breakfast, a devotion from Pastor Anthony McCullum and then we'll be headed out for Saire. We should have our clinics and chapels operational just after lunch for a half of a day's work.

The only real close calls we had yesterday were with one of our team members passports. We had a small problem that caused a close call, but we prayed very earnestly and I believe that God worked everything out. As you read this it won't sound like much of a dynamic praise report, but from our perspective it is.

It has been good to see Spike and the team from Jacksoville. They made it yesterday at lunch after a very early morning.

May God bless you all as you worship this morning. Be praying for God to accomplish His good purposes through us. I hope to find internet in Saire. If I do I will update often. If not, I will update again on Thursday. We are off!

Mission Trip

Lins and I are getting ready for the church's mission trip toNicaragua. I am excited about going. I hope that as you read this post you will begin praying for us.

Other news. All is well. Cade it pulling up and crawling like a bulldozer. Curry James is singing his own version of the alphabet song! It is precious. He gets it right sometimes, but other times he puts any letter anywhere he wants it. We love it, and we aren't sure how he learned it. Cade is huge. Have I mentioned that he is growing like a weed. Both boys are doing well and we are in a very good season of life in Petal. I will try to do a better job updating the blog in the days ahead.

Welcome, Cade

Cade arrived Thursday and we're all so pleased to meet him! Mom proved to be a champ in round 2 and blessed us all with a second little gift from God.

Cade sleeps a lot right now, but I think he's dreaming of camping trips and off road adventures with dad and Curry James. He smells like a baby (ahh, the fountain of youth) cries like a baby (soft and sweet for about two more weeks) and all in all he is filling the Skipper home with the thrill of parenthood expanded.

I'm proud of my big man. Curry is off to a stellar beginning as big brother. He wanted to show preacher his little brother in the hospital and of course he wants to hold him. Tonight he helped me put Cade's pacifier back in - a little forceful but effective. He is mostly bored with Cade's naptime, but there are moments when he's interested. He gives Cades kisses and tries to peek into the bassinet from time to time. I'm waiting for the day I walk into our bedroom to find the bassinet pushed against the bed and Curry sitting in it with brother watching Cars and telling diaper jokes.

Lins and I are new parents again and we love it. Be praying for us and let us in on what's happening in your life.

Ben

Drummer Boy

Curry James is a drummer. He has been beating things for months and it is shaping into a spectators sport. The second drawer, the one with the mixer beaters and metal serving spoons is marked from one end to the other with the remnants of his melodic sessions from weeks past. Pencils make good drumsticks. So do screwdrivers and sticks and anything else that is long and somewhat straight.

He leaves the church nursey every Sunday morning on a mission. He has a need to get into the sanctuary, up the steps and to find some willing accomplice who will put him on the drum throne so he can play for his live audience which is just the last of us to leave the building, still finishing our dwindling convesations and lunch plans. But he will sit and play for as long as we let him. And if the sound guy leaves the drums turned on....bonus! But it doesn't seem to matter. He'll play by himself with no sound. If he has sticks in his hand - he's happy.

So for Christmas, Kat and Pops got him a drumset. Not a real one mind you, but a small one that is loud and more off key than a real one, but just as much fun for him. He beats on that thing and wears out the one clangy symbol audience or no audience. It's a show worth seeing. You should come over sometime. We don't charge admission. God Bless you and pray for our little man as he grows up.

Ben

Hiking in Georgia

Austin (fancy pants), Charley (the red dragon), Andrew (press on) and I hit the road late on Wednesday night after church and made the drive to north Georgia to hike the first 30 miles of the Appalachian trail. Yeah, we chose to start on the day that it was wind chill of 4 degrees at Neels Gap. And yes we chose to start in the midst of a very sad search and rescue for a missing hiker. But it was a great trip.

Not the Hostel
Our plan was to stay at the hostel in the Walasi-Yi Center at Mountain Crossings - which by the way is an amazing gear store. They have great stuff, no kidding - so there's the free promotion. The hostel is in the basement of the attached room, not the upstairs which is the living room for some of the employees. Yep, we arrived at 5:50am and slept for an hour and a half on their living room floor. They were confused, surprised and very polite all things considered. We were stupid, sleepy and embarrassed. The door was unlocked and the one think I remembered was that the hostel door was always unlocked, so I thought - hey, we're here - be quiet and don't wake anybody up - what a nice hostel - didn't' expect a tv and x-box. Oops.

Springer Mountain
The southern end of the AT. It was neat to be there. Good views. Cool register embedded in a rock. Took some pictures. A few Thru hikers had already begun their journey to Maine.

The trail
Loved it. There was some snow and some steep up and down hiking, but a lot of well graded trail as well and some very impressive views that were at their best against the clear winter blue sky. Met Uncle Walt at the Hawk Mountain Shelter!

All in all, the first 30 miles were better than I expected. Georgia was beautiful even in winter and Blood Mountain was particularly beautiful, but so windy and cold. Great Hike. Can't wait to hike the rest of the trail in Georgia.

The Update

We've had a great summer in the Skipper house. We had summer trips with the youth group and a vacation in Destin as well as just the pure joy of watching Curry grow up. We've had great times in swimming pools, at the creek, in the front yard and everywhere in between this summer. Here's a brief overview of the last few months.

May
We had a great rafting trip with the college students from our church. Followed by a long awaited hiking trip on the AT. I hiked with some students from church for 70 miles through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park on the Appalachian Trail. What a wonderful Trip! You should see the DVD. Classic documentary - even though Stroo doesn't care about it.

June
Curry's first VBS (he skipped last year on doctors orders. Turns out that 2 week olds souldn't be at VBS. Whatever).

July
Super Summer, Basecamp, Children's Camp - a big old church trip blur - with a birthday! And Kelly Wheat moved back to Mississippi with his beautiful family. Go Chocs!

August
Big Seven (middle school kids are the best). Beleivers Bash was the hottest night ever! And of course the fantastic family vacation that ended with a stomach virus.

Lot's to catch up on, but that's a start. Sorry it's been so long since the last post.

Peace

Curry's Birthday & Other Fun Stuff...

Sorry it's been so long since we last updated everyone. There is really no excuse because I've been home the last month with Curry just playing! I love having the summer's off with him, but by about 5 o'clock each day we are both ready for Ben to come home!

Curry celebrated his first birthday on May 27th. We had a great time with our families and had lots of friends to help us celebrate! If you came...thanks so much!

Curry is really growing fast and getting around so good these days! He loves to play outside - helping mom in the garden, swimming in his pool, chasing Skip and Sandie. Most days he wears just his diaper and a smile!

Curry has had a few "first experiences" in the last month or so, including his first Vacation Bible School and his first campout. Check out the pictures!

Free Day Missionaries on Tour

Today was our free day. We went to the market in Masaya. Its definately a cultural experience. Its an open air market...although the air is smelly in places and all the booths are covered, so its really not that open. Anyway, imagine hundreds of booths with shelves of trinkets, clothes, shoes, machetes, hammocks, wood working and every tourist baiting souvenier imaginable. Everyone wants to sell you their goods. You could really get lost in there. In fact, I dont remember if Kyle came out. Hey I hope hes not still there. Anyway, they sell produce, meat and souvienrs all in the same noisy market. It is no place for the clostrophobic. But we survived.

















After the market, we went to eat at a local restaurant that has been deemed safe by the local missionaries. The food was great, but it was greater when Adam found out that he could buy a pizza there. Youve never seen a Papa Johns that was more appreciated. Everyone else ate a Nicaraguan steak.. not what you are thinking..smaller..thiner...but very good.




We wound up at Crater Lake. Its an old volcano that has become a lake and a tourist attraction...much like our own Crater Lake in the US. There are shops and people who want to shine your shoes, sing you a song, give you a neclace, take your picture or anything else for a little cash. Someone had a local duo sing a little anniversary tribute for Adam and Amelia. Touching. I know.



As usual, Preacher led a great trip and of course today DR was her normal super tour guide. But now we are all tired and ready to get back home. Cant wait to see everyone in church Sunday morning.

Back at the Mission Home

We finished our work in the village of La Libertad. The week in La Libertad was fabulous. The setting was amazing. We were in the mountains with beautiful backdrops of mountain peaks and tropical vegetation. The climate was actually mild ... thats a first for our group. We had a little rain everyday, but it was never a problem.

We saw plenty of people during the week and our clinics were able to offer a lot of assistance to people who lived in the area. People traveled as many as four hours on horseback to visit our clinic. Everyone did great. I cant wait for Sunday night when we can all see the pictures together as a church family and hear the final report. We miss you guys so much.





Today was a little tough. We packed up and left the village around lunch. The hardest part of the trip is leaving. The village was our home for a week, and leaving the children was heart wrenching. They got attached and so did we. They were crying and some of us were. It is amazing to feel loved this way. The goodbyes were hard, but they reassured us of our place in the village and in a way, our place in the world. It is good to love God and to love His children. Today it seems like all Gods children really are one big family. We are truly all brothers and sisters.

The village sent us off with a celebration. Local children dressed in festive clothes and danced local dancxes for us. The mayor presented a plaque to bro. Hogan and the local pastor expressed his appreciation for ou work. It is great to feel so appreciated.

The five hour bus ride back to the mission home however was not so great. And, to top it all off in true mission trip style, one of the buses broke down. Fortunately for us it was on the street just outside the driveway of the mission home. The bus stopped to back into the driveway, and with a loud clank, the driveshaft hit the ground. We figure that things like that are to be expected.



Tomorrow we will spend some time sightseeing and shopping. Tonight we will celebrage together in a banquet at the mission home. All is well as we wrap up a good week.

In La Libertad

Big thanks to the mayor of La Libertad. She is allowing us to make this post in her office on the city computer. I couldn´t find an internet cafe in the village, so this is a huge gift. Here´s the update from Wednesday.

We´ve been here since Sunday. We were off to a slow start after traveling a long and bumby road to the village. Rain slowed us down as we tried to get our clinic set up for our first chapel. That was Sunday. On Monday all was well.

Chapel services have been great. Anthony is doing a great job preaching. He has been a huge new addition to our team. We´ve seen about 1,800 people so far and over 200 decisions for Christ. God willing that will continue or increase today and tomorrow morning.

John and Linda joined us yesterday. It is great to have them back. They know the ropes so well, and it just feels more normal with them around. We had a very sick team member from Florida last night, but the doctors did great. Meredith Wilson did an exceptional job. We prayed a lot and she is back at work this morning. It was a late night for a lot of people on our team.

The Pharmacy is doing well. The dentists have pulled more teeth than you want to know about, and Dr. Mauldin is leaving today for a commitment at home, so they will be without her after today. She has done a great job.

Preacher is doing a great job leading the team. He and I got a personal tour yesterday from the mayor. I was just tagging along with the dignitary. It pays to have important friends. She drove us to the gold mines and to an local ranch. It was very impressive.

The children are beautiful and we feel blessed to be here. Thank you to everyone who cooked, brought food, packed pills, gave money and prayed for us. It is good to be a part of our church family.

The village is beautiful. We are loving this trip. I´ll update you more when we get back to the mission home on Thursday evening. We miss you guys and hope you have a wonderful night at CBC.

T

Day 2

Everyone is in the kitchen standing in line to bleach their hands and have breakfast. CBC folks are picking out ties and trying to find bibles for church. We miss all of you, but its great to know that we are connected as a church family whether we are in the same country or not.

Pray for John P. He has been sick since last night. We hoped that he would wake up feeling better, but that wasnt the case. He looks better now, but to be on the safe side, he will stay in the mission home this morning. He and Linda will join the team in La Libretad as soon as he feels better.

The mission home is beautiful this morning. Its peaceful and the plants are so healthy. We have lots of church members who would absolutley love to see the plants here. Some of the things that we grow at home are here too, but they are really thriving in the Nicaraguan climate. Its really something.

One interesting note about typing here. I couldnt find the @ symbol. At home you type shift then 2 and youre all set. Not here. You have to press alt and 6 and 4 at the same time. Try figuring that one out. I still cant find the apostrophe, so bear with the poor contractions. Pray for us today. Well have our clinic set up after lunch and we will see our first group shortly after that. Today will be a busy day for us.

We hope that worship goes well for you guys at CBC. May God bless you as you gather today. I hope that He will speak and move and show us more of what he wants.

God Bless You, and somebody give Curry a hug from Daddy please. ...Ben