if you're going to San Francisco.......

Sorry it has taken so long for me to make a post about my missions trip to San Francisco. I thank all of you who had our team in your prayers, and believe me when I tell you WE SAW your prayers answered and we felt them. What an amazing trip it was. We stayed at YWAM San Francisco which is located in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco. The Tenderloin is known for homelessness, drug addition, prostitution, etc. I cannot put in to words what we saw and experienced while we were there. We saw hundreds of homeless people right in front of YWAM each day, we had drug deals happen right in front of us, we saw people smoking crack right in front of us, we were yelled at by some, but accepted by most. We saw God in action in San Francisco. We formed relationships with the "least of these" in San Fran, and were able to look past the homeless and see the person. We heard some of the best sermons ever from the mouths of these people. The first night we were there we did a hot chocolate evangelism. We went up to a homeless man at a bus stop to offer him something to drink and he gave us a message on Ephesians 6:12-17 that we will never forget **As soon as you finish reading this blog, grab a Bible and read that for me please**. We had sacked lunches at Hippie Hill located in the park near Haight Ashbury. The students and adults engaged in conversation with people while sharing a lunch with them. We had a love feast which is near and dear to my heart. We had 134 homeless people come in to YWAM and our students served them a meal. I remember watching them serve with ALL THEIR HEARTS and with SMILES OF PURE JOY. I saw them engaging in awesome meaningful conversations, praying with them and serving them a meal and a few were even washing their feet and cutting their toe nails. I heard one student engaged in a conversation about his faith that he will never forget. Oh, the stories. We also did a homeless plunge where we were homeless from 10 am to 4 pm. We had to wear the clothes we wore to bed, could NOT brush our teeth or hair and had $1.50 (adults) and (.50) students to last us all day. It was enough money to get you a bus fair back to YWAM. We did prayer walks in the Tenderloin which is full of homelessness, massage parlors, drugs, prostitution, liquor stores, adult cinema theatres. We had awesome devotions as a team and I saw many students share their struggles with their peers. It was an amazing trip.
I remember 2 men that my group spent time with and prayed with that were homeless, Curtis and Alex. They are good people. I wish I could have spent more time with them. And I can tell you that when we left on Thursday July 17 that many of us including myself had tears in our eyes as we left the Tenderloin and YWAM. We went on a night time tour of San Fran Thursday night and it is a beautiful city!!! I think I could move there tomorrow if I could afford it. It was in the high 60's every day and windy. Cold at night. We went over the Golden Gate bridge in the open top of a double decker bus. The next day we spent some time at Fisherman's Wharf and went to the San Francisco Giants game against CC Sabathia and the Brewers. Saturday we flew home. I think we all missed home but found it difficult to leave. We went to San Fran to work with the homeless and help them, but I think they helped us more. Thank you for your prayers. I could go on and on about how prayers were answered so if you see me, ask me and I will share some stories with you.

God is good!

Nate

Forever Family Day

Well, on Saturday, we had the blessed opportunity to go to an Akron Aeros game to celebrate Toby's 1 year Forever Family Day! The day in which he received his "Forever Family" and our family became even more complete! So I had GRAND ideas of what I wanted the day to be! We were offered free Akron Aeros tickets, so my plans changed some, but I thought it would still be fun! We believe that there was a concert before the game by one of the kids favorite groups, Hawk Nelson so they were very excited about that! Nate had to work in the morning, so when he got home, and after Toby's nap, we got ready and headed up to Akron, about 4 hours before game time! We got there and realized that many people had orange wristbands on. So we start asking questions, and come to find out you had to buy "special" tickets to get into the concert. Needless to say, I was very frustrated. No where on the website, or promotional material did it say you needed an additional ticket, and we were not prepared to pay an additional $75 for us to attend, so we set out to find a way to kill time until the game.

We were going to have dinner inside the ball park, but since we had to kill time, we decided to eat at Menches Bros. a restaurant that is connected to the ballpark. It was really quite nice. The food was very good and the kids had a fun time checking out the ballpark from this view point.

After some additional waiting, we made it into the park, and Toby got his first "real" baseball experience. He was so excited.

After a short rain delay, the game got underway about 45 minutes late, but the sky looked beautiful, so we were ready for a fun evening of baseball. Toby loved the vendors and every one that came around... this is what he did.

He didn't care if it was cotton candy or Miller Lite... he wanted what they had! It was really kinda cute!

Nate and the kids headed out for a drink about halfway through the first inning. As I sat in the seats by myself, the sky quickly turned dark again... Uh Oh! Literally I felt one little sprinkle, then a downpour...

After about an hour of waiting in the concourse with thousands of people, we decided to pack up and head home. It was nearing 9:00 and I knew the kids were going to get grumpy if we had to wait much longer like this! (Of course I was already beyond grumpy)

We hit Dairy Queen on the way home. I know that everyone had a wonderful time, but the perfect day that I had planned in my head, to celebrate Toby, and the joy he has brought to our lives seemed to be ruined. Nate kept reminding me that there was nothing to be upset about. One bad day didn't change any of the blessings we had, and he was right. But I still sulked for a while! We are planning a zoo day soon to make up for it. We are so thankful that someone generously gave us those tickets, it was so kind. It just didn't quite turn out how I had hoped!

Also, Drew got to attend a Cleveland Indians game yesterday with Aunt Katy. Not only did he get a COOL Indians Hawiian jersey, he also got to run the bases. He had a lot of fun. Here are a few photos.

God IS Good!

A year ago, I was shaking in my shoes! I could not wait until the moment that was just before me. To welcome home the son I had prayed for, longed for, prepared for for so many years! I was packing the diaper bag for the 50th time, I was cuddling my "two" kids for the last time, we were eating a meal as a family of 4 for the last time, Nate and I were planning a final date night for a while. It was so much excitement and anticipation, and it was all worth it!

Toby Joon Suk came home July 26th 2007 and it has been a year full of miracles, fulfilled dreams, growth, potty training and so much more. Here is a short video of some of Toby's "firsts" since being home with us! Enjoy!



God is Good!

Photos below

To view the photos below from Nate's trip (mostly sight seeing photos), simply click on the large, distorted photo and it will take you to our PhotoBucket account where you can see all (or as much as you can stand) of the 200+ photos Nate took!

San Francisco Photos

Photobucket Album

And on Sunday.... we REST!

Nate is home! Yeah!! He had an amazing time, and I hope that he will post some stories here soon about his experience not only with the homeless of San Francisco, but the youth of Wayne County! Some very powerful stories of how God changed lives and used people! I'll put another post up with the link to his photos next.

So while Nate was gone, life went on here at the Mills' house! And some wonderful things happened!!! This past week, after a few weeks of potty training, and me about to pull out my hair and give up. Toby is about 85% Potty trained!! I say 85% because we still have a diaper at night, and he's still working on number two, but overall he is doing amazing! It just clicked for him on Thursday, and he has been dry since then! Go Toby!!

Another note on the Toby front... he is talking like crazy! It is amazing how far he has come in just the past few weeks! Nate has commented all day about how clearly he can understand him, and how he has been making more complete sentences. It really is cool! We have big plans for this weekend, the one year anniversary of his coming home to us... but more on that later!!

Also, last night, literally as Nate was boarding his final flight, Drew lost his first tooth! We knew it was loose when daddy left and Nate said "don't pull it until I get back". But Saturday night, he was eating an apple and it got very loose! So Taylor took it upon herself to give it a good yank, and out it came!!

Here is our smiley, toothless boy!
Another very interesting thing about this... I took a look back at when Taylor lost her first tooth, and her and Drew were Exactly The Same Age! They were both 6 1/2 years old (within a week or so). I just thought that was neat!

So, it is time to go back to cuddling with the family. Bed time is soon. I just wanted to let you all know that Nate is home, Toby is nearly potty trained, and Drew lost a tooth! Quite an exciting weekend!

God is Good

It's Wednesday!

It was hot today, Daddy! We went outside for a little bit, but mostly stayed inside. We went to the library this morning, then after lunch we read books and played games.

Just in case you forgot about the animals... Fatty (or Simba) says Hello! This picture makes him look like he's lost some weight since you've been gone, but he hasn't!
And the kids had fun with Samson. That's a manly purple, really!
We missed your call again tonight! Bummer! Mommy went out with Vicki and Jennifer tonight for dinner and that was really nice. Taylor had play practice tonight, and she is spending the night with your mom so she can go school shopping tomorrow. That's right... I said School Shopping... UGH!! What happened to summer?

Anyway, the next few days I believe you will be doing some well deserved sight seeing around San Francisco! Enjoy your time. I can't wait to hear all of your stories! Especially about what it was like to live as a homeless man for several hours today, and the tasks that you had to complete.

We miss you and love you, Daddy!

God is Good!

Four Down

Only four more to go! Today was the craziest day yet! I knew I needed to get the lawn mowed, I didn't want to get behind on that, about half way through, I ran out of gas!! I couldn't go get more until all the childcare kids were gone, so the mower sat in the middle of the yard all afternoon! Then, as soon as everyone left, we headed out to grab a bite to eat at CiCi's (thanks to kids eat for 99 cent Tuesdays!!) and get some gas. After that, we had to run Taylor over to play practice, and I had to run and get groceries. By the time we got home, at 9PM I had to unload groceries, finish mowing, get Toby in the tub, put groceries away, do the trash and then get the big kids in the shower. So it's 10PM and I'm wooped!! This is one of those days where I wish I had my second pair of hands! I miss you dear!

On a more lighter note, we had a beautiful day today, and spent all of it outside. We literally only went inside for lunch. It was great! The kids were so good! Taylor had Annaliese spend the night last night and we walked her home, which was fun!

Derek provided some comic relief!!
Drew was providing autographs for anyone who wanted them.
Taylor was in charge of all that was going on.Thank you daddy for calling today at just the right time to tuck Toby in for his nap. That was special! He is really missing you!
We are praying for the Homeless experience tomorrow. Be safe! We are also praying for all the students on the trip. That God will continue to push them to where they have no doubts about the Power and Grace of their Loving Father, and they will take that faith into Wayne County!

Sadly, as I began to post on the blog, my phone said I had a message... and it was daddy! I'm not sure how we missed your call, but we did! Thanks for the call, it was nice to hear your voice and the kids were happy to hear it as well! We love you, too!

God is Good!

We miss daddy!

Well, it's our third full day of daddy being out of town. I know there are women out there that do this all the time, but I'm not one of them! I miss my husband terribly! Before Nate left, he commented about how we were being so worked up over a week away, imagine those that are serving over seas! He's right, this is nothing compared to that, but it doesn't mean I don't miss him any less!

The kids really have been good, nothing out of the ordinary! Yesterday Grandma Derri took us to lunch after church. That was a nice treat! Then we went to Wal-Mart gift shopping, and then on to "Aunt" Kelley's shower for baby Brayden. It was a long day, but the kids did great! I think they had fun, as well.

So here are a few more photos from this morning for daddy! We took a brief trip to the park this morning. It is a beautiful day! When we first got there, I was on the phone, but we did see Justin and Trent. I believe they were finishing up from swim lessons. By the time I got off the phone, they were gone! We are looking forward to getting together with them in a few weeks!

So here is a photo of Toby. Again, these are taken with my camera phone, so not the best quality, but for daddy, so that's all that matters!
And Drew and his cheesy grin!
Of course Taylor poses for the camera!

Also, Drew has been mastering the art of riding a 2-wheeler! He asks to go out and ride any chance he gets! Here is just a few seconds of him riding down the sidewalk for daddy to see!


We miss you daddy! Be safe! Praying for God's work through you and in you during this week in San Francisco!

Here is the link to the blog if anyone is interested in updates of their trip!

God is Good!

Pictures for Daddy

A few photos for daddy of what we have been up to since he's been gone.

Here, Drew is helping me bake cookies for "aunt" Kelley's baby shower.This is Toby enjoying his Ice Cream at Applebees today!
And Taylor wanted to wear one of daddy's shirts for bed.

All of these taken with camera phones since Nate has the camera with him. Hope you're having fun daddy!

Love and miss you!

God is Good

He's off!!

Well, as I'm typing this, I believe Nate's plane should be getting ready to take off! Nate is rather fearful of flying. His first trip isn't so bad, they fly into Minneapolis, but from there, it's off to San Francisco.

I got a text from him at around 11:30 last night saying good night. Then I got one at 5:15 saying his phone didn't charge overnight and he would call me when they landed! YES you read that right... my husband got UP at 5:15 AM!! I was shocked!!

So, if you think of Nate this week, pray for him. Pray for effectiveness in ministry to the homeless and runaway teens of San Francisco. Pray for God to begin to reveal to him his place in Student Ministry in the future. Pray for safety as t hey are on the streets of San Francisco and for their flights. Pray that Nate can focus on what God has him there to do, rather than thinking of and missing his family!

Thanks guys! And if you have any prayer left,pray for my sanity!! First time being a single mom of three for so long, and still potty training on top of it all! I may be comatose when Nate returns!

If you'd like to track his trip, they have a blog so you can just click here!


God is Good

Over the Rainbow!!

Well, since it is impossible for my daughter to just "do nothing", she had the month of July off from soccer, so she is doing a play!

I thought I would let all you locals know the details.

She is in Orrville Community Theater's Over the Rainbow! She plays the part of... are you ready for this... it's amazing... you'll never believe it...she plays TOTO!!! Yeah, a dog! My daughter is such an amazing actress, she can even play non human parts!!

Actually, they had her audition for Dorothy and Toto. Sounds like one extreme to another, I know. I think when they had auditions, they were not sure what kind of cast they were going to have. There were a lot of kids the first day. So the high school kids got most of the lead parts, and a lot of the little kids got the munchkin parts, and they gave Taylor the part of Toto. She is on stage for the entire thing, and does some dancing and singing. They said they knew she could handle being on stage for the entire time because of her experience.

So, while it's no Ohio Light Opera, she is excited about it. If you are interested in tickets, I have some. The show is August 1 and 2 at 7PM at the "old" Orrville Junior High. Tickets are $7.00 for adults and $5.00 for students. Should be a fun show!

God is Good!

Friends, Food, Fun and Fireworks!

This Fourth of July was a fun one! A holiday on a Friday is always a bonus! Our events started at 1:00 when we met a friend from High School, Jeremy Nussbaum and his family at Applebee's. They live in Tennessee and don't make it up here often, though we stay in touch through MySpace and Facebook, so it was a pleasure to spend time together as families. The kids all behaved very well! After that, we made a few stops at the shops. I almost forgot it was even a holiday, as everything was open! We had volunteered to help setup for the events our church was sponsoring at the Fireworks in town. So we went to the church and helped fill coolers and pack chairs and tables. Then we went down to the festivities and helped set things up.

Our big event for the evening was a cookout at Nick and Vicki's house. We were supposed to be there at 6, and after only one turn around for forgotten things, we got there a little after 6! We enjoyed a wonderful evening of food and fellowship with our friends. The kids had a great time!

They had a sprinkler and kiddie pool ready for the kids. No matter how much they were shivering... they loved it!
The guys had a great time with Corn Hole.
Vicki had prepared some fun crafts for the kids to do. Taylor and Toby enjoyed that, while Drew was collecting Lightning Bugs!
They also had a sand table that Toby just loved playing with!
Then of course the big event of the evening, the Fireworks!
This was Toby's first time to see the Fireworks and he really liked them. He kept saying "popcorn". I think the big bangs made him think of popcorn popping in the microwave! He was a little scared by the finale, but he'd tuck up in my arms, and then turn his head just enough so he could still see. I savored it!
As I sat there and held him, I recalled very clearly the fireworks last year. We were also at the Cleveland's last year, and we had just found out that Toby was coming home. I remember sitting and talking with my friend, and fellow adoptive mother, Becky about how our lives were about to change! The excitement I had nearly a year ago is still overflowing! God has blessed us so much!

And it wouldn't be a celebration of our Independence, without a shout out to our service men and women who continue to provide us with it! I am so grateful for the sacrifices of so many! We would not have our freedom, if it were not for those who have given it all for us. Words are not sufficient a thank you! Praying that all those in harms way are protected and brought home safely to their families and loved ones, in God's timing!

God is Good!

Independence Day Parade

Yesterday was the Big Fourth of July parade in Orrville. For the past three or four years, Nate's office has had a float in the parade and the kids have really enjoyed being a part of the parade. (and I enjoy NOT bringing home buckets of candy!) This year was no different. The kids couldn't wait! And this would be Toby's first parade! YEAH! So the weather could not have been more beautiful, nor could my children! Here are a few photos from our evening!
Toby, Drew and I (the one with the bags under my eyes... when did those get there?) stayed on the float and tossed out candy.
Nate walked the route, to help get into shape for his trip to San Francisco, and handed out pinwheels.
Taylor wore her Heeley's, and rolled along the route, handing out candy.
Here are some of our friends along the route. When I knew about where people were sitting, I tried to get photos, just for fun! Here is Deanna, Michelle, Lee and Jeff, as well as their children (the three on the right)
And here is Nate's sister Mel and her husband Tom. Derek and Averie are the ones on the left in red digging for the candy on the ground! We threw them a lot!

Thanks R. E. Miller for another fun evening at the Orrville Fourth of July Parade!

Now we are looking forward to a fun night of food, friends and fireworks on the Fourth!

God is Good!

Potty Training

Pray for us... need I say more?

7/2/08 ETA: Each day is getting better... I think he's figuring it out!