Anderson, Party of 13

Recently (OK, over a month ago) we drove on over to Utah (Yew- tah for those non-familiar with the state) to visit Mark's brother and family. It had been 3 years since we've seen them and it was high time.

Matthew and Chandra live south of Salt Lake City with their 5 children. They head up the team of Plant Utah and do a great job of telling people about Jesus. They are planting a churches in the Utah Valley. 

While with them we stayed up extraordinarily late (considering we had 9 children between us all that would be wanting breakfast rather early), we laughed. 

Oh my goodness we laughed so hard. 

We made meals together, we played games together, and after the kids were in bed we drank bulletproof coffee together. 

(Don't get weird, it's coffee with coconut oil and butter in it. It is yumilicious--MY word.)

There were times I giggled knowing WE were the adults in charge.

While visiting we took advantage of fancy big cameras to take family pictures.

Matthew is a for reals photographer whose has owned a fancy camera for many a year.

I fancy myself a wannabe photographer. I've owned a big camera for a year.

I'll let you just rest on your own mercy when viewing the photos that Fatty and I have taken side by side.

Mark calls his brother Fatty, because in no way shape or form is Matthew fat. 

And ridiculous nicknames are an Anderson passion.

Right outta the shoot (chute, works also) Fatty gets a frowning 9 year old and a distracted 40 year old...

The Taste of Christmas

It has been WAY too long, people.

I miss blogging. But with no internet I've found myself out at our house at night after the kids are in bed writing in hopes that one day I'll have myself gathered enough to put said writings on a flash drive, haul all 4 kids and Mark's laptop into town, and get on wifi to post.

Today is that day.

I may or may not have showered,

I may or may not have done my hair,

But by golly I have a post for the blog.

Enjoy...

I’ll never forget the first time I tasted the flavor that said, “CHRISTMAS” and yet it was July.

The End of a Journey

Dear Supporters,
Six months have now passed since the Lord led us in the decision to transfer from Buckie, Scotland. We notified you, our supporters, as soon as we were aware there would be a change taking place and then again when we received confirmation that the change was indeed a move from Scotland to the USA.  Our move did not take place until we had fulfilled our obligations in the UK in July including Holiday Bible Club and Holiday Bible Camp.
We asked that our supporters continue the support for the next six months, or until we were called into a new ministry, whichever came first. In the six months that have elapsed since April, we have pursued several different paths into ministry

Doing the County Fair

I've shared a lot of what our life was like in Scotland, and rest assured I've taken a ridiculous amount of photos there to continue to share with y'all.

But I thought I'd swap things around and share with our friends in the UK a taste of the USA.

This may come as a shock to y'all, but we aren't big city people. 

I lived for 4 years of my life in Dallas and 8 months in Houston, Texas and those experiences fulfilled any small desire I had to live in a densely populated area. 

Sure, you have your pros, like a Hobby Lobby every 10 miles, Chick-fil-a, Chipotle, Pei Wei, Starbucks, Gigi's Cupcakes, Firehouse Subs, Whole Foods 

(Ok, well, I haven't ever been in a Whole Foods, but I have been gouged for groceries before, does that count?) 

but y'all not only does my wallet and waistline hate this, 

but there's just something about the country that appeals to me.

Here in USA it's the most wonderful time of the year--county fair time!

Bear in mind y'all a county fair tends to be small.

Each state in the USA has a LOT of counties. After the county fairs the winners go on to the state fair.

But county fair time is a super fun where my husband especially travels back his roots. 

Let's start this show off with a bang and focus on the little girl in the background instead of my boys closely examining the sheep.