"He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8
In June we had the awesome opportunity to go on a family missions trip. We headed to the poconos to become short term missionaries with Joni and Friends. We had the privilege of working with families who have children or members of the family with various special needs. Well, while we were at Camp in August on our vacation we ran into the Miller's who just so happened to be at Joni and Friends and now at Camp of the Woods the same week we were there.
Not only was it fun to hang with the Miller's, but we walked away being incredibly blessed by them! They are a family that loves the Lord and are committed to serving Him right where God has put them.
Erik turned 23 while we were at camp and we all got the privilege of being a part of his birthday party!
Dan, Erik, and Lisa
how sweet is this, Erik loves his mom
We love you Erik!!
Erik your smile lights up a room.
Erik, couldn't wait to get his hands on some yummy ice-cream cake! Thank you Erik for allowing us to party with you!
Dan shared a few words before we sang. Thanking the Lord for the gift he gave them in Erik and what a blessing he is to their family! Amen to that!
We love you Miller's and are so thankful to God for our new friendship! Looking forward to more times spent together!
We had a great vacation this year even though the 2nd day Bob came down with pneumonia. We didn't know that until halfway through the week. But this picture below pretty much sums up where he spent a lot of his time. We were so thankful for the care given from the camp nurses who both happen to be nurse practitioners with just an absolute heart to serve us in any way they could. The nurse even came to our cabin throughout the night to give Bob breathing treatments.
Cass diddy!
the girls in their sand castle competition
Gracie sizing up the competition for the water balloon fight
Gracie, Karis, Carrie, and Maggie enjoying a hot dog ride
sisters
what a beauty!
Nate and Caleb eating an ice-cream cone together
Bob playing checkers with the girls
Rachel and Jayden
A little art time
Uncle C telling scary camp fire stories
Gracie and Diddy always up for a pose
Hyun and Rachel
Andy and Erin
Cass sitting with me at the campfire. Bob was sick as a dog:(
Well, the boys(Bob, Robbie and Nate) are off! They left yesterday and arrivedsafely(PTL)today in Nairobi. My boys along with our good friend Mark Hayner will be living in one of the sponsored orphanages this week. They are so excited about this trip. This is the first time for Nate to experience Kenya and also for Mark(previously lived in S. Africa for a couple of months).
As a family, we had a great time these past couple of weeks shopping for lots of treats for the guys to take to the kids. Five Below was a big hit in preparing for some fun giveaways. The guys are planning on having a huge party on Sunday. Well what does a party at the orphanage look like you might wonder? Well, I don't know other then the pics that they will bring back but I do know that the children don't often get meat so they are going to buy 2 goats to slaughter for their party along with buying soda. We bought pinata's stuffed with candy and streamers to decorate, lots of fun gifts(jump ropes, soccer balls, bouncy balls, play jewelry, books, and even a very tiny bike)I wish I could be a fly on the wall to experience it all.
In the course of a couple of weeks, Bob began sharing with many different people that they would be living in an orphanage for a week and getting the privilege to minister to about 110 precious children. The Lord opened people's hearts and they gave generously for the cause. The money that was given is going to buy new mattresses at the orphanage and...............a cow, yeah, how great! They will have their own dairy cow so the children can have milk!!! Praising the Lord! We as a family have been blessed by this trip before they even stepped on African soil. It is such an incredible gift to be a part of something so much bigger and greater then our sometimes self absorbed lives(speaking personally).
Along with our guys going to the orphanage, Caleb, Andy, and a couple of men interested in sponsoring an orphanage are there as well. If you would please lift them up in prayer that would be greatly appreciated. I know that their lives will be more impacted by these precious African children then anything else. I leave you with the "Hirschberg Family Song"(doesn't every family have a "song"?! we're kind of weird like that)we sing this at the top of our lungs(most definitely not you-tube material) but seriously we only hope to live these words out in our lives, we are challenged by them!
The boyz have started some traditions in the last couple of years. They look forward to these every year. Now, when I say the boyzzzz that would mean Uncle Caleb, Robbie, Nate, and Caleb.
The first tradition is to swim to the dock(pictured below)in the pitch dark of the night.
Here they are all pumped up for the big swim at night!
Below, they are excited for yet another year keeping with tradition(can you see the testosterone??)
The second tradition for the boyz is making a grueling, long trek to the island(1 mile from shore) you see below on the inflatable hot dog. Last year they made it about halfway there, which considering they had only one oar and found a cain while in the middle of the lake, I would say....eh pretty good.
This year they have 3 oars and a bat(don't ask)! So they are feeling quite confident that they will make it to the island in record time(less than 2 days)and without any casualties.
So here they are.....before the big trek all geared up and ready!!
They are off!
looking good boyz!
not bad, destination is in plain sight!
uhhhh ohhhh.....where's the island? Unfortunately they fell prey to some vicious winds that caused them to get off track..... Well, take a look at the video for yourself:)
They did manage to get further this year.....and I'm thinkin next year they just might reach the island!!
They had a blast and love this adventure!
Okay, so I am, like completely backkkkked up on posts!!! Lots of pics from vacation and some videos from vacation and pics of friends soon to come! So busy with the start of school and soccer x3 and baseball...all great stuff but trying to get it all figured out.
So, because I'm short on time and some of you haven't seen this crazy video Robbie made while we were on vacation, I am posting it again.(Sorry FB friends, it's a repeat for you)
While on vacation Bob got very sick with pneumonia(the WHOLE time, poor me guy) and one morning we were trying to cheer him up while he laid in bed so Robbie did a little singing!
I love how Gracie is just sittin eatin her cereal watchin her brother probably thinkin, just another day in my crazy family! Take a look for yourself...(of course turn of music in side bar:) )
Yes, that time of the year is here again and my kids are leaping for joy(yeah right). I actually was excited and once we got all their books out they too, got a little excited. The newness, the fresh start, the smell of the textbooks....ok, getting a little carried away.
This year, Robbie is in 8th grade, Nate is in 7th, Maggie is in 5th, and Gracie is in 4th. Hard to believe!! This is our 6th year of homeschool!!! Where has the time gone, seriously!
So I had to commemorate our first day with some pics.
This is what it looks like getting pics sometimes most of the time!
