Life Lately August 2025

Well, hello September!  It sure did sneak up on us.  Sadly, our time in the U.S. is passing by much quicker than any of us would like.  Here is a look at some of the things we did during the month of August.   

 

We kicked off the month celebrating David's birthday. 

 

birthday supper at The Fish Fry in Brookhaven 

 

birthday dessert after supper 

 

 

Cruz is loving his job at the snow cone stand!! It has been such a great opportunity for him and has allowed him to grow in many ways.  He gets paid every Friday.  Here he is after receiving his very first paycheck.  He was so excited!!  

 

 

After getting paid, he temporarily changed his phone background to this.  That boy is a mess! 

 

 

Here he is on his second day of work making an advertisement for their Facebook page. I laughed when he sent me this photo.  

  

 

He loves when people he knows stops by.  Here are some folks from our home church who stopped by one hot afternoon.  If you are ever in the Brookhaven area, go by and see him.  He would be glad you came.

 

 

We also stop by regularly.  We all love snow cones! 

 

 

David and Ben enjoyed a Saturday afternoon at the local movie theater.   

 

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed these gorgeous summer sunsets!! 

 

 

We started back to school on August 4. 

 

 

We have an 8th and a 10th grader. 

 

 

On the Friday of our first week back in school, we picked up donuts for breakfast.  It was a fun way to celebrate the end of our first week. We are off to a great start and have definitely found our rhythm.   

 

 

I have not taken many photos during school but did take a few of Ben doing a science experiment. He was exploring the different densities of several solids and liquids.

 

This was fun and always turns out pretty.  Here he was comparing the density of water, vegetable oil, corn syrup, and alcohol.  He had added a few drops of food coloring to the water and alcohol for the visual. 

 

 

They had a blast at a Back to School Bash with our home church. It took place at 6 Mile camp in Crystal Springs.

 

 

They began with worship and Bible study.

 

Then they moved outside for water games. 

 

What a fun way to kick off the school year. 

 

 Back to School Bash 

 

 

We made a weekend trip to Oxford to visit David's dad and stepmom. 

 

David and the boys with Mr. Harold and Jodi after church that Sunday. 

 

 

David and the boys with his dad.  That's three generations of Whites. 

 

Mr. Harold and the boys 

 

 

David and his dad 

 

While in town, Cruz did a little shopping at Rebel Rags.  Here's his new Ole Miss hoodie.

 

 

He especially loves this pullover that surprisingly was made in Guatemala. 

 

 Mid-month I attended an Equipping Leaders Conference put on by the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board. It took place at Brandon Baptist Church in Brandon, MS. This is a yearly event, and one I wish I could go to every year.  It was fantastic! While there I taught three sessions titled A Look Inside the Life of a Missionary.  I met so many wonderful people who attended my sessions!  I left there feeling so blessed and encouraged.

 

 

A highlight was getting to meet Sandy Wisdom-Martin, Executive Director-Treasurer of the national WMU and also Tammy Anderson, Executive Director-Treasurer of MS Women’s Ministries/ WMU at the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board.  These are precious ladies and so fun to be around!

 

 

After the conference ended, I attended the 2025 Mississippi WMU Annual Meeting. This year's theme was Be a Joy Multiplier.

 

I shared on Multiplying Joy on the Field. 

I especially loved the opportunity I had to personally thank the Mississippi WMU for their faithful support of our IMB missionaries over the years.  They are the backbone of Baptist missions, and I was genuinely honored to be with them that day!

 

 

The following Sunday afternoon we attended a baby shower for our niece who is expecting a baby boy in October. She is the oldest daughter of David's sister.

 

I got to sit with them and record all of their gifts. 

 

Our family with Kaylie and Hunter.  

We are so excited for them to be having this baby. 

 

 

I enjoyed a few lunch dates with my mom.  On this particular day, Charlotte, her friend from church joined us.  

 

 

We took Cruz on his first college campus visit.  He toured William Carey University in Hattiesburg, MS, which is currently our Plan A for college.  We are making visits this fall because we do not currently have plans to be back in Mississippi during the school year until our next Stateside Assignment. We will come home during summer breaks before then but it is best to visit campuses when they are in full session.  Our next Stateside Assignment is scheduled for 2028.  That is the year Cruz graduates. Sadly, this is our last furlough to have him living at home with us. During our 2028 furlough, he'll be living in a dorm and just visiting us on random weekends. 

 

 

William Carey University has a tribute area of bricks honoring missionaries who serve around the world. We were tickled to find our brick while there.  

 

If you look closely, you'll see names of missionaries.  We saw several names of people we know that have served and are still currently serving. 

 

 It is definitely an honor to have our names on one!

It is listed as Central America and Caribbean because that is what our region of the world was once labeled in the IMB world. 

 

 

We spoke to a Wednesday night kid's group at Easthaven Baptist in Brookhaven.  We always enjoy sharing about missions with children.

 

 

A beautiful sunset view as we left the church that night. 

 

 

Lastly, hooray for football!!!  We had been counting down the days until the season kicked off.  We love watching college football and cheering for our favorite SEC teams.    

 

 

I found these cute football shaped cookies at the grocery store.  They were a perfect dessert on our first football Saturday of the season. 

 

 

Come on fall!  

We are ready for you!! 

Life Lately October 2021

October was another fun-filled month.  We are trying to squeeze in all we can while in the U.S.A.  It has been more enjoyable than we could have even imagined.  There is no doubt that we will be sad to leave when our time here runs out!  Here is a look at some random activities during the month of October.

 

I have mentioned it before, but we LOVE going to the library!! We are there at least once a week and many weeks  more than once.  We check out books, movies, and even some board games.  I love cookbooks so I get a few each week to read through.  This will definitely be a top activity that we miss when we return to Guatemala.

 

 

I am thankful that they enjoy reading.

 

This photo was on my Facebook memories recently and it made me smile. They have always loved books!

 

Another thing I love is a beautiful sunset.  We have had many in recent weeks.  This was a view from our carport.

 

The weather has cooled off so we have built a few outdoor fires.  On this night we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for supper.

 

Delighting in a warm fire on a cool, crisp evening.

 

If you need us on a Saturday you will most likely find us cuddled up in the recliner or relaxing on the couch watching SEC football.  We like to spend all day watching the games. 

 

 

The boys have been eagerly wanting to learn some gun safety so David used a few of his old guns to teach them.  He took them out for a target shooting practice one sunny afternoon. They loved it!

 

They said it was an awesome time!

 

 

We celebrated my dad's birthday mid-month.  David preached at his church that morning and afterwards we took him out for lunch at a local Mexican restaurant.

 

We had the waiters bring out dessert and sing to him.

 

 

I attended the school pageant of our niece Larsen.  She is a freshman.

 

me with our nieces Kaylie and Larsen

 

David's sister Robin and her daughters

 

our beautiful niece who is growing up fast

 

We have not spent near as much time with the Browns as we would have liked, but we did have them over for supper one evening.  Here are the boys and Sara Madalin playing video games in their room.

 

I have probably mentioned it before, but Cruz has become a pin collector this year.  His current new favorite is the U.S. and Guatemala flag pin we found on Amazon.   He proudly wears it on his cap.

 

I had the privilege of sharing with a group of ladies at First Baptist, Brookhaven, MS.  It was their monthly Women on Mission meeting.  I love sharing with women's groups. They love missionaries and praying for them. I am looking forward to another opportunity at Easthaven Baptist in Brookhaven next week.

 

The boys had a sleepover at my mom's on a recent Friday night.  They went out for supper at the Mexican restaurant and she sent me this photo to rub it in.   

 

I, in turn, sent her this photo of our fried dill pickles that we were enjoying while eating the early bird special at Wynndale Steakhouse.   We have had two date nights there during our time in the States and both visits were delicious!  Afterwards, we like to drive to the Byram Walmart and do some child-free shopping.  That is a luxury!

 

The next morning my mom took them fishing.

 

She also took them to visit family.  Here is Cruz ready to chauffeur my uncle around.

 

 

We took a homeschool fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch at Mitchell Farms.  The next day the boys wanted to carve out their pumpkins.  

 

Cruz has never been a fan of touching the inside but this time he did it.

 

all done

 

On Halloween night we went to Crystal Springs to the truck or treat at Lake Chautauqua.  It was a drive through so I did not get any photos while there.  Afterwards, we stopped by a few houses in town to get some candy. 

 

Our nephew Sawyer was out on his porch.

 

the boys with David's sister

 

Robin, Sawyer, and the boys

 

After dark we went back to Lake Chautauqua to see the drive through light display.

 

The boys came home with quite a stash of candy. 

 

The next morning Cruz got up and made a candy dish for our schoolroom table. I do not normally allow them to eat candy during school.  I made an exception that day mainly because I wanted to eat some too.

 

We had joked with the boys about eating their candy when they went to bed.  To prevent that, Cruz made what he calls an "anti-theft system".  He put this Lego lock on his bag of candy to keep us out of it.   He is much too young to be outsmarting us, right?

 

Lastly, we enjoyed watching the World Series games and were thrilled to watch the Braves win it all. It made it extra special knowing that we had been able to see them play in person back in September.

 

Go Braves!!

 

Also in October we visited Memphis and Oxford, Florida,  the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and the Mississippi State Fair.  The boys were baptized.  We stayed on track with school lessons.  We were in numerous churches speaking and visiting, and I had my first online mentoring call with a group of college girls in Louisiana. It was busy, but oh so full of fun!

 

Happy Fall, Y'all!