My cup runneth over!

This Easter was one of the best Easter's I've ever had. As I've been reflecting over the many things that happened over the week leading up to Easter it would have been so easy for this Easter to have been the worst... Last week was a difficult week for me in so many ways. I had my heart broken by someone I love very much. Hurtful, untrue words were spoken that pierced me to the core...I was hurt, broken, and sad. So, how was this the best Easter ever? Oh wow, Good Friday was filled with an intense time of Bible study through Secret Church by David Platt! If you've not experienced that you MUST go check it out. It's available free on the Internet. Anyway, from 6pm to past midnight we studied God's word over the crucifixion, salvation, and the Resurrection. It. Was. Awesome. Then, Saturday we spent the day as a family and headed to church and an Easter egg hunt in Granbury! Amazing worship! Wonderful message! Sunday was filled with family, friends, thankfulness for the cross, and of course food. :) So, you're probably still wondering how it was the BEST Easter if my heart was hurting so bad, right? Well, only through the power of Christ's love and comforting arms was it possible. As I was talking to a friend about my pain, she put a wonderful perspective on what I was going through. She said, look to the cross during this time and see the pain that Jesus went through so that I may have healing from the earthly pain. THE CROSS! Yes! I decided at that moment to give my pain to Jesus, and He graciously took it and that is why this Easter was the best Easter ever. It should have been obvious to me to give my hurts to Jesus, but in the midst of the pain I needed  to be reminded that nothing is too big for God! Instead of dwelling on the pain, I choose to let thankfulness overtake my heart! Thankfulness for my Savior, the cross, my husband, my beautiful boys, health, amazing friends, church, and the list could go on and on!

Funny Easter egg story!

On Sunday afternoon, we had a small Easter egg hunt here at our house with the boys. Saturday evening, we had colored eggs and both Austin and Carson had so much fun. Well, we hid about 20 or so "real eggs" and 40 plastic eggs. Hunting eggs were Austin, Carson, and our good friend's son Christian. Carson and Austin would not pick up the "real eggs"! It was the funniest thing I've ever seen, especially with Carson. He'd pick it up thinking he found an egg and when he realized it was real (and not filled with candy), he'd put it back where he found it!! Something I'll remember forever. :)



Zambia Update

Our mission trip to Zambia is getting closer and closer and the excitement is building! The last time I blogged, we had estimated we needed around $10,000 as a team. Well, our God is SO good. Our leaders took another look at the budget and we were able to reduce our costs by a few hundred dollars each and as of now, we only need just under $3,000! How awesome is that?! We have a garage sale on May 7th, and are working Sonic in Granbury on May 14th in hopes that we will raise enough money to complete our trip! God's provisions for this mission has been amazing!

New Dinosaur tracts found in Glen Rose!

A few weeks ago, Austin and his class were able to take a short field trip to see the new dinosaur tracks in Glen Rose and to help with the dig. He was excited to see the tracks but not thrilled that mom had to get a picture of him...can you tell?!

"Mom, can you hurry so I can dig?"

Digging for fossils with his friend Parker.

Austin and a few of his friends smiling with Mrs. Morris!

One of the newly discovered tracks!

Austin had a lot of fun seeing the tracks, digging for fossils, and learning a little more about archeology! I had a lot of fun watching all the kids and hearing about their plans for the dig. We are all excited to see how many tracks they end up finding. 

Zambia update and some recent pictures!

So much has happened since my last post in February. I had really good intentions of updating my blog every week and well, I guess a weekly post may have been too ambitious! So, I'll update you on how the Zambia fundraiser went back in March and where we are at in preparing for our trip.

Zambia Fun Ride

A video of some of the bikes as they started the fun ride!

The winner!

The proudest grandpa there!

What a cool hat!

 

Saturday March 19th our mission team, along with some amazing volunteers showed up with great anticipation and waited on all the motorcycles to start coming in and registering for our fun ride (also known as a poker run). We ended up having 50 or so bikes and 80 riders! We also had a few vendors outside for some shopping and eating throughout the day. We ended the event with a live biker band concert for everyone and a small intimate time of worship for our team led by a couple on our team. The music was amazing in every way! In fact, everything about Saturday March 19th was amazing. God provided in so many ways that day. We all made some new friends and connections and enjoyed getting to know some of the bikers a little better. Everyone who came out to support our team was generous in their giving. A neat story about God's provision from that day that I'll never forget: We had some unexpected overhead for a few things that we hadn't budgeted for that came out to $600. A member of Stonewater heard about that overhead and wrote a check for the exact amount! So, all the funds we raised from the fun ride was able to go directly to the mission trip! How awesome is that?!

What's going on now?

We are still meeting every Monday as a team to pray, prepare for the curriculum we will be teaching, and fellowship. We only have 9 Monday's left to meet together and prepare! I know it will fly by so fast. We are also working on a few other ideas for another fundraiser to finish helping us raise the money we still need. We have a few fun ideas and I can't wait to share them with you when we have all of the details sorted out! Personally, I'm very close to having my trip funds completed and that is because of the many family and friends who have supported me on this journey. I never imagined that I would have such a wonderful response in the giving that I have received. I am truly grateful to each one of you who have not only given finanically but through your many prayers. While I am in good shape financially, there are others in our group who still have a long ways to go. I am confident that God will provide in His time. If any of you reading this would like to donate to the others on our team who still have a long way to go please email me at nacolemorgan@gmail.com.