Dad and Laurie visit

Dad and Laurie came to see us before they ventured out on their vacation to 

see parts of South Carolina and Georgia. It was a wonderful 24 hour visit! 

Unfortunately we didn't really think ahead to get photos with Aaron and Jaxon too. Oops!

Melynn goes to Thailand

For Melynn's spring break, she volunteered to go to Thailand on a humanitarian trip.

Melynn had to wake up super early to meet at the school clock tower for their trip.

Landed in Bangkok

Taking the song tao to the site which is in the countryside to Chiang Mai.

Just arrived to the ECHO site

The entire team came prepared with their working shoes and then the first thing they were told when they arrived was to take off their shoes and socks and start mixing the mud with their feet. The kids worked barefoot the entire trip!

working on the earth bag house

From Andrew McClary's email updating us on Melynn's trip (which helps explain this program)..."Construction has involved mixing a mud-rise stalk mixture with our feet, filling, hauling and stacking bags for walls and lots of hoeing to move soil. It has been hard work, but we have made great progress. The walls are up and the thatched roof went on today.

ECHO will use this house to training thousands of poor farmers, hill tribes and migrant communities in Northern Thailand on seed saving and preservation. This training is vital for breaking poor farmers out of the debt cycle most are forced into by the need to purchase seeds each growing season from giant corporations along with loans from loan sharks. Today we visited a village that has implemented this training to see the impact it has on pulling communities out of poverty.

Between projects we have been playing with the local school children (out on summer break) in the village we are located in."

The earth bag house is a storage place for the farmers seeds to keep them preserved for the next years
crop so that they don't have to continue to buy need seed.

in front of the almost completed earth bag house

After working on the house, Melynn and her team volunteered with
school children that are mostly refugees from Myanmar.

Getting ready to head up to a rural Thai village where farmers have
 implemented the good habits that ECHO taught them.

Hiking through the forest to get to the village

Some local villagers wearing traditional clothes.
They cooked for the volunteer team with their own crops.

Mom goes to Vegas

While my boys were in the Keys, I flew to Las Vegas to spend time with mom. 

It was so wonderful to have time with mom and Ken!

 Oops sorry Ken. I have no pictures of you :(

 Mom and I had a great time shopping and we loved the Donny and Marie show!!!

Fathers and Sons Florida Keys trip

Aaron and Jaxon traveled down to the Florida Keys for a scouting trip. Many other dads also attended. It took them about 7 hours to drive south.

They camped at Scout Key which is close to Big Pine Key.
Jaxon enjoyed sleeping in his hammock every night.

Jared and Jaxon 

Key West

The weather was not cooperating very well. It got very windy for a couple of days so they had to
 cancel their deep see fishing excursion and scuba diving trip.

The boys still had a great time snorkeling, kayaking and paddle boarding.