Thanks for a great visit Bloemsma family!

Thank You for the Pie Mr. Dave and Ms. Charlotte!

Before:


After:

Needless to say, we loved it!!

Top News in the Mansell Home

Hello all!

Top news as of late is:

• This past  Thursday morning, Nathan departed for South Africa.  Please keep him and the team in your prayers. They are holding VBS like camps in several villages in the Xhosa area of South Africa. They are about 6 hours ahead of eastern time, and start camps at around noon- so those early rises- please keep them in your prayers. They have a blog site that they keep well updated. To visit it, please click the following link: South Africa Blog
• And two, some sort of cold is stuffing all our heads and running all our noses. We all hope it passes over quickly. Please pray for speedy recoveries!

Much love to all who read this!

{ Nathan in SA}

Ushering in July

Wow. June is at its end and finally finally we are ushering in July. Life has been a little bit of a whirlwind here at the Mansell home. We are finally getting settled from having Mom, Nathan, Maddie, Lawson, and myself out for the week of camp and having VBS at church, and having the splendid visit with our good friends the Bloemsma's. The end of June signifies to us the end of rushing around- which is a welcomed sight. Of course- we could never be completely "done" so Dentist appointments and such have invaded our planned quiet month of July. But all is still at rest and good.

A few things that are top news here at home are:

1. Nathan leaves Thursday for South Africa!! Let the rushed packing begin!
2. A few thrift store furniture purchases are slowly turning our house into a home (at last :) )
3. The grand beginning of schooling began today- and did it ever start with a bang! Good work mom! Many props to ya!

Running the race along with you- the Mansell family sends their (ALL THEIR) cheerful greetings!

~jillian

The parents are gone!!

Hello dear family and friends. I have heard so many times how you wish we updated this more, so while I was thinking about it, I thought I would jot down a quick update on what is going on in the Mansell home.

Dad, Mom, and Nathan just left for Tennessee. They are hoping to get 1/2 a cow as well as another milking goat. That will be a pleasant car ride, don't you think?

But with them gone, the kids and I are going to sit by the door, refuse to eat, and yearn for there return....


.... ha ha.... NOT!

We have some fun planned and will have a blast. Your prayers should probably be with mom more than us. Pray that she doesn't have a nervous breakdown from being gone and that maybe she can enjoy her time enough that she won't call every hour. :)

[I am thinking she is going to laugh when she reads this and say "I am not like that"... To which I respond, what mother is not like that?]

They will return Friday night, and Saturday will be Eska's birthday!! It's her big double digit birthday. The big 1-0. She is very excited.

Sunday (I hope you all are remembering) is Father's day!!! We are rather excited about our gift... And yes, we actually thought ahead of late Saturday night Dad!

and then Monday, Mom, Nathan, Maddie, Lawson, Hilary, and myself are leaving for a camp called the FLOW, held by our church (Community Bible Church) for a week. It will also be my birthday! Finally 17. I don't know if everyone felt this way, but mom and I feel like I have been 16 for forever. Which isn't all bad- its been a great year! BUT, that means for my birthday I will have a nice long crowded bus ride... but it will still be all good, because I will be with friends and family (although not all my family :( )

wow...this is a lot longer than I had planned on, but we all hope everything is going well with y'all!
Please leave a comment! I know a lot more of you read this than those who comment! :)
Much love,

~jillian

Acacia Village Video

Here is a video (Staring beautiful Maddie) about the Acacia Village project in Ethiopia. We would ask that you would take the time to watch it. It is a beautiful picture of the needs of God's children, that we are very capable of providing. Grab your tissuse as you click on the following link:
Acacia Village Video

6 girls + 1 dance recital + many family and friends = A LOT of flowers

{and a rather large dinner party afterwards. :) }

Thanks everyone!

12 years today,
my mother and father said "I do"
little did they know that they were really saying "I do" to!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! We love you!

Another Birthday

Yordy Bud Mansell

June 2nd 2008

Five-Years-Old

For little Yordy's birthday, he got to take a special trip to the beach with Jillian and some friends, where he was truly the center of attention...

I love his face in this one.

He wanted to be burried SO BAD!

:) Yes...i know: "AWE!"

and Yordy being a...boy. :)

Sadly, I do not have pictures of the cake and presents at the moment. All our cameras were out of order, so our amazing neighbor took pictures for us. But, for now I hope these will suffice!

Life...

phew.... I am mentally exhausted!! I have sat here for multiple hours, trying to get pictures for your enjoyment and have hardly anything to show for it! I wonder if I should waste a few more hours and get pics on here, or give it up for loss, hoping I can turn the rest of my day around... I will ponder a little longer as I fill you all in on life here in the Mansell home.

Well... I am sorry for the lack of posting! So much has happened since our last post.

~We had a trip up to North Carolina to visit our dear friends the Bloemsma's

~Nathan came home from College of Charleston, went back, came home, and then left for PA.

~Also, we took a trip to Columbia for a hockey game in honor of Nathan's birthday.

~...well, obviously, We celebrated Nathan's 19th birthday (yikes!)

~Were introduced to some of Nathan's friends. (Had a great visits with Hilary, Bo, and Conner)

~PUPPIES! (I think we have had a total of 29 puppies in our home the past 2 months. No worries. Not all at one time.)

~Our baby chicks are growing. They look so funny.

~Our milk and eggs are in high demand (which leaves little for our own mouths!)But good profits!

~Our big events at the moment are the home-schooling conference, used book sale in Beaufort and dance recital.

Well... I do not think I will spend anymore time on the computer today. I get too cranky!! At least now I know that I cannot have a job where I have to sit in front of a computer. (trying to find some profit to the past couple of useless hours...) Off to play some games with the kids outside.

Until next time! 

~jillian

Elaina's Story

(click to enlarge) 

So, the moral of the story... Hmm... I will leave that one up to you! :)

A Visit...

We recently had a visit from our friends the Bloemsma's! They have 10 children (just like us) and we always have a BLAST together! They were on their way to camp at Hunting Island and stopped for a lovely visit at our house. Those of you who have been to our house, can be sure that we were banking on the lovely outdoors to entertain our guests...except there was a minor problem...RAIN!!!

SO... This is what nineteen (Nathan was @ Cof C) children do when it down pours...

Well... Play in it of course!!

Then, after they left, we visited them out at the beach... The rain seemed to follow us there as well, but as you have already seen, rain cannot stop the Bloemsma and Mansell clan from having fun!



Thanks for such a GREAT time y'all! We loved it!!

P.S. Soon to come is what actually happened this weekend. This was just a re-cap. I need to upload our pictures first.... :)
~jillian

Wings

Tonight, Bud (Yordy) was sitting at the table. Dad had just left to get the milk and Yordy then proceeded to say (in the most matter of fact way)...
"Dad can't go to heaven. He can't fly; he's too big." [obviously we need to work on our theology...but I just love the way children's minds work.]
When Dad returned, I told him what Bud had said. His response was simple.
"Bud, I will have special wings. The wings of Jesus. I will get there."

{I hope to post soon about our amazing weekend. I am kicking myself for not taking more pictures... until then!}

~jillian

Strawberry Fields Forever...

Saturday morning we went strawberry picking at Dempsey Farm. The kids had a wonderful time. Jillian, Lawson and Nathan were sadly missed, but we came home with plenty of strawberries to share! Now if I can find the time to get the jam made...

Tamu's Birthday

Special thanks to Grami and Grandaddy, Mimi and Poppa and the rest of our family and friends for calls and kind words to Tamu!


April 15th was Tamu's Birthday!!! He is now four years old, but don't ask him how old he is yet 'cause he can't seem to get that fourth finger to stand up! His surprise was a trip to the Dollar store with Mom and Dad to get a kite! Mark gave him the hint that his present started with the letter "k" and we proceeded to go through the store looking for things that began with a "k". When we were close to the target I began filming and here is what happened...




Next we went home to fly the kite. Yes, a dollar store kite will fly, just not for very long (even if it is Batman)!










Finally, it was inside for another Mansell family cake. This was supposed to be a car, but turned out to be the green family truckster?







Watch out it is BIBLEMAN!

God's One Mistake

Context: Getting ready for bed

Maddie: "I don't like my hair"

Elaina: "But thats the way God made you Maddie!"

Maddie: "Yeah, I know. God made me beautiful, but my hair... I don't know...He messed it up."

:) ahh...the joys of girls...

WHEW HOOO!!!!

I couldn't sleep tonight and thought I would try to be productive. I sat down and actually completed the Post Placement Reports due April 30th for Bethlehem and Habtamu! I am so excited because I usually have to rush at the last minute, my printer doesn't work and some other major thing happens to make these reports STRESSFUL. I tend to put off doing paper work, especially if it involves having to locate other papers to complete the paperwork! I have to complete a report on each adopted child once a year (six total), including a page of pictures. Jillian is always called in to save me when my pictures don't work and the printer is crazy...she will be so surprised tomorrow! So tonight, I am giving God all the glory as he molds me and shapes me; slowly redefining me from the inside out - I am no longer a hopeless procrastinator!!! I know this may sound a little crazy, but if you have ever struggled with procrastination you will completely understand! ....now if I can just get them to the post office on time....

"Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious. Say to God "How awesome are Your works!" Psalm 66:1-3a