Alaska Mission Trip 2013

Alaska Mission Trip 2013

K80 & I will be going on a jet plane in March for our very first Mother/Daughter Mission Trip (March 11-23). Iditarod Outreach: Finish Line Nome Alaska. We both fell in love with Alaska in the summer of 2011. K80’s youth group leader, Gretchen, shared this trip with us, & of course we had to go! We will be ministering to the mushers of the Iditarod, caring for the race dogs, working the Bible-in-a-Bucket campaign & loving on village elders. We seriously cannot contain our excitement for this trip! K80 & I have been working very hard for the last couple of months raising money this trip. Junior has saved well over $325 from babysitting. I have almost $500 from working the Japanese students.  K80 and I have also started a Parent’s Night Out (PNO) event at our church, Koza Baptist. In November we watched over 65 kids with the help of 20+ volunteers earning approximately $980.    We have another PNO scheduled for December, January and tentatively for February. Our goal is to earn $6,000 to cover our airfare, mission fees, and a love offering to Alaska Missions.

 

We are almost a third of our way to our goal! We would like for you to join us by praying for a successful outreach in Alaska. K80 & I would also like for you to prayerfully consider supporting us financially.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this letter and considering being part of the work God is doing in our lives as we prepare for this experience. Please contact us if you have any questions. We are extremely excited to see what all God has planned for us on the “Adventure of a Lifetime!”

 

In His Grip,

Colleen & K80 Francis

Page 1 of The Francis 5 2012 Newsletter

2012 has proven yet again if you feed your kids vegetables

and 3 squares with approximately 5 snacks a day they will

grow and grow and grow. The boys are like bean stocks and

K80 is not far behind. I’m telling you I had to get a part

time job just to keep clothes on these teenagers! Yeppers,

I said teenagers, can you believe it? Mark and I are frightfully

proud parents of teenagers, typing this makes my heart weak!

I can’t even think about high school yet, I’m still enjoying 7^th

& 8^th grade right now. As of Thanksgiving the boys are taller

than Colleen but seem to be mere millimeters away from

surpassing Mark! (that’s over 6 foot!)

 

Seth & Junior learned to surf. Caleb digs golfing. Junior loves volleyball. Seth is definitely a back-stroker like his dad. Colleen is still cancer free. Caleb hates texting. K80 & Seth text in their sleep.  Mark misses shooting. The kids think their parents are weird. Caleb & Seth are now Life Scouts. K80 is in NJHS. Colleen lives with 4 gamers. We all miss the States. Mark never answers his cell phone. We are getting a dog when we get home & we shall name him Brutus. We believe we have the best kids in the world.

I certainly do not want to rehash the last year for you.

Most info is on my blog or Facebook. So you are well

aware of the wild crazy and amazing life we lead! We are

blissfully happy and blessed by God. We just want to say

thank you. Thank you for being part of our family; thru

photos, prayers, emails and Facebook updates.

We love sharing life with you!

Thank you very much!

Dōmo arigatōgozaimashita!

どうもありがとうございました

 

 

PNO... what is that?

I know many of you have been quietly wondering what PNO is all about. You've read about it, dreamt about it and still have questions. Like... why in the world would a woman so busy as Colleen take on such a project? Or what in the world is she gonna do with all these children? My favorite one... who loves Colleen enough to volunteer for such an event?

Here are just a few answers to those great questions...
Junior and I took on this project so that we can go on a mission trip to Nome Alaska in March of 2013!  I know right someone just fell out of their chair. Nome, Alaska in March. YES YES YES. We can't wait. It's the end of the Iditarod and how could we possibly pass up this opportunity. (I'll tell you more about the trip later!) When Jr and I first talked about it, Mark said we couldn't take any money out of the family budget to do this. Someone suggested PNO, so we ran with it! So happy we did. It's a blessing to us and to parents all over the island.

What to do w/ these kids? The kids have so much fun. We've got a HUGE screen movie night, tons of games, crafts and some yummy snacks! Last month I over planned, it's what I do. There wasn't a bored moment for anyone. Lots to do, lots of fun, no sad children! Makes for one successful PNO. BTW: we had over 93 children registered and only 1/3 showed up!

Who loves me?... lots of people. They actually love Jr more though! We had over 14 adult volunteers and 12 youth. It was AWESOME! I think (maybe I am imagining things!) everyone had a great time. Time flew by, it didn't feel like 4 hours. Junior and I are richly blessed by all the help!

So how can you help... volunteer today! Our next PNO is December 14th! (the time has changed slightly so parents can go to the movies on base!)

Can't wait to see everyone at the next PNO!

P.S. If you click the photo it will enlarge it for easier viewing!

The Girl who gave up on the ball!

This is me, well I think I look like this!

I'm certain ya'll have heard my rant on FaceBook about this amazing dress that I ordered that came in so small Katie could wear it. I was too mad to think about being creative to alter the dress and I already spent money on that stupid perfect dress! I had told Mark that's it. I'm not going and if I am going I'm wearing the same stupid thing I've worn the past 5 years. He just rolled his eyes and said whatever. He don't care what I wear! (and Yes, I said it like that on purpose!)

 

So Saturday, right before the Super Typhoon was to appear I rushed to the Exchange along with the other 45,000 family members on a a payday weekend! I got what I went in there for... a few scrapbooking accessories! That's when I started seeing all these signs that talked about a 'Special Occasion Dress Sale' September 14-16! I told K80 I was scouting it out. I walked the women's section twice before I found this HUGE selection of dresses! It was 3 whomping racks of dresses! That was it, seriously a couple hundred to a thousand women will be attending a Birthday Ball within the next 90 days on the island and you only have 3 racks of dresses! What are these people thinking?

Then I saw it, it wasn't as beautiful as my dream dress, but it'll do!

 

 K80 hates the jacket! She says I look like an old lady in it. Mark said... "ummm she is old K80!" (Mark slept on the sofa that night!)

  Then I found these shoes today on Amazon for $14.99. w/ free shipping! I love a GREAT Bargain!

So everyone can now breathe easily... I've got a dress, shoes and possibly some jewelry to wear. (That I found at the Marine Gift Shop on island and paid next to nothing for!) I seriously scored this year! I wonder if I'll wear this outfit for another 5 Birthday Balls?

 

Yes, I would have loved to have worn the dream dress, but a bargain is hard to pass up! So thankful that God has bigger plans and ideas for me. Now only 73 days til the Ball!

(Yes I will practice walking in those shoes, especially since I only wear heals once per year. I wear them in to the ball, take my photo in them and kick them under the table the rest of the night! I will seriously try hard to impress my friend, Danielle, and wear them all night long!)

Blessings in everyday life!

Yesterday was a day of blessings, so many blessings and the first hand witness of the power of prayer. My beautiful friend, Hannah bailed me out of a pickle barrel I found myself in. You see our mutual friends just had a baby two weeks ago.'Baby Girl' was 6 weeks early. She's in the NICU. I had promised this family this week that I would bring them dinner and come visit with them and their tiny gift from God. When I offered my superior cooking skills I failed to evaluate my situation: working, golf camp, and meetings every night! Hannah swooped in cooked dinner, got dessert and showed up on time to pick me up. All I had to do was get home from work and change clothes! Have I mentioned I love Hannah?!

So that was one huge blessing yesterday! Here's the next...

So we arrive at the hospital, eat dinner with this beautiful family and head upstairs to see 'Baby Girl'. We soon discover only two can sit and visit with her at one time. So I go in first. I wanted to honestly cry. She's perfect in every way possible. Her color, her smile, 10 perfect toes and fingers. She held my finger and wiggled. I'm instantly in love. Her mom and I talk a bit and I'm just reminding her over and over that God has big plans for you little one and Mama you did a beautiful job. She's doing great... stand strong. I step out and in comes Hannah to love on this little one.

Mama was sharing that 'Baby Girl' has a tiny little hole in her heart (happens a lot in preemies and often times heals on it's own) and that she is struggling w/ constipation. Moments pass and Hannah says let me pray for her. She does our super cool chat time with God prayer and says "Lord, we know you even care about the little things. Father "Baby Girl" needs a bowel movement." In that moment, 'Baby Girl' passes gas (like every good and strong daughter of a Marine), opens her eyes looks and Hannah and Mama and smiles! A big ole smile, takes her hand and covers her nose as if it say 'ewe that was a stinky one!"

God answers our prayers, He hears our hearts and is concerned and has compassion and love for all things in our lives. Thank you Lord for bringing 'Baby A' into this world. She's a miracle baby and beautiful blessing to her Mama and Daddy.

(For the safety and concern of the family their personal information was not revealed in this posting! I would love to show you pictures of this sweet girl, and her amazing mom and dad, but I cannot. Please understand and continue to pray for this family. Hence the reason for no photos and the name "Baby Girl"... I promise she has a super sweet name, unique and special just like her!)

What have I done?

Yesterday you would have thought I just gave my kids a $1 million each! Nope, just cell phones. For a while I've bucked the system, I dug my feet in and I refused to give in to the idea my kids 'need' cell phones.  For those of you who think I caved, I didn't. I now have 3 very active and involved middle schoolers who are going in different directions all the time! I want to be able to check up on them. To easily let them know when plans change. Okay okay okay... I want a leash on them!

 So we jumped in feet first and got ... prepaid phones! We also were blessed with free phones. K80's BFF moved to Jacksonville NC and her family left us their phones. I also discovered that it only costs 300yen a month for unlimited texting. (for you Americans reading this that translates to $3.75 per month!...with no montly contract) Now, using the phone to actually talk to someone is entirely another story, that is 100yen a minute (or $1.25 per minute). However, they can receive calls for FREE. So, if my sweet baboos need mama to call they just text me and tell me to call them. If they call their friends, and they won't, I hope or they will be sent to the gallows! They have already been severely warned about that!

So here you go, TheFrancis5 are running full tilt into the modern digital age!

I think I failed to mention that we only get cell service in our laundry room with the phones sitting on the shelf. So they will not be sitting round the house texting 24/7, it's impossible. They can actually go outside in the 107 degree heat with mind blowing humidity to text their friends. That won't be happening, I'll bet on that. So if you need us, call, text or stop by...the kids will all be crammed in the laundry room playing on their cell phones!

Big Idea!

As I sit in my humble house on this day of intense sweltering heat I ponder...

I ponder Obamacare. I have a solution to this whole issue. Instead of requiring everyone to purchase health insurance we should require everyone to carry life insurance. If you aren't sickly and don't visit the doctor often you can leave an inheritance to your children, spouse or even your favorite charity. If you are sickly and have major health issues your life insurance will cover the cost of your healthcare after you die. Yes, your family will NOT have anything after your passing, but your health care bills will be paid!

Tell me what you think...