Ethiopia Bound

Well....It's time! Time to leap- a total leap of faith. For Him to use me to speak His words to His children. Whew! All the amazing, crazy times on my life: birthing 3 children (one without drugs), marrying my love, losing a child, celebrating with friends, grieving with friends, losing loved ones. Not one time in my life have I ever had the flood of so many different emotions at one time. I feel so excited, nervous, such love, a bit wary but then i take a breath & hold on to the Truth....that here is exactly where I am meant to be. I have such peace knowing that I am being obedient. Whatever happens, I am totally confident in knowing that this is God's trip & is in His hands. Please pray for us as we travel, our families that we leave behind, the people that we will love on along the way & most of all that God would receive ALL the glory!

Ethiopia BEyond
PBC Mission Trip
June 30-July 10, 2011

Please partner in prayer with our team of 20 people who are going beyond to make God known and share His love with children and adults in Ethiopia. We will be working with World Orphans and the Kale Heywet Church in Woliso, and e3 Partners in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Thursday, June 30-Friday, July 1
WHERE: Team flies from DFW to Frankfurt, Germany, then on to Addis Ababa, arrving late and staying overnight in Addis.

PRAY: Travel safety and for our luggage and supplies to make it to Ethiopia and through customs.

Saturday, July 2

WHERE: Team departs Addis for Woliso, to arrive by early afternoon. Meeting with Pastor Teshale and church leadership.

SEE: www.worldorphans.org

PRAY: Safe travel, open hearts, positive reception, catching a vision for what God is doing and how He wants us to participate.

Sunday, July 3

WHERE: Worship at main church, with David Daniels preaching. Afternoon visits and evening worship at one of the church plants.

PRAY: Renewed spirits, the Holy Spirit to direct our worship and David’s words, love for the people, God to be magnified.

Monday, July 4 –Tuesday, July 5

WHERE: Team split in half, with one group helping with a Medical Outreach and the other doing family visits to children in a Home Based Care program. The second day, the groups switch tasks.

PRAY: Courage for us, God’s love to be made evident to the people, help and healing for the medical patients. For God to direct our interactions and change our hearts. For us to see with His eyes and be His hands and feet.

Wednesday, July 6

WHERE: Farewell meeting with Pastor Teshale in Woliso. Team returns to Addis to rendezvous with e3 Partners.

SEE: www.e3partners.org

PRAY: Safe travel, rejuvenation, deepened relationships, strength for the next step in the journey.

Thursday, July 7-Friday, July 8

WHERE: Evangelism with e3 Partners in the Jammo Mountains region of Addis Ababa.

PRAY: Reliance on God, words to speak, ears to hear, receptive listeners. For God to turn the hearts of the people to Him.

Saturday, July 9-Sunday, July 10

WHERE: Cultural Day on Saturday. Team departs Addis Saturday evening and arrives back at DFW Sunday afternoon.

PRAY: Safe travel, rest, hearts turned to the nations, readiness to share the vision back home.

PRAY THROUGHOUT FOR:

Health, safety, protection, blessings to those we partner with and those we serve, good communication and positive relationships within the team and with those we encounter, strength, wisdom, humility, flexibility, provision, opportunities, following God’s lead, leaning on His power, knowing Him better, making Him known. In all, glory and honor to God!

To Sum it Up

Here we go.....6 months in 600 words or less.....
Halloween was great-Piper was a princess & Skylar was a queen (fitting) & Stella was well...asleep.
We had a blessed Christmas & cut back on gifts hard core. It was so refreshing & easy on the pocketbook & surprise, surprise, the girls didn't even notice. We focused more on the birth of our Savior & it was AWESOME!


Stella's.....asleep! She passed out during all the fun & excitement!
We spent a whole, wonderful week in Durango this winter. The first part of the trip was spent with our precious friends the Browns (between all of our kids all 5 were on antibiotics for strep throat!) Piper loves to mother & love on Karys!
& the last part of our trip was spent with my dear friend Crystal & her family. The girls were so excited to reconnect with their friends Lolo & Pey who they hadn't seen since the summer. The week was jam packed with ski lessons, ski school, tubing, eating, playing in the snow, & plenty of laughs. I love this picture of the 3 big girls walking hand in hand! Makes my heart melt!

After a week in Colorado, we return home bringing the snow with us! After 2 weeks of being in the snow, we looked forward to dry ground! The girls did bundle up for a bit to play in our backyard.

Stella likes being in the snow just not without her snowsuit that we left in Colorado!

Fall Sickness = Photos by Tash

This fall, we have been bombarded with germ, bugs, sickness, ickiness, snot, etc. Everyone is currently healthy-Praise the Lord!- & we're trying to stay positive: the girls' immune systems are building up & everyday of yuck now will make them stronger plus less yuck later.

Unfortunately, sickness means staying home means CABIN FEVER for all, especially mommy! During one of these lovely homebound days, I stumbled upon a too cool, free app (thanks kevin!) that allows me to make my everyday jane pictures less mundane & pretty awesome! My picture taking ability is probably the equivalent of one of our girls. I really try, but i lack that natural picture taking ability that some, becca & cindi, have.

Anywho- these are some pictures on this cabin fever week & I kicked it back old school with some. my oh my have the girls grown & changed~ even stella in her short 9 months!
Stella James rubbing her face as she falls asleep.

Birthdays, Back-to-School, & Ball (Football that is)

Well, October 25th where did you come from & what did you do with August & September?
We hosted a Football kickoff party at our house earlier this season, when there was hope, & we had a wonderful time. Stella had lots of friends root on the Cowboys with her.
Sweet Stella is growing as I type and is still the best baby we've had or even known: she is so happy & easy going. What a blessing!

Not only have the months come & gone, but we celebrated Skylar & Piper's birthdays this summer. 5 & 3....Wow! What happened to this baby? Skylar is still a sweetheart & is such a big helper! Breakfast in bed started this year & I'm sure will become a Burks tradition. Piper is little miss independent & loves her sisters!
Both girls love school! We all do actually.... Both started off the school years bringing apples to their teachers-they were so excited!

M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E

Our family trip to walt Disney world was wonderful! The girls had a blast & aside from the humidity the trip was great! Sweet Stella made rare appearances for pictures due to her napping, nursing, & being put to bed before our evening trips back to the parks.

Skylar & Piper were so excited to get their faces painted like princess kitties. it was well worth the time & money, even if sweet skylar wiped the whole masterpiece off her face before we had walked away from the face painting booth. Again humidity made faces melt & felt sticky-sky's defense for scrubbing face.

We had breakfast & lunch with the princesses. The girls LOVED it!
Rosie cheek Stella- she was such a trooper! She was able to ride on several rides & slept on the go through out the whole trip. We went to a BBQ & were able to dance with mickey & Co.


Skylar loves the Mad hatter tea cups. This year she wanted us to spin around really fast. Thankfully i didn't vomit!
We went out at night & had a lot of the rides to ourselves. No waiting! the girls did crash in the stroller on the trip home that night :)

Month of Milestones

What a whirlwind month it has been! And to think that I was worried that we would get bored this summer! Piper has grown up so much it the past couple of weeks. We kicked off the craziness with staying bye-bye to the pacifier. Stephen & I carefully planned the farewell to coincide with Stella's well check appointment with the pediatrician. Piper proudly walked in with a ziploc baggie filled with pacifiers, and with a grin, she handed them over to the doctor-she was "a big girl now"! She has only asked for a pacifier once since! With that awesome adjustment, we decided to just rip that baby bandaid right off-that weekend we converted her crib to a toddler bed & the following Thursday we had her first haircut.
Skylar (right) ,with cousin Callie, had a wonderful week at Nana & Papa camp! She stayed 3 nights along with a few of her cousins at Stephen's parents' house. We had been apart from her for a week when we've traveled, but this camp was piggybacked with our Chicago trip so we were apart from her for roughly 9 days! Whew! I think it was harder for me than her :) Skylar will be 5 in less than a week & will start kindergarten this fall...sigh!Oh-Stella Bell! The sweetest & most easy going baby I've ever known (We're in for it when she's 15!) Stella went on her first airplane ride to Chicago & would you believe it-didn't make a peep! We were able to truly enjoy our trip to Chi-town to see our much loved friends the Coles.
Stella now can support herself for an exersaucer-she loves it!
We were given the go ahead for solids. Skylar & Piper were SO excited & loved taking turns feeding Stella.
As normal, Stella was pretty happy about this new substance being shoved into her mouth-no complaints from her!

Embracing This Texas Summer

This summer, in dreaded anticipation of the disgusting heat, our saying & mindset is embrace the summer. Instead of being miserable, we've decided to enjoy the wonderful parts of summer (fruits in season, swimming, snowcones) & doing what we can to live with the not-so-fun parts(grilling as much as possible & using other methods other than the oven to not heat our already hot house, traveling out of texas during the hottest months) It's amazing how much ones outlook can impact their experiences. So far, so good-Here's to embracing the summer!

Both Skylar & Piper have been taking swimming lessons since they were 6 months old. They love swimming-so we've been very excited about the weather being warm enough to "show off their mad skills".
Another wonderful activity that comes with summer is Camp Thurman. Skylar loves going to camp. Stephen was a camp counselor at Camp Thurman-I love watching them bond over camp activities & songs!
Pacifier amputation date set-June 22nd. Start praying now(seriously).
Sweet Stella is always smiles.....
I love the way that Skylar is holding Stella's hand!
Good Morning! This is what morning looks like at the Burks House. The girls slowly awake & make their way to the living where they plop down on the couch & watch a show while I make breakfast & do dishes. Regardless of who wakes up first or the hour, the girls are all smiles, which in turn makes me smile!