It all began like this...
Lots and lots of laundry!!! Haha! Packing for five people for six days is a chore! Of course, I was the only one that could do it! I'm a little OCD about packing...clothes must be in sets and in the order that that they will be worn. I don't really know why I bother, but it's just how I pack.
Thankfully, I took the day off of work on Friday to pack and get everything ready because we packed the bus on Saturday morning. I was so afraid that I would forget something, so I packed the whole house! ;) Anyway, we pulled out of the IBC parking lot at few minutes after 5AM on Sunday, November 20th. There were 27 people on the church bus! Of that 27, there were 11 children between the age of 13 and 4. It was a LONG ride! All jokes aside, the children were WONDERFUL!!! We traveled all day and arrived in Carnegie sometime around 11:30 pm. We quickly got most of our belongings out and set up in the church. Cedar Creek United Methodist Church was our home for the week. We slept on air mattresses in their Sunday School rooms and church sanctuary.
Here is our room all set up...we shared a room with our good friends, the Ashberrys.
On Monday, all the ladies and a couple of (young) men went to the next town over to stock up on our supplies at Wal-mart. We had to feed lots of people (our team) so we had to get lots of food!Our children were also involved in ministering through music and puppets. Here's our Max practicing.
On Tuesday night, the ladies of CCUMC cooked us a delicious dinner of Indian Tacos. Boy were they a treat! The tacos were like a taco salad served in "fry bread". They assured me that it was not corn bread, but "fry bread!" It is a bread made of flour that they stretch and then deep fry, almost like an unsweetened doughnut. Anyway, they were tasty! On Wednesday, we did a little sightseeing and traveled to the Kiowa headquarters in Carnegie where we visited their museum. We also drove to visit the Wildlife Reserve a few miles away. While there, we saw buffalo, elk and prairie dogs! The prairie dogs were super cute and would just stand there and let us look at them.
We also saw all of these neat windmills. They were everywhere!
Here is our little family as we toured the museum at the Wildlife Reserve.
Wednesday evening, we got to attend a pow-wow that was held to raise money for the Carnegie football team that was to advance in the state playoffs. That was a neat experience. I forgot my camera so there are no pictures! It was interesting to see how they honored the players, coaches, alumni, etc. to raise money. There were men beating a big drum and chanting as well as some children and adults dressed in their native clothing.On Thanksgiving morning, we got up early and began preparing the meal. We all worked hard! There was so much food to prepare! Turkeys, dressing, sweet potato casserole, green beans, corn and assorted desserts were on the menu!
During the meal, the children sang and provided puppet shows. The adults also provided some special music.
Here is our entire team after the meal in downtown Carnegie.
The meal, the trip, the ministry could never have been possible without a lot of teamwork!First of all, we needed God's leading. We needed the willingness of His people to give up their plans for Thanksgiving. Also needed was the work and vision of the area missionary, Mr. Howard and the pastor of CCUMC, Mr. Gerald.
Our family was very blessed to get to serve in this way!
Some I did with sprinkles and I experimented with some other designs too. Some turned out better than others!!! All in all, I think I made something like 63 cookies! 
