Titus & Ladan Turn 7

Late June we made the hike back up to St. Louis. We had a good deal of meetings for HVG and Vernon was scheduled to preach the last weekend of June in O'fallon, so we made a week of it. It just so happened that that particular week was Titus' birthday. If you have been around the blog long you know we do parties...and I mean DO parties. We love having people over and making a big fuss over whomever's special day it is. Sooo, since Titus would not get his big party here in TX we through a family party in Missouri! Vernon's sister, Phyills and her family came over from IL and stayed the entire week! It was our nephew Ladan's birthday week as well (phyllis's son) because the boys are only a bit over a week apart!

We had a ball. We did all kinds of things that week:: we played in the water, went to the science center, made stepping stones, the kids watch movies with Grandma, visited friends and much more. Vernon worked, went to meetings, worked some more and Phyllis & I and the kiddos, well, we just had fun!! It was awesome. Here are some fun pictures::

Phyllis and I attempted making Lego cakes.

making stepping stones

movies w/ Grandma

Unity Among Educational Camps

I have started and erased this blog so many times because of its subject. I cant seem to get a grip of exactly what I want to say. I have sent this video clip out to so many friends who were struggling with schooling decisions and just realized the other day I had never posted it on any social media. It speaks to the heart of what I would like to write.

We all make educational decisions for our sweet children. We love our kids. Education is important to us and we have personal, real reasons why we choose the education routes we choose. None, not even the one we choose, is perfect and right. Let us not defend them as if they are. Let us love one another with brotherly love and seek to show hospitality to all as we serve our families. Let us not put others on pedestals because they have chosen a specific route that the Lord has not set for your family to take. Let us be confident that, in Christ, the Lord has given you and your children all that they need for Life and Godliness, not placing our hope in any schooling system but in Christ alone. Let us strive to edify one another and be unified in our vision to love the Lord our God, love and serve our family and proclaim His goodness to the world.

Please watch this little clip and be encouraged::

Strength and Honor; Thanks Mom!

Mother’s Day has always been special to me. Even before I had children myself, I valued highly this day and wanted so badly to honor my mom. Well, lets just say I failed miserably each year knowing that the measly gift card and flowers did NO justice to all that my mom had given to us.

In May of 1986, just a week after Mother’s day, my mom tragically became a single mother of three. My father died of a heart attack at the very young age of 39 leaving my mom with the three children in a new city, states away from all the she had ever called home.

My mom had strength that only God can grant. With a loving family (both her family and my dad’s) by her side, she made the choice to move us back to Missouri to be close to her family and around some things that were, at least, familiar. In the following months she put her self through beauty school, working and going to school full time. During this time she met all our needs. We never went without. We always had breakfast hot when we got up and dinner together in the evenings. How she did it, I’ll never know.

My mother taught us through her actions to engage grief. She never made light of our pain, even on the day I cried because we got a new vacuum. I had memories of my dad vacuuming and was afraid that if everything that reminded me of him went away that I would never remember him. She came in bed with my sister (who was 11) and I (age 7) and we all cried together.

She always encouraged us to feel the grief but not to let it cripple us. She taught us, again through her actions, that God can sustain you even when you think it is impossible to stand. She never missed any of our baseball or basketball games and she was even my brothers Cub Scout leader! She is every woman.

My mom had two choices: 1) to make the most of out of the deep pain, provide for her children, and to give them a future or 2) remain in the deep recesses of grief and turn inward while solely caring for her self. My mom was strong. She made the right choice and did the best she possibly could, not ignoring the pain, but engaging it while going on with life and caring for us.

My mom had a choice, but thousands of moms around the world do not. They are forced by masters to provide for their children by selling themselves countless times a day, knowing this will be the heritage of their daughters. They have no choice to walk away. Slavery is real. It is real life to them and their children.

Knowing this reality, we now have a choice: to make a difference or ignore it all together. And this Mother’s Day I am making the choice to make a difference and in that, honor my mother, Debbie Simerly, and you too could join me.

As Our Own is a ministry that has rescued and cares for over 60 girls, many of them were being raised in brothels in India. This ministry is giving us and opportunity to honor our Mothers this Mother’s Day by donating to their “Thanks Mom!” campaign. This money will go towards the care of the sweet girls who have been rescued and now need care as they are raised to make a difference in their country.

So mom, in honor of your strength and courage in the face of pain, we are donating to our friends at As Our Own in your name. I love you!

If you would like to join me, here are the steps::

STEP 1 :: Give to our Thanks, Mom! campaign to honor your mom on Mother’s Day, May 8. (click HERE)

STEP 2 :: In the donation comments box, tell us what you appreciate most about your mom.

STEP 3 :: Download a certificate for your mom that explains the gift you’ve made in her name.

Honor your mom this Mother's Day and make a huge difference for a sweet girl in India!

Forced Media Fast

Last week Vernon had the privilege of preaching a revival at a church in the middle of the beautiful country in southwest Missouri. It was a fantastic week. The boys and I were able to go and we all stayed in the Church (it has a room for families to stay in). We knew going into the trip that there would be no cell service and very limited Internet (it is actually easier to get a hold of us in Sudan than in this rural area of MO). We had been wanting to do a "media fast" for a while now so we thought this would be a perfect time.

Those of you who know me know that I am notorious for being bad at returning calls and have been labeled "hard to get a hold of." I was the last person I knew that was my age to get a cell phone (and only did because long distance was getting expensive talking to Vern). I hated the idea of always being available to all at all times. I go through this same aversion with each new "social media" as they comes out, blogging, facebook, twitter, etc. So the thought of not "being able to be gotten a hold of" was refreshing. A media fast? YES PLEASE!!

Really the honest depths of it is that I dont want the responsibility of responding to such a wide variety of needs/wants. I want control. I want to be in charge of who can and cannot get a hold of me so that I can have control of what comes my way. Now granted, part of this is a good thing. I DO think there is wisdom in protecting your self and not spreading your self thin and baring so many other needs/burdens that you cant care for your own. (or those of your close friends and family) I DO think there is wisdom in setting boundaries and not feeling an excessive amount of responsibility to respond each time you are beckoned. So dont hear me say that everyone should be openly available at all times. Be available :: just keep it balanced!

Since we don't have TV and rarely watch movies, our "media" is the Internet and our iPhones. (and most certainly books but we didn't count those :) On any given month I send/receive approx 1500 text, easy. Each day I check facebook and/or twitter continually through the day as if I really need to know what everyone is doing. I am subscribed to 50+ blogs, send/receive 20+ emails a day and feel compelled to posts random thoughts throughout the day for all to read. None of these things are BAD in and of themselves. They can be used for Godly purposes, "spurring one another on in Love and good deeds" but they MUST remain in check.

Putting them in check is exactly what we did this week and I am so thankful. It was beautiful week. No where to go, no texts, voicemails or emails to respond to, just our family and a fun church family to get to know. It was beautiful and refreshing.

A lot went on in my heart this week regarding media and its role in our life and I highly recommend a small "fast" to all of you. You dont have to be in rural SWMO to turn off your phone and shut your computer. Let the Lord show you where media has led you in to sin, or rather, revealed the sin in your heart. Also, let the Lord show you how you do and can use it for His Glory.

Here are some photos of what we did all day. We did ride four wheelers but I didnt get any pics of it::

A Family Miracle

We have been out of town so I have been able to post that my sister had her sweet baby girl two weeks ago. She was not due until mid December. It was a scary few days but Timber Lynn Gail McCallon was born just shy of 34 weeks. Thank you to all our friends and family who prayed for little Timber and my sister. She is strong, healthy and at home! In fact my sister just told us Timber weighed 4lbs 6oz at her 2 week appointment! I haven't had a chance to meet little Timber yet but I love her SO much! I got some pictures from my sister's fb until I have a chance to take some of my own :)

A Little Late

I usually go all out for Reformation Day and make fun costumes for all (see here, here and here)...not this year. We've been traveling so much that I havent had a chance....sooo we pulled into town late on the 30th and ran to target...needless to say they didnt have much to choose from but the boys were thrilled to be super heros! (even if the costumes dont quite fit! J's was WAY too small and T's was too big) IT is funny that neither of them have ever seen Iron Man or Spider Man except in books at Barnes and Noble but they loved them all the same!

We went to an neighborhood outreach party with some friends in North County on the 31st and had a great time!! We got to hang out with the Kuntz's and the Reardon's! I got pics of everyone except Uriah...he was Woody and as cute as could be ;) Here are some photos::

My New Nephew :: Baby James

My Brother and His wife, Diana, welcomed Baby James Neal Gaddis II (named after my dad) into the world September 29. He and mama are doing great and boy, my brother is going to be a good dad! The boys and I got word that she was in the hospital and we packed up and headed North. It is crazy awesome that we live close enough now that we got to see him THE DAY he was born...how awesome is that?!!!

Anyway, I had high hopes of getting some super great newborn shots, but the room was SO cold I was not about to take him out of his nice and cozy swaddle...and not to mention, Justus was not so sure about the hospital room so taking pictures was not on his agenda! ha!

Here are a few I snagged::





Love Love Love this little man!

"Isn't That Just Like God"

Every time I think of all the details of life that God ordains to fall into place at just the right time, (never to early never to late) I hear my sweet friend/mentor, Mrs. Thomas, saying, "Now, Isn't that just like God!" That phrase keeps ringing in my head this week as I look back on all that has taken place.

Saturday we got a phone call from Sudan asking Vernon if he could be in country by the following Saturday. All for AMAZING, EXCITING reasons, which will be for another post. (or just check our His Voice Blog in the next couple days). We knew we would have a team from our partnering church, The Village Church, in Sudan at the that time and had already decided our Fall schedule was too packed for Vernon to join this team. Little did we know that he would end up being there to minister with them!!

All that said, Vernon is in Sudan. He will fly in on Friday to Minneapolis, where I will have already dropped the boys off with my Mom and driven to this beautiful northern city. I will pick him up, we will attend the Desiring God National Conference (we do this each year as a gift to each other instead of getting other stuff). We will drive to pick up the boys on Sunday following the conference, sleep at my moms, get up early and drive Vernon to the Ozarks for Staff Retreat. The boys and I will go home for the week, drive back and pick up Vernon from the Ozarks and head to Bolivar to do some ministry there. We will head back to STL, Vernon will be home for a day and then fly to Midland for some His Voice meetings. That said, the boys and I will be home 7 days between now and Oct 15 of which Vernon will be home 1.

Crazy.

But here is the cool part. As you may or may not know, we decided to homeschool Titus this year. It has been the biggest blessing EVER. Taking that step of obedience (for us, not that homeschooling is obeying in general,it just was for us in this time) has been SOO freeing to us! At the time of deciding this, I was a bit panicked. I also work for His Voice Global from home and I had no idea how I would be able to accomplish getting Titus schooled while being an effective staff member of HVG, not to mention a decent mom and keeping up with Bible study, prayer, outside reading, house work, cooking and ministering outside the home!
What I have found is that I am ALOT more disciplined with my time because I HAVE TO BE. I have found that not being strung out going here and there with school pick ups and events, we have so much more family time and time to get things done! So here is my, "Isnt that just like God" moment this week:: We are finished with 1st quarter in all Titus' subjects! History, Math, Geography, Science, Reading/Language Arts. (we even started a unit on Sign Language) Isn't that just like God to give us some time to pace our selves in the middle of our crazy season! This means, I can school Titus the days we are home and not have worry about getting behind while we are out ministering together as a family. How cool is that!

So that's my little, "Isn't that just like God" moment this week...Do you have one?!

::: Guess Who is 6 :::

Titus is 6 today, I can hardly believe it. It is such a joy. He is intense in every way. He loves intensely. He gives intensely. He play, learns and listens intensely. He feels all his emotions intensely. He is full of life. We love him to the moon!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?
I see a 2 year old looking at me!




photos by allison kitchens