Denver Mission Trip 2009

Here we are in Denver. Heather, the kids and I left about 5 am last Thursday and drove straight through. We got here about 7 pm.; then Todd flew in Friday night about 9:30 pm.
The band arrived Friday morning.

Jude and Cael are on my airbed. All of the Wallaces are sleeping in nursery rooms, so there are plenty of toys for the kids to play with.

Gavin, Jadon and Haven playing...

All 5 in their "Worship" t-shirts on Sunday morning....



We all went to Estes Park on Tuesday and hiked a trail up to Alberta Falls and Bear Lake. I think I could really get into the hiking thing. It was fun.

Cael in his new carrier.....



Beautiful families on a beautiful mountain.....





Matt found a little chipmunk buddy....


Watch out for slippery rocks.....


King of the hill.......


Haven wanted to catch that chipmunk so bad.....


Breathtaking.....




Heather took some incredible pictures of the scenery. We saw an elk on our way out of the park and she got some good shots of him.

The VBS sites are going very well. We have teams at 3 parks and two churches. Many precious children are being ministered to as well as teenagers and adults. A muslim man prayed to receive Christ yesterday. I can't wait to hear the reports from today. Tomorrow is parent's night at the VBS's. I'll try to post some pictures of those.

It's so nice to have the kids and their families here. I had the Bischoff family with me in St. Louis for several years when Doug helped with the project and that was such a joy, but Denver has been pretty lonely for me until the last couple of years. Todd is a speaker and Matt is in the band, and I am so thankful that they are involved in this project. Plus Joy and the kids are here with Bob and that's fun, too.

Well, I think my air mattress is calling me. Two more nights then......a real bed...my own bed.
Hmmmm. I wonder what they're having for snacks? Bed...snacks? Hmmmm.

Later,

Donna

This Is The Place!

Going through the food line:



What would we do without Rosemary Case?? She's a miracle worker in the kitchen.







Sunday evening worship....







My room/office.....Remember this, Heather Smith, Erin Ward, Wendy and Bischoff grandkids? Same room...


Boxes and boxes and boxes of t-shirts....



I hope I can get around to get pictures of some ministry sites tomorrow, because I will go home Tuesday night and get ready to leave for Denver early Thursday morning.

Those Pesky Racoons

This isn't my first post about racoons. Right after I started blogging, I lost some fish out of my ponds to a racoon. I still have 4 goldfish in one pond and two koi in the other. They haven't been bothered anymore since we put those little solar lights around the area.

But....the backyard is a different story. I had been noticing that one of my birdfeeders had been on the ground every morning last week. All of the bird seed spilled out onto the ground. I was wrongly blaming the squirrels. But I picked it up and put more seed into it and hung it back on the hook.

Here's the culprits:






You can't really tell from the pictures, but it is a family....daddy, momma and three babies. At least, it's two big ones and three little ones. I guess one of the big ones stood up and somehow knocked that feeder off the hook. But, hey, they didn't even run away when I walked out there and took the pictures! They just looked at me! I wonder if they sell racoon repellant anywhere? I do have a pellet gun. That might repel them.

Later....

Dead-eye Donna

Catching Up

Well, here I am in St. Louis for the St. Louis Project '09. We have 15 student ministry groups from Missouri, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas. All totalled about 220 people here for the week ministring in various churches and parks. We are lodged at FBC, Ferguson, a church with a missions heart. They don't mind being invaded by a couple hundred students who want to share Jesus with their city. It's Sunday afternoon and dinner will be in about 20 minutes, then Bob Caldwell will bring the evening message.

Meanwhile, I thought I would catch up on some pictures that I have not posted. I took these at the Family Fun Night after VBS.

Here's Pappy and Cael:


Gavin's trying to knock his dad into the dunk tank:


Cael is amazed by the fireworks:




Then Sunday night the China team returned. We all went to the airport to welcome them home.

Here comes Momma:












Happy homecoming!! Thank you God for a safe trip and for the wonderful stories we will hear of what You did in China and Uganda and Romania.

Gotta go eat now. I think it's Mexican tonight. Mmmmmmm.

Donna

VBS - GKIDS

What a busy week! But now that it's over I can say what a fun week. I wanted to post some pictures of the kids at Vacation Bible School. The theme this year was Outback Express and used Austrailian props and facts to teach about Peter and his relationship with Jesus. The Fun Night is tonight with inflatables, dunk tank, and fireworks, so I may have to do another post, but for now...because Heather is in China...I wanted to put some up for her.



Haven saw me and wanted to give me a hug.



This time I tried to sneak a pic:



Jadon and Ella:





Tooooo loud, Ms. Linda:



All Abooaaard!! The Outback Express......





Jude was here until 7:30 the first two nights, but I missed getting his picture.
So here's one of all three of them at breakfast one morning:



Cael's first VBS:





Gavin leading the songs at VBS on the stage:





G'day Mates,

Donna