. . . . . . . . . . She's in the air! . . . . . . . . . .

Well, by the time you see this, my precious daughter Savannah will be in the air on her way home from China! It's been a long five weeks, made longer by the fact we've been able to have so little contact.

We were extremely excited to receive a phone call from her last Sunday during our Sunday school class. She spoke to the class over my cell phone speaker for about 8 minutes. She sounded so excited and upbeat in the little ways she could share. Then we were also able to hear her in the church service. That was awesome as well except for the fact poor Sandi has been missing her sister so much that she just boo hoo'd the entire time and I think for the rest of the service. Watching her made me cry so the two of us were a blubbering mess. OH, and we heard passing traffic and a car horn blow in China. Isn't technology amazing?!

Anyway, she was able to tell us that "Dad" was doing a great work there. She was fortunate enough to get paired with 2 "C" Chinese camp counselors who were able to coach her in ways to share her faith with the other campers. Since she was there as a camper as well, she wasn't as limited as we all first thought in how much and how she could share with the others. She told us she had a conversation with a girl who was working to teach Savannah some Chinese so they could communicate better about "JC" and that the "M" there is going very well. She appreciated everyone's "PR's" and said for us to continue "PRing" for the "M" there.

Now, in case you couldn't figure all that out:
Dad = God
C = Christian
JC = Jesus Christ
M = Ministry
PR - Pray

I'll be back with an update after I've "debriefed" Savannah on her trip. HA!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . China

So, our 17yo left on Friday for her 5 week trip to China. Keep her and the others (I believe she said there are 34 of them total) in your prayers. Due to the nature of their trip we will not hear from them often but we are trusting God to keep them safe and do a great work while they are there.

It was really busy around here getting to this point. She was gone to church camp for a week and then home working a week. Then off to a teen/tween retreat we did for our home school group at Lake West Point. The next day she was off to beginner camp as a CIT. Home again on Wednesday afternoon and then off for China on Friday. WOW!

She did call once she arrived in LA to say she left her sleeping bag at the security checkpoint in Atlanta. Hmmm... She was able to borrow an extra set of sheets another girl brought so that was good. Then her friend took this photo and text messaged it. She was lying on the floor at LAX waiting on their flight to Hong Kong. She looked none the worse for wear, at that point only about 36 hours into her trip. She was smiling and looked like she was having a great time.

So, the rest of us are just carrying on without Savannah's laugh and dry humor, waiting for the next 5 weeks to fly by!

.....................WHEW!

I just thought I'd drop in and say I'm here, I'm fine, and I'm exhausted! I've tried several times to write something but just haven't had time lately. So, I'm typing this and heading to bed.

At the moment I'm watching "Romance on the High Seas" with Doris Day. She's one of my favorites! I have several of her movies on my TiVo and I'm trying to get them onto a DVD so I can watch them whenever I want but not have them take up the precious space on my TiVo. LOL!

Today the girls and I helped set up a $5 Christian Book Store. They are opening tomorrow morning at 9am and we got most of the books that have arrived on the tables. We walked and carried books and dug them out of box cubes the size of a pallet. When we got so deep into them we had to turn them on their sides to get the rest of the books out. Savannah was sitting in one and looked like a little 5yo. It was cute but no one had a camera out. LOL!

Anyway, the girls will be working however many hours they can get. I'll be working to fill in for my friend and helping out when she needs me. Probably not very many hours over all but could be quite a few next week.

We've also been busy planning our home school Prom and Graduations and all that goes into getting ready for those. They are coming up WAY too quickly now that we are a week and 5 weeks away from them.

And we have an awesome praise! Our little church collected over 1/2 the money Savannah needs for her mission trip to China. If you would like to help or just read about it, check out her blog.

Well, I'm ready to go to bed so I'll try to write more when I have some time and something semi-interesting to write about. =)