Theresa's Law School Graduation!

I'm a few weeks late on posting this but oh well :)  Jerrod's mom graduated from the University of Arkansas Law School on May 21st in Little Rock, AR!  Way to go Theresa!!  She has worked so hard these last 3 years and it paid off!  Here are some pictures from the great weekend in Little Rock!

Jimmy and Theresa with Grandma Carpenter

Momma with her boys

Jerrod, his brother Dusty, cousin Preston, and "memom"

Congrats on this huge accomplishment!!!

The whole Carpenter Family :)

Great in-laws :)  So happy for you!

The after party...

CONGRATS!!!

International Justice Mission

International Justice Mission - More than 500 Free from Slavery in IJM’s Largest Operation Ever

Check out this article. My friend Kyleigh (we went to Swaziland together 3 years ago) is moving to India on Sunday to work with the International Justice Mission for 10 months. She will be doing administrative work in their field office as well as legal work on cases like this one. Slavery and sex trafficking have been a huge passion of Kyleigh's. Please pray for her travel on Sunday, smooth transition into India, finding a place to live, and most importantly that the Lord will use her there in MIGHTY ways, bigger than we could ever imagine!

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has annointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim FREEDOM for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn" Isaiah 61:1-2

Thanks for your prayers!

Amanda

Family Time!!!

It's pretty rare when the whole Hindes family gets together.  Luckily, we all wanted to go to Garrett & Lana Ruple's wedding in San Antonio and were able to spend a weekend together as a family.  10 adults, 3 babies, and 3 dogs :)  And I'm sure it'll grow a lot more lol.  We had so much fun!  My parents made us awesome meals, we sat and talked for hours, played with the kids, went to the wedding, went to church, laughed a lot and I loved every minute of family time.  We are so close as a family which I am extremely grateful for.  I didn't take that many pictures but here are a few :)

Lauren and Kyleigh

 I love this one...

My handsome husband and I on our way to Ruple's wedding...

Sister :)

 Sister & Sister n Laws

I love this one of my sis, mom and I

Riding to church with Layton

Kyleigh turns 1 this week, I can't believe it!!

Have a blessed day!

A week with Layton...

I am SO behind on blogging, but I haven't had time lately.  I promise I'll try to be better :)  I have several to catch up on so here is the first attempt.  As I mentioned in my last post, I babysat my nephew Layton for 7 days the first week of April!  My sister and her husband went on a cruise with another couple, and my brother and sister in law.  They had so much fun!  You can see her post of the cruise HERE!  I had SO much fun with Layton... it kinda made me want one of my own :)  But I know it'll be a few years (don't worry mom :).  Anyway, we went to Rockport at the beginning of the week with my parents and stayed in their RV.  We went to the park, fed the seagulls, ate lunch on the bay, rode in the wagon, went for walks, etc.  I tried to keep Layton pretty busy all week so that he was distracted from missing mommy and daddy. He did GREAT!  Then Wed-Sun of that week we went back to Amy & Clifton's house and stayed there.  One day Deborah and Mason came over to play.  It was fun to sit and talk to Deborah and catch up on life.  Then I took Layton to the San Antonio Zoo.  He LOVED it!  We rode the "choo choo" and saw lots of animals.  We also had a picnic at Brackenridge Park.  Later that night my mom and I had dinner with my friend Holly and her precious baby girl, Brynn.  She's almost 3 months old now :)  We made visits to Grandma Hill and Grandma Hindes, and on the last day we went to church and then lunch with my family.  It was a fun filled week and I enjoyed every minute with him.  The last night I was there I was rocking him extra long since it was my last night, and he looked at me and said "I love you Manda".  I had tears running down my face the rest of the night.  It was the sweetest thing, and it made me realize how much I'm going to miss my family while we are in Africa.  I'm tearing up just typing this!  Okay, here are some pics for you while I grab a tissue, LOL.

 Holly's little princess Brynn :)

I love you Layton!!!

Date Night!!!

Friday night Jerrod planned a surprise date for us!  I love these kind :)  He took me to the Horse Races here in Houston!  I've been wanting to go forever.... so I guess he picked up on it, LOL.  We had such a great time together.  We ate dinner at the restaurant there, and you can sit at the table for the rest of the night.  We also did some $5 bids and ended up winning $75!  Every horse we bid on got 1st place!  So we called it a night and it turned out to be a free date plus a little extra cash! ha  Here are some pics from Friday night...

View from our table

Awesome husband and I :)

That night I also surprised him with final four tickets and Kentucky gear to wear to the game :)  He was so surprised.  Jerrod has been a HUGE Kentucky fan since he was a little boy.... and since they were playing in Houston for the FINAL FOUR I thought it would be a shame if he didn't go.  He took a friend since I worked this weekend and they had a great time, even though Kentucky lost :(   Boys don't take pics though so I don't have any to post from that.

Also, my sister and her husband, my brother and his wife, and a couple friend of theirs all left to go on a CRUISE today!  They will be gone for 7 days!  So I'm babysitting Layton for Amy and Clifton!  My parents had him for today since I was working, and I'm meeting my parents, grandma and Layton in Rockport Monday morning!  We'll stay there till Wednesday and I'm hoping for sunshine so I can take Layton to the beach.  Then on Wednesday we'll head to Pleasanton and I'm staying with Layton from Wed-Sun at Amy's house.  I'm so excited but a little nervous as well.  I've never babysat for a full 7 days!  Pray for me this week, and pray that they all have a wonderful time spending time together, no kids :)  The good thing is, I have a whole week off from work!  I'm definitely pumped about that!  I'm sure I'll have tons of cute pics of Layton from the week.  I'm thinking I'll take him to the park, zoo, my parents pool, over to see Holly and Brynn, great grandma's house, etc.  We'll have plenty to do to keep us busy :)  Have a great week!!