To Go or Not To Go?

I was invited this week to go on a mission trip to Cambodia in March. It would be March 15th through the 25th. I've been excited about this trip since I first heard about it, although I wasn't going to be allowed to go at first. They are building a fence for an orphanage and I wasn't "fence-building-worthy" or something.

Anyway last week, he called and invited me to go. I have never been out of the country. I have never been on a mission trip -- well, I went to St. Louis once to help build a church, but I don't necessarily consider that a "mission trip".

I can hardly sleep because I'm thinking about going. I think about all of the things I could learn. I think about being able to get off of a plane in a different place -- a foreign place. I think about knowing that I made a difference to orphan boys and girls by the simple act of building a fence.

On the other hand, there's the $3000 it's going to take to go. Not a lot, really. . . I mean, in the grand scheme of things. The trip is 10 days, so there are kid issues -- who will take care of them? I'll miss Payton's birthday and our anniversary. . . again, in the grand scheme of things, not a big deal. I'm the only girl going at this point, which doesn't really bother me, but you know how that is.

So, now I'm just trying to decide if I'm supposed to go or not. . . that I'm not sure yet.

An Update From Us

WOW! A lot has happened since my last post! Somehow the holidays were busier than I thought they would be!! Here's what has been going on with us since my last post:

Jaxon turned 1 year old!! He is now off of his bottle and is finally sleeping through the night. Sorry these pictures are sideways. . . I'll try to fix that soon!

Jaxon LOVES his car!

He wasn't quite sure what to think of all of this stuff!!

I can't remember if I blogged about this or not, but I lost my wedding ring at our Hallelujah Night on Halloween that I was in charge of. We couldn't find it anywhere. So, on Black Friday, I was able to buy another one! I absolutely love it!!


In December, I headed up a "Project Santa" for my backpack kids. We bought Christmas presents for them (plus some). Our list started with 56 kids and in the end, we were able to buy Christmas for 73 kids!! The whole thing is miracle story after miracle story. Maybe for another time. . . It was a BLAST!! Here are a few pictures of that:

These boxes were full of toys that we were able to get from the Toys for Tots Foundation. I have always supported that foundation and will continue to do so because this experience was amazing!

Some of the boys' toys:

Some of the girls' toys:
The sacks took up the whole hallway at the church! These bags have a complete outfit (shirt, pants, socks, & shoes) and at least 3 toys per kid!
These are half of the room that we took them to at the school. The parents came to the school to pick up the sacks. They could then use them for Santa or say they were from them. The white sacks are food from the backpack program. Each kid was to be sent home with 3 sacks of food, but because it was too much for them to carry, we were able to send some home with the parents and some with the kids.

Christmas time was here before I knew it! The boys made these costumes at Purty's house for Christmas day. We laughed at how Evan looks like he's the mad elf!

A rare picture of mommy & Jaxon

After Christmas, Aaron took Payton snowboarding. He didn't like it very much the first day, but really got the hang of it on the second day.