Hasta Luego, mi amigos!

I'm off to Me-hee-co today! (That's how you say Mexico in Espanol! I gotta start practicing again!)

Posible yo neccesito escribe solo espanol para la blog?
Nah.. I'll stick to English for now. After a looooong short 20 hour van ride and a night in McAllen, Tx, I'll be hanging out on the canal with all my favorites, hugging and playing and SMILING SO BIG!

I'm going to attempt to blog during the trip, but the chances aren't great; as I usually am super busy until I crash into bed and then have to get up really early to beat the heat while we build Casas. But, I'll try.

Promise.
That maybe I'll do it.

Adios! Dios le bendiga!

Meet Megan...

She's my best squirrel* friend in the WHOLE WORLD!

(she's sooo gonna kill me for posting this picture of her!)

And this summer, she is spending 6 weeks in Brazil as a missionary! I couldn't be more proud!

This is where she is this week... 

Awesome, right?  Aren't you just dying to walk on that bridge?  I know I am!

She went to Brazil with the Salvation Army Summer Service Corp, where so far she has helped repair churches, feed the homeless and hand out blankets, worked with children and the elderly, and even got asked to sing in the choir - despite the fact that she can't speak Portuguese!

I'm so proud of my missionary best friend that I wanted everyone who reads my blog to know about her too! And to join me in prayer for her as she continues her time there. Pray that God will use her in ways she never saw coming. Pray that she will be available and obedient, listening for God's voice with excitement for what He may tell her.



I love you Squirrel*!





*Squirrel is from one of those "you had to be there" stories that no one else on this planet has thought was funny except for us.  Best friends for 10 years and still going strong :)

I've been "pinning" away...

I LOVE PINTEREST!  I thought I'd show you some of my favorite things I've found there and absolutely plan to try my hardest to accomplish at some point! (Except maybe the wooden door... that looks expensive.)

Source: moredesignplease.com via Kerrie on Pinterest

Source: None via Kerrie on Pinterest

Source: ny-image0.etsy.com via Kerrie on Pinterest

Don't worry, my guitar is super old and definitely a cheap-o. I never play it and I think I love this.

Source: etsy.com via Kerrie on Pinterest

Source: lovemaegan.com via Kerrie on Pinterest

Source: trendey.com via Kerrie on Pinterest

Source: doors-sliding.com via Kerrie on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Kerrie on Pinterest

I love these ice cubes for a party or shower!  They have frozen flowers in them! Too cute, but maybe a tad gross if the ice melts.. not sure.

Happy Pinning!

Rose clips for Mexico

For weeks, any spare minute I had has been dedicated to this hair clips and headbands.  You might be sick of this Springtime Roses tutorial, but I keep thinking up new things to do with them! In addition to moving on to baby head bands,  I've maid over 100 clips and probably around 50 headbands to take with me down to Mexico on Friday! 

The flowers are made the same, and the only difference is I either glued them to the headband between two round pieces of felt, or for the clips, I cut two small slits into the felt for one side of the alligator clip to go through and then glued the felt to the flower (see above).

I can't wait to give them out to cute little ninas (<--- that's spanish for girls) like these ones...

I know they will be thrilled! What little girl doesn't love cute, colorful flowers in their hair?

Departure in T-minus-4-days! 

Enjoying the Weekend

This has been such a fun weekend!  With the Mexico mission trip coming up, I've been really busy (hence the lack of recent blog posts), so I really appreciated this weekend of fun and relaxation with friends!

Above is a picture of us in Chattanooga, TN, where we went with a couple of friends with no plans - which was great!  I loved this bridge - no cars allowed!  

On Sunday, Lifepoint celebrated it's 5th Birthday!  I love my church so much.  We celebrated the occassion with a huge tailgate party on the lawn and 29 outdoor baptisms!

I made some cake balls for the event and I love how they turned out!  You can get the recipe here.  

Here are some more pictures from the day....

My super adorable buddy, Bryson

Now it's back to the grind for me!  Getting things ready for Mexico since we leave FRIDAY! Also preparing for the launch our upcoming Blessings in a Backpack ministry, my dad's coming to town, and driving all over Alabama to pick up some team members before we leave!  Then it's VIVA A MEXICO for a whole week!! Plus, I've been working on some hair bows to give all the kiddies when we get there.  Speaking of which, I should be getting back to that now. Posting pictures tomorrow :)

Summer Fruit Salsa & Cinnamon Chips

I LOVE how abundant fruit is in the summer.  I seriously go through fruit withdrawl in the winter!  Sure, there is some out there, but its so darn expensive! 

A few summers ago I tried some amazing fruit salsa and cinnamon chips that my friend Jamie's sister-in-law made for everyone to snack on while we waited on Jamie to have her adorable son, Bryson!  (He's seriously so cute, I just love him!)

I got the recipe and have made this several times since then, and two of those times have been THIS WEEK! 

It's so hot out, it's nice to have a nice cold fruity snack, don'tcha think?

So, here's what you need:

For the Salsa:

A carton of strawberries

1 Orange

1 Apple

4 Kiwi

1 lime

2 tbls sugar

3 tbls Strawberry Preserves

For the Cinnamon Chips:

Medium sized (8inch) wheat tortillas (or white, if you prefer)

Cinnamon Sugar (a mixture of your liking, I use about 3 times as much sugar as cinnamon)

Cooking Spray

How-To:

Start by making the chips. slice your tortillas like a pizza. Place on a sprayed baking sheet.  Next, SPRAY THE TORTILLA SLICES!  Weird, but trust me.  Next, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Put in preheated oven (350 degrees) for 10 minutes. Let cool and make some more! 

I store mind in a big ziplock baggie.

For the Salsa, chop all of your fruit (peel the orange and kiwis first, duh right?) into 1/2 inch size pieces and combine in a large mixing bowl with sugar and preserves!  Put in the fridge for about 15 min to get nice and cold.

*you can use any fruit or flavored preserves, this is just my personal favorite!

Hope you like it as much as I do!

Toms Eyewear

I Love Toms!
If you don't know, they are a company that started making shoes with the goal of giving away one pair to a person in need for every pair bought.
ONE FOR ONE.
I have 4 pairs, myself.
Like I said, I LOVE THEM!

Well, now they are selling probably my most favorite piece of clothing - SUNGLASSES!
For each pair you buy, they will help provide medical help and glasses for people all over the world without full sight!
ONE FOR ONE.

I love missions! SO GREAT!

So, get on over there and buy some! *or ask for them for Christmas - I didn't look at the price until after I wrote this post. Whoa. Not cheap. Of course, I'm used to buying $10 sunglasses from Target.*
And also, watch this video.

It's a Farmer's life for me!

Wade and I were responsible for taking care of the "Williams' Farm" while his dad and Hilde were in Oregon this week.  I should mention that this is the same land on which we will be building this year, so it was good for me to have some practice. 

Our duties were to check on the chickens (food and water), collect the eggs each day, water the flowers, and then we got to pick fresh berries from the garden.

It has been so much fun "living off the land" in a sense. The berries are soooo yummy and there is just something nostalgic about brown eggs. They have a lot growing back there: jalapenos, onion, asparagus, grapes, apple orchards, spices, etc. It's so neat.  I hope that when I move out there I can develop some sort of green thumb as well.

So, here's what I have to overcome:
1. My fear of any kind of bug, including flies.
2. My deep hatred of shoes (flip flops won't protect much against snakes)
3. My love of Jeans. I don't love shorts, but I will die out there in the heat taking care of the plants if I'm wearing jeans!

Quote of the week: "You're never going to make it out here, City Girl." -- my loving husband, Wade.

To the ends of the earth we will go...

This weekend Wade and I had the amazing opportunity to lead some team building exercises for a 150 summer missionaries that will be deploying all over the world in just a few days with the Nehemiah Teams!  I'm not sure I am allowed to say where all they are going, but they will cross over several continents and some will be in Level 3 countries.  Level three means they are very dangerous, especially for Christians.

To prepare for their upcoming trips, the teams gathered for language classes, training, and worship.  I was only there for the training, but I learned a lot! 
The teams started by driving in two buses to the location (out in the woods at a low-ropes course). On their way, they were stopped by "Hostles" with real guns (filled with blanks, but still!) and told to get off the bus because there was a bomb. The missionaries then had to get off the buses and get as far away as they could and duck for cover.
Once they arrived at the location, they had to go through "Security" and show their passports and be searched. As one girl went through, she was asked why she had a Bible verse tucked in her name tag. It was an eye-opening way for them to prepare for closed countries and make sure they don't make those same mistakes.
The remainder of the day the missionaries went through Team Building exercises with their groups. They activity I led was a sort of grid that the teams had to cross and there were penalties for moving on without checking on the person behind you. The lesson was to remember the team on the mission field instead of only focusing on your own personal goals. It was really interesting to watch the teams try different approaches to the task. One in particular really impressed me with the way they built a foundation that allowed for each team member to cross successfully. I had chill-bumps as we debriefed afterwards.

At the lunch break, my friend Brooke @ New Hope  (who is also going to Southeast Asia for 6 months!) and I walked that team to the feeding location and on the way the "Hostles" opened fire. We couldn't see where they were but the team, who have been training for this type of situation all week, quickly told us to drop to the ground. They gathered all of the girls in the middle of a group and the men surrounded and covered us.
This may sound silly, and yes there was some laughter that definitly wouldn't have been there if it were a real situation, but it was also felt a tad real.
I was so impressed with the training the college-age students have been going through to prepare for their mission fields were they will do things like provide clean water, work in orphanages, volunteer at local universities, and run basketball tournaments. One team is even heading into the middle east.
And more than anything I felt so privileged to have the honor to facilitate the team building part of their training. I'm so not worthy.  I encourage you to keep these 150 missionaries in prayer with me throughout this summer.

"We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ"

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

Mexico T-Shirt

If you've been reading my blog, you probably know that I have a HUGE MEGA LOVE for Mexico! 

I've been wanting to use the heat transfer vinyl with my Silhouette machine, and decided for my first project, I'd make myself a Mexico shirt for my upcoming mission trip!  (June 24th!!)

Here's how it turned out...

I thought I'd be all artsy and put the image on the bottom side of the shirt.. I'm hoping people don't think it's a cow spot.

Check out my teeny-weeny little bitty ironing board. This is why I do not iron. Ever. 

That, and the fact that the last time I ironed a pair of Wade's pants, I burned 5 holes in them. Yes. 5.

I printed the image from my silhouette following these instructions. Once I had the image ready, I laid it out on the tshirt to figure out placement.

Like I said earlier, I wanted it to wrap around the side of the shirt a bit, so I made sure it place it over the side hem.

Next I ironed like a crazy person. This was really easy, but I made it more difficult by being completely paranoid the entire time that I was messing it up. Poor Wade was in the room and had to witness the whole thing.

But, after all was said and done, the shirt came out pretty good!  It left some iron marks where I think I might have left the iron too long, but hopefully they will disappear when I wash it.

ok, be honest.. it looks like a cow's spot doesn't it?

Now Wade wants me to make him a shirt. I asked him what kind he wanted, and after some serious thought, he has decided he wants a green shirt with orange nunchucks. 

...Men.