An Afternoon With Dad

Yesterday the kids and I traveled to Everton, MO to visit Daniel at camp. It was a much needed refreshment. Normally I don't need a Daddy dose (actually I have never visited him during a week of camp) but since things have been kind of crazy lately we thought... "Why not make today an even crazier day! Let's all pack up and go visit dad."

And I'm glad we did because a great time was had by all.


Fun in the pool, (aka Jordan getting thrown in)...



She seemed to come out ok though,



After swimming, the kids enjoyed some fun at the park while mom and dad had some big people talk...


Then it was time for a game with Dad...



The kids always think they can beat him; I don't know why...I CAN'T EVEN BEAT HIM!

Last but not least; being kids in the mud after a little rain storm...


It is so fun to know that the students in the youth group feel enough like family that they run up and throw our kids in the pool or push Judah around in his little floaty. Those Jr. Highers are the best! I enjoyed talking with the students about their week so far and even had the opportunity to share in some adult conversation with the other wives who went for the whole week and had taken their children.

After all the 'fun in the sun' Daniel convinced me to stay for dinner. Camp spaghetti, can't go wrong with that :-)


By the end of our trip, the kids were sacked. Well, at least the little kids.

That Alli always holds in there...


not Judah though...


Jordan was asleep too but I couldn't get a picture of that cutie pie without wrecking!


AND of course I can't stop there... we stopped by the house on our way home to do a little more packing up/cleaning. Boy, I'll be glad when that chore is over.

Finally, Summer

Now that we're getting nice and settled in our new temporary home we are starting to enjoy the sweet joy of living summer life. Which isn't too hard to do considering it has been such HOT summer weather this week :-) And since we are crazy homeschool people we can have summer as long as we want, yippee!

I think I have neglected to even mention that Daniel is gone this week to Jr. High camp and won't return until Friday. You would think that would be hard on the kids since we moved out of our house, into this one, and then Dad left the next day; but they have done real well. We have been running so much and playing so hard, they really haven't had too much time to dwell on missing dad. :-( BUT, I have time to dwell after they go to bed; and I miss my man.



On a lighter, yet sweeter, note our little Judah had his first kiss this week.

drum roll please...



Yep, there it is. The first sweet kiss was to his sisters cheek...


...and it caused such joy!


Can you believe I caught those pictures? Priceless!

One Day Her Hands Won't Be So Small

I believe hands are an item often overlooked. Which seems funny to me because it is one of the things we fuss about the most when our children are born; "oh, look at her little feet, her little hands, her little fingers..."

But one day my little Jordans hands won't be small and full of baby chub; filling a prayer jar full of sea shells at VBS. One day they will hold the steering wheel to her first car. One day her dad will take her hands and place them in another man's hand, to have and to hold. Those hands will cup many tears, go many places, and I pray they help many people.

Living Our Cinderella Story

Earlier this week we received an invite to the 10th Anniversary Celebration of our friends Matthew and Cindy from church.

This, I was told, was to be a fancy event. Now, I myself am not equipped for much "fanciness" so my friend Cindy let me come and raid her closet (she has a much better taste of clothes than I). Yes, I totally wore a dress of the bride to her anniversary party... I'm a mooch like that. :o)

It was a wonderful evening. Daniel and I got a sitter for little Judah and took the girls with. They had baby sitting in the room next door so we were able to enjoy a nice adult evening eating fancy food,...


sharing stories with friends, and looking back over the past 10 years of Matt and Cindy's life. Then towards the end of the night the kiddos came out and we had some boogy woogy time on the dance floor with them :-) All good clean fun of course.







I know the night was designed to be all about the happy couple, but as we left I couldn't help but feel like we cheated them just a little.

During my short visit to Cindy's house yesterday afternoon to pick a dress and some shoes, I made the comment to her that this was going to be one of the most fanciest things I had ever been to. I quickly explained a little bit of Daniel and my wedding story and how "not Cinderellaish" it was. I told her, "you know, I always wanted the Cinderella story beginning but it just didn't work out that way."

Well, as I sat there tonight listening to people stand and say very nice things about them and as I watched the video of their past 10 years, I couldn't help but reflect on our past 7 years. I sat there and thanked God for the amazing husband I have.

He is a man who loves God with his everything, he is an amazing protector, provider, teacher, father and companion. He is my very best friend and my biggest encouragement. I also thought of all the people in our lives, people whom we dearly love. I thought of how they have impacted our lives in such huge ways. I thought of all the friendships and relationships centered on the Love of Christ we have in our life.

I always thought that happily ever after began with a beautiful dress, a wonderful ceremony, a grooms side, and a brides side. I never thought that a happily ever after could began at Lavern's Wedding Chapel holding a baby carrier. But our amazing God knew that it could.

Don't get me wrong...

Oh how I long to see Daniel walk each of our girls down the isle. And it is always our prayer that our children follow close to the Lord and seek him always, not just with part of their life, but with their everything. BUT it is so amazing to know that even though we didn't make those healthy choices in the beginning, he has still given us our happily ever after.



We never vowed anything to each other nor did we do anything by the book; but tonight when he held me in his arms and we danced together with our little girls watching with blushed cheeks, I felt like Cinderella. God sent me my prince, He had a plan for us and I am forever thankful.

Happy 10th Anniversary Matthew and Cindy!
And Thank you for letting us share the evening with you.

A Chicken With It's Head Cut Off

That's what I am starting to feel like!

Last night Daniel and I slept on the air mattress in our living room; that was kind of fun. We have sky lights and it was raining. Listening to the rain fall on the windows was a very soothing sound to end a very busy day.

Today was busy as well.

Up and at 'em at 6am. Shower, quiet time, and breakfast started. 7am the little ones started to trickle out of their rooms :-) I am running out of creative ideas for meals considering we are using a cooler right now so today's breakfast was pancake sausage rolls. Real simple... pancakes cooked thin on the griddle with real vanilla. Sausage, pressed into strips, then wrap the hot pancake around the sausage. Yum, Yum!

After breakfast the kids and I packed up some more stuff. At 11:30 we headed into town to run some errands and have lunch with some friends of ours that are moving to New Hampshire. It was a nice lunch with good friends. I am glad we were with good friends because they are the only ones that would accept the fact that my little Judah was a total sleepy bear!

Then we went back to the church office to say bye to our friends. It was a very sad thing. He and Daniel have worked together at the church for the past year and built a very close relationship. It was a hard thing to see those guys hug goodbye and know how much my husband was aching inside. Yea, I totally cried, you know me too well. :-(

When we got home the little ones went down for naps so Alli and I hung out on the floor talking... I love those moments. Then it was off to pack some more.

Tonight was the second night of VBS at church. So I took the girls up there at 6pm, ran home to deliver a meal to a sick neighbor and then back to our friends house to unload some stuff. Daniel was up at the park having dinner with some missionaries he had the privilege of visiting in Mexico back in April. That was a very happy reunion. After VBS we ran some more stuff over to the Simpson's house and them home sweet home :o)

Tomorrow night will be our first night with the Simpson family. We are looking very forward to it. The thought of sharing life with other believers is a wonderful thing. I expect to learn a lot from each other.

Life is full of so many different seasons. It is a wonderful thing to learn how to embrace each season.

Here are just a few pictures of the people Daniel was able to reunite with tonight from Mexico. These pictures were taken while he was there in April.


This is Santana, he is a student at the college down there. He has a passion for teaching people about Jesus and is working on becoming a missionary to Africa!

This is actually how tall Daniel was compared to him. The hat Daniel is wearing was Santana's; he gave it to him.

This is the preacher down there, his name is Puma.

Please stop for a moment and say a prayer for the group heading home to Mexico. Pray that God will continue to use them in huge ways to impact his Kingdom!

Amen.

Back in the Swing of Things

I must honestly say, I have been scared to even start a post because I just don't have any idea what to say. There has been so much going on!

Well, I guess I'll start with our trip to Christ In Youth MOVE:

Awesome! The students really had a great taste of community and a look at the way community should look in the church. We had students openly confessing sins that they struggle with or give in to and many openly repented; which was great!

You know, the enemy tries to make us think we are all alone in our struggles. We often think that no one will ever understand, or we feel like if we tell someone they will gossip, etc. Which I understand why he is able to make us feel that way, considering the American church (THE CHURCH, THE BODY AS A WHOLE, not just the building you or I attend) has a very bad way of dealing with support sometimes. The community should be a place where we would do anything for another brother or sister. If we practiced that more, the enemy wouldn't stand a chance against it. It's kind of like this... If someone told you McDonalds was best known for its burrito you would disagree! We all know what McDonalds is best known for, the BIG MAC or any hamburger for that matter. Well, it is the same in the church. If we were doing what Jesus intended when he built his church, then when the enemy tried to make us feel alone we would be able to say No! I am not alone! I know I am loved, I know that there are people I can trust. But some of the loneliest people are walking up and down our church halls.

But anyway... That is about as far as I should go with that I think, because you don't really want me to start with it; it's a topic I am very passionate about. :-)

A great week was had by all. Challenging, fun, safe and body building.

I would love to show you some great pictures. Like the wonderful ones I took of the St. Louis Arch but... since someone didn't turn my camera into the lost & found, I have no pictures for you :-( Yes, the first night was so hectic! Being in such a rush, I either left it under my seat at dinner or night session and no one ever turned it in to the lost and found. Oh well, I hope the person who has it is truly enjoying my pictures; especially the cutie pie pirate one I took of Alli before we left.

So with that said... no pictures for awhile.

Things with our house have been crazy as crazy can be. We thought we would be moving as soon as we returned from CIY on Saturday but some stuff fell through and our closing has been moved to the first week of August. Well, that would be ok if we had not already sold our fridge, bunk beds and moved all of our essentials into storage, such as pots and pans, etc.

AND to make a long story very short we will be walking out of closing with a lot less money than what we will be walking into closing with. And yes... you remember correctly; we are just selling a home not buying. We should be walking out with money! Yep, you guessed it, I'm totally doing the big sigh of yuckiness right now.

On to happier news...

The children are all doing well and I made it through seven days with only one phone call before we left town and one while we were gone. The one before we left town was to thank Alli for a sweet card she had snuck into our luggage. :-) That is a classic case of 'more is caught than taught'. I have put little love letters in her luggage since she was two! Never once have I told her she should do that for me. This year... she did. When I called her to say thank you, she said "mommy I hid that under my pillow for one week!" simply, sweet.

I had a picture of the card for you but again, someone else is enjoying that right now.

The kids all had a great time at my friend Judi's house and they made a sweet little book of all of their fun days.

Since we have been home our days have been filled with running, running, and more running. I hope to get settled down by next week and send out some much needed emails, thank you cards and letters. Daniel will be gone all next week to Jr. High Camp then after that he has some vacation time.

As for Daniel, he is doing good... just busy, busy. Ministry is going well with students and parents and he started school yesterday. It's 10:08pm and he is out with a friend/youth parent and student moving our stuff into storage. God Bless our friend Rick, he is such a blessing.

Well, that is a pretty random post full of a bunch of nothing (well, except for grammatical errors :-) but at least it catches you up.

I can't do a post without some sort of picture; so I'll leave you with this one from a silly day at Krispy Kreme Donuts not too long ago.



Good Night!

Beep...Beep...Beep

Can you hear that sound in your mind? Yep, it is the sound of a huge bus backing up! Welcome to the ever changing Gibson life.

Remember my post about our cutsie little rental house? Yep, never mind.

I must say that writing that post was a hard thing to do because part of me just knew it wouldn't be happening... you know that weird feeling? But I felt it only fair to give everyone an update on where we were. I should have known better.

God is ever so amazing! He just keeps reminding us that we are in a season of waiting on Him. We are in the wilderness, waiting. We are learning to just sit back, watch him work and quit trying to make sense of it all because just when we think we understand... it takes on a whole new meaning.

So... I know, I know, get to the point, right? :-)

We started today putting our stuff into storage here in Nixa and we are going to be living with a family from church. They have very kindly offered us their basement and full run of the house. We are just going to be one happy family until around the end of August beginning of September. They are lovely people and we are looking forward to many long nights of great conversations (overlooking their great property view) and maybe kicking some serious booty on some board games :-)

Other than all that craziness we have been having some wonderful days. Last night we went to a fun swim party for a little girl at our church. Our whole family went and had a great time swimming. Today we had another fun birthday party and Daniel helped some people move. I hope to be able to catch you up on all of our Glorious Fun during our relaxing break coming up in August.

Next week the 14-19th Daniel and I will be gone to Carbondale IL for Christ In Youth MOVE Sr. High event. The kids will be with my sweet friend Judi. She is COMING to pick them up and she's BRINGING them home when we return! (It's a 1 1/2 hour drive one way) Our kids plus her kids will equal 7 kiddos for the week. Her husband is also a youth minister so I know he is just as busy as Daniel due to the summer season and probably won't be home much. Judi is the best example of someone who loves people. I am so blessed to know her and be encouraged by her.

Well, I must leave you with a picture right? hmmm, you can never go wrong with this little guy...


He is sleeping so peaceful right now as the rain trickles on our roof. Deep breath in, and out... we are so blessed.

Divine

There is something so divine about resting your day, your life, your everything in your saviors arms. My morning has been full of overwhelming love for the God we serve. Not for any special reason; no surprising great news, just His everything has me in awe today. Mornings like this are only described as divine.

Drumroll Please...

Yep, there it is. Our new home... well, in two weeks. We will just be renting for now. I use to think that you weren't a real adult unless you bought a house. Well, since then I have became a real adult and not to mention purchased three homes and sold three homes and I think now realize I can still be an adult in someone else's house :-)

So here is a little peek into the fun ahead...


Our beautiful clothes will dry in God's creation here.

Much reading will take place in this tree by my Alli :-)

And... Judah is looking forward to getting to know the neighbor's dog better.


This house is cheaper than our house payment was, closer to the church, bigger, it has mature trees in a mature neighborhood which I consider a huge plus! AND if we decide we want to buy it, he's totally wanting to sell it to us so we could just make an offer. Yippe for us! We will now have two whole living areas (I feel so special!) getting closer to the church and more space for people to come over was our original reason to sell our current home. So, we have been blessed with all we need for now. So if ya want, come make yourself at home! Except for the middle of August; Audrey already called that week :-) But if ya really wanna come, we'll totally squeeze ya in.

Another Reason to Smile

I think it's a safe thing to say that I'm a pretty joyful person. I think I'm typically happy. I like what my little friend Carly Wingert says "why waste time being mad when you can just choose to be happy :)"

I am not one of those people who say "I'm fine or I'm good, etc" when you ask how I am and I'm not real well. I think that is a lie when people do that. If you ever ask how I am and I say "I'm ok" that usually means... 'I've had better days; but it could be worse.' But usually I will respond with an "I'm great, how are you" or "I'm wonderful", because most of my days are joyful, thanks to God.

ANYWAY I don't know how I got off onto that subject.

Obviously the title of this post is Another Reason to Smile; NOT Get to Know Kati 101. :-) On to the original reason for this entry...

I have felt a little bit like a Jr. Higher this week because I have been so giddy. Why have I been giddy you ask? Because of this:

Do you see that smile? Yes, I have my braces off!!! I feel like an adult again and I just can't stop showing off the joy I have in those pearly whites.

Now, obviously I am not one to typically be excited about such unimportant things as having crooked teeth fixed but there is so much more to the story.

Long story short: Single mom, extremely poor, no dental insurance, no dental work...period. But now I have a beautiful smile and I am able to actually floss between my teeth!! No more bad headaches from crowding and no more cavities from being unable to get floss between the teeth (the floss ALWAYS broke). Do you floss? You should, it is so fun when the floss doesn't break all the time!!

Anyways... I'm all better now. Permanent retainer on bottom and regular retainer on top.


And, It's all thanks to my Dad! A few years back my dad and I met for the first time in 13 years. Shortly after that he found out that I needed some serious dental work and insisted he pay for the work needed. Yep, it's absolutely crazy! But I sure did appreciate it. He wasn't around while I was growing up or becoming a woman but now each time I see my smile I have something to thank him for :-)

Thanks Dad!

A Quote to Ponder

There will always be Pharisees; Jesus is looking for Disciples.
-Rob Bell

.

Memories Made...

It is so fun to know my kids will one day say " hey mom, remember this or remember that..." I was thinking about that today. Each day we have the opportunity to make lasting memories. Sometimes we get so caught up in the trap of entertainment away from home or vacations that we forget, life is a memory.

With that said... here are the memories we made for 4th of July 2008:

It was a busy, crazy, yet happy day. Daniel made many trips back and forth to the fireworks tent during the day and at one point we were all there helping because they were so short handed. Little Judah was doing his part by being cute in his stroller, Jordan was tearing off the receipts and saying "have a happy time" to the customers and Alli was wearing her bright orange 'worker vest' going around picking up trash and making the fireworks look nice by facing, stuff like that. Eventually Judah gave up on being cute and decided he was hot and ready to go home. So I took he and Jordan home for a nap around 4pm because I knew we would be up late. Alli stayed and worked until 7:30. She is such a big girl!



7:30 is when I went back to pick up Daniel and Alli to head over to the Shepards property to play, eat, and shoot off explosives. A fun time was had by all. Thanks to them for inviting us!




I took a ton more pictures but they all turned out real bad. :-( sorry Teri! So much for a camera with a "special firework setting..." what's up with that! Well, maybe I should read the book. he,he.

After we left there at 10:30 we headed back up to the tent. I dropped Daniel off and headed home with the kids to unpack the van and put them to sleepy town :-) Daniel got home some time late that night.

All in all it was a fun little day.

A New Resolution for Independence Day

Yes, we are one of those cheesy families that love to match! :o)



It's a funny thing to me, Independence Day.

Now, don't get me wrong I appreciate very much what those men did for us so many years ago and the sacrifices so many families made. AND I appreciate the conviction they had towards making us United in freedom.

However, our freedoms seem more and more like they are used for more wicked than good. You know the obvious ones that are bad but even the little ones that people don't think about; like slander, and malice towards other people... oops! I forgot that's called freedom of speech. The terrible things in newspapers, magazines, and television... oops freedom of press! The list just goes on and on.

Anyway, I have never known what to do with this holiday outside of fireworks and hotdogs. But this year I have found a purpose! And I am excited!!

I am going to start my 4th of July off with prayer each year. First, thanking God so much for the Freedom that he gave to us through the Cross. Through the sacrifice he made for me, for us, we are able to be free. In his freedom we can live whether we live in a free country or not! Thank you, thank you, thank you God!!

Secondly, I am praying that our country (where 76.5% of the population claim to be Christians) start proving their freedom in Christ by being good trees that produce good fruit. I pray this year will be full of more Love and Joy; less hate and bitterness. I pray that we are Abundant in Peace towards other countries. I pray that we, as a united country, express patience and KINDNESS towards all people. I pray that we express Goodness towards people everywhere, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. And above all I pray that we can be a country that is forgiving; not only towards other countries but towards people in our own country.

Those are things that so many people forget. That is how we are identified!!! Don't forget it! Teach it, pray it! Live it for your children and coworkers to see! Strive to be a Deuteronomy 6 family! I pray that this year together, we can grow towards being more of a country like those men wanted and died for. More of a country like God's heart desires!

It Has Begun...

The packing has begun. Where to go, who knows? But you have to start somewhere.



Daniel is at the fireworks tent right now. I will take the kiddos to him tonight at six and stay until 10; then he will come back and stay all night. 'Tis the season for fireworks!

I think we are going to be able to have a little bit of fireworks fun with our friends the Shepards tomorrow, which we are looking very forward to. Last year Daniel and I worked all day and night while someone else babysat our kids until 2:30am. He will be working quite a bit but that is much better than last year!

Today the kids and I enjoyed some fun in the sun swimming with friends so now everyone is enjoying some good 'ol R&R. Alli is reading, Jordan and Judah are catching some ZZZZZZ's...

...and as for me, I'm off to pack!