I'm Alive! :)

I was scared to look at the date......July 8, 2013.  Yikes!  It has been a LONG time since I have posted.  Sorry.

I have been blessed with some cream envelopes lately, and I can't wait to share them with you all on Monday...or Tuesday ;)

So, I guess you are wondering where I have been.  Well, I was camping with my family near the St. Lawrence River.  If you don't mind, I thought I would share some with you.....

END OF AIDS

Sure, I all for ending AIDS.  But really, putting a white buoy in the water saying "END OF AIDS" isn't probably the most effective way.  

That's what I thought last year, until +Aylin Brandt told me that it meant the end of aids.  You know, the red and green buoys telling you whether it is shallow or deep.

Oh......

COWS

Yep, mean angry cows in Amish country.  I was taking photos for #CompassionHunt while camping :)  

Well, I was actually just taking photos.  Look at this one-

and this one

FISH

This was our fishing trip of the year.  We fish for bass and keep a couple for a fish fry.  This year though, I wasn't catching any!  I really wanted to catch a couple because well it is fun :)  And I wanted to tell my Junior (who fishes in the Onzole River, Ecuador) and Aprila (whose dad and brother fish) all about fishing in Black Lake and the Oswegatchie River.

Every night, I would go fishing.  My dad would catch a fish or two, but not me.  Finally on the third night, I caught one!  But, it got off the hook before it came into the boat.  I saw it, but I didn't have a photo.  Finally though, I did catch a small mouth bass :)  

fish caught the last night

The next night I caught two as well.  Since most of my kiddos know about my camping trips (I take three a year), I am only writing about this trip to a couple.  Writing the same thing over and over again for three months to ten kids wouldn't be the most fun.....for any of us ;)  

WEATHER

I was going to do some pun with "weather" and "whether," but I couldn't think of one ;)  Wait...

Whether or not I could think of a pun, the weather was quite hot!  Like really hot.  Like HOT.  The one day, our camper thermometer on the inside read 97F.  Just sitting outside in the shade reading, I was sweating.  Usually, I wish we could stay camping another day.  This time though, I just hoped to get home.  But it is so hot here too!

Sending prayers to all my sweet kiddos who live in Haiti and Indonesia and India and very hot places :)  

Anyway, we went swimming in the river a couple times, and it was so nice!  It refreshed you until you got out of the water!  We played water Frisbee.  That was nice too, cause there was no way I was going to play that out of the water!  

FOUND IN TRANSLATION

I don't read fiction.  If you decide you want to be like a fictional character, it isn't going to happen.  So then you wish you were something that probably doesn't happen to anyone.  So I read non-fiction.  When I read about real people, and I think that they are awesome.  Then I remember that they are real, and God's plan for my life is equally as awesome, even though it might be different.

None-the-less, when +Aylin Brandt showed me the $3 fiction book at Dollar General, I wasn't sure whether to get it or not.  But the co-author had gone on a missions trip to Mexico in high school, and the book was loosely based upon that.  

Found in Translation by Roger and Kelli Rae Bruner was a good book.  The plot was simple, and the girl was well-to-do.  The writing style seemed to be lacking some.  I did enjoy the book though.  Even though it isn't my fave book, it brought a lil more of Mexico to me.  

Well, that is about all I have been up to :)

This summer, make a difference that will last longer than the sun (if you live in Alaska!) and warm weather.  Sponsor a child.  You may not meet them on earth, but let me just say that in heaven there may be a face that you recognize from your fridge.