A Very Merry Christmas

The Originals. As My Brother Says.
Christmas was such a good time of seeing my family & really getting to spend time with them. We loaded the car down on Sunday & made the forever long drive to my parents house. 

Love my sweet boys.

My mom & I did some baking. Of course she made a mess and decided start a little food fight. Ha. Not really, just kinda. 

My sister & her growing family came down Christmas morning & the kids went crazy over christmas fun. Yes, they drove their parents a bit crazy too! Oh my, Abbey & Noah are still nuts when they get together. However, there were glimpses of hope that they are learning to settle down every now & then. Fingers Crossed.

Noahs belly in this picture cracks me up!!!

Noah loving on uncle Robert Kyle. Love this picture. Noah sometimes still looks like such a baby to me.

My mom & I opening boots from one another, Ha. My dad very happy about his Keurig from my momma. My mom is now a member of the Iphone family, thanks to my daddy. Hooray! 

More pictures of family fun. Check out Tucker climbing up his new wagon.

On Wednesday my mom gave the kids new pajamas. The way they were hugging them you would think Jen & I never bought anything for them. ha! Too funny. Noah is always a bit more overly excited than most. lol. Then we all decorated a gingerbread house.

These little Turkeys totally took over! I'm glad, because they really loved it! 

My dad had to go back to work Wednesday & when he returned the kids went nuts! Makes my heart happy.

I love watcing Noah & my daddy playing soccer together. My dad is a nut, wonder where Noah & I get that from? :) I really hope everyone had a great Christmas. I am ready for this new year. 

~Brit

Reflecting on Haiti

Today I am thinking of Haiti. To be honest, since we got back from Haiti, most of the time I am thinking about Haiti. I haven't really shared too much about our trip on my blog just because I've been processing everything the Lord is doing in my heart & life as a result of the trip. I have been on several mission trips & only two times have I truly wished I could just scoop up my entire life & family and move to live there. Again, to be honest, I can not believe that I fell so in love with Haiti because it is so hot, there is extreme poverty everywhere, and there are plenty of bugs (& some rats) to go around for everyone. However, there are so many beautiful children who long to be loved on,  many precious people who need to know how much Jesus loves them, villages that need encouragement, and so much work that needs to be done.  I think our country shares a lot of these same needs, so as much as we fell in love with the country we know that God has not called us (at this time in our lives) to be missionaries in another country. We strongly feel that at some point in our life we will serve as missionaries. This is perhaps why our hearts are so heavy right now.

We arrived in Port Au Prince with a small group from our church & traveled about 45 minutes out. We have many friends & family who keep asking us to share from our trip. I think this is going to be the easiest way for us to do that. Today I'll share what we did the first two days while we were there... we stayed & worked for an incredible organization, Mission of Hope, that is truly making a difference in the lives of the Haitian people & the country. There are endless amounts of testimonies of the ways God has blessed & is blessing the country of Haiti through Mission of Hope. It is incredible. We were honored to be a small part of their summer VBS program & minister in several villages in the area. 

at the Mission. Just beautiful views!

we painted & did work projects the Saturday we arrived at Mission of Hope 

we got to play with the sweet children living in the orphanage. There home was  right outside our door. 

we had the chance to see them in the morning & evenings before we went to sleep

we toured the property & caught the vision of Mission of Hope. Click here!

Ambulance that was donated to MOH just before the earthquake. Incredible testimony of how God spoke to a man to get an ambulance to MOH, just before the earthquake. Mission of Hope was one of the few who were able to get to areas that were devastated by the earthquake. 

The Clinic at MOH that serves the community.

one of the schools on the MOH campus.
Incredible testimony of how God is provided education.

the beautiful church at MOH

we loved worshiping with so many believers

we were a little toasty but loving it!

waiting for church to start!

taking a tour of Bercy in the King of the Roads (our transportation).
 It actually got a flat tire & these 3 men fixed it!

part of tent city

the new homes in Leveque.
So many families still need homes.
They were displaced here after the earthquake.

Pastor Edgar & Johnny.
New homes on right, old on the left.

this hill doesn't look like much. but it was scary!! there was no room for error when the bus took this turn.
 We had to get off for the bus to make it up & turn.

There is just so much to share from our trip. This is what we did the first two days we were there. The ministry aspect of our trip didn't really start until the 3rd day. Can't wait to share about our time in VBS & in village ministry. It was such an incredible time. The Lord truly did a work in my heart while I was there. I'm thankful that I obeyed & got out of my comfort zone to be a small part of what the Lord is doing through Mission of Hope. I'm thankful that the Lord has broken my heart in a new way & has shown me how to carry that brokenness out in our everyday lives. Can't wait to share more about that soon!
Happy Friday!
~Brit

Linking up with

Bonjour

Good morning friends! We are back from Haiti. This trip was truly incredible and I am positive that trying to share through my little blog everything that we were able to see the Lord do within us, our team, the Haitian people, and the incredible work that the Mission of Hope is doing is going to be impossible. Over the next few weeks I'll attempt to share stories from our wonderful trip to share glimpses of our experience. However, today I am still in quite a fog from getting back from the trip & processing everything so I will not stay too long but I just wanted to share a few pictures with you. 

All Good Things

This week is filled with tons of good things. Things that I am excited about!  This weekend we are having a little family party for Noah. My sister in law & her 2 little girls are visiting from Texas. Happy to see them.  
Tonight I get to hang out with some sweet ladies over coffee at Starbucks at Java after Jammie's. This past year I started this group as a way to have a break in the week for ladies to get together, outta the house, have coffee & get to know each other every Monday night. 

Order Your T-Shirt TODAY!
Passports came in the mail this weekend. A good thing. A God thing. I ordered mine incredibly late & it came in in two weeks with no extra expediting fees. We are still selling T-Shirts to raise money to make the trip possible to Haiti. Love seeing God pull it all together. Believing for the fund. If you would like to purchase a shirt please click the link above. Also, this week I am adding more items to my etsy shop. Anything purchased from my shop will directly fund our trip. I hope to have all new items listed by Tuesday night!

This mornings devotion in Live Dead, Day 20. WOW. All I gotta say is that God is really stretching me. Although, I have not been reading every single day for the last month like I had hoped, the Lord is still blessing & I love that my prayer life is more than it has ever been. My prayer is that with every day in each year, it becomes more than the year before. Challenge for a life time.

Another good thing. My little boy. Lately, his attitude has been extremely overwhelming for his momma at times but I know Noah is learning a lot right now. Such as how to obey my words, listen to my voice, and follow through with the discipline I share with him. Hmmm... Doesn't that sound kinda familiar with what God is trying to teach all of us in life? Pretty much the story in my life. Sometimes when the Lord shares a new challenge with me or when I want something to go a certain way, different than His plan, he is always faithful to love me even when I throw a fit about it first. I am thankful for all good things that I learn & am reminded of from being a mommy to this little boy. 

Allowing the den/play room to look like this & not feel one ounce of guilt about it. A good thing. 

My friend Angela brought her two little ones to church today too. Noah & Ellie found some fun toys in Johnny's office. I really enjoy hanging out at the church, think I'll make more of a habit to come up during the week for an hour or so to let Noah see Johnny for a bit. Plus on days like today, when discipline is a struggle, it is a nice break in my day. 

One last good thing, dinner with my man. Making some easy dinner tonight, turkey & cheese hot rolls! Then coffee with some ladies! Happy Monday Night!

~Brit