I am so Blessed!!!

These ladies, Crystal, Nichole and Mary and a few more Amanda and Christina (photos unavailable) have blessed me!!

You see, I am unaccustomed to how things work at our church in regards to college students! I had a taste of it this past semester, but am realizing how wonderful and amazing it is.

I'm not sure if it is because I live in a college town and if other churches do it the way Living Hope does, but I'm again blown away by my church body!

Today was so cool!!! These 3 lovely ladies were in my house most of the day. They cleaned (even bathrooms), did laundry, took my 2 oldest to the pool, ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and kept me sane today!

And then, this lovely young lady came over to play with Kru all afternoon!!! Kru loves Sydni!! It was so great for him, especially with his brothers gone for him to have the undivided attention of Syd! In fact, when I attempted to speak to her, I was told that I couldn't talk to her!

Kru had a wonderful time with Sydni and I was able to get a lot accomplished as well!!! Sydni is great with kids and is super sweet! I think I may just have to kidnap her more often, even during the school year, to play with my boys!

God is good and answers prayers abundantly. Several months ago, when school had ended and our precious Whitney had left, I told the Lord that I needed other college girls to pour into my life and my boys' lives too! After only having 1 semester with Whit, we missed her so much!!! College girls just add something completely different than anyone! So we waited, and more and more college students are beginning to return to College Station and others we anxiously await!

So Amanda, Christina.... I need photos! :)
Angie.....when are you coming back! :)
Julie....when are you going to come over!!!!:)
Valerie and Alisha...you need to come eat soon!!!
And any other college girls who may read this blog, you are welcome here anytime! I can not promise excellent cuisine (right Crystal ;)) but I will always have pb&j, an open home, crazy, loud boys, a ear to listen, advice to give and prayers to be prayed!

Thank you so much for today, Crystal, Nichole and Mary!!! I can't tell you how much it meant to me!!! We got so much done!! Yay!!!

Love you all!!!!

So... How Did You Spend Your Saturday Night???

The boys and I went to church last night and afterward, went to Rosa's Cafe for some yummy burritos with friends form church. It was a nice warm, but breezy, evening so we walked over to the fountain and stayed awhile.

By the time we got home, Darrin was close to sleeping, but he woke up and had his burritos and of course had to give the boys their animal hugs.

I was in our bathroom getting ready for bed as it was close to 10:30 pm. After animal hugs, Kye and Kru began jumping on our bed, which they do often, and I was about to come out and put them to bed when I heard a THUD!

Darrin quickly said, "Kari, get your pants on." Which of course only means that we were headed to the ER. There was a TON of blood, but when I was able to wash the blood away, there was a deep gash which definitely would require stitches.



We loaded up and headed to The Med and ER




We sat in the waiting room with many others

FOREVER!!!!

Well it wasn't forever, but it was until 1:00 am!



And can I say the next 4 hours were LONG!!!!





Finally, they came and put some lidocaine (I have no idea how to spell that!) on a cotton ball to numb the are and they said it would take 20 minutes to work. Kru and I finally got a room and waited some more. He kept saying over and over I don't want stitches and that he didn't want to go to the doctor! But he was a trooper!

Kru was very brave and really good during the suturing. He has at least 3 stitches, but I really don't know for sure how many are there. Isn't that being an informative mother!?!

He had to lie very still with his whole face covered to keep it sanitary. I laid next to him and we sang through the whole thing. well.... I sang and he whimpered and tried to sing and then eventually cried. The numbing stuff was wearing off by the last two. We sang Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle, Twinkle, Jesus Made the Animals, Fishy Fishy. The thing that bothered him the most was having this extremely bright as the sun light shining on him and being covered. We both were sweating under the blue cloth thingy!

We finally left the ER at 2:30 and came home and went right to bed. The gash was a bit puffy last night, but this morning it has already started to heal. He keeps saying he feels better!

Living Hope's Pre-Teen Camp

Hello Everyone!

We are back, after being gone for a while. It has taken me all week to re-coop and try to get back to normal, but wanted to write about pre-teen camp and share some pictures of our trip. We took about 30 kids up to Trinity Pines camp in Trinity, Texas.

It really was another bizarre experience going to camp as a parent sponsor. And it was way different than when I went to camp as a kid, but it was so good!!! It was neat for me to get to know some of Dakota's friends from church better and I got to know the girls and women sponsors better too!

The drive up to camp was only about 1 1/2 hours. I was blessed to be riding with my friend Cindy. We had Dakota, Connor and Payton in the truck with us. We blasted KidShine music the whole way there. Hearing kids singing praises to Jesus just touches me so.

We arrived to the camp and soon found our way to our churches dorm. Boys on one side and girls on the other. The common meeting room in the middle is where we had devotions at night and just hung out together.

It was an amazing, emotional, tiring week. We all met with the Lord while we were there! Friday night, the Holy Spirit fell on our kids like I have not seen in a while. Several of our kids had some conviction fall and 2 accepted Christ!!! Hallelujah!!! Others prayed for family, friends and I even witnessed one of our 6th graders praying over another 6th grader!! IT BLEW ME AWAY!!! I witnessed a church body with our children!

I was there crying with kids who were scared of the rock wall! I was there cheering those on who were afraid to go any higher! We cheered and yelled for those who made it to the top, across the ropes and down the zip line! And not once, NOT ONCE, did any of our kids make fun of those who couldn't make it up the rock wall!!! Instead, I witnessed encouragement and compassion and understanding towards those who didn't make the climb! It was FABULOUS!!!

We swam everyday, played dodgeball, played crazy games, put-putted, did kareoke, blobbed, canoed, worshiped and danced for the Lord, heard the Gospel, participated in a really cool candle light service on the lake front, played in the mega-relay-race, sweated more than I have in forever, played OMC, had a campfire in 90 degree heat to eat smores, laughed so hard my sides ached, met some wonderful people and got to know others better, met with Jesus!!!

And yes, Nichole, how could I forget the food! Actually it wasn't all that bad! Really, but you will hear a different story from some of the campers!!! :) But what was the BEST! Was that for 5 days I ate food that I didn't have to make and then I simply dropped off my tray and didn't have to clean up!!! Thank you camp staff! It was great!!! And I was well fed! And they had coffee every morning!!!

It was great! Like I said I finally feel recovered, but I would do it again tomorrow!! Below are a ton of pictures! Maybe even of a few of you who read this blog, don't know!?!

I had a blast and grew to love these kids even more than I did before! I can't wait to go next year.... well that's if Dakota and Howard will let me!!!

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

The girl sponsors: Crystal, Nichole, Mary
and Cindy!!!
The boys' room
Hannah, Sydni, Jalie and Megan!
McKenzie, Tristan and McKenzie
At the Pool!
On the way back from the pool!
And can I just tell ya - since we are talking about the pool!
What happens to 3 swimming suits when one wets them
and puts them in the freezer????

They become a swimsuit brick!!!
How do I know this???
Friday morning I awoke to my suit missing...
After looking for it for a while, we found it and Cindy's suit
and Mary's suit, in the freezer!!! along with a note that said...
"Thanks for keeping us up all night!"
Oh the prankster!!!!!!

Put-Putting with Tyler and Dakota!

Dakota, Ariana and Noah


The rest of the pictures are of out time at the ropes course/zip line!
We have some brave kiddos is all I can say!
Hannah & Sydni!

Tyler!

Crystal & TyWashoney!

Michael!

Nate!

Payton!

Jalie!

Josh!!!! Yeah he's 5!oops, sorry Josh is 6!!! My bad

Miss Mary tried hard!!!

Megan!

Miss Crystal

Dakota!

Diamond!

Ana and Anika! Yep, she did the zip line!

She's 5!!!

Connor!

It was great and I'm so thankful and blessed that I got to go!

Leaving Today

Today, we as a family, set out on 2 different trips.

Dakota and I leave in a few hours for summer camp,

and

Darrin left a little while ago with Kye and Kru for

Arkansas.

He is going to go visit his parents while we are at camp.

The major difference in the 2 trips is time.

Darrin and boys - 9 hours

Dakota & I - 1 1/2 hours

I have to tell ya...

he is brave!

2 children in the van alone!

Usually, it is my job to take care of the kids while Darrin drives.

However, it will be completely different today!

Kye is in the back back and Kru is in the middle.

They each have their TV thingy in front of them along with their pillows beside them.

I pray that the trip goes as smoothly as possible.

That there will be as few potty stops along the way,
(remember, Kru is still potty training!!!)

That there will be little to no fighting front back to middle seat! ;)

And most importantly...

That they will arrive in Hot Springs safely and sane!!!

Love ya, Babe!!!!

Talk to y'all next week to let you know how things went!!!!

A First!

Dakota is going to Pre-Teen Camp this week! He has never been to camp before, so this will be a first for him!

Leaving on Wednesday and returning on Sunday, he is off for a wonderful adventure! He is very excited about going! Almost giddy! (which makes me happy!) Sometimes kids aren't so looking forward to going to camp!!

The bonus, well I think it's a bonus, is that I get to go too! Each church who goes to camp brings their own counselors to stay with their own kids! So I'm going as one of the female counselors. I'm really excited too! I haven't been to camp since I was 19 and got my front teeth knocked out! So I'm ready to GO!

Dakota is cool with me going, don't know if he would admit it, but I think he feels even better about going because I will be there! Because I work in Children's Worship, I know the kids who are going and I look forward to getting even closer to them!

We are going to Trinity Pines. Dakota is planning on doing the ropes course and rock wall. I will post afterward about the grand time that we had at camp. I hope to have a few pictures as well.

I know I have said before, but it is worth mentioning again. What a bizarre moment when your children come to an event that you as the parent remember so well from your own childhood, and to now experience it as a parent, surreal!!!

I pray that Dakota will come to know the Lord more intimately because of camp and grow in his relationship with his Saviour. I know we will meet with Jesus while we are there and I pray that we all will be sensitive to His voice!

New Traditions for the Stephens Family!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

I had to post today to let you know that we Stephens are breaking new ground and beginning new traditions for our family!!!!

Darrin and I have been married 13 1/2 years! In all of those years, we have NEVER lived anywhere for 3 Julys. Meaning we move so often that the longest we have been anywhere was 2 Julys, 2 years.

This weekend will begin our 3rd year here in College Station!

Amazing!!!

We have never experienced this before!

I am thankful that we are breaking old tradition of moving every 1-2 years and that we are still in College Station! Can you even believe I just said that?!?

Well, I did!

It surprises me too, at times!

Our first July 4 here in TX, we were hot, sweaty and moving into a duplex not knowing a soul in town.

Last year, we headed over to the George Bush Library for live music, free food and fireworks with our friends the Seijos.

This year we will attend the celebration at the library again with the Seijos, and friends from church.

What a difference and year made and what a major difference 2 years has made!

So we are looking forward to our 3rd year here in College Station and all that the Lord has planned for us as a family!

Cardboard Testimonies!!!

WOW! is all I can say.
Powerful!!!!

"For all have sinned and are not good enough for God's glory, and all need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift." Romans 3:23-24

God's Wonderful Creation

This is what I see when I look out my kitchen window!
I wish now that I had been taking pictures all along to chronicle
this amazing and God thing of a bird's life cycle, well sort of.

A month or so ago, I realized some birds were
building a nest in one of theoaks in our backyard.
Daily, I would watch mom and dad bird bringing supplies
to ready the "nursery." It slowly took form and shape
and if it weren't forthe few longer pieces of twigs and weed
hanging down, it was quite camouflauged.

Over time, I believed that there were eggs in it due to the
fact of how the parents were behaving.
It's too high to look into and of course I didn't want to bother it.
You know what they say!!

Then in horror 2 weeks ago, I was at the sink and I looked out and saw
a HUGE hawk sitting on the branch!
Truly, at first I thought it was a Golden Eagle it was so big!
It's head was high above the leaves and it was sitting on top of the nest!!!
Taken aback, I wasn't sure what to do.
I saw the mom and dad bird sitting
as close to the nest as they dared!
What could they honestly do?
They were so much smaller than this hawk
and they could easily be killed too.

I'm not sure if babies were there yet or if it was the eggs he was after,
but I quickly ran out the back door to frighten him away,
sick to my stomach!
How dare he!!!!
(It is amazing that birds procreate with all the things stacked
against them,I mean really, well and sea turtles too, but I digress!!!) :)

Last week I saw the mama come to the nest and deliver some food,
so I knew there were babies then, but I still couldn't really see them.
Pretty sure that I saw some agape beaks, but no bodies!!

Then today this is what I saw!!!!

3 babies!!!! But if you can see 1 baby is much further along!
The 2 in the back ground have no feathers yet and this little dude
in the front looks like he wants to fly,
but his feathers aren't long enough yet!

So I'm thinking.... was he one of an earlier "batch"
I know that's the wrong term.
Or did they lay more eggs after the hawk incident?
Don't know, just curious,
but happy that there are some baby birds left!

Now I worry about our cat! I know that quite often when the babies learn
to fly, they often fall out of their nest. I really, really don't want to find a
dead, half eaten baby bird in my grass!!! So I'm thinking that
for the next several weeks it will be one of the boys' job to search
for baby birds in the grass! So we can rescue them from Shadow!

Not sure why I just posted about all of that, other than seeing
God's wonderful creation up close and personal!
The usual analogies came to mind and I thought about thinking deep
and posting those, but I decided to just wonder at God's amazing creation
and to just appreciate it all! We serve an amazing Father who loves us
each so very much and just like His eye is always on the birds,
I know He is watching me!!!
Thank you Jesus!!!