3 years ago, I didn't think it was possible that Ella and Laney could get any cuter and sweeter together. But as the time has gone by I've realized that is so not true.
They were in such a great picture taking mood a couple of weeks ago that I couldn't resist on the all awesome opportunities. 
While Heath was in Nicaragua, our pastor was leading the trip. So our church had the best privilege ever by having the Jones family back! Curtis preached Sunday morning in our pastor's place and we couldn't have been more thrilled. Our church welcomed them back with open arms.
It's so fun to get Ella and Jackson back together. I am always amazed at how they still remember each other and get so excited at each reunion.
I love Jackson's face when he sees Ella for the first time. 
A big hello friend hug!
We got to have lunch after church with the Jones' and some other very precious friends of ours, the Calvert's. 
These are the precious Calvert twin boys.
One final goodbye hug among sweet friends. 
Sunni, Amanda and I had some awesome catching up Saturday night at Cheesecake factory! We just talked and talked and talked the night away. I love y'all!
Last Christmas, Ella got this very fun Barbie car. Well, she still doesn't quite have the hang of it (which could be in part because of the 110 degree weather that Texas has...who wants to get out in that heat?). Now that it's getting cooler, we will take a lot more rides.
So while she's driving her car, somebody always has to constantly walk beside her and either direct the wheel themselves or scoot her car over every 20 seconds so she doesn't hit the curb. Is this just us that has to do this?
Anyway, that gets very tiring for the one having to do that. So even thoough this is probably not good for the car, I have recently started just riding along with her. It makes it a lot less tiring for all involved. 
Great Granddad welcoming Ella and her crazy driving with open arms. 
Heath has joined a team of 17 other men from our church on a mission trip to Nicaragua for 8 days to minister to the Miskito Indians. This team is partnering with the International Missin Board who have served in that region for 25 years. The Miskito Indians live along the Coco river which divides Honduras and Nicaragua. The Mikitos are the LARGEST under reached people group of all of Central America.
This team will be doing several things while there, some of which is showing the "Jesus" film at night time, building 2 pastor's homes during the day and sharing faith in Christ regularly.
In order to get to the Miskito's, they will drive in a van for 5 hours and then the team must take dug out canoes up the Coco River for another 8 hours to this very primitive remote area. It is truly taking the story of Jesus to the "uttermost parts of the world." They bathe in the river, sleep on cots outside with mesquito nets over them and eat beans, rice and tortillas for every meal. It's truly a manly man kind of trip.
I am thrilled that Heath gets to be a part of this year's trip. This is the 3rd year that our church has sent out a team to the Miskito people and every year the men come back with the most incredible stories and they continue to go back each year.
So this past Friday, with the alarm set for 3:00A.M., we headed to the airport to say goodbye. He gets back next Saturday night, so it will be a total of 8 days that he is gone. Heath and I are used to be away from each other on different mission trips throughout the year, so the 8 days is not that big of a deal. What makes this time different, however, is that I get ZERO communication with him. Usually we can talk or email once a day no matter where we are. Even when we were both in the middle of the bush of Sudan, we were able to Skype Ella at home. So it's been a little difficult not being able to just pick up the phone. But we are managing.
Please pray for the men on this trip. It is likely that they will come in contact wtih some type of opposition. There's always heavy spiritual warfare to deal with when on trips like this. Please pray for their safety and for open doors and for receiving hearts.
Here's a picture from the airport of Heath and his mission partner for the week, Jared! They are great friends, so this is so fun that they get to spend this week together, helping each other and supporting each other in this capacity. 
Thanks y'all!
