Florida!

Caleb, Noah, Nate, and Micah goofing around Micah and Nate team mates

Zach and Josh consulting about their definition Nate and Daniel
Mary-Fran, Dad, and Mike
Beau and Mom (you notice who's doing the work and who's hiding from the camera)
Caleb, Noah, and Bethany
Sister Betsy and I

Sister Betsy giving instructions about Lion Country Safari
Bro. Jerry playing Mini golf at Lion Country Safari
Nate the Hula-hoop King!
Beau actually smiling for a picture (It took about 5 tries!)
Abby, Ruthie, and Francie

I'm home and exhausted. We had a wonderful, fantastic, awesome time in Florida. We got there Wednesday night just after church let out. Then Friday morning bright and early the whole gang (all 17 of us) headed down toward Miami. We went to Lion Country safari for a field trip and after a lot of fun and sunburn we headed to a hotel about half an hour out of Miami for the night. The next morning we went to Miami and had service, conducted any business that needed to be done, and had communion and feet washing. Bro. Jerry did a great job. Then we travelled back up to Palatka. The next morning we had a good service at church and enjoyed seeing some of the folks in Palatka again. The first full week we were there we had a Basic Seminar. Talk about busy we were really busy! Trying to squeeze everything in according to peoples work schedules and taking turns on babysitting duty. Taking care of all the kids is fine when you can spread out through the whole house but when they realize they are stuck in one room or outside they can get cantankerous! On the whole they did pretty well. By the end of the visit Abby had gotten to the point where she would leave "her Beau" to come to me. My only regret is that she will probably have forgotten me by the Assembly. One night I was laying the girls down for bed and Francie and Ruthie started asking Abby questions. First they asked her, "Do you love Beau?" She nodded her head and said, "Beau!" Then they said, "Do you love Mommy?" Abby nodded her head yes. Next it was, "Do you love Daddy?" she nodded her head yes. They asked her about "Sister Juwee" and "Brother Dawwell" and Francie and Ruthie and each time Abby nodded her head." Then they asked her, "Do you love Charity?" I was laying next to her and she rolled around and gave me a hug and tried to say, "I wove Charity!" The I came out good and you could tell she was saying love and you could tell she was trying to say my name. That was so sweet. That little 23 month year old can flat out steal your heart! The little ones are so adorable. I have it from a very reliable resource that several of them cried themselves to sleep after we left! The second week we had the VBS. That was a lot of work but it was also a lot of fun. The four oldest Muse kids (Little Aaron, Brittany, Jordan, and Gideon.) came up Tuesday evening and stayed through Sunday evening. Bro. Aaron, Sis. Wendy, and Elijah came Friday night and left after church sunday evening. So from Tuesday till Friday we had 17 kids and four adults staying at the Cox's and from Friday through Sunday there were 18 kids and 6 adults. That's not counting Jade who comes every day for school or Adriana (Bro. Mike McDonald's daughter) who came several days to play with all the kids. It was a lot of fun. It was like camp or something. The kids kept doing washable marker strikes on each other. Of course us older ones were right in there too. Someone (I'm not saying anything except it wasn't me) wrote, "I have problems" on Bethany's leg. You know who you are and so does God and so do I! HA!! Great times! Sunday Morning was Father's Day and we had our VBS presentation. It went well. Afterwards we had a dinner and some folks from an independent pentecostal holiness church came over. They were real nice people and so close to the Truth, some more of those other sheep that are going to come. We were supposed to leave Monday morning but mom hadn't been feeling the best Sunday so we stayed over and left on Tuesday instead. Sunday night everyone from Daniel down to Ruthie played spotlight. (Except for Josh) Dad, Bro. Jerry, Sis. Betsy, Bro. Mike, Zach, Josh, and I played Balderdash. (Beau was sick in bed and so was mom) We played partners. Dad and Mike, Bro. Jerry and Josh, Sis. Betsy and I, and it was supposed to be Zach and Beau, but Beau felt so bad he went to bed instead. Nate and Micah ended up helping Zach when they came in. We had so much fun Sis. Betsy and I do really well together. We left everyone in the dust! Even when we goofed off we did good. Monday we got everything packed up as much as possible for the next day. Then Beau, ( who is almost as bad as Tim at letting anyone touch his truck much less drive it) Dad, Zach, and I went out and Beau taught me how to drive a stick shift (to some extent) and actually let me drive his truck! (So, we were in a parking lot, and he would only let me go in first and reverse, and he never even let me touch the gas, the point is he let me drive it!) He taught me how and when to shift last summer and he lets me shift for him, but this time he actually let me get behind the wheel and drive! ( I only stalled it once! I'm so proud of myself!) Then we went to Wal-Mart and got what we needed and headed home. We played Balderdash again that night. Same teams except Bro. Jerry wasn't there so Zach and Josh teamed up, and Mom and Beau were partners, and Caleb and Beth, and Micah and Nate. We didn't finish the game this time but Dad and Mike and Sis. Betsy and I were neck and neck. Then Zach, Josh, Beau, and I pulled another succesful all-nighter. We stayed up untill 6:30 and headed for bed and slept till 9:00. We didn't get away untill about 2:00 or 2:30 Tuesday. It is so hard to say goodbye. So instead we are counting the days untill we see each other again. Josh came up with the idea. In 46 days I'll be hanging out with my best friends again! Yay!