Happy 10 year anniversary!

Happy 10 year anniversary to Mom and James! Love you guys :)

Back Home!

I am home!!! I landed in the US yesterday at 12:00 pm in Detroit after 18 hours in flight and being up since 3:00am Philippine time (they are 12 hours ahead of us, which made a total of 33 hours of travel.. whew!) Anyways I was so happy to be greeted in Charlotte at 7:00pm by my sweet husband with a "Welcome home" sign and flowers... he missed me a little I think ha! I hugged him for about 3 minutes straight and just couldn't get enough :)

There are really not enough words to explain how completely amazing the trip was for me. I am hoping to get rid of this jet lag and get settled back in so that I can process through everything before I share. I have so many pictures and stories though so I am very excited :) Thank you all for your prayers as I was gone, everything went very very well and I knew that God was hearing each of you. There was not a problem with any of the travel and no sickness, so both of those are always huge when traveling internationally. I am still waiting to hear exactly from our group leader, but I think there was somewhere around 30,000 people that our group shared the Good News of the Gospel with.. and that alone is nothing short of amazing. God is so good and I am extremely grateful that He saw it in His plan for me to be a part of the work that was done this past week. I stand in awe....


Once we landed and I was able to use my phone and check my email, I was able to hear about two VERY great things that happened while I was gone...

JR did it! He finished the triathlon last Sunday and I am so proud of him! Yes sorry about posting the wrong number for you guys to see ha... I was a bit out of it in preparation for leaving that day :) I am so glad he took some pictures for me to see... and I am of course one proud wife!

And also VERY BIG news.... Tiffany got engaged while I was gone! Her and her fiance Michael will be getting married November 15th at the Barber House in Nashville. I am SO excited that she asked me to be a part of her big day too :) Congrats Tiff... I love you so much!!!

Go Sweetie Go!!!

This is such a special day in the Isham family that I couldnt wait until I got back home to tell yall about it!!! Click here then look at #112, then scroll back to the top to see what its for. I dont want to give it away so just go see!!! For the entire event information you can click here.

I am so proud of you my love.. and am sorry that I cant be there to experience your first but I cant wait to hear all about it once I return :)

Lets all cheer him on now!!!

Birthday and anniversary shout outs!

You just thought I couldnt post while I was overseas didnt you ha! No I am kidding.. I set this up to post today before I was gone. This week turned out to be a week of many celebrations and I DID NOT want yall to think I was not celebrating in the Philippines with you :)

Happy Birthday to Beth (today) and Mrs. Kim (tomorrow)! Sorry I dont have any pictures of you ladies but we need to get some soon!

Happy wedding day to Dylan and Mandy on Saturday!

Happy First Anniversary Booths on the 20th
and Happy birthday to Tiffany on the 20th!

Happy 2nd Anniversary to Rett and Sara on the 15th!!

And happy birthday to my Aunt Patty on the 27th!!

I love all of you guys :)

Details of my trip

For the last 3 months I have been praying and waiting for TODAY! Elizabeth and I are leaving tomorrow morning bright and early for our trip to the Philippines. I would love it if you would keep us in your prayers for the next 10 days as we travel. Also pray that this mission of God, that He planned for us, would be one where many seeds would be planted and that His name would be glorified through it all!

Here is my itinerary so that my family can breathe easy by having it :)

Flight Itinerary

NW 1575: Leave 7/17 at 6:03A from Charlotte and arrive in Detroit at 7:46A
NW 71: Depart at 3:55p from Detroit and arrive in Manila at 10:30P on 7/18


NW 72: Depart 7/27 at 6:15a from Manila and arrive at Detroit at 11:45am
NW 1574: Depart at 5:11P from Detroit and arrive in Charlotte at 6:57pm

It is also rainy season there now, so just pray that rain would not hinder our work there. Here is the Weather Forecast.

I have my camera geared up and cannot wait to share stories and pictures once I return. I am going to do my best to document my time there so that I can bring it back and share with so many here... just like you were there with me physically, as I know you will be spiritually!Yall have a wonderful week and a half and know that I love all of my blogging friends :) Thank you in advance for your prayers, encouragement and support!!!

In Christ Alone,

Happy 3rd Anniversary Wingos

Natalie and Billy are celebrating their 3rd anniversary and expecting a baby in December. I am so excited for you guys :) Love you!!!

Happy Birthday BJ

Happy Birthday Papa Bear BJ!

We celebrated by surprising him at PF Changs on Sunday.

Birthday boy so happy that its HIS birthday :)

the girls

the boys

The BIG Surprise caught on video.....

Wii brings the party

It never fails that if a Wii is at a party, then there will be lots of laughs. Friday night JR and i went to a cookout at our friend Big John's house and had a blast! Haley and I were mesmerized by BIG baby Jude (4 months old, weighed 9 1/2 at birth and 20 now!) and the boys had a great time challenging each other at the Wii.

Videos just for John and Micah~ thanks for the laughs guys!!!

I am small but You are big enough...

Our missions team was just sent an email from a Filipino named Lovejoy. She is a woman that they see every year on their trip and her testimony despite the damage is amazing....

Hello everyone,

Praise God for his goodness and faithfulness!

It’s been three weeks after typhoon frank hit Iloilo and I believe that with God’s help, we are recovering. I’ll be sharing with you some of the pictures showing how the flood hit our house, the parsonage.

I have a lot more but the computer I’m renting is really slow, I hope I can send you more soon. Some of the pictures I took of CPU will be used by CPU Link and some already have been used in the global reunion and the national news paper.

Because of the flood, our family experienced more of God 's faithfulness, provision, and how much He loves us. The church became our shelter when we evacuated there, I told myself, indeed, when people loses everything, the only place they can find refuge is in the arms of Jesus. like manna, blessings pour down upon us from family, friends, and even people we don't know. The Lord is so good!

Keep on praying for us, it’s actually a new beginning for us. our books were washed out especially my brothers'. uniforms and barongs. people gives us clothes but unfortunately , wala maka igo bacause of our sizes heheh especially si tatay. i lost my tapes, cd/ tape player, and choir pieces that i kept for years. fortunately, i was able to save our Compurter but only the CPU.

i'll send you updates soon!

God bless you more!

Lovejoy

I am not going to pretend that seeing these pictures is not extremely overwhelming to me.. especially knowing that I will be there in one week. So much detestation, so many lives shattered, a time of rebuilding, a time of finding refuge. I continue to thank God for such a wonderful time as this, He prepared our trip and knew even before it happened that these would be the conditions we would be in. I do trust Him in knowing the bigger plan in all of this and that He can use this is so many ways to glorify His name.

What I am really most overwhelmed by is the excitement that I get to go and allow God to use me to help!! Although I really do not have a clue exactly what I will be doing, I am just grateful for this opportunity to GO.

As I am posting this now, Britt Nicole's Song "Set the world on fire" is playing on my radio. Thank you God for reminding me of Your Strength and Power, and that You are Big Enough!

Lyrics:
I wanna set the world on fire
until it's burning bright for you
it's everything that i desire
can I be the one you use?

I, I am small but
you, you are big enough
I, I am weak but
you, you are strong enough
to take my dreams
come and give them wings.
Lord with you
there's nothing I cannot do.
nothing I cannot do.

I wanna feed the hungry children.
and reach across the fathers*farthest land
and tell the broken there is healing
and mercy in the Father's hands.

I, I am small but
you, you are big enough
I, I am weak but
you, you are strong enough
to take my dreams
come and give them wings.
Lord with you
there's nothing i cannot do

take my dreams
come and give them wings.
and Lord with you
theres nothing i cannot do.

my hands, my feet
my everything
my life, my love
Lord use me.

I wanna set the world on fire
wanna set the world on fire.

take my dreams
come and give them wings.
Lord with you
there's nothing i cannot do
oh no.
take my dreams
come and give them wings.
cause Lord with you
there's nothing i can't do.
nothing i can't do.

I'm gonna set the world on fire.

set the world on fire.

Please do pray for my team and I, as we prepare to go. We are flying out THURSDAY!!!

Jesse the snowboarder... really?

There I said it. And I cant say anymore b/c I am just so shocked ha! I am happy for Deanna though.. she seems really happy and she deserves the best; I just NEVER saw it coming!!! :)

Nothing like it...

There is just nothing like the fireworks show in Kingston, TN. I LOVE watching the fireworks over the lake and seeing how several thousands of people are all there together to enjoy it. We used to get a front seat viewing on the boat with Sue's family, but this year we opted to view from land. The setting is so beautiful and I am sorry if you have never experienced it... I tried to get pictures but they totally do not do it justice!! I have seen these fireworks just about every year of my life, but it never ceases to amaze me. This year, despite them almost not collecting enough funds, it was a 30 minute show! I loved watching them with my sweetie, Dad, Sue and cousins Camille and Robert. There is nothing like it :)

Deadman's Rope Swing

We were able to enjoy some great jet ski time this past weekend as well. JR's favorite thing to do when we get on the lake is to go to a rope swing nearby, Deadman's, that has been around forever. All of you Rockwoodians, I am sure have been there or heard of it :)

I took my camera this time so we could get some pictures and videos... they are quite humorous!

Here are the videos, not the best but hey I tried. Watch the 3rd one carefully... we about had a disaster when Tyler miss read his landing!!!

Mom's birthday party

On Saturday we had mom a birthday party! She knew family would be there but I surprised her by inviting one of her best friends who she hasnt seen in a very long time! Vanessa is my God mother and was very close to my mom in high school and even in my elementary days.. she used to be mine and Tyler's babysitter too :) Her children, Taylor and Spencer, were like my other siblings so it was so great to reconnect again! Leann helped me plan and was so much help as well; we had a wonderful time! I am so glad mom actually liked her party, as I really knew she would even though she always tries to act like she doesnt want one :)

Love you mom! And thanks to everyone for joining us!!!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

All pictures from this weekend can be found in my picasa album of course.. so check them out too if you want :)

Happy birthday Mom!

Happy birthday mother dearest! We love you :)

Stay tuned for pictures from her birthday party we gave her this weekend... coming soon!

Tristan's first 4th

We had a cookout Friday night at JC and Leann's and I was so happy to be there for Tristan's first 4th of July! Of course I had to get him a new outfit with Red, White and Blue.. and the cutest shoes to match :)

First- always a must.... naked baby picture :)

He is my "all American boy"

baby crocks

Tristan was in such a great mood when I got to their house. I was so excited to make him giggle and hear him laugh for the first time!!!