Happy 9th Birthday to Cambree!

I cannot believe our little girl is 9 years old today (or halfway to getting an iPhone, as she says!) She is a girly girl diva who would prefer to crochet, knit, and sew rather than do anything else; however, she is pretty comfortable in the dirt of Zambia that has been her home since she was 3 years old. She has a heart full of compassion and justice and her love is to make people laugh. Her nose is always in a book, and she loves deeply. I am proud that this little girl is mine! Happy 9th Birthday Cambree Rain!
Early morning wake-up call for Miss Cambree so we could open presents before school!

But first, Mrs. Dineenana always sends gifts for the non-birthday siblings! :)

She finally got the long-awaited Caboodle! #80schild

Caedmon gave Cambree a pillow he sewed himself :)

Cason gave her a bag full of his Halloween candy.. how sweet!

Overalls!

Pick-up sticks from Mrs. Dineenana!

They immediately sat down to teach Cason how to play!

All ready for school on her birthday!

I showed up at lunchtime with some McDonald's and cupcakes for a class party!

Silly girls!

Cambree leading them in singing Happy Birthday to herself ;)

Opening a gift from her teacher, Mrs. Kimmie

Happy 9th Birthday!

And I randomly found this on my camera...

This is what Cambree usually looks like..

And this is what Cason usually looks like..

Driving, driving, and more driving!

This month, we are putting TONS of miles on Blu's brother, Shade's, truck! 2 trips to Oklahoma, a trip to Florida, and a trip up to Northern Kansas! This past weekend, we headed up north to Hennessey and Purcell, OK. The kids stayed back with grandparents where Caedmon helped shoot/clean a deer with Paw, Cason watched lots of Power Rangers with B-Maw, and Cambree went shopping with Mama Dee & Grandpa! What do we do for all those hours in the truck, you ask? We enjoy the awesome heated seats, and I read aloud to Blu! (Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly - so good!) We were grateful that FBC Hennessey booked us a hotel room in town so that we didn't feel bad about coming in late and were able to go to sleep as soon as we got in!

This is McKenzie - 11 years ago she spent a summer in Zambia and we got to know her well! Her husband is now the pastor of FBC.

A sweet man from the church gave us some money "just for us", so we used our free time in the afternoon to head to the Oklahoma City Outlet malls - such fun! I doubt Blu would agree, but I found some great stuff for all of us!

Then it was time to head to Purcell, OK, to visit Union Hill Baptist Church. They have been supporters of New Day from the very beginning and it was great to see some familiar faces!

Madison came to New Day in 2012.

Sandy, Muchoni's sponsor

Combined, these two churches gave us love offerings for New Day totaling $2700 - God is so good!

It was a long trip home, and we got in at 1:15am. We had to be up early to head to Victory Life Academy to share with the Elementary Chapel. It was fun - we gave each one in the 2nd grade class a new name and gave them a "job" that a Zambian child might have - I think the kids loved it!

We have a busy week with our usual activities plus a meeting in Temple with the Prosthetics crew, and a meeting in Granbury with our new stateside financial person! Thankfully, next weekend we will stay local, sharing at a church here in Brownwood. Have a great week!

Cambree's Skating Party!

Cambree's birthday isn't until next Wednesday, November 11th, but next weekend is full of 2 other birthday parties of girls in her class, so we opted for an early party! Tonight we celebrated Cambree's 9th Birthday with a 70s Disco Party at our local skating rink!

Prepped and ready to go!

I told Blu & Shade to pose for the pic, and this is what I got...

Caed & his friend Kaitlyn

Skating was TOUGH for all of them, but they got the hang of it after 2 hours at the rink!

Blow!

Disco cake!

Brooke giving Cambree a hand

Sweet girl - how is my baby girl 9 years old already?!

Poor Cam spent a lot of time on the ground!

Cambree's whole class came to her party! (plus her brothers and 3 other class siblings!)

Cambree & Lindsey taking a break for some McDonald's Cheeseburgers (birthday girl request!)

Go Cambree!

Cason getting a helping hand from an old skating pro!

It took him awhile to get the hang of it!

He got some help from Mama too!

Grandpa helping the birthday girl!

I must say...I was impressed!

My grandma Marie, Mama, & Daddy

And the chasing and squishing of a baby mouse in the middle of the party...

She got lots of great presents - mostly money & craft gifts - they know her well!

Paw & B-Maw got her a pink camo bb & pellet gun!

Shade & AJ making the rounds!

It was a very low-key, non-chaotic party that went so well, and I know she will remember it forever! She is off to spend her "date weekend" with Grandpa & Mama Dee. The boys have football and soccer games tomorrow and then they will spend the rest of the weekend with Paw & B-Maw as we travel to Oklahoma (again) to share about New Day! #thankgoodnessforgrandparents!

New Day Update!

I know many of you are dying for some news from New Day! Internet is sparse, but we were able to talk to Wes & Laurie this week. Power is still out for 8 hours a day, but the rain has begun and brought a little bit cooler weather at times! Shannon (Texas volunteer) is there for another 3 weeks, and her dad has joined her. The Batten family is also there helping out. Teacher Diana will head back to Texas to be with her mother for Christmas but has plans to return to New Day on January 4th! Enjoy the pics!

Alicia getting to know the kids

Brian has been cooking for the Battens

Rainy season = Christmas bugs! They are sprinkled all throughout the green grass and brown dirt this time of year!

The New Day Independence Day celebration

The kids like Chuck's beard!

Lorna with some of the kids

Little Stanley!

Gertrude

Glory

Kefbert

Malilwe

Solar update = $26,000 has been raised for solar equipment so far!

Hobart, OK

We had a great weekend in Hobart, OK! You know it's a small world when a pastor from Oklahoma and a music minister from Nebraska end up at the same church, and both of them were from previous New Day-supporting churches! :) We enjoyed the small town, West-Texas feel of Hobart, and we enjoyed getting to visit with old friends and meet new ones! We also loved the fact that our kids got to trick-or-treat (like REALLY trick-or-treat!), we got to sit in a Sunday School class, the worship was amazing, and we got to do a Q&A over lunch with the church's missions committee! We also loved that it was time change weekend, we had our own townhouse to stay in (slept LATE!), and felt rested even though it was a 4 hour drive there and back. We loved that when we rolled back into Brownwood, we were able to go to Blu's parent's house for grilled ribs and some time around the campfire. All in all, it was a great weekend!

Oklahoma! At the end of our furlough, we will have gone to or through Oklahoma 4 times!

15 year old Anna (aka Dorothy) took the kids trick-or-treating for almost 2 hours!

Here is their stash, along with THREE LIVE GOLDFISH. They are still alive and now have proper tanks in their rooms. Yes, 3 goldfish did survive the 4 hour trip from Oklahoma.. :)