Don't Leave Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mother in law "scolded" me the other day for being so inconsistent this summer on my blog. Okay, it wasn't really a scolding...come to think of it, I've never been scolded by my mother-in-law. She's actually a mother-in-law that I can stand being around so I really can't say anything bad about her.

The fact is; she's right.

As you all saw when I had to ask for your questions to get rid of my writer's block, this summer has been a bit difficult for me on the blogging front.

Truthfully, I don't really feel guilty at all because I've done so much fun stuff this summer that I've never done in the past! Life has been moving quickly and I've loved savoring the moments of summer and actually enjoying the time with the kids (well, not all the time, but you get the point).

Anyway, I guess all of that is to say DON'T LEAVE ME NOW! My mother-in-law jokingly told me that I was going to lose my "following". Now, that is ridiculous on MANY levels because it implies that I actually have a following and we all know how absurd that is! My mom still swears that I don't actually have anybody else reading my blog - it's just her clicking on about 45 times a day.

Anyway, I know I've been spotty and I can't guarantee that I won't remain spotty for the rest of the summer but eventually life will get back to normal and hopefully I'll be able to justify making the blog a priority again.

As of right now...expect spotty. We are personally heading into the land of the great black abyss where internet is bad at its best, so I know I won't get to blogging a ton in the next few days. I will promise to do my best; however, more than anything I promise to enjoy the much needed time with my family!!!!

I hope you do too!!!

Introductions...

In light of our little "announcement" regarding our sweet Liberian Prince, I thought I would take this time to introduce you to another of our amazing Liberian friends, Elijah.

Elijah is the Dean of Students at the orphanage where Prince lived until he was just recently moved into foster care.

I met Elijah my very first day on campus when I was desperately seeking a translator. You see, in Liberia everyone speaks English. You would think that would be easy enough but don't let it fool you. We have come to recognized that there is a difference between Liberian English and American English. Liberian English is in fact English but it is spoken with such a strong tribal dialect that at times it can feel like a truly foreign language.

My first day on campus I was attempting to communicate with the kids regarding their likes/dislikes etc (for our medical histories) and I was running into major roadblocks. Elijah saw my confusion and came swooping in to rescue me. He was able to understand both me and the kids so he spent the entire 5 days sitting right beside me and translating every word.

By the end of the week he was one of the people that we had the hardest time saying goodbye to. He is an outstanding man who loves the Lord passionately. He dreams of being a Civil Engineer but cannot afford to go to school. Unfortunately, since we've been home he has suffered both malaria as well as the loss of his father in a fire.

Elijah dreams of one day coming to America to visit, and Donn and I are certain that one day the Lord will make that dream a reality. In the meantime, we are so blessed to speak with Elijah about once a week when he walks to his pastor's house to borrow his phone to call us.

When I was on the phone with Elijah this past Sunday he asked me if I could do one thing.

"Of course I'll do something for you Elijah - what would you like done?"

"I'd like to see my picture on your website Sister Cyndie" He said.

And so I am honored to introduce you to one of our dearest friends from thousands of miles away.
Elijah is wearing one of our youth group t-shirts that we recently sent to him and he is holding our family photo! How sweet!!

If you feel led, please pray for Elijah as he serves God with full passion and fervor.

We love you Elijah!!

And Here It Is!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The big news I've been dying to share with you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click Here!

And I even finished it a day earlier than planned (and, yes, my kids are all now dressed and fed!) :)

Here we go again!!

My daughter is running around naked and I'm still in my pajamas.

I'm either terribly depressed or it's summertime. I'm voting on summertime. I have NO desire to do the 20 loads of laundry that are piled high on the floor and I have less than no desire to actually spend time making myself pretty (those of you who know me know that it takes lots of time to make my frizzy locks pretty - uggh).

And so, I sit here and tinker on the computer working on a secret little project that I can't wait to share with you!! Hopefully I'll have it finished by tomorrow and then I can reveal it to the world (suspense ya'll....it's what makes the world go round).

Of course, I think I may need to actually stop at one point to feed my kids (and maybe get poor Elle dressed). Something tells me that people may frown upon a mom with naked, hungry children. Hmm....

Oh, how I love summer (and how I love little secrets)! :)

Philly 2009!!

We had a wonderful time in Philly bringing VBS to the Kensington neighborhood.

Ayden and I went together on this trip and joined many other families from our home church.

I was SO proud of Ayden and how comfortable he was in the unfamiliar territory. He even showed us all up as we walked the streets of the neighborhood inviting kids to VBS. I stood from behind watching him talk away to perfect strangers and I thought to myself, I could have a little Billy Graham on my hands. I was SO proud!!

Apparently he has no fear of talking to strangers (hmm...where does he get that)?

In the end we ministered to about 75 neighborhood children through our VBS program and the entire week was an amazing blessing! I am so grateful that I finally got to go and see first hand what the ministry of Cornerstone Church is all about.

Crayola Factory!

In case you haven't noticed - things around here have been a bit busy lately.

Day upon day goes by and I collapse into bed thinking about how I never got the chance to get to my blog again.

Sigh.

Well, rest assured, there is plenty to catch up on and I have many wonderful pictures of what we've been up to the last few weeks.

Today, I'll begin with pictures of our amazing time at the Crayola Factory. On the way to Philly for our missions trip, we made a detour to Easton PA where we had a fabulous time at the Crayola Factory.

My parents (Yaya and Papa) met us there to pick up Elle and Brekyn (they were a bit too young for a mission trip in Philly). My sister also drove from Boston with her boys to spend the day with us. It was a great little reunion!

If you've never been to the Crayola Factory I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT! The kids loved it and

I was personally enthralled with the decorations (anyone who knows me knows that I'm a sucker for interior decorating)!

Here are a few pics of our day there!

HOME!!!!!!!!

Home from an amazing missions trip to Philly followed by an incredible weekend away with my girlfriends!!

Exhausted and soooooooooo glad to be back with my hubbie and kids (though totally unexcited by the pile of laundry I'm staring down)!!

Hopefully I'll get some pictures posted soon!

Philly! Here We Come!!

I will be MIA for a few days as I am heading to Philly in the morning with the kids to help run a VBS program for some inner-city kids.

Actually, I will be meeting my parents in PA who will then take the 2 youngest kids back to their place for the week while Ayden and I stay to help with VBS.

Ayden is SO excited as this is his first mission trip and I am thrilled to finally get to see this amazing inner-city ministry first hand. For years I've been hearing about the ministry of Cornerstone Church in the neighborhood of Kensington and I've been dying to get there. Now I can!!

Unfortunately, my studly hubbie can not get away from work so he will be remaining behind this time. Something tells me that he is secretly looking forward to being in a quiet house for a week. Hmm...maybe it's all the post-it notes I keep seeing around about meals out with friends or things he's wanting to get done while we're gone:).

I would appreciate your prayers for safe travel as well as safety as we're all apart. I can't wait to tell you all about it when I get home! Have a great week and please do continue to pray for little Prince. I will post an update on him as soon as I receive one.

Thanks!

Little Prince

Many of you who have read my blog for sometime, know about our sweet little Prince whom we fell in love with while in Liberia. Today, I received an update on Prince that I wanted to share with those of you who have been praying for him since we returned in March.

Last week the woman who runs the adoption program in our town was in Liberia and got to see Prince. Clearly, when she saw him she recognized that something was wrong with him and she was able to get him seen at the local clinic immediately. We have found out that apparently Prince has both yellow fever and malaria. It breaks my heart that our sweet little boy is sick.

Please pray for our sweet little Prince and for God to restore His health. We praise God that Prince was taken to the clinic and is now receiving daily care as he recovers.

I so long to hug him back to health but I am grateful that even though I can do nothing, our heavenly Father can do anything.

Please pray for our little Prince.

The Best Layed Plans....

So, what does a family with three small children do when their outing to the local Gold Mine ends up cancelled because the Gold Mine is owned by the State and closed down on Friday without listing it on their website???

Well, maybe your family would have taken a trip to the beach or the movies or Chuck E Cheeses - but not our family - nope...

Our family decided to stop at the Vineyard that was just up the road from the Gold Mine!

Can anyone say "Grapes" kids???

And the best part???

After getting to sit at the bar and do a grape juice tasting my kids actually told me that the Vineyard was "WAY funner than the gold mine!"

Of course it was kids...Mommy's just that on top of things!

HA!

Happy 4th of July!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We pray you have as wonderful a weekend as we've had!!

Go Panthers!!

It's really no secret. Our boys LOVE the Panthers!

We spent yesterday on a little Summer Field Trip to Bank Of America Stadium where we took a tour of the facilities.

We had tons of fun riding the lightrail into Uptown and finding shelter from passing rain clouds. The kids loved seeing the stadium and the locker rooms and spending the day with our good friends! The Late Sam Mills TributeWow! Look at those "Skyscrapers!!"

(Yes, the kids are holding "Apartment Finders Magazines" Hey, they thought it was cool - free souvenirs ya'll!!)

Holy COW!! That's a HUGE shoe!!!!!!!!!

Yippee!! One more fun thing accomplished during Summer of 09!!