Happy 5th Birthday Cambree!

Lots of fun today celebrating Cambree's 5th birthday in America! We had a Strawberry Shortcake party in Mama Dee & Grandpa's backyard! We were so excited to have Mama Dee, Grandpa, Paw, B-Maw, Caity, Andie, AJ, Cloud, Mrs. Carolyn, and Hope & Jordan here!




The presents chair :)

Cambree was very disappointed that she did not get water poured on her in Zambia for her birthday, so we told her in America they pour leaves on you for your birthday! :)

Winnie the Pooh from Mama Dee & Grandpa!

The strawberry pinata!

A personalized pencil bag from Cambree's cousins in Zambia! Cambree also LOVED the cards Isabel & Abigail made her!!

Uncle Cloud drove all the way to the party, but Aunt Sammy & Brenden are in Mexico! Cambree LOVED her Minnie Mouse set!

The kids enjoyed peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwiches and strawberry yogurt!

Gorgeous outfits from B-Maw & Paw!

Cambree trying to bust the pinata!

Remember Hope, the muralist who came to New Day this summer? She brought the cake & cupcakes to Cambree's party!


Look what Hope & Jordan got us to take back to Zambia!!!! A Kindle for Darbi and a new laptop for Blu!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Hope, Jordan, & family!!!!! :) :) :)

My favorite things about West Texas....

If I did not live in Zambia, I would live in West Texas. I think it is simple and beautiful and I love everything about it. :) Here are a few of my favorite things from West Texas...

The Phipps Family :)


Oil Wells.. I have taken a picture beside this oil well every time that I left West Texas for the last 20 years! :)

Look at these cotton fields..how can you not love that?!

And of course, the Lamesa Skyvue drive-in movie theater... where Blu and I had our first date on April 11, 1998 :)

Second Baptist Church - Lamesa, TX

Today we spoke at Second Baptist Church in Lamesa, Texas. Our connection to West Texas and Lamesa goes way back, but I"ll blog more about that tomorrow!

If there is anyone who is like a second family to me, it is the Phipps! Whitney and I have been friends since 1989, Andrew and Bethany are like my siblings, and Ben and Robbo are like second parents. As I got ready this morning in Whitney's old room, I looked around and thought about all of the "little girl secrets" those walls in her room have held over the years. :)

Andrew, who is now 26, and his little boy Noah!

Bethany, now 24, and her twins Ethan & Gracie!

Ben is the music minister at Second Baptist Church in Lamesa, and they have faithfully supported New Day for the past 2 years!

Some things never change.. :)

I tried to be normal :)

Our kids with Whitney's girl, Hannah

Robbo, her sister BethAnn, Whitney, and Mama Sue!


It was a fabulous weekend, and this sweet church surprised us with a $1,500 love offering for New Day! God is good!

Viva Las Vegas! (and Garth Brooks!)

We took a whirlwind trip to Las Vegas Thurs-Saturday to celebrate Blu's 30th birthday! It was a crazy experience--from the strange sights on Fremont Street, to the absolute jam packed public bus we rode for 15 minutes standing up, to the yummy food! But the best part was seeing Garth Brooks perform at the Wynn! It was an AMAZING show...anyone who is a fan of country music would LOVE it!

We tried fried oreos and twinkies on Fremont Street!

We had lunch at a mediterranean cafe with one of our fellow Zambians, Audra! She lived in Zambia when we were there in 2003-2005. She grew up in Zambia as a missionary kid and now attends college in Vegas!

Here we are waiting for Garth! :)


After five flights in a 2 week period, we are officially done vacationing for awhile! But we are blessed to still be able to spend time with friends, as we are in Welch, Texas tonight getting ready to speak at a church in Lamesa tomorrow about New Day! More blogging to come on that later!

Happy Halloween!

We enjoyed Halloween in America! Our kids have always had fun dressing up for church carnivals and trick-or-treating, so they couldn't wait to be back in the USA this year!

Batman, Batgirl, and Baby Batman

The 6 Tidwell Cousins - Batman, Batgirl, Baby Batman, Bride, Pumpkin, and Mike Wazowski

Trick or treating at Grandpa & Mama Dee's

Trick or treating in Bangs, Texas!

More Churches!

Today we were BUSY!! We headed to First Baptist Church in Bartlett, Texas first. This was the church that my dad pastored from 1992-1997, so I spent most of my youth there. It is also the church where Blu and I were married! This small church has donated $9,765 to New Day over the past 2 years! We are excited because they are planning their first overseas mission trip to Zambia in 2013!
Before church

Darbi leading the children's time



This evening, we headed to Immanuel Baptist Church in Temple, Texas. This church has a special place in my heart as well, because my dad got saved when I was 3 years old, and this was the church my family started attending. This church was the first place where I ever heard the name "Jesus" and where I heard my first Bible story! It gave me goosebumps to speak in this church 28 years later!! :)

We got to speak to both the AWANAs and the adults, and it was fabulous! Thank you FBC and IBC for opening your churches up to us and to New Day today!

Back in Texas!

I didn't do so well blogging the rest of our Disney World trip, but we had a blast! We spent a day at the outlet mall in Orlando, taking advantage of sales on summer clothes that we need for Zambia! Meanwhile, the boys spent the day golfing at one of the nice PGA courses at Disney.

We spent the next day at Hollywood Studios and LOVED the nighttime Mickey Fantasmic Light Show - technology is amazing!!! Our last day was spent relaxing by the pool, doing some souvenir shopping, and staying up LATE to watch the Rangers game!

Now it's back to work - we speak on Sunday morning at a church, stay afterwards for a mission trip team meeting, and then head to a different church to do two presentations in the evening!

Universal Studios Island of Adventure!

We spent today at Universal Studios' Island of Adventure! Yesterday was fun with Mickey & the princesses, but today was big kid fun - we rode every ride/roller coaster in the park! My favorite was the Harry Potter 4-D ride and the Incredible Hulk roller coaster! :) Tomorrow we take a break for the guys to golf and the girls to shop!

Lunch at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville

Spiderman!


Cloud over Shade...LOL

DISNEY WORLD PICS!

BEAR WITH ME PEOPLE! :) THE SIX GRANDKIDS ARE STAYING WITH PAW & B-MAW IN TEXAS, SO I'M POSTING THESE PICS SO THEY CAN SEE PICTURES OF THEIR MAMAS & DADDYS WITH SOME OF THEIR FAVORITE DISNEY CHARACTERS! :) (DON'T THINK WE'RE CRUEL...WE'LL TAKE THEM IN 2015 WHEN THEY ARE OLDER!)

WOODY!!

ME WITH SLEEPING BEAUTY! (BLU GOT IN TROUBLE BY ME SOON AFTER THIS FOR ASKING HER DUMB QUESTIONS AND CALLING HER SNOW WHITE....)

SHADE & CAITY

MY FAVORITE PICTURES OF THE DAY - SAMMY WAS SOOOOO EXCITED TO SEE MICKEY MOUSE!!!

THIS WAS SAMMY'S FACE AFTER SHE GOT HER FIRST GLIMPSE OF MICKEY!!

STANDING IN LINE WITH THESE GUYS IS ALMOST AS FUN AS THE RIDE ITSELF :)

ME WITH CINDERELLA! SHE SAYS "HI CAMBREE!"

COOKING BRUNCH BEFORE WE HEADED TO MAGIC KINGDOM THIS MORNING

ME & BELLE!

CLOUD & SAMMY

SHADE & CAITY WITH MICKEY

CAITY & CINDERELLA

CAITY & BELLE

BUZZ!!

US WITH MICKEY!

READY FOR OUR DAY!

ALL OF US WITH MICKEY MOUSE!! :)

PRAYER REQUEST

WE ARE ASKING THAT YOU PRAY FOR NEW DAY THIS WEEK AS WE DEAL WITH A DIFFICULT SITUATION THAT HAS COME UP. A GIRL LIVING ON NEW DAY LAND (NOT ONE OF OUR STAFFERS, BUT A NINETEEN YEAR OLD GIRL WE WERE HELPING GO TO SCHOOL) RECENTLY BECAME PREGNANT. AFTER COUNSELING WITH HER AND HELPING HER MAKE A PLAN FOR HER FUTURE, THIS GIRL SADLY TURNED TO TRADITIONAL MEDICINE TO HAVE AN ABORTION. THIS GIRL WILL BE LEAVING NEW DAY THIS WEEK. PLEASE PRAY THAT GOD WILL HEAL HER HEART AND REVEAL HIMSELF TO HER AS SHE DEALS WITH THIS DECISION FOR YEARS TO COME.

MEANWHILE, MANY PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY FOUND OUT ABOUT THE SITUATION AND ARE TELLING US THAT WE NEED TO PERFORM A TRADITIONAL CLEANSING CEREMONY ON OUR LAND. IF WE DO NOT DO THIS, OUR CURRENT ORPHANS COULD BECOME SICK OR EVEN DIE. WE HAVE REFUSED TO PERFORM THIS CEREMONY. NEW DAY'S FIRST VISION IS TO PROVIDE OUR CHILDREN WITH A CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW, WHICH MEANS THAT WE TURN TO CHRIST, NOT TO TRADITIONAL BELIEFS, FOR SALVATION (AND PROTECTION!). PLEASE PRAY THAT THIS SITUATION WILL BE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US AT NEW DAY TO SHOW THAT WE ARE DIFFERENT, AND THAT THE HEADMAN AND OTHER ELDERS IN THE COMMUNITY WILL RESPECT OUR TRADITION, AND EVEN BE DRAWN CLOSER TO JESUS BECAUSE OF THIS DECISION.

PLEASE LIFT UP WES & LAURIE AND JOSH & CHRISTY AS THEY DEAL FIRSTHAND WITH THIS SITUATION IN MAPANZA. THANK YOU!