Our Journey to Haiti: Day Two

Our day started here:

We had a restful night at the Griffin’s house in Baton Rouge, LA.  Showered, ate and did a load of laundry.  Thanks for your hospitality friends!  The church plant team had a scheduled team meeting this morning so we got to see many friends from our training program: 24:14.  Our boys loves these guys…they always get them WIRED up! =)  This pic only includes part of the team.  They prayed and encouraged us before we headed out for another long day of road tripping.

We crossed into Mississippi.

And got to enjoy true southern hospitality.  They still offer full service at gas stations like “Giterdone”.  I politely declined. =)

Next came Alabama:  the other boys were sleeping for this picture.

The boys are enjoying plenty of games on the iPad to pass the time.

And just when we think we can’t be in the car any longer we see this guy and it puts things back into perspective.  Glad we aren’t this guy!

If I wasn’t on this road trip we would be blazing past all the state lines…unfortunately for Jody and the boys this is a tradition that began in my childhood and I have a hard time not doing.  You can tell from these next pictures that enthusiasm for the pictures at the lines was waning.  But a girl has to do what a girl has to do.  Self picture for all the passerbyers to see.  No shame.

Welcome to Florida Cash Family!  Next stop, Haiti!

Our day “ended” here:  Chick-fil-a in Pensacola, Florida.  We tried to have dinner at Cracker Barrel but that was a MAJOR bust.  We did sit down and order.  But JohnEllis pretty much screamed non stop and the big boys were complete wiggle worms...I can handle the entire restaurant staring at me for only so long.  It was a mistake that was prompted by an adult craving for yummy food.  Of course, it was a bad idea to bring 3 little boys into a restaurant like that after sitting in a car for the past 2 days.  We quickly left with to-go boxes in hand and took a 20 minute detour to find this place:

Yes, that is a fake smile from Jody. And below those are real smiles from the boys.  They were happy to be out of the car in a place they could scream and jump and play.  We are just happy to be somewhere that has understanding parents that just smile and nod when they see a screaming child. 

We love Chick-fil-a!

Now, Jody is sitting in the play place with screaming kids and I am blogging using free WiFi and eating my salad from Cracker Barrel.  Yes, that is tacky but as of now, I am okay with that. The boys will hopefully be worn out and will sleep soon in the car.  Jody and I are planning on taking turns driving through the night until we land in Ft. Lauderdale, FL tomorrow morning.

PRAY for our final leg of the journey.  Tomorrow will be a full day after a night of driving shifts.  We love you and your prayers!

Prayer Hogs.

We have been basking in the glow of many prayers and encouragements from this past weekend.  It was our last Sunday at our home, Antioch Community Church, so we attended all of 2 services and part of another!  It was a long day but super worth it.  At the beginning of each service, we were surrounded and prayed over by our friends and family.  People who love us, support us and encourage us to greater things in the Kingdom.  It seems strange to think that we will not be back to worship with our Antioch family for quite a while.  It is one of the top things we will miss while being gone.

I felt a bit like a prayer hog.   We have been prayed over by so many people recently but still at the end of the 3rd service, my husband grabbed my hand and up we went during ministry time for more prayer from a specific couple that Jody has been wanting to have pray over us for some time now.  (They raised FIVE boys with God’s help so…that explains why.)

That evening we saw on Twitter this picture:

She was one of the teachers in Lucas’ class and knew it was our last Sunday in Waco so she had the rest of the 3 year olds pray over Lucas and send him out as a missionary.  Sweeter than all things sweet!  It made me cry. 

I am so thankful for our church that doesn’t “dumb” down the things of God and the His Kingdom to our children but instead encourages them to live it out now!  It is unnecessary to wait to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus till adulthood!  These little ones have powerful insight into the Kingdom of Heaven that isn’t messed up by adult thinking. Wow!  Thanks Courtney for initiating this.

Luke 18:15-17 (MSG)  People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them.  When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off.  Jesus called them back.  “Let these children alone.  don’t’ get between them and me.  These children are the kingdom’s pride and joy.  Mark this:  Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.”

Tonight we are going to our last LifeGroup before leaving tomorrow.  They are going to pray over us.  Then tomorrow we meet at our church parking for our send off…where they will pray over us before we head out.

Prayer Hog.  Yup.

September 11th, 2012. A Day of Life!

September 11th now symbolizes life in our family!  This is the day Josiah chose the Kingdom of Light and received the ultimate gift:  salvation from his sins.  We are so thankful!  Since Josiah was a baby we have been praying that he would accept Jesus as his Savior at the earliest possible age, but to be honest there have been plenty of times in the past 1 1/2 years that we have put him off. in making this decision.  We wanted him to have a true understanding of the decision he was making.  Here is how it happened…

Josiah came into the living room that evening to where Jody & I were working.  He asked Jody to read to him “that thing on your phone that has a bridge”.  Jody has a “Steps to Peace with God” app on his iPhone and he used to go over it with Josiah regularly but it has been months since I have seen them look at it.  It was a bit random for Josiah to mention it out of the blue but Jody pulled it out and started reading it with him.  It discusses how we are separated from God because of our sins and even if we try to do good things, go to church, etc., nothing WE can do will bridge the gap between us and God.  The cross is the only acceptable bridge that crosses the gap between us and God.  Jesus’ death on the cross is the only way that we will be found acceptable in God’s presence.

When Jody got to the end, Josiah said, “I don’t want to be on the enemy’s side, want to be on God’s side!”  After discussing more with him, we felt peace that Josiah truly had an understanding of his sin and his need for Jesus.  He prayed to receive Jesus!  When he was done praying he started laughing and jumping and kept saying over and over, “I just have so much joy!”  It was precious because we know that the Holy Spirit visited our boy that night in a way that he hadn’t experienced before.  He not only experienced salvation through Jesus but he experienced a taste of the Holy Spirit.  And I must say, his joy was contagious!  It was a really fun experience for our whole family.  Lucas was there watching and learning and Josiah quickly ran into my parents room to tell Grandmom and Grandaddy all about his decision.

Yesterday, November 4th, Josiah was baptized.  Here is a picture of him  being interviewed for a short video that was played just prior to his baptism at church last night.  It is him talking about his decision to accept Jesus and about why he wants to be baptized. 

This was a fun night!  We are overjoyed for our little boy to be a mighty warrior in the Kingdom.  Pray for Josiah that he will be filled with the Holy Spirit and have a deep burning passion for the Lord, for His Word and for His Church.

Good-bye, I’ll See You Later! Cash Family Gathering.

We spent last weekend with Jody’s side of the family for a “Goodbye, see you later-Autumn-Thanksgiving-Christmas” celebration before our move to Haiti.  My highlights of the weekend were:

~Seeing Sarah & Jerod’s new house.  We love it and feel blessed that they invited all of us over when they only moved in the weekend before.  There wasn’t a box in the house.  They had pictures on the wall.  Just nuts. =)

~Fantastic autumn weather.  Perfect for walks around the adorable downtown square of Van Alstyne.

~Noise of six cousins having a blast.  They didn’t stop moving all day and spent hour upon hour jumping and wrestling on the trampoline.  No naps. Chaos.  It was pure joy for them.  I loved watching it.  My heart longs for my boys to grow up near cousins and family…never mind we are moving to another country. 

~Eating Mexican food for Thanksgiving while listening to Christmas music…the weekend before Halloween.  In this family, just about anything goes!

~Hearing Jody & his dad discuss Baylor football with the game blaring on the radio in the background.  Static and all. (They were TRYING to hear it over all the noise of the kids…anyways, there probably hasn’t been a quiet Cash family gathering in all history!)

~Dressing up the boys as Mario and Luigi and Little Batman (really, REALLY homemade, no sew costumes using things we already had around the house…they are little.  I can still get away with that!)

~Walking around the square with the whole gang collecting treats from the shops and vendors set up.  It was small town goodness.

~Having the whole family gather around us before we headed home and cover us in blessings and prayers.  I felt loved. 

It really couldn’t have been a much better day.  Thankful.

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Our 1st 6 Weeks of Homeschool!

Working on our cave paintings while learning about ancient people.

The final result…lots of marker everywhere!

This is what John Ellis does during school…mostly just destroys stuff. =)

Lucas working in his preschool workbook.

Lucas learning shapes, colors, letters and strengthening his hand muscles!

John Ellis celebrates Columbus Day

(he is still loving and wearing this hat everyday!)

Columbus Day Sailors

Science Experiments!  Boys building a mini volcano.

Filling our volcano with soap, baking soda, food coloring and vinegar.

After the eruption!  John Ellis just liked sticking things in the hole.

Family time with Jesus. 

Singing, Bible reading, and Scripture memory.

Making Egyptian collars for our study of Ancient Egypt.

Mommy sang “Walk Like An Egyptian” by The Bangles

way TOO much that week!  =)

Wrapping up Lucas as a mummy.  He wouldn’t break character for anything.

No smiling allowed he said…even for pictures! 

“Because mummies don’t smile, they’re dead!”

More Ancient Egypt

Acting out Moses and Aaron and the plagues.

Daddy was Pharaoh, John Ellis the Israelites, Mommy the Narrator.

Reading is a favorite!

That is a BUNCH of Bull.

Jody has been in Haiti this past week so the boys and I have been having a fun week! Laid back...without mommy trying to get much done. After dropping Jody off at DFW Airport we drove to the CentrePoint train station and rode the train to the Dallas Zoo. We've had a pizza movie nite, play time at the park, backyard swimming, ice cream sandwiches and a slumber party under a tent in the living room. We capped it off with a trip to Topsey Exotic Ranch as a way for my parents to celebrate my 30th birthday. We had SO MUCH FUN! I loved that ranch! I have driven by the sign numerous times throughout my life but always figured it was some run down ranch with a few antelope. It was actually beautiful! The scenery is beautiful and the animals so much fun! The boys loved it, too! Although they were sometimes frightened from the animals sticking their heads in the windows! (This could have been caused from me shrieking occassionally...especially when the emus came around. I think they are creapy with those little beady eyes.)

I thought the most exciting part was the giant bull we saw near the end of the ranch. He was so giant and his horns massive. It looked painful. This MUST be where they get the phrase, "a bull in a china cabinet", because this guy had NO idea the damage he kept nearly causing just because he would swing his head around to swat flys! My car was rammed a few times by this massive horned beast and we were worried the was going to crack a window! He was a thrill to be near...although when he got his head in the window his teeth were yuck...that was a little TOO near!

A thrill that illicited lots of laughter and screams of delight.

Other favorites included the adorable baby goats in the petting zoo that sucked Josiah's thumb, the zebras that chased desperately after the car as we drove off (hee-hawing all the way), the suprising nimble giant tortoise (Lucas' favorite) and the giant water buffalos that could swim so gracefully and would disappear under the water with only the hump on their backs showing. I did not know they would go under the water for SO long.

Fun! Much more so than the Dallas Zoo and much cheaper! =)

Here are some pics from our day at the Ranch:

My Life: The Funny Pages

Simple. Plain Jane. The Everyday.

Life...It's hilarious if I let myself look up from the spinning wheel of routine and schedules.

Here are some recent things that have made me laugh:

~While cutting Josiah's hair, I turned to see Lucas with my water sprayer...soaking the front windows of my parents house and furiously wiping his grimely little hands on the panes of glass...making more mud than shine and then repeating this process for over an hour. Seriously. That long. When he ran out of water he then managed to refill from the cat bowl.

~JohnEllis and his obsession with the word ball and anything round. He literally says "ball" 100's of times/day...and always with a ? at the end, as if to say, "can I have that??". He was sick a couple weeks back. Respiratory problems. Cough. Congestion. Retractions. Wheezing. Crying uncontrollably. A visit to the ER in the middle of the night and inconsolable screaming...until he saw the top of a bulb syringe and suddenly after 3+ hours of nonstop screaming, instantly stops and says, "ball?".

~After a long 12 hour night shift: turning down all the lights and the entire night shift hiding as the day shift arrived with lots of questioning looks on their faces.

~Having my husband give me a 10 minute discourse on the numerous different pens he carries with him in his pencil box...how each of them has a different function and purpose such as: I use this blue pen to write in my journal, but this blue pen to take notes with in class and this particular pen to underline scripture in my Bible, but this pen is only for when I'm at work, etc. One would think that a pen, is a pen, is a pen. Until you meet Jody Cash. Then you realize that every pen has a story and not all pens are created equal. And that pens are serious business.

~My husband has and uses a pencil box. =)

~Josiah drew a picture of JohnEllis the other day at church. They were supposed to be drawing a picture of things they do at home. Since JohnEllis has been sick, Josiah said that we have been trying to get JohnEllis better soon, so he drew his stick figure...Complete with knee caps and a penis. I nearly lost it as we discussed with him how drawing a penis at church is inappropriate.

So there you have it.

My everyday is filled with humor. Somedays I have to hunt for it more than others but finding joy in the little things is the spice of life.