Nicaragua Bound

Well, the much anticipated trip to "Nicawa-wa" (as Hamp calls it) is finally here! We fly out tomorrow!  There are many thoughts and feelings that make me a little nervous as we load up three kids to fly to a third world country!  Don't get me wrong!  They are MOSTLY happy thoughts, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit being a tad bit panicky about the plane ride and the three hour dirt road ride to the small fishing village we will be serving.  Hamp is not the best traveler just riding in the minivan to school and back!  The thing is, I can't just pull over the plane on the side of the road  for you know what!

Once we reach our final destination, we will be staying and spending most of our time ministering to the people of a village called Padre Ramos right on the Pacific coast.  There we will teach the children about Jesus, feed the hungry, have Bible studies with the teenagers, and visit and give supplies to the local school.  We've been told that our children will play from sun up to sun down with the village kids.  Of course they are thrilled!  As Whit was praying last night, he asked God that he would make many new friends and share with them.  Luke is excited because he was told their favorite sport to play is baseball!  Isn't it neat that kids automatically get that sharing Jesus is all about spending time and building relationships?

We have been completely overwhelmed with the support from our family, friends, and church.  We are extremely thankful for the prayers and the financial support.  We believe that praying for ministries/ missionaries and giving is just as important as going, so THANK YOU all.  We truly appreciate it.  We've always heard those stories at conferences and revivals about how the money all came in at the last minute, but we really experienced that ourselves with our fund raising!  Just this week, the final dollar came in!  God's timing is always spot on!  

We humbly ask you to join us in this journey by continuing to pray with us and for us.  Pray for the people we will meet- that they will be receptive to us, and ultimately to Jesus.  Pray for the health and safety of our team- there are 9 adults and 6 children traveling.  Pray for smooth travels, and that I don't have to nut up on any of my precious children mid-flight (kidding.  kind of.). We are grateful for the relationships we have with you all!  We will try to keep everyone posted with a few pictures via Facebook/blog so stay tuned!

"The same for the rich and the poor.  The same for the saint and the sinner.  Enough for the whole wide world.  Your great grace"    -Matt Redman

Off We Go!

Life gets kind of crazy with three kids, so I haven’t blogged in quite a while.  I want to get better at fitting it in periodically though.  Someone once told me that a blog is a great way to keep a scrapbook for your children, and well, since I’m not the scrap booking type (I get enough cutting and pasting and cutesy in my job), I will try to blog more. 

The Hawkins family is embarking on a brand new journey in October.  A few years back we committed to going on short term missions for Christ as a family as often as possible.  Our first “out of Thomaston” trip was three summers ago to Baltimore.  I will admit it wasn't all that easy with three under the age of six.  However, the experience was wonderful, and our boys still talk about it all the time.  Since then we've waited for God’s guidance and calling on the next trip to take out of town.  Through different doors opening and closing, we are being led to take our family to Nicaragua over next school year’s fall break.  There we will minister to children and adults in a poor fishing village who need to hear about and feel the love of Christ.  Jeremy and I are thrilled yet a little nervous about going to the unknown with our kids.  The kids are just excited about seeing monkeys and toucans!  The trip is designed for families with children –no, we aren't taking a twenty mile hike into a rain forest to a tonal speaking tribe of naked people (though that would also be cool).

Sometimes people ask the question, “Why go to another country when there are people right here in our community who don’t know Jesus?”  It’s simple- because Jesus tells us to in His word.  We are called to tell people at home and everywhere else!  We hope to instill something eternal in our children.  Being selfless and placing the needs of others first is a value we want them to carry into adolescence and adulthood.  We want them to see the needs people have whether it be here in T-Town, Atlanta, or in another country.  People need Christ.  And Christ needs us to be His hands and feet. 

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

First Day of School 2012

Today was the first day of school for Luke and Whit.  I can't believe I have a THIRD GRADER!  It was a blast seeing Luke at lunch and recess since he's in my grade now (of course, he ignored me).  My favorite part of the day was when I heard his teacher yelling for him to put his shoes on while playing kickball.  I couldn't see who she was talking to, but I knew.  He wanted to wear his "cool shoes" (pictured below) today.  I told him they were going to be hard to run in!  Whit Dit started first grade today and LOVED it.  He said the best part of the day was recess.  Big surprise there!  I'm excited about a fantastic school year for my boys with their wonderful teachers!

Hamp's Birthday

Hampton talked for MONTHS about her Minnie Mouse birthday party.  Every day she asked, "now?" I don't think she could quite believe it when it finally came.  She had a blast.  This baby girl is the sweetest, most lovable child EVER, and we thank God every day for allowing us to be her parents.  Happy Birthday Hamper Damp!

Go Whit!

Mrs. Trice trying to get some kisses!

I can't believe our sweet Whit Dit graduated from kindergarten today.  Time really does FLY by.  He received the perfect attendance award and the art award!  We are so proud!  Luker is especially proud of his little brother since he loves art so much!  Whit Dit, you will be the best ever first grader!  We love you so much!

Go Luke!

Today was Luker's 2nd grade honors day program, and I don't want to brag or anything (well maybe I do a little), but that boy racked UP.  There were two special awards that have FORCED me to blog on this.  The first is having the most AR points not only in the second grade, but in the entire school!  He earned a whopping 145 points!  The funny thing is, he didn't even realize he was competing for anything.  He just loves to read (like his really smart mom). The second was having a perfect score on the reading portion of the CRCT (due to all that reading).  Jeremy and I could not have been more proud of him!  He's had a great school year with fun friends and a wonderful teacher!  

Oh, and to top it off, that little Cub Scout got to lead the program off with the pledge!  This psycho den mom was gushing with pride!

Boys making their own campfire

Skit

This past weekend our scout troop (just call me Den Mom without the typical mom jeans, but with the cool shirt- patches included) participated in our first camping weekend out at Camp Thunder.  Cub Scouts from all around came with their entire families to play games, shoot bb guns and bows and arrows, run an obstacle course, and much more with a very special partner- a handpicked rubber duck.  To me, this is what scouting is all about.  Our den meets at least twice a month to complete certain projects, and to learn about how to become successful citizens, but these types of weekends are what I believe pull it all together.  In just our first camping experience as a den, I feel like our families and scouts are bonded forever.  We made tons of memories in these three days, as well as many inside jokes (belt LOOP, Hilton, “permission to enter camp”, is there a patch for that?).  Our five guys plus two little brothers who will be scouts next year, really stepped up big and made us proud by behaving EXTREMELY well all weekend, and also by taking the initiative to not only perform a skit at the campfire, but volunteering to go first.  And they did an awesome job!  At one point, they even built their own campfire ring, and then actually got a fire started where they proceeded to roast their marshmallows (we are pretty sure we may have been breaking some rules there- probably have to have a patch or something). Anyway, I think we all look forward to many more years of fun trips with our Pack 25 boys.