Sharing Hope, Bologna, and Wide Open Spaces

Alright y'all! I'm taking a detour away from cottage talk, and will now begin to pour myself into endless accounts of the goings on around here. The mere thought of having to read it might have already caused sickness and internal uneasiness to ensue, but bear with me, please. 

This is way cheaper than therapy, and frankly, I need to share this stuff. Besides, the baby daddy (we'll call him Brad) is at a car race, the children are occupied, and mama's ready to ramble!

Recently, we had the opportunity to join other families from our church for a mission trip to Manchester, Kentucky. And let me just say, what a beautiful place to have had the chance to serve! 

Then there was the dark, winding tunnel carved right out of the mountain. 

Such a claustrophobic treat for all of us!

Some of our youngest missionaries wore themselves slap out trying to pass the time.

And after six hours of playing "I Spy" nearly everything on the open road, Kathryn and Marissa had to close their peepers for a while.

And missed seeing London - Kentucky, of course!

After much anticipation and snack consumption, we reached our destination! Manchester Baptist Church

This is our whole crew doing some myth bustin' of sorts. The locals said this convenient store served THE BEST peanut butter milkshakes and we had to put our taste buds to the test. The results were soon in. They passed! I could just about set out on foot from NC to KY for one of those tasty milkshakes - stopping for frequent rests, of course.

We did settle down to the business at hand, of sharing HOPE. 
And FAITH. 
And LOVE.

So we suited up...

Hooked up with two of the most passionate people for Jesus we'd ever met...

Made sure every hair was in place...

 
Turned up the bottle...

In this case, it was leftover VBS punch.


And got ready to get our JOY ON!


 From the very least... 

to these...

whose eyes instantly stole our hearts...

and whose stories we hope to NEVER forget...

we
simply
LOVED.


And played a little, rather, a LOT of Upward too!

And we ATE.


And some were brave enough to try the area delicacy, 
pickled bologna and crackers. 

Um, I'm good, thanks.

And just when we thought we were there TO BLESS,
we WERE BLESSED TOO!

Have you ever been HOPE for someone? 
Have you ever served as the hands and feet of Jesus?

What an awesome, humbling, life-changing honor it was indeed.

And in the words of my Emma, "When we goin' back?"