Africa Bound

A week from today, I will be heading to Africa.  To say I am excited is an understatement.  To say I am nervous is an understatement.  It has been a dream of mine for YEARS to go to Africa and serve the precious people there.  Now, I finally have the opportunity.  I am going with about 26 other people from my church, NewSpring to Kenya (more specifically, a little town called Segera) from August 19-August 28.  We will be helping teach in the schools, do some construction, make home (hut) visits to share the gospel, and pretty much anything asked of us.  I am sooooooo excited to meet the beautiful people of Segera and so excited to love on them.  I plan on taking tons of pictures and I will be sure to add some of them when I get back. 
I do not think I will have a chance to call home (which really makes me nervous) and I am praying for comfort through that.  The hotel we are staying at does have an internet cafe so I may be able to check my email a few times.  One of my prayers is that I will completely embrace this opportunity and not let my homesickness interfere with my experience.  I do not want to come home from Africa bummed out b/c I did not fully give myself over there due to being homesick and counting down the days until I returned home.  I have been on mission trips out of the country before and LOVED it...however, that was prior to being married and having a child.  I know that I am going to miss them soooo much, but I have faith that God will comfort me and allow me to block out my homesickness for this amount of time (I hope so atleast).  I want Jesus to use me to my full potential while I am in Africa.  I mean, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I have wanted to experience for YEARS!

I ask that you please pray for our safety as we travel and as we stay in Africa.  I ask that you pray for me (and others) to experience Jesus in a whole new way.  I want to come back a changed woman.  I ask that you please pray for lives to be changed in Segera (for the people there and those on the trip).  I ask that you please pray for opportunities to share the gospel and for open hearts to receive Him.  I ask that you please pray for boldness.  I know there will be many opportunities when I am out of my comfort zone, but I just pray that I embrace it.  I want to embrace EVERYTHING!  I ask that you please pray for peace and comfort as I am away from my family for so long (and the same for them as their routine will be completely rocked since Mommy will be away).  I just ask that you pray, period.  :)  I know God will do amazing things there and I look forward to sharing it all with you when I get back...all three of you that read this.  ;)

See yall when I get back!

Here lately...

So, I said I wouldn't take another month since my last blog.  Whoops!  :)  Since my last blog, we celebrated Matt's 27th birthday and had such a great time celebrating him.  We went to the lake with our neighbors/good friends, Khristen, Daniel and their little boy, Avery.  Matt had lasik eye surgery.  He did well with it and is still recovering a little bit, but overall everything is great.  He deserved it b/c his eyes were SO bad.  Also, I just got back from Minnesota.  My best friend lives there and we only see each other about once a year, so it was such a great vacation.  Matt was a single dad from Thurs-Mon (with some help from both sets of grandparents).  I had such an amazing trip (it's always much needed to spend time with Katie), but I was so excited to come home to see my sweet family.  Matty did such an AMAZING job taking care of Cadence, keeping the house clean and tidy, doing laundry and dishes, etc.  I am so thankful to him for supporting me on my trip (and knowing how much it means to me) and for taking care of business around here.  Here are some pics as of lately...

Celebrating Matty at Anita's.

With all of this birthday goodies.

I am so blessed...look at that handsome man.  :)

Silly, happy girls at Mimi's.

Matt's bday dessert from mom...delicious keylime pie.

4th of july at the lake with our neighbors/great friends.  Love you, Khristen!

I love my neighbors!

Little miss priss.

Mall of America in Minnesota with the bestie and Uniqua (Cady's favorite character from Backyardigans).

With our blanket and di-dee's.  :)

i LOVE this girl!

Working out together...a first and it was so fun!

My second family!

All wrapped up in daddy's shirt after a bath.

Catching Up

It has been quite awhile since I've blogged so I thought I'd take some time to catch up.  Since my last post, I celebrated a great Mother's Day, had a wonderful Rucker family trip to the lake, spent an amazing week with the Ivester's at Sea Grove Beach, Florida, celebrated my daddy's 60th birthday and my 27th birthday, and celebrated a great Father's Day.  Wow, that's a lot of catching up to do!! 

Mother's Day was wonderful.  We spent the day celebrating with Matt's mom, BeBe, and my mom, Mimi.  I love my mommas.  I had such a great day with family and especially with my daughter.  I am SO blessed to be a mommy to such a great little gal.

My precious little gift

The Ivester's on Mother's Day

Typical.

Me and my PRECIOUS Mommy!

The Rucker clan on Mother's Day

Mimi and her grands.

The children and our children

Typical.

The Rucker clan (minus Chad, Michelle and Crosby) went to the lake over Memorial weekend.  We had such a good time sunning, riding in the pontoon, eating, swimming, etc.  Cadence and Brie went last yr but were too young to really explore.  This yr they had a great time splashing in the water and playing with their water toys.  We always have such a great time at the lakehouse.

Matty and his girl on the boat.

Bathing beauty.

Me and my girl.

Sweet Brie Brie

Ivester Clan.

Precious Cousins.

                                                                         Mimi and her girls.

                                                                 Papa and Cady.

Papa reading his fishing magazine to Cady.  She loved it. 

June 5-12 Matt, Cady and I went with the Ivester's to Sea Grove Beach, Florida.  We had the time of our lives!!  I was really worried about the 8 hr car ride with Cadence, but she did excellent!  The first couple of days she was very apprehensive about the ocean, but soon she grew to love it.  She spent her days playing in the sand and playing by the water, going to the pool and eating freeze pops.  One day we went out on a boat and spent the day snorkling and walking on this gorgeous beach.  Cadence's favorite part of that day was standing on the boat throwing crackers to birds and watching them eat.  :)  We had such a great trip.  I took sooo many pics, but I'll try to narrow it down to some of the best.

                                              Bathing beauty.

She LOVED the sand.

Aunt Kaya, Cady and Myself

Two Peas in a pod...Matty and his daddy

Sweet little foot

Sacked out for a nap

My sweet little family

So sandy and loving it!

Living the life with a freeze pop and juice

This is right after she got over being scared of the water.

Check out those crooked glasses.  :)

Family pic

The kids minus CadyBug

Cady watching the birds eat her cracker.

The beautiful place we started snorkling.

Matty snorkling.

Beautiful.

Cady running on Shell Island (one of the most gorgeous places I've ever been.)

Cady and her daddy.

On the pontoon one day after snorkling.  Right after this two dolphins swam up to our boat.  It was AMAZING!

Poor little girl sacked out on the boat and missed the dolphins.

Kaitlyn and her friend, Mr. Crab.

She loved being buried in the sand.

I have always loved having my birthday the day after my daddy's.  We always have so much fun celebrating together.  This year my daddy turned the big 6-0.  We went to Anita's to celebrate with him and the next day (my bday-the 17th) all the fam came over to mama's to celebrate.  We had such a great time!!!  My bday was amazing-I woke up and went to breakfast with mom and Cadybug (mom treated me to yummy Cracker Barrel).  Then, Cady and I met Matt for lunch at Fried Green Tomatoes (our usual place), then I went to get my pedicure that I received from Matt and Cady for Mother's Day (heaven), and then we had supper at mom's.  I received a great gift on my bday-my "new" Toyota Sequoia.  It is not a birthday present...it just so happens my precious car was getting old and I needed a new one and my Sequoia just happened to be delivered on my bday.  How fun!  Friday night, Cadence spent the night at the Ivester's and Matt treated me to Trio and some gelato, followed by a Saturday morning breakfast of my favorite: chocolate chip pancakes.  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!  I love traditions and I love birthdays, and Matt and my fam never disappoint me.  :)  Here are some pics of daddy's celebration and mine. 

Daddy's dessert at Anita's...the best!

Me and Cady on my bday at mom's.

The best dessert EVER...mom's chocolate eclaire

Matt, Me and Wyatt (the car)  :)

Me, Kaitlyn and Courtney (Kaitlyn's buddy) showing my age...27                   

Cady, Crosby and Brie...the three grands.

My annual bday breakfast from Matty...chocolate chip pancakes.  WONDERFUL!

Last but not least: Father's Day.  Me and Cady made Matt his favorite muffins for breakfast, gave him presents and then went to church.  After that we went to the Ivester's, followed by going to my family's.  We had a great day celebrating Matt, Daddy and Jimmy.  I am so thankful that I was raised by such an amazing father.  My daddy is amazing and such a man of God.  His heart is so beautiful and I love him so much.  I am so thankful that I married a man just like my father.  Matt is so amazing and so loving and so generous, selfless, kind, etc.  He is an amazing husband, friend and father.  Cadence is sooo blessed to have him as her daddy and we are so lucky to be able to have him in our lives.  I love you, Matty!  And Jimmy-I love my father in law so much too!  He is so good to me and treats me just like his daughter.  He is funny and such a good man!  I love you all!!

Matt reading his card from Cady.

They are so beautiful!  Wow, I am blessed!

Next, is Matt's birthday (the 26th of June).  We look forward to celebrating with him!  I will try my best to not wait a month and a half to post my next blog so you won't have a novel to read at once.  :)  P.S. I just reviewed this blog and for some reason the pics and captions are posting weird and aren't centered.  I don't know what's up with that?!