Back into the swing of things

We are back on the road again and starting up our Fall Tour. Our first week started in Cass City, MI. Joe and I weren't sure if our trailer was going to make it due to some brake failure. Praise the Lord we found an awesome mechanic and he taught Joe and showed him how to fix the brakes! The church in Cass City set us up at a wonderful campground. It was nice to get settled into our home and it was very peaceful. The weather was wonderful as well!

But because we weren't living in our trailer all summer, we found out that the water pump wasn't working due to buildup in the pump itself. Joe doesn't know much about water pumps...BUT...after many trys, and assembling/disassembling, and cleaning out every part of the pump, IT WORKS!!! YEAH!!! Lincoln even tried to help out a little bit! :)
This weekend we are in Madison, WI. I enjoy it every time we get the chance to visit my home state! We are actually in Wisconsin quite a bit through out the fall. Check out our schedule here.
Other than trying to keep up with Lincoln, I've been reorganizing and cleaning the trailer. It feels so much better to travel in a clean house. Even Joe got the declutter bug in him and went through some of his things! :) I can't wait to sit down and enjoy a nice cup of flavored coffee and use my gift card that I won from Frugal Gossip! Thanks Kim!
Well, it's another beautiful day. Maybe once Lincoln wakes up, eats lunch, we'll go outside for a bit...(wish I had my stroller...There's some garage sales around the corner.) :(

Silly faces

Lincoln's been the main source of entertainment these days! Especially with these funny faces! They crack me up! Here he is with Aunt Brooke whom the funny faces resemble when she was his age.

This one doesn't even look like him. But it's the funniest!

Back from summer break

This summer was just so busy that I decided to take a break from the blog world. Now that things are gearing up for another season of travel, I should catch ya all up on things.
Joe and I stayed at my parents in Lakewood, WI for the summer. I'm too much of a home-body that I think I've been spoiled and now I don't know what I'll do once we leave. I'm so thankful for all the hard work that my parents did all summer to make sure we were ok!
God did put some challenges in our lives this summer, only to draw us closer to him. It was such a blessing to be home and see the church family and to hear my dad preach. I've missed that as well.
Lincoln has grown so much. He's crawling around and getting up and walking along the furniture. When we first got here, he was barely crawling or sitting on his own. He has a mouth full of teeth and still happy as always!

Lincoln with Uncle Brennan hiking at Dave's Falls

This is what Mom, Joe, Lincoln and I did almost every weekend for the first two months that we were here. If you'd like to see some of Joe's work, visit his web site here! And visit my mom's blog here! This is a shot from the Mackinaw show.

Look out tower near the bridge.

Lincoln with my cousin's baby, Bradyn.

who doesn't love baby cheeks?!

Two teeth on the bottom and four on top! SO cute when he laughs! :)

In Mackinaw

Here I am with my sister and some good friends bowling.

Lincoln participated in the watermelon eating contest! He loved it!

Here's some links to more photos of our summer.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124408&id=505374902&l=5af372b726

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121083&id=505374902&l=fec31d0206

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116766&id=505374902&l=d685770990

quick update

It's been a busy month and I'm really excited to say that we are done and home for the summer! I have so much updating to do and will have to let you all know how our spring tour went! Right now our trailer is still in Midland, MI getting some repairs done while Joe and I are in Lakewood, WI. We will be flying out to Maine on Friday for one more Revival America with Bible Revival Ministries. I'm ready for summer to kick into full gear. It will be busy, but hopefully I'll find some time here to post some pics of our adventures that we had over the spring.
Lincoln will be 7 months tomorrow, can't believe that! He's such a chunk and so much fun! Please come back later to see and hear more from us. Thank you for your prayers through out our travels, we appreciate it!

Ocean view beach

Yesterday was lincolns first visit to the ocean. He loved playing in the sand and watching the sea gulls. It wad very windy and Lincoln was scared of the waves. I will post more pics later. Right now I'm posting from my phone.
Today we are planning on going to the zoo or see the USS Wisconsin. Come back later to see that!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly...

What a spring tour it has been. So many things to be thankful for. We've seen the Lord working in so many lives. People are so generous with their time and money.

THE GOOD: Last week we were in a small church in the hills of Pennsylvania. Two churches joined together for a week of meetings. It was neat to see these two churches work together. The people there have very big hearts and love the Lord very much. During our week of meetings, Ben's family (BIL) got sick with the flu. It was rough for a few days. Thankfully it passed quickly and my family didn't get it!
At the end of the week we saw God work in an amazing way. Our love offering was WAY above expected. But hey, God does that, doesn't he? We are truly thankful for the two little churches tucked away in the hill of Pennsylvania. They have been such a blessing!

THE BAD: On Saturday we traveled 9+ hours to get to our next destination: Chesapeake, VA. I've been looking forward to this week. The beach, site seeing, warm weather, city life....Because of the sicknesses from last week, the pastor shortened our week of meetings for this week. Which is a HUGE blessing because we've been going non stop for the past 4 weeks and 4 more to go! I've been wanting to do some site seeing but have been too busy. So maybe this is the week to do that! Anyways...the bad part. Traveling all day, hot muggy weather...Joe was kinda irritable all day. He just wasn't feeling up to par. When we got to the church in VA, I noticed that our slide was not working when I was setting up the house. Our main slide out (kitchen/living room) is broken and something is wrong with the gears. We were able to push it out from the inside and it's livable now. We're praying that someone will be able to come look at it on Monday. (and pray that it's not too costly as well.)

THE UGLY: Joe was still not feeling so good. I thought maybe he was tired...stressed out from traveling and then having to deal with the trailer issue. I was feeling fine, more awake than usual for a Saturday night after a long travel. Around 11pm Joe rushed to the bathroom...After he lost his lunch from earlier that day, he said he was feeling better. Good...now hopefully I don't get it. I decided that it would be best for me to sleep out on the couch instead of my own bed near my sickly husband. Through out the night he was in and out of the bathroom. Around 4am (I probably had only 2-3 hours of sleep by then) Joe was on the floor in pain. Numbness, pain in his stomach, sweating...I'm thinking he's dehydrated. To make a long story short, Joe was sent to the hospital, I didn't go...(Lincoln slept through the whole ordeal...except to eat at 3am...which he's NOT supposed to, but I gave in.) Ben followed the ambulance and kept me posted. I've been sitting here since 4:30am trying to get some rest. Ben just called. The ugliness: Joe either has the flu or food poisoning. They haven't ruled which one yet. Also dehydration, and some kind of panic attack. Ben said he's doing better. He's sore and ache. I wish I could be there for him.

That's my story of our weekend. It's been so hard to update while we're traveling. God has blessed us in so many ways. I'm thankful for all the prayers and ask you to pray for my husband right now. It's hard to see the person who usually is the strong one, crumble apart and need you to be strong. I'm not very good at being the strong one.

I wish I had a happy ending to this. I'm very tired and Lincoln is ready to be up for the day. As I wrap this up, Ben just called and the doctors ruled it food poisoning which caused him to be dehydrated. Pray for Joe's strength and health. Thank you!

Easter and Travels

Ah...finally I can type on my blog! It's been so long since we've had connection! Right now I'm on my new laptop that has wireless and we are connected to the neighbors internet. I've missed my blog and facebook so much. There's too much to tell.
From Illinois we went down to Alabama and stayed with my SIL's Uncle Jay. It was nice to stay and have a mini vacation for a week and half. We had some interesting days with severe weather and tornadoes coming through the hills of northern Alabama. Thank goodness there was nothing serious!
From Alabama we traveled up to Wiedman, MI (near Mt. Pleasant) to Wiedman Baptist. It's a small church, be we had a wonderful week of meetings.
This week our meetings in Hope, MI at Hope Baptist. It's so nice to be here because we are parked in our hometown, Midland. :) On Friday we had Easter with Grandma Ortega and got to see Joe's parents. Here's a picture of Grandma's yard. We had an Easter Egg Hunt. Look at all those eggs!

Lincoln with his Easter Basket

Lincoln with his cousins showing off their Easter Eggs!


More recent pics

Lincoln watching a DVD


He's such a good traveler. Here though, he's ready to get out!


He's also a good eater!
I can't wait to get my packages from our secretary! My prizes are here and I can't wait to see what I got!
It's getting late now. We've been SO busy this week. Hope to be back soon!

winnings

I had so much fun with the Ultimate Blog Party! I'm still blog hopping through the list! But look at some of my winnings! (Their not directly from the UBP...I found their sites by blog hopping)
First, I won a lovely hat for Lincoln at Flower baby hats. Thanks dr_bristow. I just LOVE the flower hats for girls...But since I don't have a girl, the earflap hat will be adorable on Lincoln!
Through A Giveaway a Day I won a custom initial block from SoLovelyCreations.
I don't consider myself lucky. I guess I ran into a little bit this past week...Thanks for the wonderful gifts! When we stop traveling for the summer in Wisconsin, I plan on having some of my own giveaways. Looking forward to that! :)

The view from our front door

This week we are in Pekin, Illinois at Faith Baptist Church. We got here Saturday night and have meetings through Friday. It's been a good week and we are enjoying our time here!

Sunday morning though...We woke up to this...Our 'house' is parked in the driveway between the church and preschool.

I guess we got a little spoiled with the spring like weather down in South Carolina. It was pretty though.

At least it all melted!
Joe's been putting his teaching/art skills to good use! He's been teaching an art block class this week at the high school! He's having a blast with that! Check out his website and blog. The kids love him!
Today being April Fool's an all...(never really celebrated that holiday with my family) I'm remembering this day a year ago. My family came to Midland and surprised me for my birthday. (They thought they could surprise me...but I KNEW...)
(Me and my sister, Brooke)
They stayed for a couple days with us. On March 31, we told them that we were expecting. (Wish I had my camera then...)
So on April 1, we had to call other family members about the good news. I couldn't understand why some of Joe's family members wern't taking us seriously. "Haha...very funny. APRIL FOOLS!" Is what his sister said to me. "No really...I'm serious."
She said that she wasn't going to believe me. I was going to have to call her the next day...THEN she'll believe me. Whatever...I don't like this April Fool's thing...
Anyways. Good memories of having my parents there, celebrating my birthday and the good news of Lincoln!
And here he is!Just finished with his bath. He's a happy boy! Not a shy one. (Guess that's a good thing for traveling!) He'll be 5 months old on the third! I can't believe it! He's getting so big! He's a lot of fun.
Well, gotta make sure Joe's ready for school! :)

Tuesday thoughts

I'm always in search of a good christian parenting books. I'm always asking myself, "How can I be a better wife and mother?" And too many times I feel like I fall short. Motherhood in it self is not thinking of yourself. Too many times I'm concerned of what's best for me, how to get what I want out of it. So selfish.
Motherhood is thinking of others. Sacrificing your time and energy for the good of the family. It's being a servant. And what better example do I have other than Jesus Christ? He is the perfect example of a humble servant.
Just over a year ago, right when we found out I was pregnant, I was reading through Titus 2. I was going through this chapter with a study book. (Created to be his Help Meet by Debi Pearl) Here are some things that I wrote in my journal during that time. It was a great reminder of my duty as a Christian woman.

"A Titus 2 Woman first must be SOBER: To do one's duty, be moderate, self-controlled, thoughtful, and to learn to make wise decisions, and judgment. When a woman learns to be sober, she will not live for immediate gratification. She will appreciate those things that will last for eternity. "

Immediate gratification... So many times I'm frustrated because things are not done. If I don't get my 'too do' list finished, then I'm not happy. "Choose to do those things which will give satisfaction as you view life as a whole, rather than measure satisfaction at the end of each day." (A Mother's Heart by Jean Fleming) Am I having eternity in mind here? Will having the 'too do' list checked off at the end of the day really benefit my relationship with my family? What am I doing that has lasting value?

"A Titus 2 Woman must love their husbands: Putting his needs before your own. BE READY to minister to him!"

Again, here it is. Putting others before me. I ask the Lord to help me in this area. At the end of the day, I realize times where I could have, should have ministered to my husband. I fail all too much. Please forgive me Lord. I have such a wonderful husband who deserves so much more than this foolish girl.

"A Titus 2 Woman must love their children: For a mother who loves her children, training is not a chore, it is a full-time, all-consuming passion. They are worth every minute of time and trouble to every 'dedicated' mother."

"To be Discreet: Prudent; wise in avoiding error and in selecting the best means to accomplish a purpose. Polite and honest."

"To be Chaste: Pure in though, word and act. To be modest and honorable in all things"

"To be Keepers at Home: Keeping a godly home with excellence for your husband and children is the christian woman's nonnegotiable responsibility."

"To be Good: A good woman is genuine, joyful, virtuous, valuable, kind, merciful, hard working, gracious and wise."

"To be Obedient to their own husbands: TRUST! Depend on his wisdom and guidance. Proverbs 12:4 'A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband...'"

So as I read through Titus 2 again this week, and looked back at my notes from last year, I am greatly convicted on how I've lacked in my motherhood life. I would wonder 'where am I in this ministry? How can I reach people? Send me Lord.' The home is where the Lord has sent me. My family is my ministry. This is my calling. And there's no where else I'd rather be. I pray that these things will show through in my life as I grow in my Christian walk.