Prayer Request...

Well, the time has finally come for us to head off to Colorado and climb Mt. Shavano! We are loading the bus this afternoon, and we will drive all night to arrive in Twin Lakes, CO tomorrow late afternoon. I am asking for you to be in prayer during this week. I have several things on my heart that I am asking you to bathe in prayer!
1. Safe travel (it's a long drive!...also for no more blow outs!)
2. Weather ( as of right now, the forecast is showing storms pretty much everyday that we are on the mountain!
    If it is raining on Wed., our summit day, then we will not be able to summit...and it is also very miserable to      be  cold AND wet! So please pray for good weather!)
3. Our hearts (We are taking 6 boys and 7 girls. I am asking you to be in prayer that God reveals himself to each of us in a way that we have never experienced before! It is my prayer for each of our hearts to be broken very early on this journey, so that he has plenty of time to show us his majesty!)

I am so excited about what is to come this week! I know that God is sovereign and he will bless our week, rain or not. I know that he has a purpose and plan for each of us going on this journey. Who knows, he may need us wet and cold to be able to break us down completely! I can't wait to see all that the Lord teaches us while we are on this mountain. We will start climbing Sunday, summit Wednesday, and come off the mountain on Thursday, so please keep us in your prayers as you go through your week!
Just a quick update on life here in Houston! I was given the privilege of going to OK for the weekend with Steve and his family! Oh how much fun it was! We visited the Oklahoma City Memorial (where Timothy Mcveigh bombed the federal building), a Cowboy Museum, I had PORK BBQ!! and homestyle fried food!! It was a great weekend full of lots of fun and laughter!
We came home Monday just in time to make it to Hermann Park for the fireworks with the Houston Symphony...A-MA-ZING! The rest of the week we have been training and stuff to get ready for trek, we cleaned out the bus and got it all clean....and I FINALLY got to have a girls night!!! The schedule this summer has been pretty crazy, so I haven't been able to have a night with just my girls because our schedules weren't working out! We had so much fun watching The Little Mermaid!! I love that these girls never get too old to watch Disney Classics!!
Anyways, I love you all and I thank you for your prayers! The next time you hear from me will be after I have summitted Mt. Shavano!!

Cowboy Museum Dressup!!

Jake and I ready to take pictures of the fireworks!

My girls at movie night!

It is HOT!

Wow, what an incredible week this has been! Westbury just had their VBS this past Saturday. We all worked so hard, and it went so great! We all had so much fun with the kids!!
A couple of posts back, I asked you to pray for my Daddy's health. So here is a quick update on him! Last Friday he went in the hospital for a heart cath and everything went very well! The put in two stints for two blockages: one was 70% blocked and the other 75%.  He is now at home and recovering very well! Thank you all for your prayers! I know he felt each and everyone of them! we serve a Faithful God that hears his childrens' prayers and gives us the desires of our hearts!
This week we have gone into full training mode for Trek! We leave in less than 2 weeks. This time next week we will be getting rest for summit the next morning! I am very excited about Trek this year! Thankfully I do not have as much anxiety as I did last year! So we are running/walking everyday in order to get our bodies in somewhat good shape to be able to beast up Mt Shavano (14,229ft)!!
This week has been a bit slower, we are all trying to take a BIG breather...because the month of July is going to be CRAZY!!! I am leaving Friday to go to Oklahoma with Steve and his family! I am super excited to finally meet my other meant-to-be- sister Kristin!:) I know this will be a fun and refreshing trip for all of us before this month takes hold of us!
Thank you all for your constant prayer and encouragement! I love hearing from you all! I will leave you with some pictures!

Teens at Discovery Green Park

I climbed a tree and got stuck!

VBS!

The best Bible Story crew EVER!

Spongebob!!

Praise You in This Storm

The title of this blog was the theme for Model City Missions 2011 in Anniston, AL! What an amazing week this was! Our kids were able to serve God by serving the people in the Anniston community and those affected by the tornadoes in the Webster's Chapel community. I'm pretty sure we have more stories about the travel for this trip than for the entire week! We left last Sunday morning to make our journey to Bama. We were making such good timing until we rolled into Alabama and blew a tire! But as always, our God was so faithful to protect us! 1.Noone was hurt when the tire blew! 2. It blew right by a tire store! We were able to take the bus to this tire shop and take a supper break while they fixed the tire! Over the course of this amazing week our kids were able to work with younger children at a kid's camp, visit elderly people in a nursing home, participate in a prayer walk, and help with Tornado Relief in Webster's Chapel.
For the most part we helped two different families in Webster's Chapel. The first house we worked at was owned by an elderly couple. Both the man and woman were killed in the tornado. Their house was picked up off of the foundation and thrown across the street in the woods (we were only able to find half of the house). The children of this couple have been too traumatized with losing their parents that they have not been able to go back to clean up the site nor look for any salvageable valuables. So we did it for them. We found so many things such as shoes, old pictures, and homemade quilts!It made it so surreal to find so many things that I know would mean so much to me to maintain my parents' memory. The other family that we helped lost everything. We helped a lady named Paige. Her parents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and brothers ALL lost everything they had in this storm! So we went and helped clear off the lot so they can start rebuilding her home here in the coming weeks. This site became a BIG blessing for our kids, because Paige actually stopped by to meet us! The teens were able to see her raw helplessness. It was a amazing to watch the teens surround Paige and love on her and pray over her. Once she left it was as if a whole new group of kids had shown up to help work. You could tell that by meeting Paige, it gave meaning and a purpose to what they were doing.
I have to tell you it was HOT this week! So it made any and everything we did that much harder to stay motivated when we were so exhausted by the heat! It was such a blessing to see God work in so many ways.
The time came for us to head back home yesterday. I will have you know that if we didn't get an hour down the road and blow yet ANOTHER tire..then I am not sitting here! Unfortunately this stop turned into about a 2 1/2 hr stop because we left so early that noone was open to help us! So after hitting every traffic jam for Alabama to Texas, we finally made it home at about 10:00 PM last night!
This week was full of worship, service, laughter and tears. But more importantly God was glorified by the selflessness of these kids! It was such an honor working alongside them! I will leave you with several pictures of the week! Love you all!

Memorial for the older couple that died.

Site where their home used to stand.

The boys moving this big ole log!

Prayer Walk

Cleaning up Paige's property.

Westbury crew at Oxford Lake.

Following His Directions....Getting Blessed!

This week, the Lord has led me to Psalms 119..what a journey this scripture has taken me on! I'll leave you with the part that spoke to me the most...I encourage you to read the passage in its entirety. The passage considered to mark the very center of scripture holds some of the most encouraging lines!
  "You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God.
   You're blessed when you follow his directions,
      doing your best to find him.
   That's right—you don't go off on your own;
      you walk straight along the road he set.
   You, God, prescribed the right way to live;
      now you expect us to live it.
   Oh, that my steps might be steady,
      keeping to the course you set;
   Then I'd never have any regrets
      in comparing my life with your counsel.
   I thank you for speaking straight from your heart;
      I learn the pattern of your righteous ways.
   I'm going to do what you tell me to do; " Psalms 119: 1-8

Now, here is a quick synopsis of my past two weeks in Houston! I have been to countless numbers of graduations and graduation parties!! Oh my goodness, I have no desire to attend another graduation ceremony until my own next spring! Speaking of my graduation...I took the PRAXIS this past week. (This test is a standardized test I have to take in order to be certified as a teacher)...I PASSED!!! I am so excited to have this past me!
I have enjoyed water balloon fights, slip-n-slides, movie nights, VBS workdays, SYS area wide,an Astros game, and some nice R&R by the pool! I have spent most of my time in the office with Steve working on stuff for Camp Bandina in July. I have also spent a good bit of time working on building a mural to advertise for our VBS.
This Sunday we are heading off to Alabama!!! That's right, I'm headed back home for Model City Missions 2011! I am so excited about this week! I know the Lord has a lot in store for all of those involved in this amazing week of service! It is so comforting to me to know that the Lord has ordained for every student that will come from all over to participate in this work camp to be changed. He knows everyone of them by name, and He has a purpose and a plan for everyone of them. I love that He saw favor on me  to allow me to be apart of watching them fulfill His purpose in their own lives.
Please be in prayer for our safe travel! Pray that God rocks our world in Anniston, AL.
***Also, a quick prayer request! Most of you know the problems my Daddy has with his heart, well we have some more blockages...so he will be undergoing a Heart Cath on June 24th. Please pray for Dr. Salame and his team as they operate on him. It is difficult being so far away when this is going on, but I know the Lord has a purpose for everything!
I will leave you all with some pictures from the past two weeks!

Joshelyn's Graduation

 

Some of the teens at SYS area wide!

VBS Mural

VBS workday!

Slip-n Slide!

Water party!!

Love you all!

Jogging with the Lord...

"I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
   With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
  Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
   my body also will rest secure,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
   nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
You make known to me the path of life;
   you will fill me with joy in your presence,
   with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Psalms 16: 7-9

I have made it my goal to start jogging and getting back into shape while I am in Houston this summer! I have only been at this new task for all of three days, and I am already feeling Satan pulling at my edges! He is doing this through lack of motivation and planting excuses in my head!! My original plan was to get up every morning around 6:30 and go for a jog to start my day off....well for those of you that know me, you know this plan never came to fruition! I can't seem to force myself out of bed when I have another hour to sleep before I have to get up for work! So, I decided to compromise with myself... .around 7:30 PM the humidity isn't so bad, so it is bearable to get out and go running. The only con to this is sometimes my schedule does not place me at home around 7:30ish. Anyways, this time I have alone with the Lord has really proven to be a solid, peaceful time! As I was studying the other day before my jog, I came across Psalm 16 (the passage above). "With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken", my new motto. As most of you know, Holly is SEVERELY out of shape!! So there has come many times when I have been jogging that Satan starts feeding me these lies: "Oh you've run long enough", "It's starting to get dark", "Your heart is literally about to beat out of your chest, STOP!", or "uh..yea...you're legs are seriously about to splat into a puddle of jello!". I have found, however, reciting this scripture and demanding Satan leave this sacred time I have with the Lord has been truly reviving! I find myself talking to the Lord....OUTLOUD! I know these TX people are thinking, "Where do these crazy people come from?!" I caught myself the other day saying, "Lord...you see that STOP sign up there?..ok, I'm not stopping for a rest till WE get there....so you better be picking up your pace, because I'm slowing down!"...hahaha..don't you know how much the Lord is entertained by our stupid complaints!! He quickly reassured me,
"With me at your right hand, you will not be shaken!"

I am so thankful to serve a faithful God, and God that takes time out of running this crazy world to go on a jog with me!....ah..I think I am in love:)

P.S. things are great here in Houston! I will try and update on what is going on here sometime next week...not much is happening right now while the kids are taking finals and finishing up school!
Love you all!

I'm HERE!!!!

Well hello there from Houston, TX!!! That's right, I pulled in to Houston Friday night around 5:15!
My sweet friend Ellen took off work to help me drive the long drive! Thankfully, our trip was for the most part uneventful! The only glitch we had was my GPS dying!! But, thanks to my wonderful sense of direction (for those of you that actually KNOW me, you are rolling the floor laughing at this point!) we made it safely to Houston! We pulled in around 5:15, jogged in the house, quickly said hello to Margie, and got started unloading. I would like to say that we had the car unloaded within five minutes, and I was completely unpacked and settled in within 20 minutes!! Impressive right?! We quickly threw on a dress, and somewhat pulled ourselves together and headed out to Westbury Christian Schools graduation! Graduation started at 7:00, so we needed to be there by 6:30 and I live 20 minutes away from the church (I'll let you do the math!). This was a very fun night! I was able to surprise several of the kids that night!
Then on Saturday, Ellen and I spent the morning together. We ran to David's Bridal to try on some bridesmaids dresses, and then went and had lunch before I took her to the airport. I then attended on my students graduation parties! It was a crawfish broil! It was a very interesting experience!!
I am wrapping up my first Sunday here! I attended another graduation party tonight where we played water balloon volleyball! As you can tell, I have been very busy!! But I am loving every minute of it!!
Tomorrow we are all going to play paintball!! This should be another interesting experience!
Ok, sorry this was so long!! Just wanted to kind of update everyone on what I have been up to my first couple of days here!! I love you all and I will leave you with a few pictures!

Me and Ellen at WCS graduation

 

 

Cody teaching me how to eat crawfish!

Me and some of my girls after water balloon volleyball!

TWO Days!!!!

Oh. My. Goodness. I only have two more days to wrap everything here in Alabama! Thankfully both of my professors are giving me my final a day early. I finished one last night, and I will complete my last final today! SO thankful for this!! I will now have Thursday to spend here at home tying up some loose ends!
On the agenda for tomorrow:

• take my car to be rotated and balanced
• get the oil changed
• pack, then pack my car!
• got to Jake's graduation
• SLEEP

I have ALOT to do, but I am SUPER excited about making this journey!! It is confirmed that my sweet friend Ellen will be taking the trip with me! She was so generous to get off of work and get a plane ticket to find her way back to Alabama. I am so thankful for her!!
This will probably be my last post until I am IN HOUSTON!! So, for all of my Houston people, I'll SEE YOU SOON!
I love you all and thank you for all of your support for my journey!
Unitl next time,
Hollyann