Arizona with the Fam

What do you get when you mix 3 little girls under the age of 3 1/2, Lots of pool time and sunshine, and 8 adults? A really good (exhausting) time!

Breakfast at 6:15, lunch at 9:30, Beer break at 10:30, nap time from noon to 3... and so it goes. Here's a few highlights so far:

Kyla diving! Everyone is so proud of her "skills"

Waterfalls and water wings!

Taking a stroll through town!

Play BALL!

It's time for the Red Birds to Play Tee Ball!

Starting out with important advice from the coach!

and it's a catch!

And the star player at bat is... Samantha!

Rounding the bases!

and it's a homerun!

Good Job Samantha!

Easter Sunday with Little Girls

Easter at Papa and gramma's house:

Easter Egg Hunt -

finding eggs did not exclude stealing them out of each other's baskets!

Special time with Gramma Carolyn!

And Finally...

how can you describe the cuteness!?!?

Gorillas in the Mist - Congo part 1

So I decided to start posting my trip to Africa with the Silverback gorillas, which ended up being one of the powerful moments of the trip for me. As we started walking up this hill toward the border of the national park, this mountainous, jungle like hill was looming over me and I started to get really scared. As I got closer and closer, the thing that kept going through my head was "O Lord, I don't think I can do this! Maybe i should just stay behind!"

When we got to the border of the Park, the guide put on rubber pants, a rubber jacket and some rubber gloves. This, he explained, was because of the stinging nettles. He also explained that we would walk until we found the gorillas, which could take 15 minutes or 2 hours. Needless to say, my fear increased by 100 fold, but I was at the point of no return.

So I headed up the mountain in the middle of the jungle, stumbled my way up a steep hill, trying not to fall into a pile of poo or stinging nettles. After what seemed like 5 hours (actually only 20 minutes) we finally came to this clearing where we saw a large silverback gorilla about 15 feet away. He was just sittin' under a tree breaking sticks of bamboo in half, munchin' away like it was a piece of celery.

For the next hour, we saw mamas and babies and a couple of the "Big Daddies". At one point one of the mamas started walking toward us and continued to walk nonchalantly right past us, within arms reach. This was by far one of most exciting hours of my life this far. I would never have imagined that it was possible to see something like this.

When it was time to leave, we started walking down the hill and I realized that it was going to be much more difficult going down. There was a point to where one of the guides and another African friend were literally dragging me down the very steep and dense hill and I couldn't stop the tears anymore. We finally reached the clearing and started walking down the path to get back where we started.

As we were walking down looking at the amazing scenery, I realized that sometimes we find ourselves in situations that are very scary and we have no choice but push through it. We might have to go through a lot of crap, get stung several times, and even lose our steps a few times. And we may have no choice but to depend and lean desperately on the people that God has placed in your life at that moment. But what you don't realize is that on the other side it ends up being one of the most meaningful, or powerful, or exciting moments of your life.

So if you've made it this far in my story, the point I'm trying to make is that whether it's seeing Gorillas, or any other situation you may find yourself in, seeing it through to the end could be so much more than you expected. It may be scary as hell, both on the way up and down, but totally worth it.

These Boots were made for Walkin'

My niece Heidi Grace wearing aunty Reen's boots at Papa and Grandma's house... definitely one of my favorite moments of the week! Next time I'll have to bring 3 pairs though so the girls won't fight over them. "my turn!..."

Belly Up to the BLOG

Ok Peeps, Here it is. After many suggestions, peer pressure and fervent requests, I have decided to join the world of blogging. So It's official now. I'm still trying to figure it all out but this is all I got for now. Stay tuned to hear about the recent trip to the Congo.

The Liberty Express is

comin' down the tracks

whether you're ready for it or not!