Sorry......

still not able to post pictures or stories. Hopefully tonight. Had to go to hospital yesterday to get fluids pumped into me. Feeling a little better today. I think I am a walking billboard for "don't drink the water.".

WE'RE BACK......!

Just a real quick post to let everyone know that we made it in at 10:00 p.m. tonight. The kids are with my sister in Nashville for a night or two and thank goodness they wanted to stay there because I am VERY sick. I came down with what I think is rotavirus yesterday. I am quite sure I picked it up from one of the Lakota children at VBS this past week. Not fun traveling 20 hours the past two days with this type of stomach bug! More to come tomorrow - lots of pics. It was a GREAT trip. Just exhausting!

We finally made it!

Well it is 8:30 p.m. Mountain Time and we are in Hot Springs, S.D. staying for the night. It took us the entire day to drive across Nebraska. Of course, it would have helped if we had not all overslept this morning - forgot a wake-up call. We are off to see Mt. Rushmore EARLY in the morning and Wind Cave National Park and then straight to the reservation by 4:00 p.m. We had a fun and safe drive out. Love to all. Tomorrow we get down to the nitty gritty.

Melissa

In Omaha - Finally!!!

Whew! That was a drive and tomorrow is even longer. Omaha is packed with people, here for the little league and college world series. It is a really neat city - much larger than I thought and very clean. A few notes about the pics. We finally got a little crabby in the car about 30 minutes from Omaha. I was driving and the pics of Chris are him dealing with the kids in the car. On a more serious note, we saw the flooding from the Missouri River in Western Iowa. I can't even imagine what the central and eastern part of the State looks like. Very, very sad for the farmers.

We are headed out early tomorrow morning for Wounded Knee. Not sure about wireless. Pretty sure we won't have any, so this may be my last blog entry until Friday evening. Houston, we have a problem..........

Headed to Omaha

Got up early, ate a big free breakfast and swam a bit before heading out to Omaha in horrible storms. Pray for our safety...........Love to all, Melissa

First Stop - St. Louis

In St. Louis and it was a great trip. The kids were great and the drive wasn't too bad. We are going to head out to Omaha, Nebraska in the morning and then we are on to Wounded Knee on Saturday. Here are a few pics from the way here........

Final Destination - Pine Ridge Reservation, Wounded Knee

Well, we are sort of packed (not really) and very ready to get on our way to Pine Ridge! We are so excited. We feel VERY blessed to have the opportunity to go and serve in this capacity and can't wait to get back and talk to everyone about it. I am going to try and post pictures along the way, so check back and see what you find. God's peace and blessings, Melissa

Summer Pics

If you have time......

This is a great video by Beth Moore if you have the time.......



http://http//lifetoday.edgeboss.net/download/lifetoday/SWF/2008/05/80514.swf

Gearing Up

I am finally starting to get ready for our mission trip and I am so excited! We have had so many people bring us things to take out to the reservation and have had such an outpouring of prayers and support for our trip, it has been overwhelming.

I was so blessed to have read "The Shack" before this trip. It has changed my life - literally, and I hope that this will help how I see and react to others on our trip. I know from talking to a couple who have been out there before that this trip may leave us depressed and discouraged because of the depth of poverty and addiction in the area. Please pray that we will be a shining lights to others on the trip and the Lakota Indians and that we will not allow ourselves to feel overwhelmed by the amount of work to do and the amount of unbelief there. I pray that I will see these people as children of God and be given the opportunity to minister to them.

We leave June 12th and plan to return June 22nd. We are praying for safety getting there and back and also for a donation of lots of Benadryl for the kids in the car! HA!

Melissa