We just can't stay away....

So we are about to complete our 5th month back in the states....the last couple of months have been pretty emotional.  We had many visitors as well as a great Easter and Mother's Day.  Our friends Wayne and Stacia that have four kids our kids' ages came in to visit us, the Nichols family was in for Relay for Life and stayed with us too, then we had or pastor Jeremy and his family from Roatan, come in for a couple of days too.  It was fun to catch up with everyone and truly awesome to see how easily we pick up right where we left off.  It had been over a year since we had seen Wayne and Stacia and the kids, almost two years since we all saw the Nichols family (their son Lat stayed a week with us Roatan last year), and four months since we had seen Jeremy and family in Roatan......needless to say, God placed each of these families in our lives for a purpose, many purposes really, and I can honestly say that they are all like family and will be for eternity.  So cool.

Well, we just can't seem to stay away from what God has placed in our hearts, the need to serve the kids back in Roatan.  This weekend we are collecting used sports equipment at the Conroe YMCA to send down to Roatan, Honduras.  The mission teams that we have gotten to know over the past couple of years as well as the engineers that are headed there for a month in June will be adding this gear to their baggage as they continue to give back to the community that we grew to love and still long to help.

Trey and I have been kicking around so many different ideas about ways we can use our non-profit to help others and it always seems to go back to gearing up underprivileged kids with sports equipment and enabling youth to GO and GIVE back through sports camps and VBS, volunteering at the clinic and our Church back in Roatan.....Awesome opportunities for young people and adults alike to step outside the box and follow HIM.

This reminds me that God has "a plan...for us to prosper...and give us hope and a future" (taken from Jeremiah 29:11)

Please be praying for us to open those doors that HE places before us and to grow in HIM for all that HE has planned for us.

God Bless,
Connie and Family

3 Months in The States....Who Knew It Would Take So Long To Adjust???

It has now been three months since we arrived back in the states.....WHEW!  It has been as hard to re-adjust to living in America as it was when we first arrived in Roatan, Honduras.  Who knew it would take so long to get back in the swing of things back home?  Thank God for our dear friends and family here for lifting us up in prayer and never failing to listen or just be here for us....even our friends back in Roatan have been so faithful to communicate with us, whether through quick FB chats or Skype or even just plain old email.  We are so very blessed in the midst of so much that is going on around the world.

So far our only health issues have been Anna with the flu and then a stomach bug, Wiley with bronchitis and Parker with some rare all-over body rash that was a reaction to the four vaccinations that she had just received.  Trey and I have managed to just deal with allergies and of course, my roller-coaster of emotions (I think he was getting pretty close to putting me in a straight jacket, just kidding!). 

Trey and I celebrated our birthdays on Valentines Day....he hit the big 40 and I am somewhere far being him and I am sticking to my story!  We also just celebrated our 12-year anniversary in late March, the time really flies by.  So, two big milestones and many more to come.

We have been really pleased with the neighborhood we are in, the kids all walk or ride their bikes to and from school.  They are so stinkin' independent, sometimes I just want time to stop so I can enjoy them for a just a little bit longer while they still need us and it is obvious.  Of course, there are other times that I could tell you the exact amount of time we have left until our two-year-old is 18....those are the tough days that always seem to be followed by some really rewarding moments when we realize that being a parent is the highest honor we could have ever asked for.

We have recently been battling an issue with our son, regarding his ability to focus in school and the possibility that he might be ADD or ADHD or OCD or all of the above....what a nightmare.  To be such a great kid and smart and respectful, yet unable to sit still or stay on task to the point that he may be retained for fear of failure in the next grade....anyway, we were already behind from being in Honduras so we are playing catch-up in not only a very competitive school, but also with a child that needs a little extra re-directing.  Please be praying that we can get him caught up and learn of new ways to keep him interested in the classwork so that he can be successful, without using meds.

Our  pastor, Jeremy and his wife, Melissa, from Roatan, are in the states for the next three months and will be making a stop in Conroe the second week of May.  We are praying about hosting a meet and greet/fundraiser for them while they are here.  It would be a great opportunity for our friends and family to meet some of the people that were a huge part of our lives while we lived and served in Roatan, Honduras.

Take Care and God Bless,
Connie and Family

Freezing temps on our tropical toes!

So, I totally had to blog about something a little more upbeat after my last blog.  You can only waller in your sorrows for so long, that self-pity thing can become viral if you don't watch it...thank God for his grace when we feel so doubtful.

So, the low for tonight is supposed to be around 18 degrees Fahrenheit....that is SO darn cold for our thin, tropical blood!  We only thought that our toes were cold when we first got home, there is even snow in Texas! 

One Month Back Home

So it has been one month since we got back from our journey to Roatan....Some days have been good, others not so great.  It is definitely difficult to adjust to such change:  NO ONE that we know or are close to could possibly understand or GET what it is I am speaking of.  We love our friends and family and enjoy sharing our journey with them, but seriously WE could not have understood the hardships that we endured unless WE had walked in our shoes that we are presently still in.  It is not so much that we need validation that we gave of ourselves and our family in HIS name, but just someone that GETS it to simply listen and really KNOW what on earth we speak of and need right now.

One Year and Back in Texas

Well, we completed our one year commitment to Roatan and are now back in Texas.  I cannot believe it flew by so fast!  There were days that I thought the year would never end and others that just seemed to fly by.  Each day was filled with such awesome opportunities to minister to others and just be a great example of what Christ's love LOOKS like.  We are truly blessed and thankful for this past year and know that HE has some great stuff ahead for us! 

Here is a look at our final hours on Roatan:

Pastor Jeremy and Melissa made us a yummy dinner on our last evening so that we would not have to worry about one more thing, we hung out and let all the kids play out side.  They made fern leaf headdresses and of course, Laney ended up streaking all of us with nothing but a fern headdress on!  Great fun and more memories to add to our unending list.  It was fun to just chill for a bit, but we had not even packed our bags!  I know, we are one crazy family of six, but we would not be "us" if we did things any other way, right?  We stayed up until around midnight, I woke up around 5am obsessing about our day ahead knowing we were nowhere near where we needed to be in order to board our flights...