~Happy Birthday, Mary!!~

6 years ago God saw fit to BLESS our home with our little Mary! 
She was such a SURPRISE to our family...but then, right after we found out I was expecting her, we nearly lost her. 
Her placenta somehow had become detached, and was only 40 % attached!  :-(
I went on COMPLETE bed rest for weeks, and God reattached her placenta, and kept our little Mary Grace safe.
We LOVE our little Mary.  She's such a special sweet little girl and brings a ton of JOY to our family.

We have been busy with our Christian Nation Congress (Ministerial), homeschooling, potty training, setting fall tables, having company, and having a mission's service last night.  Pics coming soon.
~HEATHER~

~Our time in Ponchatoula, LA, part 2~

~CLICK HERE TO SEE "Our time in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, part 1"~

My Daddy Pastored the Bible Holiness Church in Ponchatoula, LA when I was 13-16 or so. We have a TON of wonderful memories from our years there.  We have A TON OF D.E.A.R. Friends there as well!

We were very honored that they asked Phillip to come and preach for them for 2 weeks the first part of Sept.

Here are some pictures from our WONDERFUL Time being "back Home in Louisiana!!"

~Elijah holding a frog (A Prince in disguise :-) and Kimberly N. acting like she is going to kiss it.

 ~Our last Friday Kimberly took us to New Orleans.
Here we are on one of the longest bridges in the world.  It's 24 miles long across Lake Pontchartrain.~

 ~Here comes a shrimping boat.~

 ~The shrimp boats drag their nets on the bottom of the Lake to catch their shrimp.~

 ~The city of New Orleans in the distance.~

 ~New Orleans reminds us a lot of Cartagena, Colombia.~

 ~Our sweet Abigail.~

 ~Noah, Mary, and Kimberly N. walking in front of us.~

 ~A pretty Macaron shop.~

 ~Such pretty buildings in New Orleans.~

 ~Such a cute sign:
"As soon as I saw you, I knew a grand adventure was about to happen." A.A. Milne~

 ~Phillip kept the kids while we ran into a store. Mary and Elijah enjoyed hearing a band that was playing on the side of the road.~

 ~"Good Friends are like stars...You don't need to see them to know they are there."~

 ~Some fun music.~

 ~Then the main guy called Mary to come over to sit beside him...so she could be in our pictures.~

 ~Kimberly took this fun pic of our family.~

 ~Phillip took this pic of Kimberly N. and our family.~

 ~Elijah and Mary looking at an alligator in the window.~

 ~Then we went to the French Market.~

 ~We made a lot of memories shopping in the French Market.~ :-)

 ~Mary and Elijah with the Fresh Alligator Jerky sticks sign.~

 ~Noah got a foot-long for lunch.~

 ~Us eating our crepes.~

 ~Abigail sharing Daddy's sandwich.~

 ~Kimberly N. holding up her yummy dessert crepe.  Nutella, and banana crepe.

 ~Kimberly sings a sleepy Abigail to sleep.~

 ~Kimberly N. gave the 5 oldest kids $5.00 to spend that day.  Elijah and Mary got sunglasses.~

  ~Then we went for coffee and beignets before we left New Orleans.~

 

 ~Cafe De Monde~

 ~At Cafe Du Monde...Elijah licking the powder sugar left over from his beignet off of his plate.~

 ~Mary and Elijah sitting on top of a cannon.~

 ~Down by the Mississippi.~

 ~Phillip was talking on the phone with our pastor Rigoberto from Cartagena, Colombia.  Someone in their church had passed away.  :-( ~

 ~Kimberly and I.~

 ~My sweetheart, Abigail and I.~

 ~Heading home.~

 ~Kevin and Lorrie's kids and ours had a blast playing together.~

 

 ~I found these cute "twin baby dolls" for little Abigail for a late birthday gift.  She LOVES them.~

 ~A little snowman sugar holder that I made for Mrs. Naomi out of a coffee creamer bottle.~

 ~Sunday night we had Mr. Paul, Mrs. Naomi, and Kimberly, Chris, and Danny, Stacey, and Nick in for a simple snack of cheese crisps (Tortillas with cheese baked in the oven) and salsa, and Root beer floats.~

 ~Some little gifts for Mr. Paul, Mrs. Naomi, and Kimberly...as a Thank you for allll they did for us.~

 ~Abigail with her TWIN BABIES...ALL READY TO GO TO CHURCH.~

 ~ A dear friend Kevin, that I've known for YEARS, and his sweet wife Lorrie, that I knew when she was a tiny girl.  It was so fun seeing them again.~

 ~It was great seeing my good friends Shawna as well.~

 ~Mr. Kendall and Mrs. Elaine opened up their home and invited us over.  Mrs. Elaine, Their daughter--in-law Rachel and Mrs. Earline, made a delicious Shrimp Gumbo and fixins...Sunday dinner for us!!~

 ~Yummy Pecan pie, yummy choc. cake, and yummy white choc. peach bread pudding.~

 ~Abigail jumped on a trampoline that hasn't been used for a long time...and got BLACK!!~

 ~After church at the parsonage where we were staying.~

 ~Such a sweet pic of Mrs. Naomi, Abigail and Abigal's baby.~

 ~Visiting in the living room while the girls and I finished the snack preparations~

 ~Chris brought some yummy coffee over for Phillip to try.  It was sooo good.~

 ~Stacey and Abigail.~

 ~Phillip let Christ try Argentine Mate too.~

 ~Danny was being silly with Abigail's babies.~

 ~Playing a game with Nick.~

 ~On Monday morning Ms. Nellie and Ms. Cleo invited our family to meet them at Cracker Barrel for a yummy breakfast.

 ~Then we stopped by to see Mrs. Earline...and saw how SAD her house was after the flood.  The water was up to her 5th step going upstairs.  :-( There were snakes, fish, and crayfish in her house too. :-( ~

 ~We hurried back to the parsonage and packed up, cleaned the house, and ate lunch.
Here The boys are taking one last ride while Daddy was packing up the trailer.
(Yes, it was with FEAR AND TREMBLING I let Abigail on that go-cart.  SHE LOVED IT! :-)~

  ~ Then we DROVE ALL NIGHT to get Home to Ohio at 7:30 A.M. or so.
When we got home, my sweet sister Laura had homemade cinnamon rolls waiting for us to bake for our breakfast.~

 ~Yummy!~

 ~And Sarah had a cup of hot tea in her pretty tea cup from Aunt Yoli.~

 We sooo enjoyed being "Back Home" on LA for those 2 weeks.  Thank you, Kimberly and church for the opportunity to minister at the church.  We LOVED being with y'all!!
~HEATHER~