Only 9 days left!!

What a terrible blogger I am. I mean really...I keep saying I'm going to blog at least once a week and then it ends up being over a month in between posts. So, where have I been and what's been going? Over the last few months, my life has been nothing but busyness! I've been preparing with the team to go to Zambia and all of the details that entails as well as working on my alternative teaching certification stuff. Combine those two things with my growing boys and this house is full of things we have to do!

So, our team leaves in only 9 days to head to Zambia, Africa to disciple and witness to others! I'm excited to be going with a wonderful group of people who love the Lord so much. I ask for your prayers during the next 9 days and for the two weeks that we will be gone. I'm having a lot of emotions with the departure date nearing so quickly and I'm quite sure that is normal. Even so, I would love your prayers for peace, strength, and unity among our team. I know for me, as I am trying to prepare and am dealing with all of these emotions I have become very sensitive and Satan is definitely using that for his advantage right now... Other things we'd love for you to pray for is our health before, during, and after the trip, and for safe travels there and back. Please pray that the hearts of the people we will encounter will be ready to hear the Word and that God would use us in such a way that only He will receive the glory! I won't have much internet access while in Zambia, so I'm not expecting to post a blog, but you never know...keep an eye out! If I'm not able to, I plan to journal and blog along the way and will post them when I get back to Texas. Below is a picture of our team...a great looking bunch of folks if I do say so myself!

Back row left to right: Chris Williams, Chris Payne, Joel Tischauser, Jeff Collie, & Chuck Schreiber

Middle: Evan Schreiber

Front row left to right: Chisty Collie, Julie Schreiber, Shelby Tischauser, Nacole Morgan, & Amber Higgins

What else?? Well, tomorrow is the last day I'll have a first grader! As of tomorrow afternoon I'll have a second grader...that is insane! He was just a baby yesterday! Jeremy and I are so proud of all of his accomplishments this year. Austin had exceptional grades all year, and is reading way above his grade level. I love that he reads well and enjoys it! He is his momma's boy! Carson is growing like a weed too! He's always happy and smiling and has such a fun personality!



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.

Amazed

I keep saying that I'm going to blog at least once a week, and so far that hasn't happened... I promise to try harder to keep you all updated on our mission efforts and preparation. Our team has been meeting every week for a month now and we have made major progress on our fundraiser and Bible study curriculum. I'm super excited to announce our major fundraiser "Charity Ride for Zambia 2011". Our team is putting on the 1st Annual Charity Ride for Zambia on March 19, 2011. This charity ride is a 50 mile motorcyle ride through the beautiful countryside near Granbury and Glen Rose! We'd love for you to spread the word and tell any of your friends who have a motorcyle to come out and support us. Of course we'll have other activities, live concert, food, and prizes at Texana Plaza in Granbury all day on the 19th so even if you don't have a motorcyle, there's something for you to enjoy! Check out http://www.breadofadversity.org/ for details on how to register for this event.

Along with the motorcyle ride, we have t-shirts for sale! I am taking pre-orders this week so if you'd like one send me an email, text, or give me a call: nacolemorgan@gmail.com or 940-595-0620. The t-shirt design is below!

I would also like to say how blessed I am to have so many friends and family members who have supported me not only financially but through prayer. I can honestly say that I feel your prayers and appreciate them more than words can say. I have been trying to come up with one word that descibes how I feel about all the support thus far and the word that keeps coming to mind is "Amazed". I am amazed yet again at how the Lord is blessing me through this experience. Please know that I appreciate ALL that each one of you have done for me and my team!

What's been going on?!

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ... Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.
Colossians 4: 2-3

It has been a while since my last post and so I thought today was a perfect day to change that! Since my last post, SO much has happened. I mailed out my Zambia newsletters and have gotten a wonderful response with many people willing to pray for me and our team. I couldn't be more thankful to have people praying for God's will as our team prepares to head to Africa this June. If you didn't get a newsletter and would like one, please send me an email or message and I'll gladly get one to you. Our team has begun to meet weekly and we have a tentative itinerary for what we will do while we are in Zambia. Our major fundraiser plans are coming together and I can't wait to share with you what we will be doing. More info to come soon...

Morgan Family Update:
Our little man, Carson, will be TWO next Thursday! Where has the time gone? He is such a fun kiddo. We love to watch him dance and listen to him tell stories. He is such a chatter box. His favorite thing to do right now is play with his big brother (Austin). He adores him and Austin is so good at loving on him! We are blessed to have two wonderful, healthy boys that love each other unconditionally. Austin is doing great in first grade and is having a great time playing basketball. His team is young, and they haven't won any games yet, but they are learning so much and getting the hang of things. As for me and graduate school, there have been many changes in the last month... After reflecting on my first semester of grad school I decided that school counseling is where my passion was. So, over Christmas break I did some research and found that the state of Texas requires you to have a minimum of 3 years of classroom teaching experience before you are eligible for a school counseling position. I am currently working on my teaching certification and will finish up just in time to apply for jobs in April. I hope to be a full time teacher this next school year so by the time I finish up my graduate degree, I'll be qualified for school counseling!

So in a nutshell, that's what has been going on here. God is doing amazing things in and around us right now and I'm super excited to see where He leads us throughout the preparation for Africa this summer. Even though Jeremy and the boys are staying state-side, they are very much a part of this mission! I can't wait to report back with what's going on....

Nacole

The end of 2010!

Wow, I can hardly believe that the year is almost over. It has definitely gone by fast. What a great year it has been too! Since Thanksgiving, I've finished up my first semester of grad school. Now that grades have officially posted, I can say that it was a great semester! I earned the grades I hoped for. I also met some wonderful people in my classes. Next semester begins mid-January but until then I'm going to rest and spend as much time as I can with my family.

The same week the semester ended, we left for Durango, Colorado on a ski trip! Can I just say it was SO much fun?! A few other families went with us and we had two "extras" in our car. Those "extras" were our friend Jeff and one of my best friend's daughter Alyssa, who have both become our adopted family! We laughed more during those 5 days that we had laughed all year. I can't wait to do that again. It snowed more than 30" while we were there and the ski conditions were wonderful! We had fresh powder every day, which made it super easy for Alyssa to learn. For a beginner, she did awesome. We decided that by the third day of skiing she didn't need a level classification...she was just "Level: Mountain"!

We also had a wonderful Christmas in Shamrock with my family. It was short and sweet but we got to see everyone while we were there! Now that we are home, there is so much to do to get ready for the new year.

I wish you all a safe and fun New Years!