C and E Heading to GUA

"God has been talking a lot to me about Guatemala. I feel like He has laid it on my heart that I should go there so that I can see how other people live."
- Chloe, age 8

This conversation took place a couple weeks ago at the dinner table. Chloe had heard us talking about a mission trip that was happening with our church. She knew that Daddy and Mommy were going...but she did not know that we had already decided to take her and her brother.

Granted, she has grown up around short-term missions...she has sat and listened to stories of all the great things God is doing in different parts of the world. But, for her to share that The Lord had been talking to her about Guatemala and that He was laying it on her heart to go...

Kev and I were blown. away.

It has always been the plan/dream to do missions together as a family. We have always shared our hearts for the nations with our kids. We sing worship songs before bed in the languages of places Kevin and I have been. We support a national missionary in India. We talk about the places some of "our people" are serving. We almost went to Haiti last summer as a family, but God closed the door.

So we are delighted and excited to be going AS A FAMILY on a mission trip to Guatemala April 12-22!! Our church has been partnering with a village there for the past 5 years to help support the people of the village to have a sustainable life free of the bondages of poverty through micro-loans and agricultural development.

We are expectant of what The Lord may have in store for us as a family! In order to make it possible, we need to have people praying for us. We ask for prayer for both Chloe and Eli to be excited and receptive to God's heart for the nations. We need prayer for open eyes to see the ministry opportunities The Lord will have for us as a family. We need wisdom in what areas to have the kids be a part of. We ask for specific prayer for Eli's food issues to be covered in grace and peace while there.

And of course we need to raise the finances required to make such a trip possible.
We need to raise $3,000 to cover Chloe and Eli's expenses for the trip. That number includes their travel, shots and medications and on ground expenses. If you are able and feel lead, all gifts can be sent to Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church and will be tax deductible.

Please mail checks to:
Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church
PO Box 829
Gig Harbor, WA 98335-0829
(Please include a note designating the check for Chloe and Eli Williams - Guatemala)

We are trusting the Lord to provide and are making some cuts on our end to try to fund as much of their trip as possible. We know that a step of faith this huge will require both sacrifice and commitment on our part. We desire to be obedient.

Thank you ahead of time for your prayers and support! I hope to document our trip on this little blog here...so stay tuned!

#hashtagginghelpsmecope

as a preface...
I am not on Twitter...I do not have Twitter... I do not Tweet...
I do not even know how to say that...
Whatever, this week, my brain was hash tagging like it was my job.

On Monday I braved a trip into Seattle. Alone.
Armed with hand written directions and a dumb phone. Not a smart one.
For some reason, I concluded that a trip into Seattle by myself to renew my passport was the least stressful options at my disposal. What. was. I. thinking?

I freaked out a little on Kevin Sunday night...
He pepped talked me. "You have traveled in foreign countries. You can totally do this."
Well, since I had no choice, I put on my big girl panties and decided to go for it.

The driving isn't what stresses me out...it's the parking. Or more accurately...the finding of parking. That stuff pushes me to the edge of appropriate word usage. And the pedestrians...and bicyclists...and busses...and one way streets...yeah. those are stressful too. So maybe the driving is stressful too.

But, Monday, I decided to try changing "this is crazy" to "this is an adventure."
And hash tagging was my coping mechanism.
Only I was texting them to a small handful of people instead of the world wide webs.

I was cracking myself up and found that while I was looking for humor...I actually really enjoyed my 'adventure.'

A sample of my hash tags:
(warning...there are A. LOT.)
#kickinitoldschool
#callmecrazy
#pleasepray
#mamasmakinithappen
#sunisshiningareyoukiddingme?
#ohheymountains
#dudethatsaskirt
#ifshecandothiswithatwoyearoldicandoitalone
#coolestcityEVER
#streetperformer
#pikeplacemarket
#aintnosunshinewhenshesgone
#knottinghillmoment
#fishstinks
#hoofinitinseattle
#justsaynotogymmembership
#thisiscardio
#needmoredeodorant
#whatwasshethinkingwiththoseheels?
#partysover
#whereisI5
#iamsolost
#seriouslywhereisI5?
#hashtagginghelpsmecope

Family Colors

We, like so many other families, have assigned colors to one another in our family. Daddy is orange, Mommy is green, Chloe is pink and Eli is blue.

I have noticed that our sweet Eli makes sure that each family members color is represented on the majority of his art projects.

Today's example is below.

We named him Elijah Hooper Williams.
Elijah means "the Lord is God".
Hooper is my maiden name...a way to carry on the Hooper Family name.
So we like to think that together his names mean,
"The Lord is God of my family."

What a joy to see in big and small ways, just how important his family is to him...he shows that he is thinking of each of us when he includes our color.
Love him.

Love Her Heart

Chloe has had some friends donate their hair to Locks of Love in the past. She was inspired and has been waiting a very long time to grow her hair long enough to donate it.

Today was the day! She was so ready she could hardly contain her excitement! She had planned to surprise her classmates tomorrow with her new short hair..which she will still do...but she 'confessed' to telling several of her girlfriends today...but she DID NOT tell any of the boys. :)

Chlo,
You have waited and waited for this day. Daddy and I love to see your heart of compassion lived out...you want to help someone else who needs a wig, and we think that is precious. It blesses us to see you loving others...even people you don't know. That's God's Light shining through you and nothing could make us more proud. You are a gift.

Love you the mostest,
Mommy and Daddy

Be Still My Heart

In a fleeting, random moment...
In the middle of dinner prep and homework...
Eli reaches toward me and cups my face...
Eyes endearing...

"I love sharing this life with you."

Can I Get A Witness??

Christmas just happened like a month ago...right??
We, probably like you, may have gone a little overboard on gifts...with the help of super generous Grandparents, respectively.
So...our kids rooms are stuffed to the brim with awesome toys...bright and shiny new toys.

Want to know what they choose to play with???
8 out of 10 times...
Garbage.
Our kids play with garbage.
Items I am confident were thrown into the recycling bin yesterday, somehow sprout legs and jump into the creative arms of our children.
Most recently they have transformed into homes for stuffed animals and legos. Cereal boxes have become castles inhabited by flat royal people sketched on paper.

And I mostly love it...in fact, I 85% love it...
I just have to get used to my kitchen (because that is also where they choose to play... not in their toy stuffed rooms) being strewn with garbage.

I should probably explain...

So.
We have had a little bit of change in the past several months.
Ok...we have had A. LOT. of change in the past several months.
We live in Washington State now.
Hopefully, through Facebook that does not come as a huge shock to most of you...but to some of you I am sure it will. Sorry about that.  There doesn't seem to be a very seamless way to put that out there... but I will try to share some of the story here.

It all started back in July when we came out to WA for our annual summer vacation that we had thought we were going to skip. Money was tight...we had decided not to...and then we were really sad.  (especially the kids..."what do you MEAN we aren't going to Boppi and GrandBob's?!?!" Followed by super sad faces, batting eyelashes and sniffs.)  We remembered we had some sky miles that we had been hoarding  saving and we decided to go for it.

Once we arrived, all was per the usual...waking up, sitting around in sweatshirts until it gets warm enough to put on a swimsuit and then heading out to the beach for low tide. On our first Sunday, Kevin's parents wanted us to visit the church that they had started attending...he went, I stayed home with a sick Chloe. As he was leaving, Kevin kissed me on the forehead and told me that he planned to talk to the Head Pastor after church to see if he was hiring.  After the year and a half that we had had job wise, this did not surprise or concern me.  I literally thought, "what harm can that do?"

Harm was probably not the right word...but because of that conversation, and a lot of God sized situations later, Kevin is now on staff at that very. church.

It is a wonderful place.  We are blessed to be working with a very gifted leader and pastor.  We are part of a talented team. We are being loved on and embraced by a wonderful church family and seeing the hand of God in our lives in a very refreshing way.

We miss our people back in Georgia, but are very certain that we are where we are supposed to be.

2013 seems full of promise. Full of new.