North Carolina - Part One

This week, we have the wonderful opportunity  to  spend time with the Morgan family in North Carolina!  Jack, George and I flew in to Raleigh on Monday...and the six cousins immediately melded into one happy group of kids!  Six kids ages six and under make for one active bunch...but they are loving the time together...and so are my sister Meredith and I. 

Georgie and Jacob...five months apart...riding together on our first walk. 

The kids spotting a mushroom on our walk...something Jack loves to look at on our own nature walks in Ohio. 

Breakfast for six! 

A fun outing to Jumpin' Beans.  (Jack was in absolute heaven here!)

Good thing they have a big Suburban!  All six kids with six car seats/booster seats can squeeze in!  It makes for a fun car ride with all of these little voices singing or asking questions! 

Many of you may know that Josh and I have be longing to serve the Lord on the mission field.  We

 began to prayerfully apply with SIM (Serving in Mission) last spring, but the Lord reminded us of the fact that at this point in our kids' lives, we need to be close to Jake and Sarah and be with them as they finish high school.  So...we've put those missions dreams on hold for a while.  But one of the blessings that came from even beginning the application process with SIM is that we were able to meet a wonderful family.  Dan Linsz was our recruiter and he has been such an encouragement to us and has prayed for our family.  Knowing our hearts for missions, he sent us the book written by his own parents about their missionary years in Africa:  Miracle Beans and the Golden Book .  We loved reading about their years of faithful service to the Lord in Ethiopia, Liberia and in the United States.  When we knew that we would be in North Carolina, we made plans to travel to the SIM USA offices and meet Dan and also his parents, Don and Barb Linsz.  I was so happy to have Meredith and her kids along with us.  Mer has always had a heart for Africa as well, and since Luke and Ben are from Ethiopia, we knew this would be special for them.  One of the stories in the book that we read was about Mr. Linsz throwing a rock in a "hippo pool" in Ethiopia to get the attention of some hippos.  One of the huge beasts came out of the water and chased him all the way back to the car, stopped, and turned back around.  When Luke and Ben saw Mr. Linsz, they said, "I don't think it was very smart to throw a rock at a hippo!"     

We read some other stories from the book on the road trip, as well.  The boys were so excited to learn that when Dan was a boy in Liberia, he shot a green mamba snake with a BB gun!  Dan knew we were reading this part of the book, so he said he wore his green shirt in honor of the green mamba!  The boys were delighted.  They were also thrilled to know that Dan, like them, was born in Ethiopia!!!  They barely left his side the whole visit!  We were so blessed to spend some time with these dear people.  I am always so amazed and grateful for the connection we have to one another as part of the Body of Christ. 

We have a few more days left in North Carolina, with some other fun things planned...so stay tuned!  In the meantime...enjoy this cute picture of all six little ones together!