Our 6th & Final Family Retreat

Once again, we had a wonderful time at the Joni & Friends Family Retreat!  This will be our final Family Retreat :-( (at least for awhile) because our family will be transitioning into a new season of ministry.  For those of you who have not heard, the Lord has called my family to plant a church in East St. Louis, IL.  You can read more at our website - City of Joy Fellowship.

Therefore, we made sure we enjoyed every moment of the retreat!  

The theme was "Hope Overflowing" which came from my favorite verse in the Bible -

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  
Romans 15:13

The Lord blessed Kempton to unpack the meaning of the verse in its context.
We were definitely encouraged to press on with hope through joy & peace! 

We were privileged to have Joni & Ken Tada attend this retreat! 

We had not seen them since 2009.

My Little Star

That's Carysse's "I am smiling!" face :-)

Elsa has been our babysitter/PCA for a few years.
We were so glad that she wanted to join us at the retreat this year.

Sweet bro-sis moment

Fun for Everyone! 

Christian wanted to give Kempton a kiss...precious!

Beautiful! 

My athletic one just had to join this volleyball game.

My creative one was busy making sand creations.

My two oldest sweeties

 I love this photo! 

 Sweet! 

These sweet sisters served our table at each meal.
They were definitely role models of diligent serving.

May these retreats continue to be a little piece of heaven for all the families who attend!

Flying High, Twisting About, & Sailing Low

New Mexico

Have you heard of the White Sands? Well, we didn't until we studied New Mexico.
It's another Spectacular Creation from our God. 

I decided to create a "White sand" (aka Moon sand) sensory box for my little man.
All that's needed is 8 cups of flour & 1 cup of baby oil. He had lots of fun!  

The hot air balloon is New Mexico's official state aircraft.  

The girls enjoyed making their own hot air balloons! 

(As you can tell by seeing what Kalia said for hers, this activity was done before July 15). :-(

We also did a "Blowing Up a Balloon" Experiment. 

First, we put the baking soda in a balloon. 

Next, we added vinegar to a water bottle. 

Then we added water. 

Lastly, we attached the balloon & shook the baking soda into the solution.

And watched the balloon get bigger & bigger!

 Other Activities - Hot Air Balloon Coloring Sheet & Scientist Experiment Recording Sheet. 

Oklahoma

This state is in the Tornado Alley so it's most likely to get hit by these dangerous storms.  

We talked about tornadoes and prayed for those who were affected by the deadly tornado in May 2013. We also compared hurricanes to tornadoes and talked about the importance of our emergency box that we prepared when we studied hurricanes. 

The girls are busy doing their tornado craft.

We did this "Tornado in a Jar" Experiment but unfortunately I couldn't get a good photo of it. :-/ 

Books Read - Hurricane & Tornado, Chasing a Tornado, & Otis and the Tornado. 

Rhode Island

*The Smallest State

*Nicknamed the "Ocean State"

*This state is only 37 miles wide & 48 miles long but has 384 miles of shoreline.

With all that said, we decided to focus on boats for this unit. We first talked about how God is higher than a hot air balloon, more powerful than a tornado, and stronger than a boat.  

Our saying was, "People need boats, but Jesus can walk on water!" 

The girl worked hard on their boat activity. 

Rhode Island's State Motto is - Hope.  The state flag is pictured below. It is said to be inspired by Hebrews 6:19 - "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul." This a sweet reminder to us believers especially with all that's going on around the world.

Coincidently, our theme for this year's Family Retreat was Hope (more about that later). 

So, the girls wore their Hope shirts even though they're hard to see behind the boats. :-) 

May our Hope be built on nothing less than Jesus' blood & righteousness!