Cambodia how it all started . . . .

This is where it all started . . . this was the orphanage and these were the incredible children/orphans who won our hearts
They are soooo humble and thankful for every small thing, even some bubbles brought huge smiles to their faces, how could you not fall in love with them, and want so much more for them.
Steve Hyde is soooo great with the children . . . . . .

They follow him like little ducklings . . . . .
The huts they live in are up off the ground, but it still doesn't keep the water from them in the rainy season. So with God's provision, we built some buildings . . . . . . . . .
There is a girls dorm and a boys dorm
Inside their huts look like this . . . . . . .


Here is a room inside the orphanage . . . . . .
This muddy pond was their main water supply . . . . . And now they have this . . . . . . . . . . .
Here is a picture of the orphans in the orphanage after it was just completed last year on our Mission Trip.

And this year we get to go back and run a VBS for the orphans and the children in the surrounding area. Last year they started with 150 kids in the VBS program and ended with almost 300. This year we hope for over 500! We will be reaching the children in the orphanage and the surrounding area.


Actually . . . . It really all really started with the ABKA - the American Bushido-Kai Karate Association. A few people from our church and the ABKA went on mission trips to Cambodia to tell the people about God, while demonstrating their martial art skill. the ABKA has a class at our church facility where they teach every week. Several members of Freedom have joined the ABKA, including our Senior Pastor Andrew Rankin who is now a black belt.

In 2009 our Freedom/ABKA mission group spent time at the orphanage shown above. And that is truly what started it all . . . .
The ABKA members of the team showing their skills . . . . .




They created trading cards to hand out to the children which had information about God and salvation on the back and a picture on the front

Cave Camping

Mike is an official Assistant Scout Master now! So he will get to go on the camp outs "officially" now (not just as a dad - hee hee) This was his first camp out as an official Assistant Scout Master. The troop went to Arkansas to sleep over night in an "Old Spanish Treasure Cave" =)
Ryan with all his patches (his dad sewed them on - that's a lot of sewing!) Just had to include this picture, but this is not what he wore to the cave camping.
This is the pre-cave I'm excited danceThe light you can see in the far right is part of the tour on the other side.
This is the campsite which was left by the guy who mined this cave a long, long, long, long time ago. They left this in the cave and it is not to be touched, they camped around it (pretty cool).
This is the area of the cave where they all slept.
Here is the same spot, but with Scouts =)
Another Scout troop was there from MO, they didn't have cots and slept on tarps on the ground. (our guys were glad they had cots)


They squeezed through some pretty tight places on their extensive tour of the cave.



Leaving the cave on Sunday morning

They had a really great time! You can learn more about the cave where they stayed at http://spanish-treasure-cave.com/

Snow in Owasso

Ryan and Amber had fun playing in their snow fort all day (while "helping" Dad shovel the driveway)





Our snow angel!It's not as easy to walk in the snow as you would think
We ventured out to the end of the street to see how 129 looked, it's okay, but the entrance/exit to the development is way to deep, we would never make it in our car. The snowplows have helped pack down 129 but it also made a bigger barricade to get through.

My handsome man!
The dogs don't know what to do in the snow. They wouldn't get off the porch to do their "business" so Mike shoveled it, that just made the wall of snow even more daunting and they continued to use the porch, so he made a little trail. I think we are going to just have to settle with poop on the porch for awhile (hee hee) I couldn't get any pictures of the dogs because they wouldn't stay outside long enough.
Below is a picture of Mike and the kids a few weeks ago when we had our first snow for the winter. They closed school for two days because of this little amount . . . I'm wondering how long we will be closed down for now . . . . yikes

Booker went outside and wandered off the path Mike had shoveled and got stuck (he is 15 years old - poor thing)
Mike went out and saved him Ryan made his fort look like a big monster with teeth and eyes.
Kicking back by the fire after a day in the snow. They still have red cheeks =)