The Nebraska Fillemans

New York, Tuesday,Day Three, 10/25/2011

2012-01-06T14:59:00.000-06:00

Today was tons of fun! I slept a little later because I wanted to miss rush hour on the train. I headed over at about 9:30. I took the PATH train to the World Trade Center because the Smithsonian was a few blocks from there. The actual Smithsonian is in Washington D.C., but this was a branch of it, with a focus on Native Americans. Having grown up in Arizona though, I learned a lot about Native Americans so I didn't spend much time there. As with everything else we had to put our things through the x-ray machine and we had to go through the metal detectors. It was a really beautiful building. I had to go down Wall Street again to get there, so I saw the "bull" again. After the Smithsonian I walked a few more blocks to Battery Park, where the Staten Island Ferry is. One of the trains there took me to Central Park to go to the Museum of Natural History where one of the Night at the Museum movies was filmed. GREAT MOVIE! Anyway, The Museum of Natural History is right on the edge of Central Park, another beautiful building in the middle of beautiful landscape. Again, I had to go through metal detectors and send my things through an x-ray machine. this museum was so huge! it cost me $19 to get in, but for the size of this place, it was well worth it. They had four huge sprawling floors of just about everything imaginable. Each floor even had it's own gift shop! on the top floor there was also a restaurant and a snack bar on the second floor. I got to see Dum Dum, the Dino, and a bunch of other things from the movie. The museum was packed with very neat things. LOVED IT!! I could have easily spent all day there, but I had too much to do! After the museum, I was starved, it was almost 2pm. I found a street vendor and ate a hotdog. As I was walking through Cental Park with my Subway map, I saw the Central Park Zoo and a nice gentleman asked me what I was looking for. I told him wanted to go to Rockefellar Center. He told me what train to get on. I headed there and checked out NBC studios, the went to the Lego Store. I bought a couple things there also.

After that, I headed to Grand Central Station. It was a long walk, but it was nice. On my way there I got to see some Brookstone homes that Mary was wanting me to see. They really are beautiful. They are the ones wih the big stone staircases in front. Very pretty! Grand Central Station was beautiful too! My Pictures all came out terrible, but it was so neat in there. On the way out I noticed a market area. I have never seen one of these markets anywhere but the Dominican Republic. It is one of those markets that have fresh cheese, fresh fish, fresh meat, etc. It smelled bad in there, and it was so busy, I could hardly make it through. Once I was back on the street, I took a look at my GPS on the Android. I decided to do some shopping. I heard someone mention the American Girl store. MaKenna doesn't have an American Girl, but she does have a Journey doll, which is just a generic American Girl, so I looked it up on GPS, and I headed toward fifth avenue. I decided to walk to save money on my PATH and train card. It was a long walk but so nice to see. I was looking for famous people, but I kept focusing on the buildings more. Did I mention that last night I saw former mayor Rudy Giuliani? I didn't say anything to him though. I did see some paparazzi but I didn't recognize anybody that they were photographing. I finally made it to the American Girl store. It was four HUGE floors of just dolls and accessories. Cam, who is scare of dolls, would have never survived this store. I took tons of pictures for MaKenna. I called Deana to see if she wanted me to get anything for Hannah. We talked for awhile, then I picked a nice outfit out for Hannahs bitty baby for her birthday. Then I got some accessories for MaKenna for Christmas and some really cute outfits. Then I was in the shopping mood. So I decided to go to FAO Scwartz. Neat store, but I didn't find anything there that I couldn't live without. I took a few pictures though, like the giant piano that Tom Hanks played on in the movie "Big", etc.

After that I walked to Central Park again, a different part of Central Park...it was right across the street. I had to sit for awhile, my feet and legs were hurting pretty bad. Every night of our trip so far, I've had to take a bath to soak my feet and legs. Anyway, I sat there for awhile and just watched people. Then I called Jeff. He said he'd be working late. I thought maybe I would go to Little Italy or Chinatown to eat dinner. I wasn't sure though. It had started getting dark, and I can remember Mary saying that New York City is safe as long as you're not out alone after dark and aware of your surroundings....which I most certainly was not. So I started walking towards Times Square. I had to stop at Walgreens to get some....womanly needs. I went to the Walgreens in the middle of Times Square. It was an itty bitty box of a store, but it was five floors! It was crazy! Then I took more pictures of Times Square. At one point I was even walking faster than a fire truck and ambulance trying to get through with their sirens on. I would not want to have a heart attack in New York City....or at least Manhattan. I saw lots of limos and black SUVs. By now it was dark, so I knew I had to head back....but I saw the Bubba Gump restaurant and I had to stop and get some souvenirs for everyone. It was then that I decided to have a Bubba Gump 4th birthday party for Major! I've called him Bubba Gump since day one of his life, I felt it was appropriate. So I went and bought a shirt for everyone. Including Major that said, "my mama says I'm special." I also got a pen, a bag and a stuffed shrimp for Maj. Then I thought I should head to the PATH train. It took awhile to get back to Jersey. The train was packed. I sat next to a pregnant woman and her three year old son. We talked a little bit, it made me miss Major. Once I hit Jesey soil, I ran to our room and grabbed Jeff. We decided to go to Azucar, the Cuban restaurant down the street. We got there and got seated right away. The food was INCREDIBLE!! Azucar was featured on the Food Network. And rightfully so. It was AWESOME! After dinner, I had to buy a cigar for my dad. He loved that Dominican cigar I brought him, so I thought we would try this one! Then we went back to the room and I took my nightly soak. What a wonderful end, to a wonderful three days!

Below....the Smithsonian.

Brownstone Homes.

The Dino in the Museum of Natural History.

Dum Dum.

The Lego Store.

Grand Central Station.

Grand Central Station Market.

American Girl Store.

FAO Swartz.

Doing his job....

Where I sat to relax....

Just thought this was cool.

I had to go to the NHL store for the men in my life....I even got to see a broadcast for the NHL Network.

Bubba Gump....

Right outside the PATH Train.

Funnies

2012-01-02T17:31:00.000-06:00

Here are some funnies to start the New Year out with!!!

Major said to me the other day when he saw a cloud of smoke coming out of a factory, "Mommy...there is a cloud close enough to go to heaven on and see your mommy!"

Jake asked if he could have cheese and crackers for the advertiser.....HA! Of course...he MEANT Appetizer!

Major has been lovin' playing Lego Indiana Jones on Wii lately. Today he asked me while I was getting lunch ready, "Mommy...can I play Indian and Jones? SO CUTE!

When Major says he needs to "Pause" something, he says, "Clause".

After a snow Storm on Saturday, we were halfway to church on Sunday when he says,"(gasp) MOMMY...it snowed EVERYWHERE!". Once we got to church he says,"MOM....it snowed at church too!!!!"

Everytime Major sees a nativity scene he says, "Mom.....look, it's baby Moses!"

The rest of October

2011-12-22T10:12:00.000-06:00

Hallowen was a lot of fun this year! We decided to go with a Wizard of Oz theme....only three of us cooperated. Major was Darth Vader, I am not really sure what Jake was, and Cam never made it because he had the start of a nasty pneumonia that would eventually put both of us in bed for over a week. Anyway...here are some of those pictures.

Did I ever show you MaKenna's birthday cake that Ms. Deana made? She had a kitty themed party!

MaKenna after losing ONE of her front teeth...she has since lost both....I have that picture somewhere...I'll get to it!

In the leaves...we had over 100 bags of leaves this season...and we didn't even bag ALL of them!

Jake in blue..

Major, Caden, Nehemiah and Jada at Pooleys Pumpkin patch.

New York, Monday, Day 2, 10/24/2011

2011-12-21T12:55:00.000-06:00

Jeff had to wake up at 7 AM this morning. Poor guy. I slept until about 8:30. Iwas due to meet my dads cousin Mary at 10AM. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to get where I needed to be. I knew that I needed to take the PATH train to 33rd and then meet Mary in front of JCPenneys across from the PATH. It seemed easy enough. But with all the people that were there yesterday, I thought I should give myself plenty of time. I left at 10:15 and made it to the 33rd st. station at 10:45. I got out and walked over to the JCPenneys sign. It was only a sign though, there wasn't actaully a JCPenneys there, so I started to panic. Thank goodnes Jeff had given me his Android, so I could call her if I needed to. I walked around the buidling though, just to be sure...but I ended up back at the JCPenny sign. I didn't have to wait long at all before I heard "Tonya?" It was Mary! We sat down and talked a little bit first. I had only met her one time when I was 10...I didn't really remember her. We made a game plan of the day then we headed to the subway to head down to the Southern tip of Manhattan to ride the Staten Island Ferry. It is a free ferry. We all boarded and we headed over to Staten Island. We got a fantastic view of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. GREAT pictures. Once we got to Staten Island we had to get off then get in line again. The whole process probably only took 30-45 minutes or so.

After, we went through Battery Park and then ate at UNO on the pier. It was yummy. We then walked up to the World Trade Center to catch the train to Central Park. I was snapping pictures the whole time. We got to this church across the street from the Trade Centers. It was OLD! It had a cemetary in it and the headstones were SO old you couldn't even read half of them. The ones you could read though they had death dates of like 1786 or some time like that. One had a mother and two of her children buried together. It was incredible. Inside they had a little memorial museum for 9/11. Since it was effected also by the fall of the trade ceneters. Inside was also the pew that George Washington used while he was in New York. He was innaugerated near this church and it is where he attended church for the 2 years that NYC was the nations capital. The church is called St. Pauls Chapel. BEAUTIFUL! We saw where they were building the new trade centers and then we caught the B train to Central Park. Central Park is huge and really pretty. There was hot dog vendors everywhere and not only in Central Park We sat by the pond with a really pretty bridge and took lots of pictures. There were horses and carriages, and here the people seemed much nicer, not near as rude. When in the concrete city it is dog eat dog. Everyone seemed to look out for only themselves. They push and shove, its terrible. But in Central Park, suddenly everyone was super nice. It was weird to be in such a beatiful, wooded area with hills, etc, and then look above the trees and see skyrises! After central park we walked down 5th ave. where all the ritzy shops are. This is also where the richest of the rich live. We saw Prada, Versace, you name it. LOADS of rich people and quite a few gay men holding hands and kissing...VERY wrong and VERY gross! We saw a few more beautiful, old churches that had been there since the 1700's and 1800's and churches that people like Jackie Onasis went to. We saw some paparazzi, but I didn't recognize anyone. They'd have to be in my face and tell me who they are for my to open my eyes. If I'm not looking for them, I won't notice them. I wasn't looking at faces much either, just the beautiful buildings. After 5th ave., we headed to Rockefellar Plaza. We saw the famous ice rink. It is a lot smaller then the movies make it seem. We saw NBC and where the Today Show tapes. I would LOVE to go to a Today Show taping...but I don't want to get up that early! :-) After Rockefellar Plaza we caught the train to 33rd st., so I could get back to New Jersey. It was about 4:45 by this time. Mary helped me from the subway station to the PATH train.

I made it back to the hotel by 5:30. The subway was packed. Jeff was already there. We had free tickets to see the 9/11 Memorial at 7. We headed BACK over to the city. The PATH train also takes you to the World Trade Center. There are 2 different NYC stops....33rd st and WTC. Anyway, we thought we'd go early and eat afterward, but they wouldn't let anyone in early. We had no idea where to eat, so I asked a couple policemen that were there. They gave us a couple of suggestions. They were super nice and total New Yorkers. We kinda wanted New York pizza, but they said we needed to go to Brooklyn for authentic New York Pizza which they say is better than Chicago pizza. We ended up walking down Wall St. and stoping at a little store to get some sode pops. By the time we made our way back to the Memorial it was almost 7. We got in line and they took us through metal detectors (Just like the Empire State Building and the Airport), we had to put our things through an X-RAY machine, there were tons of cops and security around. Once we finally got in, it was absolutely beautiful. There are two square pools that are roughly the same size as the 2 towers were. They are pools that go down deep and there is a waterfall going all the way around to the the pool some 50 ft below and then a smaller square where the water drains. I am sure my description does no justice at all. It is all sparkly and just absolutely beautiful. Along the sides there are names of everyone who died and/or are missing from the attacks. The names are etched in the metal, then under the metal there are lights so their names shine. They kept the names together in relaion to where they died. Both pools are enormous and just beautiful. They also have some of the original metal from the original towers behind glass. They are currently building more towers. One of them is already super tall and shaped like it is beginning to twist. It's really neat. Once we were done there, we got back on the PATH. We decided to eat at Azucar, the Cuban restaurant next to the hotel, but it was closed so we just ate at the hotel restaurant. Its been nice because Jeff has been able to put everything on his TDAmeritrade credit card, well, when we're together anyway. I actually haven't been spending much money, of course I plan on shoppping tomorrow! After a wonderful dinner, we retired upstairs. My feet and legs hurt so bad from walking around all day, so I took a bath. Another big day tomorrow!

The above picture is the new World Trade Center going up.

Above is the Brooklyn Bridge.

George Washingtons Pew!

New York, Sunday, Day 1, 10/23/2011

2011-12-21T09:21:00.000-06:00

New York, Sunday day 1, 10/23/11

Wow! I am so excited, but a little nervous! I am going on this trip with Jeff! It's his business trip and he asked me to come. First time he has ever asked me to join him. I was shocked, but I wasn't going to miss the opportunity. It cost me $544.00 to get airline tickets, but I didn't care....well, I cared, but you know what I mean. I just had to figure the kidfinagling. Once I figured that out it was smooth sailing, right? WRONG! Satan tried everything in his power to not let this trip happen. He didn't want Jeff and I alone together and possibly rekindle what he has tried so hard to take away. Some of the things that happened shortly before we left. #1. Jake broke his arm while hunting in Wyoming with his dad, brother, grandpa Jerry, cousin, uncle and hockey friends. We had to cast it one day before we left. #2. MaKenna had nits in her hair. We treated everything and everybody. We washed everything and everybody three days before we had to leave. #3. Just a bunch of little things that kept me on my toes and wondering if this trip would happen or not...but it did! Love and God prevailed. I got everybody packed Saturday nght!

So Sunday morning, we got up and ate. Scott (our neighbor) came and got MaKenna and Jake at 8:30. Malissa and Derek Randecker came and got Major and my van at 8:45. By 10:00 we were ready to gt to the airport. We woke up Cam to say goodbye. Rhonda and Mike were going to pick him up around 2:00, then we were off. I had my typical preflight tummy issues, but I was super excited! We only had carryon bags, so check in went pretty fast. The flight was an itty bitty puddle jumper again. I hate these, Jeff can't even stand up straight in them. Jeff and I didn't talk much. I read my magazines and he slept. It was a little over three hours when we started dropping. I was on the wrong side of the plane though, so I didn't get to see NYC from my window. The Newark airport was packed! We found the little guy, Pete, with our name on the sign though with no trouble. It was neat to have someone pick us up like that! Though Jeff is probably used to it. He took my bag and even opened the car door for me. It was a nice big town car. I talked a lot to Pete because Jeff isn't very talkative. I think I embarrassed Jeff a little bit. What's new? :-). He says he never speaks to the drivers....he says you're not supposed to, but I don't believe him! I like to talk to people, So, I talked to Pete. He was from Pakistan. He gave me some tips on how to get by in New York City. Our hotel was the DoubleTree, $354.00 a night! Thank goodness TDAmeritrade was paying for it! We were on the eighth floor with a view of the Hudson River and the Manhattan skyline. Beautiful! Our room had a living room, as well as a bedroom. It was very nice. Jeff and I freshened up and headed back out the door. The concierge was very helpful in telling us how to get across the river and where to go. Had to walk about two blocks to get to the PATH train. It's a subway system that takes you from New jersey to about five different places in New York. It actually goes under The Hudson River! We got on at Newport staion and got off on the last stop, 33rd St. In Manhattan. Everyone calls the Subway trains, just trains in New York

It was chaos when we got out of the subway....PEOPLE EVERYWHERE! I honestly can't say that I have ever seen so many people in one place in my entire life! I was pretty nervous. I am short and I couldn't see over anybodies heads. We walked around a lot. We went to Times Square, we went down 5th ave a bit, then we went to the Empire State Building. I had already purchased tickets in Omaha....but we still had to stand in line. They had security checks just about everywhere. The Empire State Building was no different. We only paid to go to the 86th floor. You could pay more to go to the 96th floor, but we didn't. We had a great view where we were. It took us awhile to figure out which direction we were looking because we couldn't find anyone who spoke English to ask. New York City is such a melting pot and there are so many tourists there! It was certainly beautiful up there though. And it was a beautiful and clear evening. I even saw a shooting star! I felt that that was a message from God of hope for our future. I pray that God continues to heal our marriage. After we went to a place called Jimmy's bar and grill for dinner. It was tasty! We got to watch the Vikings/Packers game while we ate! Perfect ending to a perfect day! I ate a bit much though and then got motion sickness on the train back to New Jersey. I now know NOT to look out the windows when on a moving train with a full stomach! Still a very memorable and wonderful day/night!

Family Pictures, October 2011

2011-12-16T22:17:00.000-06:00

In October, we had family pictures. We have a friend that I used to attend Mops with at Brookside, who is a photographer. Her name is Sarah Poppe. If you are local, you NEED to look her up. She is fantastic!! You would love her...she does a fabulous job. She is great with kids and adults and knows great poses and possibilities. I LOVE fall..it is my favorite time of year....so having the pictures taken outside seemed the thing to do! We LOVE to go fishing, hiking, biking, ect...and one of our favorite places to do those things is Wherspann Lake also known as Chalco Hills here in Omaha.

Wyoming Hunting Trip, October 2011

2011-12-16T21:52:00.000-06:00

In October, Jeff, Cam and Jake got to go hunting with my brother in law Mike, my nephew Shawn and some other friends from hockey. In addtion to that, they had an added bonus....Jeff's dad, Jerry, flew out to go with them! That was fun for EVERYONE!!! They went to Jeffrey City, Wyoming...a little dot on the map....and they stayed in a run down, non functioning hotel that the owner lets hunters use free of charge. No electric, no water...they were roughing it...just with shelter other than a tent. Doing it in TRUE hunter fashion. While they were hunting for those 5 days, my sister Rhonda and I took MaKenna, Major, and her two daughters, Brooke and Kayla to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City! We had a great time too!!!! Probably MORE fun!! :-)

They saw a BUNCH of wild horses....

but they only came home with Cam's doe...his 5th one of his life! We're very proud!

I assume you may notice the sling around Jake's arm...

yup...he broke it...on the hunting trip...but he doesn't even have a fun story to tell. He got thirsty...on the FIRST day...the Capri Suns were in the back of the truck. He climbed back there to get a drink out of the cooler and fell out of the truck....no...it was not movng...and no...I have no iea what happened....he just...fell....

He got a sling at a hospital about an hour away...then a cast once we got home....a neon green cast! :-) He had the cast for 6 weeks....then he had a brace for 4 weeks...this past week we got the A-OK from the doctor...so far so good!

Susan G. Komen, Race for the Cure, 2011

2011-12-16T21:31:00.000-06:00

The first Sunday in October was the Susan G. Komen, Walk for the Cure. This was our 5th year doing it, and Mama's Family's 3rd year. We made it to 3rd place again for the entire state of Nebraska! We are a very proud team!!! :-) It was a chilly day....but we survived!! WE WILL NEVER FORGET SUZANNE STUTZMAN....ONE of the many reasons we will continue to do it annually!

Melissa and I

Deana, Lydia and I

The Ramsey's!

The Filleman's!

More September Fun!

2011-12-16T21:17:00.000-06:00

September 26th was MaKenna's 7th birthday! We had a HUGE party indoor and outdoor for her! We grilled....we had a pinata...we ran around wild...we jumped on the trampoline...we just had FUN!!!

Then I was give the opportunity to review Mat Kearney's CD and concert! THAT was AWESOME! We are TOTALLY addicted to Mat and his music now!!! Jeff and I had our first date in a LONG time!

Major had a BUSY month!!!!

First Day of School, 2011!

2011-12-16T21:09:00.000-06:00

August 2011 marked the beginning of 1st grade for MaKenna, 5th grade for Jake and 7th grade for Cam. I also hav continued preschool for Major! They had a great first day..and the first half of the year has been pretty good too!!!!

SUMMER LOVIN......

2011-12-16T21:01:00.000-06:00

This summer some very close and very special people to us got married. Tini (Christine) Fukumoto has been like a little sister to me since my sister in law Holly introduced us when Jake was just a wee baby 10 years ago. We've been through a lot together....and I've watched her love blossom with Matt Rukasin over those 10 years. They tied the knot this summr!!! We were SOOO happy for them!!! Tini and Matt live here in Omaha...for now...while she finished med school at Creighton. My one hope is that a hospital here will woo her to them so that they have no choice but to stay! :-)

Congratulations Tini and Matt Rukasin!

More Summer 2011!

2011-12-16T20:54:00.000-06:00

We got the opportunity to review Schlitterbahn on my blog...so we got free tickets to visit them AGAIN! So we did!!!

The same day we came home from Schlitterbahn, we went to the Rose Theater to see a play with Jada, Gracyn and Malissa Randecker! We had a great time!!!

In September, we took our annual Stutzman/Filleman/Flanigan trip to Adventureland in Des Moines, IA! We had a GREAT time!!! As usual!

Summer time

2011-12-16T20:38:00.000-06:00

We had a GREAT summer! I am just going to recap a touch! I had my nieces and nephew this summer and we had a great time! We took quite a few "fieldtrips", and logged many hours outside in the backyard! Here we are at the pool! A place we frequented a lot!

The boys had a summer tim sport....Lacrosse! They both really like it and like how it parrallels with Hockey.

We started the boys on rock climbing...hey...its a start!

We also hit the batting cages a couple times and also Lazer Tag!

Then it was "Aunt" Tini's bridal shower! We had TONS of FUN!!!

MORE Swimming at the pool!!!

Can't forget the FIREWORKS!!!!

MaKenna kept her American Doll close by....

Major does NOT like the sounds of the 4th of July...so he and Sadie (my step puppy) sat inside. Sadie LOVES to help babysit Major!

Then we took a weekend trip to Kansas City to hang out at Cabella's, the Dino (Rain Forest) cafe, and Schlitterbahn! What fun we had!!!!

Cam "worked" at the zoo over the summer as a Student Intern. While he worked, we often just hung out as his shifts were only about 3 hours long usually.

We also went to the zoo with friends! Here is Jake and Gabiel Ramsey....we were at the zoo a lot this summer! I wonder why all f my kids want careers in the zoo!! :-)

On HOT days, the kids stayed inside....here are the younger ones playing LIBRARY! It was SO quiet...and SO cute!!! I LOVE THIS GAME!

Then...more trips to the zoo with the cousins!!!!

We can't forget the trips to see Sparky. On one such trip my niece and Jake went out with Papa...my niece came home with a broken arm from falling off the horse. :-(

Other May happenings

2011-12-12T10:41:00.000-06:00

My dad was the truck driver in May for Pops Ride (Pedal Over Parkinsons). His cousin has Parkinsons...and my grandma died of Parkinsons. It was a ride from Florida to California that my cousins did for Jerry Stutzman. Dad enjoyed being bus driver!

MaKenna had a mom and Kindergartner event....then she also had a dad and Kindergartner event....Jeff was out of town, so Uncle Tanner took his place for the day!

She also lost her first tooth! She has since lost a couple more...including both front teeth...all she wants for Christmas now is her two front teeth!! :-) The tooth fairy even came to visit!

MaKenna also had a Field trip to the zoo with her class. Major and I joined her......

The Neihardt had their annual field day! As usual, I was one of the helpers...it was tons of fun though...and Major always gets a kick out of it!!! She also had her Kindergarden picnic....where I got to remember what it is like to jump rope...TONS of fun!!!

Also in May was Memorial Day. I try to always get to the cemetary to "visit" momma....we were able to go again this year and met Uncle Dick and Aunt Karen there...we ate lunch together after the Memorial Day services and then we headed out to Uncle Dale's farm to play with animals!

Then of course...I must not forget Jake's fourth grade picnic!

We also got to review for my blog www.nebraskahockeymom.blogspot.com the circus!! Ringling, Barnum and Bailey FULLY CHARGED tour!! That was TONS of fun! I hadn't been to a RBB Circus since I was in high school! The kids LOVED it!!

The next day we went to O'Neill, NE to check out this fun town and the Ashfall Beds that are there. The beds are where volcanic ash covered the land and buried all sorts of prehistoric animals. They have dug deep enough to find them. The beds are still being excavated, so you can watch the workers as they excavate. Very cool. Cam and Jake are really into archeology....we thought they might enjoy it! Plus...we saw a part of Nebraska we had never seen before. It was kinda fun!!

Dr. Dixie's graduation!

2011-12-12T10:20:00.000-06:00

Now that I am finally done with the DR Journal...I thought I should catch you up on some of our summer happenings!!! We had a lot of fun! In May it was my sister in laws graduation from PT school here in Omaha at Creighton University!!! YEAH DIXIE!!!! A lot happened for Dixie while she was in Nebraska...she got married...but to an Arizona boy....and graduated with her doctorate!! How exciting!!! Notice Major in the first picture...priceless....

Sunday, Day 11, 7/31/2011

2011-12-11T21:41:00.000-06:00

We woke up at 4:30 am. Yuck! I went and tapped on Jen and Taylers door to wake them, then got Cam up, got ready and we were in the lobby by 5:15. We exchanged our money, then were on the bus for the 30 minute ride to the airport. The drive was nice. We saw a lot more of the history and then half the drive was a coastal drive. Very pretty. The line at the airport was HORRIBLY long...we're glad we got there early. Once we checked our luggage we headed to immigration, then security. Cam and I shopped and had to keep our passports with us, they wanted to see it for everything. They checked our passports three times in the line to get into the plane Crazy, but at least we're safe. We left Santo Domingo on time and I am now on the plane headed to Miami. After a long layover there, we go to Dallas, then finally home at a little after 6 pm.

This trip has been amazing. The things I've seen, heard, tasted, smelled, everything was incredible. As far as I'm concerned Soy Dominicana. I already miss the people, the heat, the landscape. I could live there forever. I thank you Lord for giving me this opportunity.

#2

Our layover in Miami didn't end up being very long once we went thorugh Immigration, passport, getting our luggage, customs and then running to find a bite to eat. Wiping and putting the toile paper in the toilet and flushing and then washing my hands with soap was FANTASTIC! I called Jeff, and he wasn't home, so I called dad and he had the kids as Jeff was at church with a friend. We're on our way to Dallas now. Almost there.

#3

We made it to Dallas. As soon as we got off the plane there was an Auntie Annes with soft, salty pretzels....and...drum roll please.......DIET MOUNTAIN DEW!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was in heaven. We found some french fries at McDonalds for Cam, then I got a yogurt "blizzard" from a yogurt place. We had a meeting and heard Marks testimony. He had an amazing testimony. I learned a lot from him. I called Jeff, he said he was really good. He said he got a lot done! We are taking off from Dallas now...we're on our way home!!!!

Top 3 Trip Details

1) Meeting and getting to know Mi Abuela (Ramona). She looked about 90 years old, but was only 60. She had a very hard life. She is happily taking care of her married, adult son who is in a wheelchair because of a motorcycde accident. She lives in a two room house, on a dirt floor with an outdoor cocina. She is ALWAYS smily and laughing and hugging, she was filled with joy and yet she had so little. I learned a lot from her...we got her chocolate milk.

2) Meeting and getting to know Yolandre. He was such a sweet yet timid little boy. He had a sister that Taylor fell in love with Maria, and their mother was an extremely good woman and mother...better than most we saw. He was one year and eight months and Maria was nine. He would often walk around naked. He sucked his thumb almost all the time, but had a huge grin when he took his thumb out. He reminded me why we do what we do. We do it for the children. It says in Matthew 19:14 "But Jesus said, 'let the children alone and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kindom of Heaven belongs to such as there.'"

3) The translators/culture. the culture was awesome! Everyone is SO hospitable! Anyone, even strangers can go to any house and they will invite you in, offer you something to drink, hug you. They just are very, happy, loving people! You would never see that in America. It reminds me of the verse in the bible that talks about treating others like they were Christ.

Dominican Republic Trip Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Thank you so much for allowing us this incredible opportunity to minister for You in the Dominican Republic. You provide for those people even though it seems like they have nothing. In the words of one of the mothers in Cerros de Mogollon, "You give her everything she needs, no more, no less." Thank you Lord for always providing. Thank you for allowing us to live in a free country and allowing us religious freedom. I ask Your blessing over more trips to the DR for me in the near future. I also ask that you will protect Miguel and Kristen's ministry. Give them strenth and courage alnd always provide for them so they can keep doing Your work. Protect their children too and give them an easy and stress free upbringing. I also pray for all of our translators, especially Daniel. Give him courage to keep learning english and strength and perseverance in finding a job. I pray for the Dominican Rising students and their ministry especially those DR students traveling to Cuba in September. Give them your sheild of protection and give them courage. Thank you again for allowing us to be healthy and safe while in the Dominican and thank you for keeping Jeff, Jake, MaKenna and Major safe as well. I pray these things also with the people in Cerros de Mogollon in mind. Help their hearts to open to Your Word. Open their eyes to your love and beauty. I pray also for their health and safety. I pray especially for Yolandre, Maria and their mother and also mi Abuela and her family. Please give them comfort, peace, health and strength and I pray that they find Your love. I pray these things in Your name, Amen.

Saturday, Day Ten, 7/30/2011

2011-12-10T13:44:00.000-06:00

Today started early. We had to get up, clean up the house, the matresses, etc. We ate breakfast and Miguel came by to give motorcycle rides. Cam and I rode with him. TONS OF FUN! Then we were on the bus headed toward Santo Domingo. Jen and I slept a lot of the way, and the bus was air conditioned, we were actually cold, so we covered up with a blanket! It was weird being in the DR and covered with a blanket in the middle of the day! One hour into our drive and we were told we get a surprise visit to the carribean beach! Since it was on the carribean, the water was mucho warm! We used their bathroom...which we had to hover over. We waded on the water and played for about twenty minutes there. We were back on the bus. We had two more hours to go. We had the same driver and protector. The protector fell asleep again and this time he was next to me, so it was my shoulder he slept on. Once we got to Santo Domingo we got into a traffic jam. They drive crazy! So crazy! We had people trying to jump on the bus, but our protector saved us. At one point though our protector jumped out and ran across the street to get his bus on the schedule. Some one tried to get in, but Cam jumped up and slammed the door in his face. Cam was very nervous though. So Dan got up and took over. Then our protector came back. Soon we got to our hotel. A beautiful hotel with an American flag hanging along side a Dominican flag. It was in the middle of Colonia, where Christopher Columbus lived. The buildings are even from the 1500's. VERY COOL! Tons of shopping and street vendors too. It was raining cats and dogs as usual, but we ran in, showed our passports, checked our luggage because our rooms weren't ready and then we sat down at the hotel restaurant and ordered some food. No rice and beans! I got a club sandwich, Cam got a hamburger! They weren't the best, but they were delicious to us because we've been eating mostly rice and beans and carne. The DR people are very slow paced people, lunch took an hour and a half. In the lobby there was a computer, so I hopped on line, wrote jeff and got on Facebook. Then we finally got our rooms. It is very nice...not like a Marriot, but very nice! A hot shower, a soft bed, an air conditioned room....HEAVEN! Still can't flush toilet paper though! We talk about having a flushing party as soon as we hit Miami! Ater lunch we cleaned up a little for ten minutes, then met Jen in the lobby to go shopping. Trevor and Cam were are "men". We stopped in a lot of places...stores and street vendors. Trevor was a master at bartering. I got a tarantula in a frame that was marked at 1280 pesos for 400 because Trevor was so good. We shopped more and got some more good deals, some more not so good deals, but had a fantastic time! We had to meet back at the hotel at five, so we went back and then left for dinner. We had to trade more money in for pesos though, we shopped some more, checked out some historical places, then stopped for chicken at KFC. Nobody spoke English so it made ordering more difficult, but we managed with my limited Spanish. After dinner we did a bit more shopping, then got ice cream, went to the Supermercado to get water for brushing teeth, then headed back to the hotel to meet everyone and find out when we are leaving tomorrow. Jen, Taylor, Cam, Trevor and I hung out downstairs playing cards. After an hour or so we went back upstairs. They all went to Jens room, I went and took a shower....a nice...long....hot shower. I even got to blow dry my hair! I headed to their room where we watched some YouTube videos and then we went back to our room. We weren't in bed until 11 and our alarm was set for 4:30am. Ugh. It was hard to sleep because there was tons of party music going on outside. I tried to turn the tv on, but it was in Spanish and I couldn't sleep because my mind was translating. The bed was SO nice though, if only the streets below us were peaceful....

Day Nine, Friday, 7-29-11

2011-12-08T19:09:00.000-06:00

I got a bucket shower last night, so I didn't take one tonight. I am told we are in a nicer hotel tomorrow night....well...nicer than bucket showers.....so hopefully I can shower there, if not , I'll be home soon enough.

So today, was yet another concrete day. All the boys and two girls did concrete in the heart of Mogollon, not Cerros De Mogollon, just Mogollon. Like we aren't in just San Juan...we are in San Juan De Maguana. So, right down the street from the church, they did two houses. In the meantime, the rest of us formed three teams. One team stayed at the church to welcome children that the other two teams would get. I was on a team with Payton and Brooke with Hector as our translator. Daniel, Morris and Noidice went camping. First we saw the pregnant woman in the street we hugged her and apologized for not returning yesterday like we thought we would. Then we stopped at another three or four houses to invite the children. After this we stopped at an itty bitty house with a tall, beautiful mother and two equally tall and beautiful children. We sat and talked with her for awhile, she started crying. I hugged her, gave her a kleenix and said, "digeme". She said she was ashamed of her house and how they live. We told her the Lord provides and all the gold and silver she could ever need or want are in heaven where Jesus is, building her a mansion. Hector told her that. He is so bright beyond his seventeen years. We hugged her and went to one last house. The tall woman attended the church and was a christian. So we didn't do the gospel presentation with her, but we did pray with her. At the next house the woman was not a Christian. So after talking with her for awhile we shared the gospel presentation and my testimony. She wasn't ready to accept Christ yet though. We prayed with her and went back to the church.

Today was an incredibly hot day. The church has no fans and no air movement. It was not comfortable at all. We did a story, songs and craft with the twenty two kids that showed up....but then Adam showed up. We call him Adam because this man never wears clothes. He is completely naked. So we closed the doors so the young ladies wouldn't have to see. Jen and I walked over to the well where Hector was helping a girl fetch water and he walked us to the house where they were pouring concrete. They don't like the women to walk around alone....we have to have a man with us at all times. Cam was just standing around...he did not want to be there. We caught Miguel who took all the ladies home to clean the house, since we are leaving tomorrow. The guys stayed until two pm. We came home, ate, packed, and cleaned the whole house. It was excrutiatingly hot. We got it done though. Then Jen and I took our daily siesta. We woke up around 4:15 when the Dominican Rising students came to sell their homemade stuff for a fundraiser for their trip to Cuba. It is a one month missions trip into hostile territory. So I bought myself two bracelets, some pure brown sugar, and pure vanilla. Cam bought one bracelet and a necklace. Then the Dominican Rising students told us about their upcoming trip. Then Miguel and Kristen treated us to pizza! It was really not very good, but it was different then the normal yucca, carne and plaintins. Then we heard Kristens testimony and had ice cream that they brought for us. After, we started a game of Rage, but had to end early as it was debrief time. W did some of the encouragement cards and then heard three testimonies. I had done mine. Several nights ago. It was hard, they all prayed for me and my family. I have been so blessed with a wonderful new group of friends. I don't know how I ever survived without them. After that it was finish packing and then off to bed. We were going to watch the sunrise on Miguels property at 5:55, but it stormed hard again tonight, so we thought it would be too muddy to get out there. Instead we will sleep a little longer, then Miguel is going to give us some rides on his motorcycle. We have to leave this incredible city at 8:30 and we will be leaving my heart behind as well.

Day Eight, Thursday, 7/28/11

2011-11-20T20:45:00.000-06:00

Abuela and I with her chocolate milk!

Jen and I with Abuelas son and his wife.

He actually rode off on the bumpy dirt road with this infant in his lap.

Cam giving a piggyback ride!

Little Yolandre. We brought a bunch of balls for them to keep...he is sitting on one of them.

A mom and her exhausted little one. We also brought these Orange shirts for all of the kids...they say, Jesus te ama. Jesus loves me.

Yolandre ready to catch a ball.

Abuelas outdoor kitchen.

Here is Abuelas kitchen....she is getting "Sopa" ready.

Today was an extremely difficult day. There were tears coming from everyone. Even the men. The day started out great. We headed out to Cerros de Mogollon around nine, and we did the first VBS for the day. It was the Prodigal Son. I was the pig. GO FIGURE! The morning was truly fantastic. I had more fun with mi abuela and yolandre. Cam hung out with Adrian and yolandre. There was no room going back for lunch, so Daniel and I had to sit on the sides of the truck. A little scary going down those dirt roads where potholes are everywhere. I was almost catapulted twice. We ate my new favorite meal, rice and beans. YUM! Jen and I took our daily siesta, but not before we had a good talk. By the way the rice and beans are special. They do their rice by putting oil in the bottom of a pan. Then they put rock salt in, then the rice and water. It is so awesome! As a side note....I have tried this since coming home...I cannot duplicate it...YET! I WILL keep trying! After siesta tiempo we got ready to go out to Cerros de Mogollon again. We did the story of Zaccheus. We had our craft and there was a fire in the bushes. I ran and got Dan. He talked to the locals and they said not to worry about it. Aparently since it storms daily, the brush is pretty wet, so fires don't typically get out of control. Sure enough after about five minutes, it went out. This country is so incredible and so different, I absolutely LOVE IT! I truly don't want to go home...I want my family to come to me here! Anyway, after crafts we played some more. We were able to bring our cameras today so I got all sorts of pictures and videos. Yolandre hung out with Cam and I most of the day. Yolandre really liked Cam. He would pretend to hit him and Cam would fall, Yolandre would laugh and laugh and smile SO big! Cam really enjoyed it. I had bought chocolate milk for mi abuela, so Jenn, Whitney, Cam, Tayler and Daniel and I went to her house to give it to her. She thought that was pretty cool. We took pictures with her and her son who is in a wheelchair becausee of a motorcycle accident. He never got any help after his accident. He can move his legs, but he can't walk. He needs physical therapy in order to walk again. After we left her house, we took Yolandre, his mother and Maria, his sister, home with Jen and Tayler. Tayler and Maria had formed quite a bond. There were massive amounts of tears from us all, even the mother and even Cam. I am not sure if I saw Daniel shed a tear or not though. We had to literally pull Tayler away. We prayed with them and then the team came looking for us. We hopped in. Cam, Daniel and I in the back. All of the girls were still bawling, I am talking massive sobs. Mark was in the back with us and he and I prayed for everyone including our friends in Mogollon. Even the men were crying. The people from Cerros de Mogollon were crying too. It was a very emotional goodbye. Some of the girls were still crying when we got home.

Cam, Daniel and I.

Yolandre and Cam.

Yolandre with a soccer "cone" on his head.

Saying goodbye. Yolandre and Maria with their mom, and Jen and Tayler.

Even Cam was crying...here is Tayler and Maria, Yolandre and Cam and their mom.

Cam on the way home...flanked by Whitney and a tearful Maggie.

The young girls with the translators.

We had about an hour after we got home to freshen up and then the storms came again. We went to dinner about seven. We ate at a little restaurant that had just about everything. We had told them earlier this mornng what we wanted to have because restaurants here don't have a lot of food on hand since they don't have big refrigerators. Cam chose the Bistec. I chose the Hawaiian Porkchops. Both meals came with french fries. Dinner was on the church again. We all had to eat in shifts. It was kinda funny. The people who ordered chicken got theirs first, then the pork chops and so forth and so on. French fries came out for everyone as each batch would finish. And the last two people who ordered pasta didn't even end up getting it because they ran out! It was kinda funny! I have to say though, the food was delicious! Quite possibly the best I've ever had! Scrumptious! After we were done eating, Miguel got us all up to do some dancing, it was so fun! A cockroach got on Serenity though and caused quite an uproar. We walked home and I had a really nice talk with Dan. His dad lives in Apache Junction. Small world. We had our nightly parent-child pow wow. I still don't get it. Cam just seems very disconnected, he still says he doesn't understand things. He wants to know what he is supposed to be looking for when God is talking to him. I've told him that he'll know and that He won't necessarily tak to him audibly, it could be in something that someone else says, or a thought. He just still doesn't get it. As I was sitting here writing this, Keri found a roach about two inches long, staring out of her face wipes container, peering at her. It was chaos. The whole room freaked out and Dan had to come upstairs and kill it. It was kinda funny....but only because it didn't happen to me! I guess last night Dave had a dream that bugs were crawling all over him, so his screaming woke up all the guys as he was swatting imaginary bugs off of him. What a blast we are having. This is a truly fantastic group of people.

Eating out Dominican Style...with a wet tablecloth, under a thatched roof, outside, with lightning and rumbles of thunder all around us.

My porkchop...YUMMY!!!!!

The rain let up...so here we are dancing off the food!

Jen and my first born!

Cam....hiding from the owner of the restaurant who kept nabbing the young men for dances!! :-)

Day Seven, Wednesday, 7/27/11

2011-11-11T22:45:00.000-06:00

Here is Kelly washing his clothes in the bucket.

The Dominican version of the Ice Cream Man...only it is Banana Man!

Frankie, Daniel and Hector.

Trevor and Cam...ready for the ride to Cerros de Mogollon.

Cam and little Adrian.

Mark and the pastors after a hard day at concrete work.

Playing with the kids while the men are doing concrete.

Little girl fetching water.

Dan working concrete in the home.

Dan and Pastor Rigoberto working concrete...the old fashioned way...

Little boy looking inside his home....wondering what the white men are doing.

The pregnant lady we met with.

We woke up really worn out from our day of fun. Not to mention Jen and I stayed up until 11:30 talking about Mops stuff....I am the coordinator of mops childcare....she is the co-coordinator of the whole group.

Here is Tayler with Maria.

Yolandri and I.

Little Leti.

Yolandri and Cam.

Naked Yolandri with his mamma.

Singing time!

Cam and Yolandri.

We all had a tough time rolling out of bed. We were on our way to Cerros De Mogollon at 8:30. But we ended up just going to Mogollon. We would be doing concrete work at a church members house (she had a dirt floor like many people there do). One team stayed at the house to do concrete and play with the kids, and two different teams went walking through the area speaking to people. Hector, Maggie and I were one team, Cam went with the other walking team. Hector was our only man, but we felt comfortable with him and safe. We started at one house, they were good Christians, but we still talked and and prayed with them. The next house were also good Christians, but we still talked and prayed with them. The next house had only men there, but since we had Hector we stopped anyway. There were two men there talking and working on a moto. One man was scarred up and missing fingers and half of an arm. Apparently he got into a fight and his arm was cut off with a machete. We asked them about heaven, and they didn't know, so Hector explained what heaven and hell was. We explained Romans 6:23 and Romans 3:23 and did the gospel presentation. I then shared my testimony. The one fixing the bike decided to accept Jesus. The amputee still did not. He said he wasn't willing and/or ready to give up his alcohol and women. We prayed with him and two more men walked over. We did the same thing, but they didn't want to either. I looked at the amputee and said, "Listo?"....which means "ready?". He said not yet. Then one of their mothers came out, and we did the whole thing again. She also accepted Christ. Then another came and we did it AGAIN, but he also did not want to. I asked the amputee if he wanted to yet, after each one, he smiled each time and just said, "not yet.". We left with two more lives ushered into the Kingdom of God....and we became pros at the gospel presentation after all of that. We asked Miguel, and he said that Dominicans will often tell you what you want to hear....so I am hopeful that they were truly being honest. We left and went back to the concrete house. Dan asked us to go down the dirt road to a pregnant woman's house...we would be staying about an hour later than planned. We went...she also had a dirt floor. She was eight months pregnant in this horrible heat! She had five other children. She offered us juice, but I didn't want to take something from her that might be hard to buy. We did the gospel presentation with her and then her husband came home. We did it again with him. Then I shared my testimony. We asked them if they wanted to accept Christ. She did but, he didn't. I felt an urge to figh for it so I said "por que?"....which means why. He said he could't go to church, he was too busy. We explained that going to church doesn't make you a Christian. He finally accepted Christ with his wife and they were so excited that they hugged and kissed eachother and us. It was great we went back to the concrete house. We waited for awhile in the shade while they finished. Then we came home and ate quickly because we had to get to Cerros de Mogollon. It was our Samaritan Man story. Cam was the guy beaten up and I was the good Samaritan. It was a neat story. Trevor was the donkey and I had to put Cam on his back. Yolandri was there, I just love that boy! His big sister Maria has become special to Tayler too. He spent half the day with us naked, but that is okay. I spent a lot of time with mi abuela and Daniel. Daniel was a big help with her. She keeps talking about chocolate milk. I might have to get her some. We went home for dinner. It started raining while we were out there and it was fabulous. It cooled us righ down. It felt Fantastico! After dinner we took a walk to El supermercado. I exchanged $20 into Pesos, and Cam had to have Tostitos and dip of course. I got dad some coffee and me some crackers and a Twix bar. Dan bought all of us yummy ice cream on the church. Just with what I bought, it cost me $547 pesos. I know in the whole scheme of things that isn't much....but it sure seems like a lot. That was almost my whole $20 though! They charge 26% tax! That's incredible. It's no wonder no one can afford to live here! Just like with the dirt floors. So many people can't afford concrete floors.....but with dirt floors when it rains EVERYTHING in your house gets MUDDY. Can you imagine. YOUR PLATES GET WET, YOUR FOOD, your bedding....wouldn't that be awful.....anld it rains almost daily.
I have absolutely fallen in love with the Dominican people and the Dominican Republic and the Dominican Lifestyle. I truly don't want to go home....except to be with my kids...but I feel like I belong here.

Jen told me that Cam actually prayed with people and shared his testimony. I am so glad for that. Thank you Jesus...I want to raise my children to seek after You.

Happy Veterans Day

2011-11-11T19:31:00.002-06:00

On June 2, 1995, U.S. Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady was patrolling the United Nations designated no-fly zone over war torn Bosnia when his F-16 fighter was struck by a surface-to-air missile at 27,000 feet above the Earth. He desperately pulled his ejection lever and was catapulted into the sky at 350 miles an hour. Remarkably, he managed to land unscathed in enemy territory.

For six incredible days and nights, O'Grady eluded capture by the Bosnian Serbs who relentlessly hunted him. Utilizing his survival training to the maximum, O'Grady said it was also his faith in God that sustained him. On his third day on the ground, he experienced the love of God to such a level that it took away his fear of death. On the sixth day in a daring daylight rescue, an elite team of marines moved in with a chopper, dodged enemy fire, and pulled the young American hero to safety.

At a national press conference following his triumphant return, O'Grady said, "If it wasn't for my love for God and God's love for me, I wouldn't be here right now." His inspirational and patriotic story is a brilliant testimony to Article Six of the United States Military Code of Conduct: "I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America."

Tuesday, Day 6, 7/26/11

2011-10-31T22:50:00.000-05:00

Tayler, me, Serenity and Jen....hanging out...enjoying the day!

The beautiful lake.

Where we enjoyed swimming...and the cave we would climb through!

Where we jumped from...and the waterfall we went down.

The cave.

The waterfall we all tried to climb...but couldn't...except Miguel...but he's had practice!

Ethan and Cam.

Cam climbing up to get to the little hole we had to climb through...it was interesting...

Miguel and Teeka.

God's Beauty.

The water...the waterfall...the cave....makes for a GREAT day!

The cave.

Cam dodging a bat that he didn't know he was dodging...but everyone else did!!!

Climbing up to get to that hole!

Not sure WHAT kind of spider...but we steered clear...just in case....

Ethan and Cam...waiting to go down the waterfall!!

Today was, as Miguel put it, the most awesomest, cool, wonderful day of our lives. And I have to say it was pretty awesome, cool and wonderful! We got to sleep a little bit later, which was fabulous. Then we left around 9am. I rode in the back of the truck with Cam for the hour long ride. We went through a bunch of little towns and saw quite a lot. It was a beautiful drive. The mountains were just incredible to look at. We stopped at one place and took pictures by the amazing lake that we would kind of play in. The lake was dammed and we were playing on the other side of the dam where it became a river. After we took tons of pictures we got back in and went to the other side of the dam. It was beautiful beyond belief. I could live here, Jeff would LOVE to live here. Miguel explained where all of the adventures were. We got in and the water was freezing but refreshing. We walked over to the waterfall and fell on the rocks a few times. We tried to climb the waterfall. Miguel had no problem climbing it, none of us could. Serenity and I cut up our hands trying to climb. We kept falling and getting caught in the current. Then we climbed a rock wall after I fell into a deep hole in the water and hit a rock on my knee. I got a nice bruise. The wall climbing was surprisingly easy. It ended in a bunch of bushes so thats how we pulled ourselves up was on the bushes. Dave fell into the same hole I did except he twisted his ankle badly. Once we climbed the rock wall there was a cliff. Miguel jumped from one spot, but was sure to warn us that there was an irrigation canal that sucked water out right where you jump, so when you jump you have to be able to swim good and fast to not get sucked in. Cam and I decided NOT to try that, but then we found a spot right next to that which we could jump from that didn't suck us into danger. So Kelly went first and he stayed down there to make sure none of us got stuck in the sucking current. Others went, then Cam, then me. It was tons of fun! Once you jump off that then just about 5 feet away is the water fall. When you get to the top it is hard not to get pushed down but you get on your feet in a squatting position and slide down the waterfall. Tons of fun! That one was scary for me though.

ME...climbing to that hole...I did it fairly quickly...I was surprised!

We played around a bit more than had lunch. During lunch Miguel spoke to us about not having a spirit of timidity. We are not to be fearful because God is with us. We need to trust and have faith. It was a wonderful talk, the best one yet. Then he took us to this HUGE rock formation that has caves in it. We went cave exploring. There were 2 teams. 1 team took the easy route and one team took the challenging route, of course Cam and I were on the challenging route. We climbed through small holes on all 4's through goat poop and Guana to get to an enormously beautiful cavern...full of bats! I was feeling wet stuff hit my head, it was Guana! ICK! Then we had to literally CLIMB into another hole that was smaller yet to get to the outside ledge. Beautiful scenery! Then we had to climb through another hole that was even smaller! I really didn't think I'd make it, I had to shimmy. Int the mean time Cam is crawling thorugh the second hold and he is sprawled out and a bat comes down and hits him, he was freaked out, because everyone knew what it was and THEY were freaking out, but he didn't know what it was!

Tayler and Cam

Jen and I

Random motorcyclists

Jen, Miguel, me and Teeka

Ethan, Trevor and Cam

When we got to the end of the hole we had to get out on a ledge about an inch thick and find footings to step in order to not fall down the face of this massive rock! Miguel was helping by teling us where to place our feet, but that was a HUGE scare for me. Cam did a nice job too. Then we climbed all the way to the top and yelled at Heather who was down and across the river so she could take a picture. Then down we went and crossed the river again, one last jump, one last trip down the waterfall, one last try at climbing and we had to leave. The rest of the day we rested and played more Rage. Cam played more Hackeysack. We went to the supermercado to get money exchanged and then we went to the open air market. That is where all the street vendors are. That is a ton of fun too! We didn't stay too long, but we saw some extremely yummy fruit and everything else you can imagine. When we got back, Miguel was waiting for us. He was taking us to his house to eat a special dinner. He lived about a 5 minute car ride away in a nice little area. He has a nice little house. I played with Nicole mostly then Francisco brought the food. It was TACOS! and they were THE best tacos EVER! They were Dominican Tacos. I ate 4! And they were big! We cleaned up for Kristin then went home as a storm was coming and we had to ride in the back of the truck again. One thing I did forget to mention is we almost all got leeches on us in the river. Some worse then others, I was one of the worst with about 14 bites. Cam didn't get any. I have these big nasty bites on me now. I had noticed a snail looking thing on Darwin's shoulder before, but didn't know what it was. Apparently it was a leech. I was so proud of Darwin for jumping in off the cliff because he is terrified of water. He can't swim. Ethan can't swim either, but he also did and Ellen is afriad of heights, but she also jumped. Everyone faced a fear of some sort today. God is with us.

Miguel and Kristen Shaul need our support!

2011-10-31T22:16:00.002-05:00

Miguel and Kristen Shaul...along with their beautiful daughters Nicole and Samantha, are missionaries to the Dominican Republic. They are incredible people with incredible hearts for God and His people...especially the Dominican people. Miguel grew up in my church and he is one of the reasons that our church took their first ever parent/child trip. I don't think we would have gone if he hadn't been there for us to connect with. He and his wife are both free spirited and fun people. I have learned a lot from them in the short time that I was with them. Currently on their blog they outline their current status. http://theshauls.myadventures.org/ If you are at all interested, please check out their blog. They work with Adventures in Missions (AIM) and love every minute of what they do. Thanks in advance for any support you can give them whether it be monetary, spreading the word, or prayer. Anything is helpful!

LOVE AND HUGS!
T

Monday, Day 5, 7/25/2011

2011-10-07T14:53:00.000-05:00

Wow...I am SO behind on posting....So sorry...no excuses...just busy!!! Here is Day 5 in the Dominican Republic!!

Little Adrian

Today started out good. I had breakfast and then went with Jen, Taylor and Dave to get clean water. On the walk there I started feeling yucky again. I had had some orange juice and wondered if that didn't bother me. I had it yesterday morning too. So no OJ anymore in the morning on this trip. We left for Cerros de Mogollon around 8:30. Miguel came with us today, so I rode in the back with about 9 other kids. All of the mud and holes made for a fun ride out there! I was happy to have Daniel again as our translator. The kids were very excited to see us, but our mission today was to do home visits in the morning. A lot of kids came out though so we had one team stay at el play and play with the kids and four other teams went visiting. My team was cam, Darwin and I with Daniel as our translator.

Cam and Adrian

We started at one house where the older gentleman kept talking about how terrible the government was and how they take so much. In fact....and this is true...thie Dominican government taxes 26%! That's insane! We found that most families are born in Cerros de Mogollon and all stick together. It is not uncommon to see two houses on a property with MANY generations together. After we prayed with them we went across the street. We didn't take too long with her. We prayed with her and moved on. Then we went to the little "store" and spoke to them. Their "store" is attached to their house. They sell a few things, as well as clean water. They sit out front their "store" most of the day. The man was fun to tease. He had four children. One was going to med school in Santo Domingo and another, Westcar, was there doing VBS with us. Westcar and his mom Sandra, attend the church in Mogollon, but nobody else in the family does. I asked the dad why he didn't attend. He said it was too far. When it rains and gets muddy it is very difficult to get around. Their rainy season is May-September.

Ellen and Lettie

Taylor and Maria

After we prayed for them we went to another house. One thing I forgot to mention, when they pray they pray out loud. For example, Sunday at church when the pastor prayed...or like when we prayed for them, they pray different worded at the same time. Agreeing or what not, so at the church, there was a lot of noise during prayer. Anyway, the next house we had to sit inside because there was no porch, they were surrounded by rice patties. The woman of the house was three months pregnant. She was very sweet. We prayed with her and moved on to the next house. This house was so full of men, women and children that I can't even begin to tell you how many there were. They were really awesome people. One man was a teacher. Miguel said that teachers, doctor's and nurses make NO money hardly here. Street vendors can make more money than they can. Anyway, they offered us Canapés. They are kinda like grapes, only you have to peel them, and they have to be sucked because there is a huge pit inside. They are VERY sour. But they were tasty! Then they brought us a Guava. We were told before the trip not to eat the outside of things. However, these people told us to eat it like an apple. I said no...so they gave me a machete to peel it. It was sharp and not the cleanest. So then they said to stick the whole thing in my mouth, seeds and all. So...I just took a bite, and it was NASTY! I had seeds stuck in my teeth and I said, "lo siento, pero, no me Gusto!" They laughed. After we prayed we left, I kept burping guava, it was terrible! Daniel and all the other translators said they love guava! ICK! So we were late getting to the vans, in fact they came looking for us.

We went back to the house, ate lunch, I took a siesta, and then we were off again for VBS. It was nice out. There was a little old lady, her name was Ramona, she looked about 85-90. We asked her her age and she said she was 60! She was so skinny, I told her she needed to eat chocolate to get muy fuerta! She laughed. She had such a cute laugh...more like a giggle. Her eyes were beautiful brown with a rim of blue around each one. Very pretty....my moms mom had eyes like that. We talked and teased for awhile, then I had to go help with VBS, so I said goodbye and she hugged me and smacked me on the tushie! It was funny! Our story was Jesus walks on water. Ater singing and the story we broke into little groups. We had some really young ones, so we did the craft, then the blind train game where one leads with eyes open, but everyone behind had their eyes shut. It is a trust game....it's a lot of fun. Then we left....but not before I introduced Cam to Ramona.

Some of our translators, Thomas, Frankie, Maggie and Daniel

Yolandri in the Sponge Bob Shirt

We had dinner, yucca, plantains and meat again. We debriefed a little...then I played hackeysack with the kids and some other adults. It really is fun! Then Mark, Serenity, Gabe, Darwin and Dave, taught Cam and I how to play Rage. It was such fun...we played two games, and I lost both horribly...I was in last place, both times! (I liked it so much, as soon as I got home I went on eBay and bought it!). Then off to bed. Jen, Serenity, Taylor and I talked for awhile...then we hit the sheets!

My baby, Yolandri

Mi y mi corazon, Yolandri.

Sunday, Day 4, 7/24/11

2011-09-01T21:11:00.000-05:00

Sorry this has taken me a lot longer to get through then I originally expected. Something always seems to come up. This last lull in movement on this blog was due to the 105 degree temps that MaKenna and Major were running. Then...as not to be left out apparently, I got sick as well. Not 105 degree fever...but sick nonetheless. I am on the mend though. And hopeful that no one else gets sick as our Labor Day weekend is supposed to be in Kansas City at Schlitterbahn! PRAY FOR US!! There are only 3 more that could get sick....3 out of 6 isn't bad...right? :-) I miss the Dominican more and more each day. I am REALLY looking forward to my Spanish Communications course that I am taking. It starts on the 6th. Well....here is Day 4!!

Hoy es Domingo. I an finding myself speaking Spanish even when I don't have to, and even thinking in Spanish. I am so glad that I know as much as I do, but wish I knew even more. I would like to take classes when I get home I think. So today started at 6:30 again. Breakfast was doughnuts and scrambled eggs. I LOVED them, but couldn't finish them, I started getting kind of sick to my stomach. I had to go to the little girls room several times before we left. Heather and Jen prayed for me though and it wasn't long and I was feeling better. I found though that even if I clean out my water bottle, the taste of Gatorade DOES NOT leave. So as long as we still have Gatorade packets, I will only put Gatorade in my bottle and I'll just drink water when I am here in a plastic cup. We have to buy our water to drink because it is not good from the tap, we could get very sick.

We got to the location Cerros de Mogollon around 9AM. We had to go back around and invite everyone again and apologize for missing yesterday. It was so muddy! My shoes got horribly filthy! Our translator today was Boris. He is a tailor, 28 years old and going to the University. He was very nice. We then started Bible School. We had about 50 kids there. We sang songs, had the story and then broke into groups to do questions and the craft. We had a lot of fun. The older kids (mostly boys) hung out with the boys on our team playing hackey sack and what not. Most of the crafts and things were done by the moms and daughters. The first story was creation. My baby was there, with clothes on. I called him Mi Corazon. He was so cute! After we played some games like hot potato and frisbee. I was feeling better, but Brooke still was not. We came back for almuerzo. It was yummy rice and beans and chicken again. Francisco stayed and ate with us. After lunch he gave us his testimony. It was great to hear. He said his son got cholera and was healed by God. He's never looked back since. After lunch we watched the rain fall...HARD! It was falling sideways, it was incredible! I've only seen the rain REALLY fall like that in the tropics, one time before and that was when I was in Jamaica. We weren't sre about VBS, but it stopped in time that we did go out. It was SO muddy though! My feet were heavy from the mud. My shoes look awful, but they can be cleaned. The kids were so excited to see us! As we drove down the road and passed houses they would wave and run along side the truck saying, "The Americans are here!" It was neat to see. So we did Bible School with them again, played tons of fun games, sang songs and did a craft. There weren't quite as many kids there in the afternoon, probably because of the rain, but we still had a great time.

We came home around 5 and ate very quickly because we needed to leave again at 6 for church. They do church in the evenings here because of the heat. We ate PB and J sandwiches, Cam and I ate crackers and cheese. We got cleaned up for church, got in our dress clothes and headed out. We went to Mogollon for church. It is up a little further than the community where we are doing VBS. We got there and all piled into wooden benches. There were about 6 rows of benches on either side. There was a pulpit, one speaker and that's about in. It had three doors that remained open and lots of windows that were also opened. Their windows here aren't like the windows in the US though. They don't have glass in their windows. Its just like a bunch of shutters. There was a party going on across the street. A lot of loud, booming DR rap music. It was very difficult to pay attention and to hear. It was an awesome service though. They sang some incredible songs. A capella as they don't have much for musical instruments...lots of loud voices and clapping, lots of dancing. It was incredible! Then we had a couple songs to sing in Spanish for them. Then we sang up front for them in English. We sang How Great Thou Art and they joined in with Spanish. After we sang, they said "Mas!" So we sang a couple more! Cam was SO nervous, he was sweating and almost hyperventilating. Dan spoke and did a great job. Then Mark spoke and sang some more. Then we heard testimony from Jen and Kelly. They both also did incredible jobs! The service lasted about two hours. But it went by very fast, even in the heat. They ended early because of the music across the street. So he turned on his iPod connected to the speaker and some really loud music came on. We danced with the kids and adults and even did a conga line! The Dominican people are very touchy feely so they hugged us all multiple times and we did that for almost 30 more minutes! It was truly fascinating to watch them worship God in their way! We took group pictures and piled back into the vans. We did have translators at the church too. Frankie and Hector were there.

We came home and I bucket showered in the dark. When we got home there was no electricity. We were told that electricity would be hit or miss. So I hung my flashlight in the shower and even shaved my legs! It was fun! Quite an experience! I started out the day not feeling well, but ended the day on a very positive note! God is Good!

I had trouble with picture placement this time...so here are some pictures......

Here are some of the parents that were watching the kids doing Bible School. Dan Holmes is the white guy in the back! :-)

Here is my best friend travel buddy Jen Lempke, me and Abuela (Ramona).

This is our kitchen sink. It was totally open air. You almost always got wet while doing dishes too as there are no pipes from the sink to the floor.

Here is my sun burnt Cam eating one of his lunches when the rest of them had PB and J. Poor thing is allergic to Peanuts and eggs in case some of you didn't know...

Dios es bueno!

Here are a few of the kiddos.

Saturday, Day 3, 7/23/2011

2011-08-22T22:14:00.000-05:00

Banana trees in our backyard! Very convenient!

We started today at 6:30 am. Kristen brought breakfast, oatmeal, so I ate crackers! :-) We had stopped yesterday at the Supermercado and gotten cereal for Cam, so thats what he ate. Miguel came and got us around 8:30. We had a devotional time before he got here. We loaded into 2 vans and Miguel's truck. I and Keri were the only adults in the bed of the truck with 8 kids! FUN! The view was gorgeous! Very breathtaking! It took about 15 minutes to get out there. We parked in a field by their playa. A few people came out to greet us. Miguel had never been to this area before. It was really run down. Their houses were just shacks with tin roofs. They sit outside all the time, because it is just too hot inside. They have a lot of animals, chicken, goats, cows, dogs and cats. A lot of them have some sort of field, like rice, corn or beans.

The people were all super receptive, just like the rest of the Dominican. We started with a prayer walk. We split into groups of 3 and went out walking the "neighborhood". We prayed out loud as we walked by people's establishments saying HOLA! At one house there was a mother, and a grandfather and 3 children. One was a baby boy about 4 months old. The grandpa asked if I wanted to hold him.....so I did...he was SOOO sweet! We headed back to the Playa. Then we prayed and broke up into the groups again. This time we were telling people about our Bible School at 3 in the afternoon. We went to a house with a thatched roof. They asked us to sit. There was a couple of older women. One had no kids and one had 13 kids! They lived there with her neices and nephews...and there were a bunch of them! I asked what she did during the day. She said she cooked, cleaned, worked the fields and trees. She said "very busy". I asked her if she knew Jesus. She said Yes. I asked her if she knew what Heaven was. But I used the word Cielo....she said, "no". I said do you want to know about Cielo? She said "no". That took me by surprise. I was stuck then. So we told them about bible school at 3 and went to the next house. It wasn't until later that I asked Miguel about it and apparently, my word Cielo, which I was taught to be Heaven....is understood as "the sky" in the DR. Oops. She probably thought I was a crazy lady asking her if she wanted to know about the sky! :-) Anyway....at the next house there was a grandma, a daughter and 2 kids. Chiquira is about 8 and has mental disabilities. She acts more like a 3 or 4 year old. There was also the cutest baby boy. I don't remember names well, so I don't know his, but he was about 3-4 months old and naked as most of the kids under 5 are. This really bothered Cam...but he got used to it. Anyway, I was asked if I wanted to hold him....so I did....when suddenly I felt a warm fluid on me...he peed on me! But then he didn't want me to leave, he put out his arms and cried everytime I walked away. He must have "marked" me or something! :-)

We made it back to the truck. I piled in the back with 10 other people. I had to sit on the side this time. Brooke wasn't feeling well. Poor thing, we had to pull over at one point so she could throw up. We made it home and I laid down to take a nap. When I woke up it was lunch time. We had the same things for lunch that we've had at every lunch...rice, beans and really bony chicken. Cam loves the rice! A man named Francisco brings it by motorcycle. After lunch it started raining hard. The decision was made that we couldn't go back. We were told that rain will even cancel schools here and so the people would expect it to be cancelled. We decided to evangelize in this uppper scale neighborhood. A team also went to plant banana trees on Miguels prepoerty where he hopes to build a house some day. One team went to talk to adults, and one team (mine and Cam's) went around looking for kids to do a little kids play time at our house. We found a lot of kids, about 10 came over. We played games, sang songs, colored and blew bubbles. One little boy was Antoni. He was about 18 months old. He mom was 18 and lived down the street. Kristin told me she had a Haitian accent. The Dominicans HATE the Haitians. We asked her and her mom was Dominican and her dad was Haitian. Apparently Kristen could tell because there was Creole in her accent. I was none the wiser! I told her I was going to take him home in my luggage and she said "Esta Bien" (that's fine). A lot of mom's try to push their babies off on Americans so they can have a better life. After lunch and dinner Cam and I took the leftover food to the neighbor. She lives with her mom and her 4 children. 2 are twin girls with a bit of a mental disability. They are sweet though, they crawled all over me. They loved my watch and my earrings. We stayed until they cleaned the tupperware then they pull up a chair also. My Spanish is limited unfortunately ( I only had 8 years of it...you'd think I would be better...but they talk so different in the DR. They don't always pronouce their "S"'s and they usually drop the tail end of the word off...which makes it difficult...so it makes for some awkward pauses.

This is one of the twin girls....

Miguel eating lunch with us...also picture, Heather and Jen.

Miguels daughter Nicole...also known as Buga!!

Playing Hackeysack in the rain...in the street....

After dinner Miguel came back to share his story. He has a fabulous story. His heart has beein in the DR since he was 17 years old. He left home and moved to Mexico for training at 18 and never went back to the states, except to visit. He's been inthe DR for 5 years now. I pray that someday I will have an AHA, or God moment like he did. I pray that Jeff will too. He needs it bad. Speaking of Jeff, I hope everything is okay back home. We've been so busy I haven't got to think about it too much, but when I'm around the Dominican kids, I miss my other three babies. We had some time last night to talk within our family units. Cam and I came upstairs. He said he's having a great time, but he hasn't felt God teach him anything yet. I'm a little worried about it. I'm having fun too, but I've also had my eyes openend to a lot of things and realizations too. He says he hasn't. Jen told me not to worry about it, he would. I hope so.

Delay

2011-08-14T21:06:00.000-05:00

Hey guys! Sorry for the delay....I have had Leadership Summit at our church Thursday and Friday...then Saturday was packed with things around the house and lots of errands....then today I was at church early to go over our Dominican Debrief for the congregation...then we did the first service...during first service I had a Life Group Leaders meeting...then the Dominican Debrief for the second service....then I sat through the second service...then Cam and I had the ACTUAL Dominican Debrief with Pastor John over a lunch...and we got home around 2....then we got our new entertainment center from dad...he is moving....and giving us his old one...then we were busy getting that all put in and reorganizing furniture....couple that with the fact that I have been sleeping horribly...and I am just pooped! So...no Journal entry today for the Dominican! Hopefully I'll be up and running again tomorrow...after my Spanish test!

Talk to you later!

T

Friday, Day 2, 7/22/2011

2011-08-11T23:04:00.000-05:00

Today started at 8AM...way too early! We tried to shower for the last time for 10 days in the little rundown thing they called a shower...but it wouldn't work. Oh well. We were surprised there was a shower anyway! We were packed and ready to be at breakfast at 8:30. They had a breakfast of eggs, rolls, and ham for us. Yummy! The nuns cooked it! They had a FANTASTIC juice! It was half Orange Juice and half pineapple juice! YUM YUM! Poor Cam couldn't eat anything because of the eggs....even the rolls had eggs in them. Miguel had been kind enough to bring extra egg free snacks with him though, so Cam had cheesy crackers for breakfast! We filled our water bottles with good water, go in the van and started a 3.5 hour drive to San Juan de Maguana. It was awesome to see everything, the culture, the people, the vegitation...EVERYTHING! We drove crazy again...nothing new there. Everytime the van would slow down or stop people would jump on the van and try to sell somethingl ike bananas or avocado's even corn. They would look in the windows, blow kisses, whatever! They would even ride along a little on the base runners of the van! There are no enforced traffic laws, so it is just chaos. I've never seen so many motorcycles in my whole life....not even in Jamaica or Mexico! They are all over the place...and I mean that quite literally! The drive once we were out of Santo Domingo was beautiful except for the trash that was laying around everywhere. It's kinda sad how much trash lays around in such a beautiful place. We went through little towns, villages, here and there and a couple military check points. Cam liked to see the big rifles the military men had! I couldn't stay awake. I fell asleep....so did Cam. We had a Dominican driver and a helper. The helper sat by the door and protected it when we slowed down because people would try to get in for a ride or to sell stuff. When we were on the open road though...the helper took a nap on Dave's shoulder! They are REALLY friendly here! :-) We got to San Juan around lunch time. It is a medium sized town. We didn't know where we would be staying.....we were told to be prepared for anything...but Miguel really came through for us! He rented a nice house in the only upscale neighborhood in San Juan. Most of the people in this neighborhood were government officials. They are the only people who have money in the Dominican because the government is so corrupt. This particular house was owned by a judge. The house has four bedrooms, four bathrooms and a living/dining area...there is no furniture, except bunk beds and matresses. Everyone had a soft place to sleep at least. The bathrooms are nice, but we still can't flush the toilet and we can't use the shower. Well...we can use it to stand in and pour water over us from a bucket...but we can't "USE" the shower. There is also no air....so we spend our time outside as it is cooler than inside. Most of the houses in the Dominican don't have windows anyway...they just have these shutter things that open and close to get a breeze in.

Here is a picture of some of the kids playing hackey sack under our balcony. Cam is in the green shirt.

We ate lunch outside, rice, beans and REALLY bony chicken. It was tasty though. I took a lot of Ibuprofen as it was my first full day with no mountain dew. I did alright considering! After lu nch wel earned about our ouse, how to take care of it, etc. Then we learned about the Domoinican people and what is okay to them, what is not okay, etc. Then....to my horror....he sent us out on a scavenger hunt. We broke up into three groups. I was the primary Spanish speaker in my group. I was very nervous.....so much so that I was sick to my stomach. I did learn how to "flush" a #2 before we left! :-) Luckily....my roommate Jen, showed me how to bucket flush. Quite the experience. ANYWAY.....

Here is a picture from our balcony looking at the street and some of the homes around us.

Here is another picture from our balcony.

Cam, myself, Darwin, Brooke, Heather and Maggie were in our group. Our first location to find was the Cathedral. We asked several people, "Donde esta el catedral?" We got a lot of "Derecha....y derecha...ye derecha..." which means right. I couldn't figure out why they kept telling us to go right.....it took me awhile to remember that "derecha' means right....but "derechO" means straight! Oops! They also don't pronounce the end of their words well...in my defense! We finally gave up...and went looking for the Mercado nuevo. We found it...then went looking for the emprintar carrias....most people said, "no se", so we ended up at el super mercado de tituras which was our final destination. We were the first to get there....but we also didn't find two of the locations! We did observe many things...they are very resourceful people! I saw a stool made out of a tire, there are water barrels all over collecting rain water, they know how to get an entire family...and then some...around on their motorcycle! We even saw a mattress going down the street on the back of a motorcycle! We saw women carrying water on their heads, children doing the same. And EVERYONE without a doubt, EVERYONE is SUPER nice! They are very touchy feely though...which bothered Cam...but that's good for him! People invite you in and they don't even know you!

Here is a picture of some of their resourcefulness. Notice the blue tub on the top of this house...it collects rain water. It rains almost daily there, so they get some pretty good water that way.

We did a little shopping at el supermercado titura. Cam got Zacaritos because we will have eggs most mornings...and he is allergic to eggs. Zacarios are Spanish Frosted Flakes! Even Tony the Tiger was on the box! We made it back to the house...it was SCORCHING hot out. We debriefed in the back...while Cam and a lot of the other kids tried to catch lizards! Dinner was Carne, Yucca and Plaintains. We will have this at every dinner meal also. The carne was good...but I don't know WHAT kind of carne it was...nobody seemed to know. Scary.... After dinner, Cam and I did the dishes and we sat around and did a couple more testimonies. Then we sang songs in Spanish and English. The neighbor lady goes to bed around 9:30, and she likes it quiet. So we wanted to respect that...so we also had a bedtime of 9:30. These houses are so close together and made out of concrete that even a whisper travels loudly....so we wanted to be very quiet. Before bed though, Cam and I filled out buckets with rain water and took them to different bathrooms. The girls slept upstairs and the boys slept downstairs. There were two bathrooms upstairs and two bathrooms downstairs...so it was perfect. Anyway, in the shower....we had a cup and we just poured freezing cold rain water all over ourselves...we still don't want to get it in our mouths though...so we had to be very careful. The water was startling at first because it was so cold...but it was refreshing as I had been sweating all day....but as soon as I got out to dry off...I started sweating again! I was very discouraged! Here is a picture of some of our team coming back from taking our dinner left overs to the neighbors across the street. The mom has 4 children...two are twin girls that are mentally handicapped....she lives with her mother. They are in financial need, so we take them plenty of food after each meal.

I laid down with my little battery powered Walmart fan, put my iPod on and relaxed. The evening cools fairly well, so we had our door to the balcony open....but the dogs were obnoxious. They are EVERYWHERE and they are LOUD! There are little dog gangs....seriously! They bark and fight a majority of the night...making sleeping a bit more difficult...

Slideshows working!

2011-08-10T21:52:00.001-05:00

I FINALLY managed to get the slideshows working! There are two of them. The first two top ones on the left hand side of the blog are from the dominican! Enjoy!!!!

Day One, Thursday 7/21/11

2011-08-10T21:28:00.000-05:00

Today was a travel day. We woke up at 6:30 finished last minute packing and were headed to the airpot at 7:45. I was very sick on the way to the airport, my nerves got the best of me. I thought I was going to have to ask Jeff to pull over so I could throw up! Once we were at the airport, I felt a little better. We got all checked in...it was slow. 21 of us getting checked in and getting through security is no easy task! I was elected to go through the X-Ray machine though! Very exciting! :-) Cam was SUPER nervous. He was starting to drive me a little crazy! I thought I was bad! We boarded our flight to Chicago around 9:45. We were on an itty bitty airlplane! I've never been on one so little. It was definitely NOT reassuring! Some of our men had to crouch to walk down the aisle because they were too tall! It ended up being a really nice flight though! We ate in Chicago...I tried to call Jeff but he wasn't home....so I called my dad. We played cards,

read some magazines and we were headed to Miami at 2. That was a longer flight, but it was a nice big airbus! Can't complain! I took a little nap....Cam played his iPod. Cam had woken up with a croupy cough that morning, so I had taken his nebulizer with us on our carry on. I had him do it in Chicago...but he was NOT at all happy about having to use it! So...I told him if he was breathing alright, he wouldn't have to use it in Miami...and he was fine! Thankfully! Cam loved flying into Miami seeing the ocean, the keys, the swamps...he thought it was fantastic!

In Miama we had two testimonies. It is nice hearing about how members of our team came to know Christ. Then it was food time. Miami airport STINKS for food. Neither of us were thrilled with what we got...or the cost! Around 9:30 pm we finally left. This was a shorter flight, but a nice big 757. It was a bilingual flight...so that was fun too! We got to the DR around midnight their time. They are about an hour ahead of Nebraska time. We had some passport issues when we got there...not Cam and I...but someone on our team had put their passports in their carry on luggage, and then their carry on luggage was checked at the gate...they didn't give the luggage back to them when we landed and you have to have your passports to get your luggage. So that was a little bit of a problem considering that nobody at the airport spoke English. I have my spanish....but it was midnight and I am not TOTALLY fluent. Luckily Mark Thengvall IS TOTALLY fluent...he was VERY helpful in getting the passports back! :-) We paid our entrance fee, got our luggage, went through customs and then met Miguel. ALL of us had our luggage!! Can you believe it?? All 21 of us!! I think that is a record! Miguel had water ready for us and a van waiting. We used the restrooms, but found out we CANNOT flush toilet paper...you just throw it away in the trash beside the toilet...YUCK! I was NOT comfortable with that...but you do what you have to do! We had a 45 minute drive to the catholic retreat that we were staying at for the night. So we headed out. The streets were FULL of stray dogs...and it was very hot out, but not unbearable. Nebraska had quite a few unbearable days this summer....it wasn't THAT bad...at least at that time! It was fun to see the culture at night, everything in Spanish...which is cool, but it kinda freaked Cam out. We got to the Catholic retreat.....each family unit had their own rooms.

It was hot and humid...but we had a fan! Thank the good Lord above! We didn't get to bed until after 2...and I didn't sleep well. We got up at 8 the next morning...I was tired to say the least......

WE ARE HOME FROM THE DOMINICAN!!!

2011-08-09T22:59:00.000-05:00

Hi all!!! We are home and have been for a little over a week...but we have been POOPED! So sorry this is a slow post to get written! Between just getting enough rest, and getting over being sick from being way too tired...and getting ready for school which starts tomorrow...we have just been SOOOO busy! I FINALLY have all the pictures up and edited. You can find them on my facebook page, my profile is tonya stutzman filleman. I plan on posting my favorites on the site, but I also plan on having a running slide show on the left had side. I have the pictures uploaded to Picasa, but for whatever reason the albums don't want to cross to the blog. So I have to do some tweaking! I also have about a 50 page journal that I wrote while there...actually...probably longer. I wrote about 10 pages a day...they were smaller pages...so, I have about 100 pages of journaling to share...but don't worry...I won't share it all! I will just go through my journal and highlight the day! I will go day by day though, as I plan on using this blog as a bit of a diary for the kids when they get older too of what they/we have done! So sit back, relax and TUNE IN! I would encourage you to subscribe if you haven't already. You can do that on the sidebar. That way the e-mail comes directly to you and you don't have to worry about logging into blogger every day! I should get the first of 10 posts up by tomorrow some time!!! CAN'T WAIT TO SHARE ALL THE FABULOUS THINGS GOD HAS DONE IN OUR LIVES AND THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE IN THE DOMINICAN!!! GOD IS GOOD!!!!

The picture above was taken on the say from Santo Domingo to San Juan. We flew into Santo Domingo....stayed the night there as we got in after midnight. The next morning we left for San Juan at 9 am.

Leaving for the Dominican Republic!

2011-07-20T14:31:00.000-05:00

HI GUYS!!!!!!! First off, I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping out financially for Cam and my trip to the Dominican Republic! You guys have NO idea HOW helpful you all were!!!! I am SO humbled and appreciative of your financial support and prayers!!!! If there is EVER I can do for ANY of you, please let me know! Until then, I have kept each one of you and your families in my prayers.

That said, I am letting you all know that we are leaving first thing tomorrow (Thursday the 21st) morning!! We are VERY excited….but also a bit anxious! Okay…A LOT anxious. I can’t fib…my dad is reading this….he knows how much of a basket case I have been! It isn’t so much even the trip as it is the preparation for the trip….making sure I have everything I need for myself and Cam, etc. You know…if we are going on vacation somewhere and forget something, we go to the nearest Walmart….if I forget something on this trip, I just have to do without and that scares me!! On our packing list it said, “Toilet paper, optional.” I called John Alford and asked him, “John…do we really need to bring our own toilet paper?” He said, “Well…it says optional on there.” I said, “And what is the other option?” He said, “Leaves.” Um…I am thinking I am packing toilet paper! It’s not like I have never camped and used leaves before…but I don’t want to do it in a third world country where I don’t know what kind of leaf I am using! :-~ That’s the LAST place I need a rash!
I also have been concerned for Cam….well, and I guess me as well. Jake and MaKenna had a cold this week. It was only about a two day cold…but one of those days was pretty miserable for them. Cam tends to get colds and they never stop there. They turn into something a lot worse because he has immunocompromised lungs. Soo….I called the doctor, and even though he has no symptoms right now, they put him on a preventative antibiotic and then I will bring the nebulizer and hope I have an electrical outlet to plug it into should we need it. I am worried about getting sick too…because I am also more sickly. I tend to get a cold and have it turn into more also….BUT….as a mother, I am more concerned about my babies then me! So…if you would keep Cam and I in your prayers for health and well being that would be FANTASTIC!!!

So….we will be flying into Santo Domingo after a LONG day of flying. We fly to Chicago, then to Miami and then into Santo Domingo around midnight. We will stay in a “hotel” in Santo Domingo the first night since we get in so late, then first thing in the morning we will head by van to San Juan, which is about 4 hours away. There we will hike to the village we will be at. Each day we will hike another 45 minutes to the actual village that we will be doing Vacation Bible School at and helping lay concrete slabs in some homes, fetching water at the well for people and doing home visits with evangelizing. At the end of each day we will hike another 45 minutes to our base camp. We will be there 10 days. On Saturday, the 30th we head back to Santo Domingo for another stay at the “hotel” and then on Sunday the 31st of July we have another LONG day of flying…but should be home by 6:30pm or so Sunday night.
It will be an exhausting 10 days, but one I am sure Cam and I won’t soon forget. Jeff if you are reading this…I know you have been with the other 3 kids for 10 days and will be ready to hand them off to me…but I could sure use some rest when I get home I think! At least Sunday night!  Speaking of which, if you would all keep Jeff in your prayers too as he will be providing for the kids, working from home, and being “mom” and dad. Thanks to Deana Ramsey who is keeping the kids two of the nights I am gone, and Scott and Melissa who will also be taking them from time to time. Also thanks to Dad and Jan who MIGHT take them camping one night! I know they’ll enjoy that…the kids anyway! 
I will update when I get home…and hopefully have pictures!
Thanks again!! Love and Hugs!!

Tonya and Cam

Friends

2011-07-06T15:45:00.000-05:00

When school is out, I have a number of kids at my house. Which is great! The more the merrier. Yes...it can get messy...yes...it can get noisy...but the kids...for the most part anyway...play really well together. So...summer time I have my niece's and nephew....and anywhere from 2-4 more neighbor kids that I watch for friends either on a continuing basis, or once in awhile.

Well...during the school year, I have littler people. Usually it is just Major and I...and of course, my friend Deana and Allyson and I switch off so that we can make appointments or what not....but once in awhile I get kids over on a regular basis. Here are some of the pictures I took this Winter/Spring.

Here is Major's friend Brooklyn and Duke playing in the sand.

Here is Brooklyn's little sister Campbell! Isn't she cute???

Then we have Kaili.....she was actually in a good mood that day...but they were all tired out.

Here are Kaili's little brothers, Toby and Noah.

Major was plum tuckered out too!

Here is Toby at lunch time...what a ham!!!

Best Friends!

2011-07-06T15:40:00.000-05:00

May was Emily Jackson's birthday month. There are five of us who go out for birthday months....and this was no exception. The birthday girl gets to choose the location. This time it was Wheatfields. In the picture is Allyson, me, Michele, Emily, and Deana and Lydia.

MaKenna's Kindergarten Graduation DAD's Day

2011-07-06T15:35:00.000-05:00

Some of you know that Jeff was gone for about 30 days in May/June. I won't get into why now....I'll talk more about that later....but since he wasn't home, and papa was also not home...he was hanging out in Oregon....MaKenna asked her Uncle Tanner to go! Here is another picture of Mrs. Kite and MaKenna.

Here is Uncle Tanner and MaKenna. I can't tell you how the day went....because I wasn't there...but the pictures were awfully cute!!! :-)

MaKenna's Kindergarten Graduation

2011-07-06T15:27:00.000-05:00

MaKenna's Kindergarten Graduation was such fun! They had a Mom day and a Dad day for graduation. This is the Mom day!!! Here is MaKenna just before they sang the Mom song! It was so sweet!!!

My baby girl and I!

We made these really cool necklaces together!! Such fun!!!

MaKenna and her teacher, Mrs. Kite.

MaKenna did VERY well in Kindergarten!!! She EXCEEDED expectations for her age and grade! She is such a smarty pants!!! She gets that from my side of the family! :-)

Randomness....

2011-07-06T15:19:00.000-05:00

Cam had one final choir concert of the year! He really liked choir. I am surprised! He played piano for awhile...then moved into Violin in 5th grade. In 6th grade he didn't want to do any instrument...so I said, "Great...I can teach you piano some more!" He said, "NO! I'll sing in choir!" So...he only joined choir to get out of piano...and he ended up really liking it! Funny how that works! Anyway...the show choir is a very prestigious choir to get into....you have to audition and be chosen. Only 7th and 8th graders can do it. HE WAS CHOSEN! He was VERY excited!! So....as of next year...he'll be in show choir! Cam is in the front row in the red shirt with grey pants.

Here is Mr. Cool himself!!! Keepin' it real.....

I never quite know what is going through this one's head....

MaKenna and Major playing together.

My Duke. Such a sweet puppy....well....10 year old puppy....

The fort Jeff made for the boys. He is working on MaKenna's fort now.

MK and Major by one of my favorite plants. It only blooms once a year and only for about a week. Such a waste of beauty!

My Monkey Angel...

They are painting together...not arguing or anything!!!!

Easter Egg Hung!

2011-07-05T22:29:00.000-05:00

Here is Major doing his Easter Egg hunting!

And MaKenna...

The dad's just standing there taking it all in....

My niece Brooke, Cam and my sister Rhonda.

I....uh....really don't know what to say.....

MaKenna and her kitty...Chocolate.

Daddy got down and girlie with MaKenna one night...he washed and brushed her hair and then proceeded to paint her toenails and fingernails for her!! What a daddy!!

Easter Morning

2011-07-05T14:50:00.000-05:00

Here is the family after church...before we changed our clothes for the hunt!!!

Major and MaKenna....the prettiest little kiddos at church that day! I know...I am biased...

Major...no he did not wear sandals to church.

Major chasing the kitty....the kitty ultimately won.

The Easter Bunny brought a lot of really nice things....but one of those things was MaKenna's new roller blades!!!!

The kids were also thrilled to see that Cam and I caught the Easter Bunny!!!!

After we played around a bit with our new toys, Jan and dad came over, Rhonda and Mike and the kids, Tini and Matt and Dixie and Tanner! Here is what Grandma Jan brought over for the kids! Great idea!!!! When you pulled the "carrot" out it was full of all sorts of goodies...and the bag was shaped like a carrot!

Easter Eggs!!

2011-07-05T14:45:00.000-05:00

I am usually very leary about dying easter eggs every year due to the allergies in two of the kids....but this year I thought we would give it a try. We all had a great time!! I needed to buy more eggs though. Everyone was fairly disappointed that they each only got to die like 3 eggs.

They had a great time though!!!!!!

Susan G. Komen, Putting on the Pink Party

2011-07-05T14:42:00.000-05:00

Every year as you know, my sister and I do the Race for the Cure. If you are interested we have started our team up for this year. It is called Mama's Family. We would love to have you join us in the walk, or donate towards the walk. Whatever you can do would be SO helpful. But...my point I am making is this. Every spring, they have the Putting on th Pink Party to celebrate those who were the highest earners. My sister gets free tickets every year because she is always one of their top earners. So we are always able to go. This year, Mama's Family came in 3rd for the whole state of Nebraska...but Rhonda Flanigan...my sister.....

came in as TOP FUNDRAISER for the ENTIRE state of Nebraska!!! SOOOOOO very proud of her!! She got the above bag full of goodies as well as a plaque that was presented to her by one of our local celebrity's, Dave Webber.

She also was congratulated and thanked....and even hugged by another local celebrity, Carol Wang.

CONGRATULATIONS RHONDA!!! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU...AND I KNOW MOM IS TOO!!!!

Bounce U

2011-07-05T14:30:00.001-05:00

Another Spring Break FUN day we had was at Bounce U. We spent 3 hours there...MORE than enough...but tons of fun. I got all sorts of "rug" burns...and I even took enough breaks that I got some of my book read! Here is Major taking a dive.

Cam and Jake coming out of the obstacle course.

MaKenna, Major and Jake...

Jake and MaKenna.

MaKenna.

Major...

More Spring Break Fun

2011-07-05T14:23:00.000-05:00

So the week started out with the zoo with the Ramseys.....then Malissa Randecker and I took our brood to the Aksarben Aquarium. It has always been one of our favorite places to go as it is SUPER DOOPER cheap and TONS of fun with learning, hiking, sightseeing, etc. Here's a bit of trivia for you. Do you know what Aksarben stands for? Spell it backwards....

So here is a picture of some of the kids at the Aquarium. Cam and Jake opted out of this picture....so we have Major, MaKenna, Jada (Major's girlfriend) and Gracyn.

We went for bit of a hike to the fish hatchery on the same grounds. This is what we found hanging in the tree....an Opossum.

Here is Major showing Jada a leaf that he swore was some sort of animal.

GOOD TIMES!

The Zoo with the Ramseys

2011-07-05T14:17:00.000-05:00

Awhile ago...yes...I am SOOO behind on blogging....again.....sorry Filleman family!!! I do this for you so you can see the kids as they grow...and then I am SLOW getting anything out!! :-( BAD TONYA!

Anyway....we went to the zoo...as we do quite frequently...thank goodness for zoo passes! But this time we went with the Ramseys! We had a GREAT time!! Here is a picture of Jake, MaKenna, Gabriel and Hannah in the Desert Dome! I am NOT a fan of the desert dome...I grew up in the desert.....been there...done that...but everyone else LOVES it!

Here is Major and little Lydia at the Gorilla complex.

We went to the train that you can climb on and we found a swan that was sitting on some eggs right by it. The kids were bugging her a little bit and she made some hissing noises...here is Major....trying to get in trouble...but I stood between him and the swan.

The Jungle!! My beautiful four! Where would I be without my babies?????? Aren't they pretty? :-)

These two make priceless pictures together!

It was a REALLY long day....here is everyone when we pulled into the garage......

MaKenna LOST her first tooth!!!

2011-05-17T10:11:00.002-05:00

Yep...that's right! She lost her tooth the day after she was crying that it was just starting to wiggle!!! She just was brushing her teeth this morning and OUT it popped!! She was SO excited!! It didn't hurt AND she lost her first tooth before school ended because she gets a treat from her teacher!! Bitter sweet for me though...it means my baby girl is growing up....sniff, sniff....

14 years

2011-05-17T08:16:00.001-05:00

14 years ago today, I said I do.

Happy Anniversary Jeffy!

Loose Tooth

2011-05-17T08:14:00.002-05:00

MaKenna came home from school today crying her little eyes out. She had her first loose tooth and she was absolutely terrified! She was crying, "Is it going to hurt?" I explained to her how it worked and that it wouldn't hurt as long as it came out when it was ready to come out.

I managed to get her calmed down...but it was her front bottom tooth and she wouldn't eat anything because she was afraid it would hurt.

I hope it comes out soon...or the poor girl will starve to death.

More Spring Dinner

2011-05-04T13:42:00.002-05:00

My FABULOUS friend Deana Ramsey also did a table...her's was right next to mine. She also did a table in memory of her late father. He used to carve coal into crosses, etc. You can't see his work very well from this picture...but you can see his picture in the middle of it. Here is Deana and I.

It has become tradition that Tini comes to all of my Spring Dinners. I think she has only missed a couple. So...as with tradition...she was there again! I don't know what I will do if she ever decides to leave Omaha! She is always SUCH an enormous help! Next year is quite possibly her last year in Omaha...I hope not...but it is possible...so we are going to do the table together! Here she is.....

Spring Dinner at Brookside

2011-05-04T13:28:00.002-05:00

Every year our church has a Spring Dinner for women. At the dinner, there are about 100 tables, and 100 hostesses. Every hostess makes their own table decorations and has a verse for that table. It is a TON of fun. I have been a hostess for...um...maybe 5 years now. I have had a Sea Worthy table, a flower table (mom and Rhonda did this one...I was too sick with Major's pregnancy), a wedding table with cows, a duck table, another flower table...and this year I did an elephant table in memory of my mom. I went to her house and took a few of her zillion elephants...found a verse about memories because elephants have great memories and set up my table. Here it is....in memory of my mom....

Here is what I put on the verse cards:

This table is dedicated to the loving memory of my mother, Suzanne Stutzman, who love elephants.

Elephants are well known for their memories.

Genesis 9:15 NIV

I will remember my covenant between Me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

Cam's end of the year party

2011-05-04T13:09:00.002-05:00

I don't have pictures from Jake's end of the year party because I was unable to go. Only Jeff and Jake went...I don't remember why...I think Major or MaKenna...or maybe both were sick. Anyway...as you all know, Jeff was Cam's coach. Here is Jeff giving out the trophies to the kids. Jeff worked hard getting nicknames ready for each player and finding a song that cooresponded with the nickname. So...he called up each kid by their new nickname and then "their' song played. Cam got his dad's old nickname since he suffered from a concussion this year. Jeff had A LOT of concussions in hockey and football growing up...and even AFTER he was grown up. Jeff's nickname was always Dizzy....so...he has passed it on to Cam....who is now...also...Dizzy. :-) His song was..."I get knocked down...but I get up again..."Here is Major. If you look closely, his glove...which is attached to his coat...got stuck in the door while he was trying to run away from us at the ice rink. It was pure bliss to know that he couldn't get anywhere....

The team had a Parent/Child game as their end of year "party". Here they all are....

Here is Jeff playing in the game. The big one...with the NAU helmet! Yes...it still fits his head!

My man on skates...just like the good ol' days.....

Figure Skating

2011-05-04T13:06:00.002-05:00

I could never get a good picture of MaKenna doing her leg lifts or anything...but she does do them...and she also spins now. She is doing a great job! Figure skating is over now for a couple months....so we have a bit of a breather. She would like to try gymnastics...we are hoping we can get her started...it is just a matter of having the money to do it. This is a tough time of year as we are trying to save for our trip to AZ. The gas to get out there and back is going to cost us more than we bargain for. Anyway...here is MaKenna figure skating....

Misc....

2011-05-04T12:06:00.003-05:00

Here are just some misc pictures!!! MaKenna and Major are ready for bed...covering themselves up with the couch cushion! WEIRD little people!!!! We got a new Electronic Battleship game. The boys LOVE to play it. Here, Jake was bored and showed his patriotism with the Battleship light up board!

Jeff and Cam had a GREAT year in hockey! Jake had a great year too....but I am highlighting Jeff and Cam today because they were on the same team...well...Jeff was the coach and Cam the player. Anyway....their team won the Sportsmanship award this year!! We are VERY proud of them!!!!

Here is Chocolate...

This is the roller coaster that Jake got from Papa for Christmas. We FINALLY got around to helping him build it a few weeks ago. It is actually REALLY cool!

Here is Nacho....

Choice of vacation sweepstakes!!!!

2011-05-04T12:04:00.001-05:00

Register to win a summer family vacation. This summer USFamilyGuide.com has created a promotion that celebrates the family vacation by giving away 12 incredible trips for families looking to create their own memories. They have hand picked some of the most memorable destinations their families have experienced and asked them to provide a FREE vacation to award to perhaps YOU! CLICK BELOW NOW!!!

http://www.usfamilyguide.com/Family_Vacation_Sweepstakes/?blogid=335

Rules:
One entry per day
Prizes will be awarded beginning May 15 through July 31.

This is the start of some great local summer deals - the US Family Guide online coupon allows family friendly attractions to post, update and track on line coupons - we invite you to share this feature with your favorite attraction in your neighborhood - here is the link: http://www.usfamilyguide.com/requestacoupon.php.

Please Vote for mom and I

2011-05-04T11:43:00.002-05:00

I submitted my FAVORITE picture of mom for a Mother's Day contest. If you would all be so kind and go vote for it....I would SOOO appreciate it! It is entitled, "Mom knew how to have fun." We are on the Kraken from Sea World...it is dad, mom, Cam and I!

Here is the link!

http://neighborhoodnews.upickem.net/engine/Votes.aspx?PageType=VOTING&contestid=26832#SubmissionDisplay

Thanks guys! You're the best!!!!
You can only vote until Thursday the 5th though!! And you can vote EACH day!!

Grandma Gwin and Papa Jerry Visit

2011-05-04T02:42:00.000-05:00

In March we welcomed Jeff's mom and dad to our house for a weekend FULLLLLL of hockey and fun!!! We had a great time! But....we were all exhausted by weekends end because of hockey. Hockey here...hockey in Fremont...hockey in Des Moines....BUSY weekend!!! Here is a great picture of MaKenna, her favorite barbie, Bella (yes from the Twilight series...I'm hooked), and her grandma Gwin! Here is a picture of MaKenna...Bella...again...and Papa Jerry. Bella goes EVERYWHERE with MaKenna!!!

And apparently Bella goes everywhere with Papa Jerry too!! :-)

We had a really great time with them!! We are looking forward to seeing them again next weekend when they are out here for Dixie's graduation!!!

Sorry...I know I am behind again!!! I'll catch up!!!

Vadim vists

2011-03-27T14:38:00.002-05:00

On that SAME weekend that we had hockey finals....Vadim stopped by to say hello!! Vadim is the Ukrainian young man who was adopted from Orphanage #4 that we used to have have our ministry with. He was adopted when he was 18 or so...and attended Millard South. He graduated from Millard South this past summer at the age of 20 (Ukrainian school laws are different from the USA), and he is now going to college to be an Electrician. He will be done with his current program this summer. Anyway, he stopped by to visit us which was SO nice because we haven't seem him in probably 6 months or so! Here is a picture. Jeff and his parents had run up to Des Moines to see Jake's mid day game before Cam's late night game...so they weren't home at the time.

Cam's Final Hockey Tournament of the Season

2011-03-27T14:24:00.002-05:00

Cam's final tournament was up in Fremont...which is only about 30 minutes from here. Jake's final tournament was the same weekend in Des Moines. Jeff's mom and dad came to visit that same weekend...so my sister took Jake to Des Moines since her kids also played in the tournament and I stayed here in Omaha with Jeffs mom and dad and the little people. Here are some pictures from that weekend. Cam is number 91.

This is how Major spent most of the weekend at the ice rink. The little boy is a little brother of one of the players and he has an iPad which Major found VERY appealing!

Cam's team finished 5th in the midwest and Jake's team placed 2nd. They were in the championship game and they tied it...so it went into a shoot out. Unfortunately, the other teams goalie was significantly bigger and blocked many more goals....so sadly, Jake's team lost and took 2nd place.

They both had an INCREDIBLE season though! Jake's team has already had their year end party....tonight is Cam's year end party...then we are DONE for the season!! I love hockey...but YIPPEE!!!!!!

Jake's 10th birthday!

2011-03-27T14:18:00.002-05:00

Wow! I have two kids in the double digits for age now!! How....WHEN did that happen?????? Jake turned 10 February 17th....he has not had his friend party yet...but soon.....we did have a family party though....

Snow...snow...and more snow....

2011-03-26T22:25:00.004-05:00

The kids love that the plows leave the bulk of the snow from the culdesac in front of our house. They use it to make tunnels and caves...they have a great time with it. Here MaKenna and Jake were playing in it.... This is a great one of MaKenna jumping off....

Then they decided to make little snow people! Such artists!

My MaKenna girl.....

2011-03-26T22:25:00.001-05:00

This kid can sleep anywhere....

2011-03-26T22:23:00.000-05:00

Cam is 12!!!!!!

2011-03-26T22:12:00.003-05:00

Yes...that is correct...I was a mere 12 when I had him...making me only 24. Don't I look 24? HEY! IT'S POSSIBLE!!!!! His favorite gift for his birthday was this silly "Chest Buster" from the movie Aliens. I know....weird....he has this really strange and creepy fascination with Aliens and Predators. Should I be nervous???? Aunt Holly was the cool person to get this for him. Here it is, in the flesh...or cotton...whatever....

Dad and Jan were gone to Arizona for Spring Training from January through March....so we had their dog Sadie. She is a GREAT dog. Anyway...here is Sadie being introduced to the "Chest Buster".

He also got this University of Florida Locker board. Yes...University of Florida. Don't ask...I have NO idea. He is surrounded by Texas and Nebraska stuff...and he likes Florida. Go figure.

And...since his favorite past time is hunting...like father like son...I made him this camo blankie to have in the wild.

He also had a party with some friends. He had 4 boys over. 2 out of the 4 boys had a rough family life. One is an athiest with an alcoholic single mother who expects him to do everything for her...and one who is the son of two moms and they attend the one homosexual church here in Omaha. Didn't even know that existed in the midwest. Anyhoo....it was a Saturday night sleep over party and we asked the kids' mom's if they could attend church with us the next day. They said, "no". We told them to pick up their kids at 8 then...and they said, "Well...I guess they can go to church with you." :-) So...they all went to church...we piled into two different vehicles. The next day at school one of the boys (the atheist with a single alcoholic mother) started asking Cam some questions. He asked a few questions every so often until one day, two weeks later, he accepted Christ. Cam was so excited...and that is when we heard about the Dominican Parent/Child trip at our church...we were all powered up to go...and we are half way done funraising! :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FIRST BORN!! I am SO proud of you!

SLEDDING!

2011-03-26T13:54:00.000-05:00

I am SO behind on blogging....as usual. So....here we are on a post that should have been posted back in January...and it is what...almost April! Oh well...better late then never!! So...we had quite a bit of snow over Christmas Break and here are the kids having a GREAT time sledding with their cousins and a couple of their friends!!

This is Cam in the blue hoodie (Thanks Aunt Holly) face planting into the snow on his snowboard with a couple of high schoolers looking on...and laughing no doubt.

Here is Jake getting ready to do something stupid on the sled I am sure...in the pink behind him is Brooke and behind her in the blue Hoodie (thanks Aunt Holly) is Cam.

MaKenna and Jake...about to do something that was monumental and great in theory...but of course...didn't work.....

Brooke, MaKenna and Kayla.

Kayla

Cam in blue hoodie (thanks Aunt Holly) FLYING out of his snowboard straps...with high schoolers looking on....

Cam...starting down the hill....

Jake sledding down....

Shawn, Jake and Cam...

Jake, Cam, Nikoli, Kayla and Shawn...

Jake.....don't ask.....

Princess MaKenna....

Shawn laughin' it up....

WE SURVIVED!!!!!!

2011-02-26T22:19:00.003-06:00

Those of You Born
1930 - 1979

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE
1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers
Who smoked and/or drank while they were Pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing,
Tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles,
Locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode
Our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.
As infants & children,
We would ride in cars with no car seats,
No booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.
Riding in the back of a pick-up truck on a warm day
Was always a special treat.
We drank water
From the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends,
From one bottle and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon.
We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar.
And, we weren't overweight.

WHY?

Because we were
Always outside playing...that's why!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day,
As long as we were back when the
Streetlights came on.
No one was able
To reach us all day. And, we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps
And then ride them down the hill, only to find out
We forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes
a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's and X-boxes.
There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable,
No video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's,
No cell phones,
No personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS
And we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth
And there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt,
And the worms did not live in us
Forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,
Made up games with sticks and tennis balls and,
Although we were told it would happen,
We did not put out very many eyes..
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and
Knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just
Walked in and talked to them.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.
Those who didn't had to learn to deal
With disappointment.
Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law
Was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best
Risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.
The past 50 years
Have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility,
and we learned how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of them?
CONGRATULATIONS!

Kind of makes you want to run through the house
with scissors, doesn't it ?

The quote of the
month is by Jay Leno:
"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control,
mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms
tearing up the country from one end to another,
and with the threat of swine flu
and terrorist attacks.
Are we sure this is a good time
to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

Donations for DR trip!

2011-02-18T19:11:00.002-06:00

Friends and Family,

Our 12 year old Cam and I (Tonya) are planning a trip to the Dominican Republic as part of a parent/child missionary team being sent from our church, Brookside Church in Omaha, Nebraska. We have friends that are full time missionaries there and we will be hooking up with them. If you are interested in finding out about our missionary friends, there website is: http://theshauls.myadventures.org/. You can also find out more about our church and this trip at www.brookside.net.

Cam showed interest in this trip after he was given the opportunity to lead a friend from an atheist family to Christ. He also is currently taking Spanish and is very excited to experience a new culture and to help those in need.

The cost of the trip is $650 per person, for a total of $1300. We are fundraising for this trip as it is impossible for us to go on our dime alone. It is a missions trip through our church and they are paying for a portion of the trip. The $650 is what is left over as our cost. Anything you can donate would be SO appreciated. If we get above and beyond our goal, we will take the remainder with us to the Dominican Republic and donate it to the Shauls and their ministry. Remember this is a fully tax deductible donation and I am fully prepared to send receipts stating so for you. You can donate directly to me by check and send it to, Tonya Filleman 6012 S. 149th St., Omaha, NE 68137, or you can go to one of my blogs and do a direct donation on pay pal from there. www.nebraskahockeymom.blogspot.com, or www.nebraskafillemans.blogspot.com. There are icons on each home page.

Thank you for your consideration! If nothing more, prayer is deeply appreciated!! Take care and God’s blessings on you all!

Tonya and Cam Filleman

Snow Storm

2011-02-14T11:54:00.002-06:00

We got hit with a couple of good storms giving us almost 2 feet of snow! It made for...I think 3 or 4 snow days from school!! We had TONS of fun on our snow days!! We also had those snow days because of the bitter cold though too! At one time we were well below zero with a windchill around -30 below zero! FRIGID!!!!!! When it wasn't so cold though...we went sledding with all that awesome snow! I can't help it! I love the snow!! I know everyone else hates it...but I LOVE it!!!

Cam playing hockey

2011-02-14T11:45:00.002-06:00

Cam's turn for some hockey highlights! He has had a GREAT year! He is a first year Pee Wee A with dad as his coach. They have traveled nearly every weekend since November and have had a blast doing it...of course...the bank account has been dwindling...but as long as they are having fun! :-) He is 91 in the pictures! He is currently playing defense and he LOVES it! He is one of the stars of the team!! Even on defense he still manages to slip in some assists and shots on goal!

New Years Eve!

2011-02-14T11:00:00.002-06:00

Some of you know that I am a Tribe leader at my church. Tribe is the Junior High Ministry. I have a roster of 12 7th graders! Only about 8 come on a regular basis....and they are a fun 8 let me tell you!!!

Since New Years Eve fell on a Friday this year...and since we NEVER do anything on New Years Eve...I decided to have a Tribe over night party! So....7 girls came over at 6 pm Friday night for Pizza and appetizers, LOTS of pop and LOTS of goodies! We started out the night playing a Dance game on the Wii. The girls had tons of fun dancing!

Then they decided it was makeover time! So....off I went to gather all the makeover stuff I could think of!After that the boys got involved. Cam and Jake took out the Nerf Guns and they played Nerf Wars like all good little boys and girls should do! :-)Some of the girls opted out and decided instead to pet the animals....here is Kayla, Lexa and Abby petting Chocolate.After we rang in the new year with TONS of confetti...which I am STILL picking out of my carpet every once in awhile....Madeline and MaKenna decided to do Confetti Snow Angels!
After that we played hide and go seek in the dark! Tons of fun! Then...around 1 am we finally sat down to watch a chick flick...even Cam and Jake joined us. Around 3 it was over and I was incredibly sick to my stomach...WAY to many treats!!! At 4 I FINALLY decided to lay down upstairs in MaKenna's bed as MaKenna was on the floor in the living room. There were 4 in the living room and 4 in the family room. The living room group was already out. The family room group....well...at 6 am, I could STILL hear them! I felt better after tossing some cookies upstairs....I finally fell asleep around 7....then I had to get everyone up at 9 because I had a shopping date with my sister at 10 and all the mom's and dad's were coming to pick them up then.

We had a great time!!! Except the tummy ache in the middle of the night! My co leader also left at 6 am because she couldn't sleep.....other than that...we did great!!!

Then my sister Rhonda and I hit the stores from 10:30 am until almost 10 that night!!! We had a GREAT day and got TONS of GREAT deals!!!! :-)

Christmas Break Ice Skating

2011-02-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

So I always try to do fun things with the kids when they are home for Christmas Break. One particular day my sister (who had taken the day off) wanted to go ice skating with the kids. Now...I for one am SO SICK OF ICE RINKS! But....because I love my children...we went. Major had a REALLY difficult time at first. We were there for 2 hours and for the first hour and a half he CRIED...and CRIED...and CRIED! Then...we finally convinced him to use a cone to skate with...suddenly he was a changed boy! He fought us at first...but once he figured it out...he LOVED it! Here is Kayla and MaKenna. Major is in the yellow...this is where Major and I spent that first hour and a half....on the bench.

Brooke and Rhonda.

Major being his usual silly self!!!!

MaKenna and Kayla trying to help Major.

Rhonda helping Major...until his pants fell down and her back ached!

Then we came home...and this is what I found Major doing...playing with the boys' DS. Such a boy!

The day AFTER Christmas

2011-02-13T16:38:00.002-06:00

So...we have several days of presents. We have Christmas Eve where we get and give gifts to my dad and Jan, Rhonda, Mike and her kids. Then Christmas Day is just what Santa brought us and what is under the tree....then the next day we go to Dad and Jan's because Santa has ALSO come to their house for the kids!!!! Here is Sadie...one of the newer members to our family....just watching all the kids in wonder! This is her first Christmas with so many kids!!!! Here they all are....in chronilogical order....Major, MaKenna, Brooke, Kayla, Jake, Shawn and Cam.

The girls took a break to check out the outdoors with Sadie....not a lot of snow on the ground at that time, but we have since made up for that.

The two oldest...Shawn and Cam....

Add in Jake and Major....

Ring Around the Rosy....

2011-02-13T16:37:00.001-06:00

Major's new favorite activity is Ring around the Rosy.....he loves to spin and fall...while singing:

Ring around the rosy....pocket full of posies...asses...asses....we all fall down!

I need to teach him that sh sound I guess.....

Christmas Morning!

2011-02-13T16:30:00.002-06:00

So Christmas Morning at our house is always fun and EARLY! The kids do know though that they can't look at what Santa brought and they can't open anything until we are awake! And they also know that they can't wake us up before 8 AM! I know...we are TERRIBLE! Then they have to wait for Jeff to take a shower. I am perfectly content going downstairs with my glasses and un showered...but not Jeff...no...if we want a happy daddy...he has to have showered and had his coffee. So...it is usually 9 am before we start opening! This is what Major thinks of that!!!! We always go into the living room first and open what Santa brought us in our stocking. Here is one of Cam's Santa gifts! A hunting hood!

Here is one of Jake's Santa gifts....a 3D book mark!

MaKenna got toothpaste! And Santa brought her ice skates too!

Major is just taking it all in...he was the first to go since he is the youngest.

After we find out what Santa brought, then we mosey into the Family room and open up the presents under the tree. That was a lot of fun!!! I forgot to take pictures during that time though....so sorry......All in all...Christmas was FANTABULOUS!!!!!

Christmas Eve

2011-02-13T15:53:00.004-06:00

Christmas Eve was a ton of fun. It was a little different then years past...but things can't always stay the same right? I have to get used to change...and the last couple of years have been filled with change!

We started the evening with church. That was a very nice service, everyone enjoyed it. Then we headed over to Rhonda's house for our dinner. Tradition is Chili and Macaroni and Cheese Casserole and that is what we stuck with!! After a yummy and very filling dinner we opened presents! Here is one of dad's favorites...he finally got his chaps to ride Sparky with!!!! This was my favorite...a picture of the train depot in Flagstaff!!!! It was done by a Flagstaff artist that actually attends the church that Jeff grew up in and that Jan had gone to until she moved out here!

Here is Cam with his bean bag that he wanted for his room!

I am not sure what MaKenna is unwrapping here...but she seems to be excited!

Here is Jake...goin' to town on his present!

Here is Major!

Here we are...the Filleman's after church before we put on our jammies to be more comfortable!

Kenna and Maj!

Christmas Cookies!

2011-02-13T15:47:00.002-06:00

Once school was out...it was time to make Christmas Cookies!! I always make the norm....Egg Free Chocolate Chip Cookies....pudding pie....a birthday cake for Jesus...and sugar cookies. This year I made Egg Free sugar cookies....I have A LOT of work to do to make those better. They tasted fine...but they wouldn't stay together when we tried to cut shapes out of them. I also made some sort of fun Milano type cookies that were also egg free. Those were tasty...but turned out kinda ugly. Again...I have to master those. It has taken me 11 years to master egg free chocolate chip cookies...it will take me awhile to master the new recipes too I suppose!! We do our best though!

Santa came to town!!!

2011-02-13T14:11:00.003-06:00

Every year Santa makes a special visit to us! We are spoiled! We don't like to go to the mall to meet him...so he comes to us!!! Rhonda (my sister) and my birthdays are so close that we usually get together on a weekend and celebrate BOTH of our birthdays...well...it is usually on that night that Santa makes his visit!! Here is MaKenna and Santa. His book said that she has been a good girl!! Here is Major and Santa...with mommy. Major STILL wasn't too sure about Santa.

Here is Santa with Jake. Jake has been afraid of Santa in the past...but not this year!!!!
Cam had NEVER been afraid of Santa...and this year was no exception!

The Filleman's!

Jan and Dad's first Christmas together!!

Gingerbread...and Rabbits??

2011-02-13T13:52:00.002-06:00

So Jeff had a White Elephant exchange at work. True to his nature of being a booger....he brought in deer legs...yes...whole legs....fur...hoof...the whole shabang. He put key rings through them to make them "lucky deer feet" like rabbits feet! Anyway...needless to say, his boss who was the receiver, WASN'T thrilled. He is still working there though! Well...Jeff's gift was a pari of rabbit ears. Here Maj and Jake are trying them on for size!

After our fun night trying on rabbit ears, we decided it was time to make the gingerbread house. I know...I am SO behind. I am just now posting about December and it is February. So sorry...but better late than never, right? Here are some fun pictures of that. It always works out this way....we make the gingerbread house...the kids eat what they like off of it for the coming week (which isn't much)...and then what is left, the friends that come over eat! By the end of the week...whatever is left...gets thrown away! There wasn't a whole lot to throw away though once the end of the week came!

Jake's hockey

2011-02-13T13:49:00.002-06:00

Here are more pictures of Jake playing hockey! He has been having a GREAT year! He makes regular goals and he is one of the top players of his house team. He plays on the select team too and is also one of their best! He does have a problem with being off sides...but we are working on that with him!!! He'll grow out of it...hopefully! :-)

Cam and the Cat

2011-02-13T13:44:00.002-06:00

Cam played Violin for the last couple of years....before that he played piano. This year he had the choice....violin or piano. He chose choir! That wasn't really an option, but he brought it up. I never pegged him as the vocal kind...but he said if he had to take some sort of music he would rather it be choir. You know what I think? I think he did that because he doesn't have to practice at home like he would if he played an instrument! Smart cookie! Here hs is before one of his concerts! He did really well. The only downfall was they sang A LOT of Michael Jackson songs. Oh well...we can't all be perfect.... :-) That night we came home and couldn't find the cat.....and then suddenly the tree was moving...it was the cat. While the Christmas Tree was up...the tree was one of his favorite places to be!

Cam's 3rd and 4th deer of his lifetime!

2011-02-13T13:23:00.002-06:00

Last Muzzle Loader season, Cam bagged himself a doe and a buck! That was her first year hunting AND his first doe AND his first buck!

This year was no different! He went out ONE day and bagged TWO....a buck and a doe...AGAIN!!! He is the luckiest little man I have ever known!!!! Here they are! We have been eating the jerky off of them....and we have TONS of meat in our freezer! Jeff got one this year too...a little buck....but I didn't take a picture of that. Sorry!