Fun Times this Fall

We had so many fun things to do this fall.  It started with a trip to the Sciquarium with Meme, Abram, and Lila Ruth.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the day.  All 5 kids were engaged as the divers cleaned and talked about the animals in the aquarium.

 



 

 

Playing in the leaves has brought many hours of entertainment.

 I know other parts of the world get snow in the fall but it is very rare that we see it in November.  The kids had fun trying to catch flakes in their mouths.  Silas doesn't quite understand that he needs to tilt his head back.

 

 Nana wanted to paint the kids' faces one night so I stayed by to snap pictures.  She probably won't like the one I posted of her and Silas but she makes that face often so I had to include it.

 

Happy Birthday, Meme!



Halloween

Halloween 2013 kicked off with pumpkin carving.  This is the first year we used the paper templates for our pumpkins and it was hard but the kids liked the end result!

 We let the kids pick out their costumes this year.  Normally, I would try to coordinate them into a theme but inevitably that would mean more work for me trying to find or make costumes so we kept it simple and let them pick.  We're surprised by Silas' choice to be a ninja and the only logical reasoning behind his choice is that Gabe has had his costume for a few weeks and has worn it a lot since he got it so Silas wanted to be a ninja like Gabe.

 We enjoyed two trunk or treats this year.  The first was at New Friendship Baptist where they had fun on the hayride with Kenan and Ashlynn.  The second one was at our church, Triad Baptist, where Daryl and I dressed up with our friends, Devin and Stacy, to imitate the Beverly Hillbillies. 

Jethro and Ellie Mae

 

On Halloween night, we went over to Ben and Erin's house for dinner.  Erin and I made a festive dinner of mummy dogs, "pumpkin" oranges, and spider cookies.  Afterwards, we walked around their neighborhood.  Kenan, Gabe, and Eden didn't understand that it's rude to ring a doorbell multiple times until someone answers.  They also ran past buckets of candy on the front porch to ring the bell.  We had a blast with our friends and family this year.

The Dixie Classic Fair

If you read my post from last year then you already know that I love the fair.  This fair is defiantly one of the things I will miss about living in Mozambique.  The food, sights, sounds, and smells are intoxicating and they've always been part of my life.  Since our kids are getting older, they are able to participate more and more in the fair each year.  One thing we didn't expect is that Silas is about 3 inches too short for most of the rides.  He's not afraid to ride the rides so he had a hard time sitting on the sidelines watching Gabe and Eden on the roller-coaster and swings.

 A true dad of twins.

 

 

Face Painting! 

Farris Wheel!

Bringing in the Harvest

For months, we've watched the corn grow taller and taller on Burnette Acres.  Then today, when the kids got up from nap, we found the combine out in the field.  Silas is fascinated with all tractors so we had to go outside to see this big tractor up close. 

This tractor wasn't being used while the combine was running so Silas go to play in it.  After dinner, Poppy took all three kids for a ride in the combine and they helped harvest the last field at the front of the farm.

Dance and Riflery

This fall, we let Gabe and Eden choose an activity.  Eden has been begging us to let her take dance lessons so that was an easy decision for her to make.  Gabe was interested in karate until we found out that all karate lessons for his age require two practices a week which isn't manageable for our family's schedule.  So Gabe's Poppy offered to teach him how to properly shoot a gun and he loves it.

Eden had a hard time adjusting to dance lessons.  We were surprised to see her cry when she went into class and it was hard for us to hear that she didn't like it and wanted to stop.  We realized that this is the first time she has done something without Gabe so we continued to take her to class and she finally adjusted to the time away from her brother.  She really likes the class but I think she likes the clothes and music the best.

 

Gabe loves his new 22 youth riffle but he isn't quite big enough to hold it.  His favorite part about shooting guns is the bear hunts they go on.  Gabe, Poppy, Silas, and Dad load up in the Gator and head out across the farm in search of a bear, lion, snake . . .  He likes to climb up in Poppy's dear stand and watch for anything that might come by.  Gabe always comes back telling me big stories about the lion they saw that scratched him on the face.

 

 

The spectator and tag along :)

Celebrating 10% Supported!

We are so blessed to be 10% supported.  Through God, all things are possible!

We celebrated this good news with a McFlurry and a trip to the park!

September 2013 Newsletter

This summer has been full of new and exciting things.  The biggest adventure was our trip to Mozambique in August.  We had a wonderful time in Africa and we both felt God's confirmation for our future work with children-at-risk!  We are blessed to have wonderful friends and family that looked after our children as we spent this time seeking God's will.  We appreciate all of your words of encouragement and prayers while on this trip.  We are so excited to share with you more details about our trip so we've made a presentation that we would like to share with you, one on one.

Two weeks after returning from Mozambique we again boarded a plane and set off for a 5 day trip back to Littleton, Colorado for more trainings.  It was here that we met Drew and Michele Brown, WorldVenture Appointees, who are also preparing to serve in Mozambique.  We had a great time meeting them and playing with their two girls.

Other highlights from this summer include Daryl's ordination at our home church, Triad Baptist.  We appreciate the support TBC has provided us in every step of our missions process.  We enjoyed a long weekend at Lake Lure courtesy of Daryl's work at NBFSA.  The twins began preschool at Union Grove Baptist Church and they've enjoyed every moment.

This fall will be filled with sharing our presentation with future partners and continuing our preparations to the mission field.  We again want to thank all of you for your love, support, encouragement, and prayers during this process.

Daryl, Leah, Gabriel, Eden, and Silas Burnette
www.worldventure.com/DLBurnette
DLBurnette@worldventure.net

Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for God to send us partners who will join us in the work God has called us to do.
2. Please continue to pray for God to help us transition to full time missions work.
3. Begin praying now for children in Mozambique.

Praises:
1. We had a confirming trip to Mozambique.
2. God has provided 15% of our monthly support!

 

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27