STP Training

So what is STP? IT stands for Student Training Program. It's a wonderful time of focused study about what the word says about leadership. We arrived back to NBTI on Saturday, August 9th and STP started on the 13th. We spent two days here and then went to Camp Good News to have some time away from campus and be together for a time of bible study, teaching, and play.

So what did I learn (or was reminded of) during our stay at camp....

~ My identity has to be in Christ and Christ alone.
~ That in love, I need to meet people where they are at.
~ That I can give my opinion about a matter, but I cannot force them to do it my way or to think that my way is best! (This is a tough one for me.)
~ I'll never be done growing in Christ. If I were to ever "arrive" at wherever perfection would be, I would have no need for God.
~ The needs I have before I was saved is the same needs I have after I was saved, it's just now that God is able to completely meet my needs.
~ A leader is really just a servant.

So things that many of you already knew, yet is good to be reminded.

So what did our kids do? Well,

They played in the dirt/sand

Watched the Lego movie

Played in the water

Ate ice cream

 

Of course, played super heroes

After a great four days and learning about leadership and how we all work together, God was so good to show me the body of Christ in action....

On our way home from camp, I fell asleep in the van and was awakened by a very large crash, which ended up being our van. A lady was coming at us head on, so Kent swerved to miss her. However, she hit our front wheel, driver's door, and driver's side passenger's door. It took our steering out, leaving Kent with no power and sending us crashing into the guard rail.

As we tumbled out of the van, so did the people behind us (which was vehicle 3 in the line of 8 NTBI vehicles). Before I could even react, the police had been called, Kent was on the phone with the insurance company, people were moving our things to another van, they moved people around so we could go to another van, the police came, and our van was being towed away. It all happened so quickly that this is the only picture I was able to take (and I didn't even take it).

We drove back to Jackson, about a two hour drive, and went to the hospital beside NTBI. As you can see here the kids were fine. Kent and I got x-rays and everything showed up good.

Kent is sore today, but recovering well. All the glory for this accident goes to our Heavenly Father. The out come could have been a lot different. My friend said, "Some people walk away from accidents really bad hurt, others don't walk away at all. However, today either of those things are true."

Out of all 8 vehicles traveling together, we were the only one hit. We were also the only van that was having trouble and that needed to be repaired when we returned to Jackson. People had been praying for our van for a couple of days. I believed God heard them and answered in a way we didn't expect. We're thinking that the van will be totaled and hoping to be able to buy a nice van that will get us to and from Jackson this year and then two years to and from Roach, Missouri. I believe God already provided and will do so again.

Praising God that I was able to tuck my two healthy children into bed tonight.

12 Weeks of Summer

I'm sure that many of you feel that summer has just flown by. Just twelve weeks ago we pack our bags and headed south for the summer. How does a person share twelve weeks of her life in a short blog post? Well, I thought I'd share twelve pictures that sum up what we did this summer.

1. Grady's riding without training wheels!! He had been asking us to take them off while we were still in Jackson, but we said he had to wait till we got back to Bluffton. On the second day we were home, Kent took them off and Grady was off and riding in five minutes. It was pretty cool to see.

2. We celebrated Gracie Bee's birthday. She was so fun to watch as she opened each present with care.

3. We enjoyed a Tin Caps game together with the tickets that the kids got from the summer reading program. Their favorite part of the entire night was  "Ernie," but most of you will know him as Johnny.



4. Our Family Vacation to Florida. This picture ended with two kids in wet clothes. They couldn't resist getting into the waves!

5. I was able to spend a lot of time with my sister Brandy this summer. It was such a blessing. She even took me to share in her spa day that she had received as a gift. I'm so thankful for each hour I get to spend with her and will miss her this school year.

6. We had a garden at the community plot this year. We got a lot of produce but had to leave a lot of it there, as we have now returned to Jackson.

7. My dad broke both his ankles and shattered one of his heels. He seems to be healing well, but I know he's antsy to get out and working again.

8. We were able to spend time with all of our parents and cousins. We're thankful that when we go home to Bluffton that they're all in one town. The kids enjoyed this outing because it involved Lala and ice cream!!

9. Grady was very brave during our vacation and learned how to swim. He's very good and its amazing to watch him. He loves the water!

10. Grady was able to enjoy his first race. He was telling Kent that he would like to go back to the races again.

11. At the age of 5, Grady got his first professional hair cut. It looked amazing. So good that someone told me that I should have it done professionally from now on. Hmmm, maybe I didn't do as well cutting his hair as I thought I was doing.

12. This summer we did a lot of babysitting. I babysat two kiddos two days a week up until the week we watched two foster kids. The week right before vacation we babysat for two foster kids for an entire week. It was exhausting, but God gave us the grace to work though it.

There's a lot more I could add about our summer, but I'll leave it at that for now. When we were leaving NTBI in May I knew that there was going to be a lot I was going to need to trust the Lord with over the summer. He was faithful to carry me through. Reminding me that he's faithful no matter of the outcome. I'm thankful for everything that we were able to do, work through and enjoy.

Our Summer Vacation

My sister, Brandy always teases me about how much a love number. I'll be counting things out to the exact number, and she'll just start and figure it out later. So I thought it would be great to sum up our vacation with a few numbers:

• Over 2,500 miles traveled
• Slept in 4 Hotel Rooms
• Swam in 3 pools
• Went to 3 Beaches
• Ate at 15 different restaurants
• Visited 1 Major Theme Park
• Watched 14 movies in the car
• Visited 1 Zoo
• 6ish fill ups on Gas
• Visited with 2 Friends
• Read 2 entire Novels

It was a busy week, but a good time for us to be together as a family. We drove 17 hours to Sanford, FL and stayed in the NTM Headquarters. Grace and Grady loved the DVD player and the van we barrowed from Tim and Gwen Drayer.

 

 

 

The we stopped at Dayton Beach on our way into Sanford. We also visited Cocoa Beach and New Smyrna Beach. The kids absolutely loved the waves and sand, not so much of the salt water. 

Our guest room at Sanford was smaller than I thought it would be. The kids shared a bed and as you can see Grady was pushed to the side each night.

Due to some credit card points we had to use, we were able to buy four Disney Magic Kingdom tickets for the price of one. So Wednesday morning we packed up and headed out. It was a busy, but good day. I believe that Grace will probably remember this,

 

 

 

Although I hope she remembers this as well. 

 

Grady loved the roller coasters and the driving the race care; however, I hope he remembers this the most.

 



Or this would be a good memory too!

We also got unlimited pop while we were at Disney World. The kids were CraZy!! I was actually pretty funny to watch.

Our trip ended with one last trip to the beach. I took this picture of us and then had to laugh. We have a picture like this of us on our honeymoon. I'm pretty sure the only things that's changed is Kent's goatee.

I told my friend today that the trip was great but it wasn't restful. I'm glad that we were able to go.... and thankful to have a place to come home to.