YWAM - San Francisco

Well, in 2 short days I am heading out with a group of 35 from church, 28 students and 7 adults, to head to YWAM - San Francisco. This is a trip Nate has taken twice in the past, and I am SO excited to be going for my first time. There are many prayer requests for this trip, but I would like to share a few. Please pray for the team, pray that there is unity in the team, that students who may be a part of the same youth group but have never talked, would find connection! Please pray for confidence in sharing God's Hope with those that seem hopeless. Please pray for them to look past the external of these that live on the streets, and see their heart and their hurts, and help them fell valued. Pray for health and safety of the team, with a group this size some traveling by plane for the first time, exposed to lots of new germs, health is a concern.

I will be updating the blog as often as I can. It may just be a photo, or it may be a short story, but I would appreciate your prayers through the week!

You can also follow me on Twitter at @millsfamily, as I'm sure I'll be updating that as well!

He did it! Hooray!!

A few weeks ago, we packed up and headed out for Lynchburg, Virginia! After four long years, many late nights and a ton of hard work, Nate completed his Bachelors Degree in Religion from Liberty University! We are so proud, not only for him finishing, but finishing strong, Cum Laude! Here are a few photos from our time at LU!

Toby made sure Woody was nice and safe on the 7-8 hour trip!


I think it was finally sinking in, not only that he finished, but how well he did, when he received his cords!
A little time touring the campus, Nate and Taylor take a moment to check out the soccer field!
Here's what Toby thought of the Baccalaureate service!
Nate's in there, honest!
A great message from Glenn Beck!
A photo of the graduate!
Too cute!
And walking across the stage to get his "degree".
The kids celebrating with daddy outside Thomas Road Baptist where his school ceremony was.
And celebrating with dinner out!



After a busy day, we spent some time with some great friends Scott and Nina Meinke and their children. We got to go to an LU baseball game as well! Then Scott took us on a little tour that included the Snowflex. This thing was unreal! People were snowboarding and it was 80 degrees out, without a glimpse of snow to be seen! It was fun watching them come off the jumps, etc. Drew said he wants to try it next time!
An amazing trip! One I'm really glad we made! But we are SO glad to have Daddy back full time! Now it's wait and see what God has in store!

God is Good!

Kalahari!!!

Another great year of Kalahari in the books. Keep an eye on the Kalahari Retreat website for updates and some AMAZING videos!

Here are a few photos of the weekend! (our camera is broken, so these were taken with the cell phone, sorry for the poor quality) We were challenged by D.C. Curry to give God our dreams along with all we have to offer and see what HE will do with it!

Had a great group of girls in my room for the weekend. Here are a few of them getting ready to enjoy the Worship set and the next message from D.C Curry...


Special Guest for the weekend John Reuben..... YES!!!


And Exodus Band encouraged our students before each session in a time of musical worship!


God is Good!

Student Ministry

What it means to me to be involved with Students

A Different Kind of Hero from Wooster Grace Students on Vimeo.

Pray for Nate

Please be praying for Nate's upcoming Mission Trip to San Francisco, where they will be serving with YWAM. You can check out his prayer requests on his Blog. It is going to be a wonderful week for him, and I have been praying that God will protect him while he is there, that God will use him and the others to touch the least of these in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco and that God will stretch Nate in his Faith, and continue to lead and guide him as he seeks God's Will for Ministry in his life.

If you'd like to see a nice video from YWAM about what it is that they do in San Fran, click here for a link to a YouTube video.

If you'd like to follow the updates on the trip from Student Ministries, you can check out their blog by clicking here.

God is Good

Kalahari Photos

Well, I was going to post some videos, but it takes forever, and then my memory maxed out, so I'll have to try again later. But I thought I would get some fun photos up!

Here is the one video I made with my camera, I guess I should just do that more often. This is the Top 10 reasons to Attend Kalahari...

This is Kendra and Nate's cousin Sara. After I took the photo, the girls came over to look at it and Kendra said to Sara... "You didn't tell me it was supposed to be a good picture!" Sara looks too beautiful not to share it, and Kendra, even with your yellow tongue and silly face you look beautiful! But enough Starburst, okay?

All weekend my camera was being confiscated by students, but I thought this was a pretty impressive photo. This is about half the group at Devotions Sunday morning. We had to split up in two different rooms because of our group size.It is always so exciting to see kids taking their faith so seriously!

This is the girls that were in my room for the weekend with Ja'Rod Cherry. He played for the New England Patriots in their SuperBowl days a few years back. He shared his testimony and it is very powerful, about where we place our value in our lives. I want to get this video uploaded and will try again tomorrow to at least get that much up! It is worth checking back to the blog to see!

Here is (another) Kendra, one of the girls that is always at Alive with us in the summer. She won the chance to "compete" in a peanut butter eating contest. She had the creamy and she beat out her friend who had the chunky! I'm sure she drank plenty of water after this! She won a covetted Thrift Store Tee Shirt!

This is back in the room the first night we stayed up until 2:30AM! This is Liz and Naomi hanging out! Liz is eating the wonderful ice we went down the hall at 1:30 to get!

Here is Mac... this is what happens when you take away the cell phone of a teenager in love... they must actually write letters!

These girls are in my small group but were not in my room. All seven of my small group girls came, and between them brought three friends, so we did not have room enough to all stay together. So these are a few of the girls that were in the other room. Hope, Jenae and Caitlyn.

Another shot in our room, this is Jenessa and her two friends, Marie (i.e. Angie as I kept calling her all weekend) and Jill.

14 First Time Decisions for Christ
over 200 recommitments to share their faith with their friends

A weekend full of fun!

God is Good!

What is our role?

Well, it has been a fun weekend... and a not so fun weekend. Nate has a paper due for school tonight (it's late on Sunday) so he has been holed up in the office working on the paper. And if I'm being honest, he's been a little grouchy. I know he's under a lot of stress, so I'm trying to not take it personally!

Friday evening, a friend of ours was in a car accident. It was pretty scary, from the sounds of things. He ended up showing up at the Christmas party we were all at, but said he was hurting. He went to the doctors yesterday and has a sprained back and neck. He is doing well otherwise, physically. The woman that pulled out in front of him was lifeflown to Akron and we don't really have a status on her. Please pray for her. And what a praise that our friend is okay. It could have been much worse from the sounds of it. His F250 is totaled most likely, as well as her minivan.

Also Friday evening, I attended our Sr. High sleepover at church. We had about 40 girls come, and was a really nice time. We baked cut out cookies on Saturday morning for about 3 hours. They will be given to families in our community next weekend as an outreach event.

So what is God doing in the lives of teenage girls?? That is what I would like to know! I am the adult leader of a small group of girls ages 14-16. We meet once a week and have a study that we are going through together. I have a great group this year. This is our first year together, with me as a leader at least. They are all very good friends, and are mostly all faithful to being there each week. We have learned a lot from each other. I can't even imagine being in high school right now. Things sure have changed! I know I've changed a lot, too, but it seems like things have changed since I was in school, 15 years ago!

I was not a believer when I was in high school, so a lot of the things I did, I had no eternal perspective. I attended church, so I wasn't a bad girl, but I just didn't have any idea how a relationship with Jesus was going to change my life and change my views! It's amazing. While I used to think certain things were okay, now I realize that God has so much to say about it, and so much better things in store! Relationships in particular. Talking to these young girls about what God wants for their lives... and also thinking I have a pre-teen coming up the way!

Anyone know of any good books to read about raising a pre-teen girl in a Christian home in today's society? I'd love to hear from you. My heart is burdened for Taylor and what she is about to be going through. She is 10, goes to a public school, and right now has no interest in dating or "having a boyfriend" as they say! But I know the time is coming. She has a young boy at church right now that has his eye on her. He's a year older, and a great kid, but he's always around! In a way it's cute, but in a way IT SCARES ME TO DEATH!! So any feedback from my blog world friends would be great!

Well, that's what's on my heart today... for what it's worth. The world of teenage Girls!!

God is Good!

Cleaning the Throne for the Kingdom!

Well, tonight was Service Project night for my high school small group. We have been meeting since the beginning of school, and this is my first year with this group of girls. They are mostly Freshman and Sophomores, and several of them are homeschooled, which is a new twist for me. Most of these girls I have known for many years, had them in Sunday morning childcare, or taught them in Vacation Bible School! I love doing small group. I learn so much from these girls, while trying to help guide them through a rough time in life... HIGH SCHOOL! I remember those days so well.. and notice I didn't say fondly!

Anyway, as Nate is sitting on the couch next to me studying for school, and I think forward to what God has in store for us in way of Ministry, I look forward to working with High School girls. This is my 3rd year leading a small group, and I learn so much each year.

I posted a while back about the Fall Party at our church for our Grand Opening of the new Student Center. Nate's band played, and Jeremy Kingsley spoke. His topic was about being last. One of his illustrations was about how nasty public bathrooms can be, and about a time when he went in and cleaned a public bathroom. No one knew he did it, but it was a way he could serve those around him, those that would enter that bathroom after him. It really stuck with me. So when it was time for us to do a service project, this was the first thing that came to mind.

At first, my girls were like... No Way! Then they went on to talk about how they would NOT clean the men's bathroom. But the more we talked about it, I think they got a little excited about the opportunity. So tonight, we met at the church, and then headed out one of the Gas Stations in town.

Our first stop, we went in and asked if we could clean the bathrooms and I think the lady asked about 3 times, "Really?" "You want to do what?". She was so surprised. But we got to work, and also cleaned at another Gas station. The girls worked so hard, and realized it wasn't as bad as they thought it was. Here are some photos.

So, did the girls walk away from this understanding all that they did? I'm not sure, but I am proud of them for stepping out of their comfort zone and doing a task that most think is "below them". And they did it with such great attitudes! I'm so excited to see what God has in store for this group this year!

God is Good!

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!

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

Observations

Just some random observations over the past few weeks... I'd love to hear your thoughts...

- Life is tough, but I could not ever imagine being a teenager again. As I hung out at Alive, I couldn't believe the randomness of teenagers. It seems that they are all searching and trying to fit in. Why can't life be simple again. Only a few pair of jeans to choose from... communicating by letter, or a phone that was attached to the wall of your house? I heard from someone at Alive that they are considering eliminating cursive writing in school curriculum. It's never used anyway, is it?

- One of the craziest sites at Alive was walking past some electrical outlets each morning and evening. It was "the place to be". I even heard one young lady say it was a great place to meet guys. Everyone had a cell phone and they all had to recharge a lot, I'm sure because of the thousands of text messages they send each day. Of course, I had to charge mine a few times, but at least I had a car to plug into! I wanted so badly to take a photo of all these kids huddled around the outlets, but I never did. Now I know why our Youth Pastor does not allow cell phones on mission trips or other events for our students. How would they ever get anything accomplished.

- Another Cell phone observation - I had to chuckle, as I looked out over the crowd of 15,000 people at Alive. Down in "the pit" (the place where you could go and stand, and be closer to the bands) you could just see all these little glowing boxes. It took me a while to figure out what it was. I've heard about performers saying light up your phones, in place of the old light up your lighters, but that wasn't what I was seeing. I slowly realized what I was seeing was hundreds of people, young and old, taking photos with their phones. It was the strangest thing to me.

- On an adoption note, I have recently realized how many people tell me how cute Toby is. Now, I know my children are all cute, and I often feel bad for Taylor and Drew, as people dote over Toby. But I am realizing that all too often, I think people are simply acknowledging that Toby must be adopted, and don't really know what to say, so they say he's cute. I've discussed this with the older two, and I hope they understand that their little brother is no cuter than they are. I just worry that it will cause jealousy. So far, I think they understand that people are just curious.

- Another recent observation is... Toby is TINY! We have VBS this week, and he is in a class with 3 and 4 year old children. I can not believe how much smaller he is than everyone else. Lately, people who are around him have been commenting on how much he is growing, and I agree. But he is still wearing 24 month clothes! (up from the 18month ones he was wearing when he came home almost a year ago) According to the doctor, he is doing well, just on the small end of the charts. In comparison to our nephew, who is 4 days YOUNGER than Toby, and what seems like twice as big! I guess I can't complain... it's just more proof that God intended for him to be a Mills! We are short!

Anyway, enough rambling! I just had these things in my head and had to get them out... and you lucky 5 people that read this, are the ones to hear it!

God is Good!

Fun Filled Weekend

Okay, so this photo wasn't taken over the weekend, but it is too darn cute not to post! These are wigs we got at a Cav's game a few years ago, and the kids just love to put them on and run around the house! Here is Toby and his friend Ella enjoying the wigs!
Drew has been working on a trick dribbling team, The Ballerz, for about 8 or 9 weeks now. The team just started up and is for K-12 grades. So he is one of the youngest, but he is really getting in there. They had their first performance at MC Sports here in town this weekend. It was so exciting to see him doing this. He practices a lot. This is one of his favorite tricks.Here he is doing the "Superman". He's had to work on this one, but has really gotten the hang of it! They are spinning around in a circle on their stomachs while dribbling the ball. It often gets away from him, but he did very well at the performance! (I have some video that will be on YouTube later this week!)
Also this weekend, we had a surprise 25th anniversary party for Nate's mom and stepdad. For any of you that know my mother-in-law... it is IMPOSSIBLE to get anything by her. However, we pulled it off! She was completely stunned! She had no idea. We told her it was Toby's birthday party, so she came with gifts in hand! I wish I had a photo of her walking in the door, but as soon as we yelled "Happy Anniversary" she took off and we couldn't see her! All I can say is, I know there were tears! They were very happy! She told me at church on Sunday she didn't sleep all night, she just kept thinking "I can't believe they did that for us!" What a blessing to be able to minister to her in this way!


Also this weekend, Nate delivered the message to the senior high students! It was amazing. My prayer was simply that God would use Nate, his past and his present, to encourage students to realize that God's forgiveness is freeing, and can help them through their daily struggles and hurts. God did that in a mighty way! I believe that the message God delivered through Nate will be one many of those students will remember for a long time.

Nate was also very encouraged by his Mom and Stepdad being there, as well as one of his brothers and his wife and one of his sisters and her husband. It is such a blessing to him to have their support.

Oh yea... and I got another year older this weekend... my dad quickly helped point out to me that I am only 18 years away from 50! You do the math!! That is so scarry! Where has the time gone?

God is Good!