A few pictures from Africa

Africa update

God reveals Himself to us in many ways and today, in a small dirt field, in one of many villages in Chikudzulire, His presence was undeniable.

The day started like many, but ended in great celebration. Our team, along with the direction of somebody cares, set out with the task of leading the youth of chikudzulire in building 2 market stands, called hawkers (pronounced ho-kuhs). These stands will enable the community to display and sell the items they have learned to make; soaps, jewelry, hats, totes.

To see the community and teamwork in this group made from about 30 teenage boys and girls was inspiring in itself. They listened intently, encouraged each other, and worked diligently. They laughed and sang as they dreamed together about what the future might hold with this new skill in carpentry. As the first of two stands was completed, the youth burst into celebration. They cheered, laughed, danced, and crowded as many as could fit inside the stand. To say they were beaming barely begins to explain the emotion.

As they continued in their celebration, the clouds rolled in with a beautiful breeze which created the most serene setting in what was moments before, a dry, dusty, mostly empty field. Looking around, there were kids swinging, playing jump rope, kicking soccer balls. The youth were gathered together, working together. The women were crafting and singing. A peace filled the cool air and quieted each of our souls. In the hour that followed, it was clear that the Lord is at work. We could see His joy in the faces of the children, His hope in the singing of the youth.

A new generation is being raised up in the Word of God. Faith and hope in Jesus is changing lives. God is working and He is using the people at Mission and Somebody Cares to provide for the poor, and share His great love. Today, we left humbled, grateful and hopefully transformed.
Today was a gift for us to be a testimony to, and our hearts are overflowing.

Africa Day 1

Check out our church blog @ mission68.org/visionafrica and click on the blog tab. More coming from the Liles soon...

Almost There

We left Phoenix about 30 Hours ago and are now sitting in the airport of Jo-berg, South Africa. We flew directly from Phoenix to London and had a brief 7 hour layover in London. Our group decided to make the most of our time and jumped in a taxi headed to the Windsor castle. It is the oldest and largest castle that is still occupied. The queen spends part of her year there and uses it for entertaining. It was stunning-Our first experience seeing a Castle up close. It was filled with priceless artwork, furniture, swords, jewelry, china and more. It was a quick look into the rich history of the Castle and London. It was an amazing few hours being a tourist and getting to experience something so unexpected.
We are now about to board our final flight into malawi and everything is still surreal. Looking forward to an incredible couple weeks and seeing what God will do through this amazing opportunity...

Almost There

Greetings from our third airport of the day!
We left Phoenix about 30 Hours ago and are now sitting in the airport of Jo-berg, South Africa. We flew directly from Phoenix to London and had a brief 7 hour layover in London. Our group decided to make the most of our time and jumped in a taxi headed to the Windsor castle. It is the oldest and largest castle that is still occupied. The queen still spends part of her year there and uses it for entertaining. It was stunning-Our first experience seeing a Castle up close. It was filled with priceless artwork, furniture, swords, jewelry, china and more. It was a quick look into the rich history of the Castle and London. It was an amazing few hours being a tourist and getting to experience something so unexpected.
We are now about to board our final flight into malawi and everything is still surreal. Looking forward to an incredible couple weeks and seeing what God will do through this amazing opportunity...

Africa Update

We are so thrilled and humbled to be on a path that leads to Africa! We were able to raise enough funds to purchase our airfare and are so thankful for the generous gifts of others and the way God has moved people to be a part of this Journey. At just over three weeks from departure, we are still needing to raise funds for the rest of the trip, but are trusting God to provide.

Last weekend, I spent 4 days (my longest ever) out of town and away from the Chris and the kids. I think it finally hit me how long 2 weeks is going to be... wow! Branson actually didn't even ask about me while I was gone or really care all that much that I was back. Surprisingly, I think this made me feel a little better knowing that he will likely be having so much fun with his "Grandma Mendy" that the time will fly by for Him. However, Asher actually missed me- which I thought was surprising for a 1 year old! Based on the accounts of Chris, Asher wandered aimlessly around the house looking for me and babbling "Ma Ma." When he saw me he literally hugged me and smiled for five minutes, pausing only to look at my face, and then back to hugging. Heart melting -- one of the best mommy moments ever! I kind of want to take him with me...

All that to say, we ask for prayer for Gods protection over our children while we are away and a peace in trusting Him. I know this will be one of that more difficult things about leaving but don't want to let it be a source of doubt/anxiety. THANK YOU for being a part of this!

AFRICA!?!

We are in the process of preparing for our trip to Africa and have hit a little bump in the road known as "funds." We have already been so blessed by those who have given to support what we will be doing in Malawi. However, we are quite short as of now and not entirely sure what this looks like... Basically, we would love for you to prayerfully consider being a part of what God is doing in Africa and our desire is to be a part of the team leaving October 15th. We have a great passion to go and share the love of God with poor, hurting, and oppressed people in the village of Chikudzulire. So, the question is... Want to be a part of this journey with us?

GIVING INFORMATION:

If you would prefer to donate securely online, please go to Africa.mission68.org and select the “Give” tab on the far right. Set up a quick login account if you don’t already have one and follow the simple prompts. Select the trip which I am participating and input my name, amount of donation and payment info. If needed, please contact me for additional instructions or details about giving online.

Please make all checks payable to “Mission Community Church “, and leave the memo line BLANK. Please mail all checks to us personally at our return address.

Christopher and Fallon Liles

7216 E Laguna Azul Ave

Mesa, AZ 85209

AFRICA BOUND

About 2 years after Christopher returned from Africa, we have been given the opportunity to travel back together. We are BEYOND excited for this chance to go and serve in this capacity, and somewhat nervous too. Actually, I think I am the only one who is nervous since Chris has been there before and knows a little of what to expect. I am looking forward to what God will teach me through my time away and trying to keep my expectations low since I have been told over and over again that our plans will be thrown out the window once we arrive. Probably a good lesson to learn in itself. We leave in just over 9 weeks from today, WOW!! My mom will be coming to stay with our boys for the 2 weeks we are gone. I have never been away from them for longer than 2 days and I know as the trip gets closer, I will become nervous to leave... But I can't think about that yet :) Just another way to lean on God and learn to trust Him. Excited for the process that gets us to Africa!

A Bit of our Letter we mailed out:

In July of 2008, my heart was forever changed as I spent 10 days in Malawi, Africa. The trip involved visiting the village of

Chikudzulire that our church, Mission Community, has adopted in partnership with the organization Somebody Cares. The

Village of about 900 people consists mostly of young children left orphaned due to the AIDS pandemic. I went with a

desire to love and serve the people of Africa while beginning construction on a new feeding/community center. However, I

left with a stronger faith in God and a deeper understanding of trusting Him. I witnessed those around me truly trusting

God to provide their next drink and their next meal. Trusting in His promises and the Salvation He brings. Living for and

being thankful in each new day. God began to work in me and reveal the things I let worry, distract, and simply come

before trusting in Him. I left with a refreshed perspective, thankful for what God had shown me and what he had begun to

change in me. Through my experience, God deepened my relationship with him and gave me such a passion to love and

serve the people of Africa.

Recently, Fallon and I were presented with the opportunity to travel back to Chikudzulire together with about 6 others from

our Church. This trip involves spending time with the youth of the village, offering practical training on ways to earn and

maintain livings, bringing hope to those who may have little and healing to those who are wounded. Additionally, we will be

traveling with two pastors from our church who are going to help train some of the pastors in the area and help equip the

youth for leading the next generation in a positive direction. Most importantly, we will get to show the amazing love of

Jesus to some of the most hurting and impoverished people on the planet. We are both excited to be able to go and serve

in this capacity, and even more excited about what God will do in us while we are there.

Our team is scheduled to depart on October 15th and return the 30th. Each individual team member will need

approximately $3000 to fully fund this trip, which means we need to raise $6000. Any funds that are donated will directly

help us cover the cost of airfare, food, lodging, local transportation and supplies to aid the children of the village we will be

visiting. We ask that you would consider offering a financial gift and participate in what God is doing through this time in

Africa. Equally important is your prayer support for our safety on the trip, the strength of the team, and the hearts of the

people of Malawi. We also ask for prayer for Gods protection over our children. While it will be difficult to be away from

them, we trust that what God will be doing in and through us during this time will be a blessing in our family.

“He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with you God.” Micah 6:8

The 4th of JULY, 2010

This year we spent the 3rd of July at our friends, the Wines, housewarming party. They have a beautiful new home and we had a fun night hanging out, eating delicious food, and playing pool volleyball. We also took our annual "4th of July" photos with the Lundbergs and Blocks. The next night we had some of our family and friends over for a little feasting and fireworks. We had a great night and Branson loved the fireworks almost as much as I did. He was actually scared of them for a couple minutes until he started singing, "God is bigger than the boogey-man..." And then he realized he wasn't afraid anymore. Cute Kid!

Life Back home with my BOYS

Before Asher arrived, I remember wondering how I would love another baby as much as Branson and thinking about how much I would miss Branson while we were in the Hospital. Our time in the Hospital for a couple of days without Branson went by so quickily and was such a good time to bond with Asher. Branson was not allowed to visit because of RSV season so by the time we were discharged we were so excited to get home and see Branson and let him meet his brother for the first time. He had been staying at His Oma and Papa's house and apparently was having such a good time he cried when he found out he had to come home- which made us feel fabulous! I couldn't believe how HUGE he looked after being with a 7 pound baby for a couple of days. He looked strangely large. Even changing his diaper seemed wrong- just too much booty compared to what we had been dealing with! Anyway, we were SO excited to see him and he was excited to meet his brother too! He just smiled and said "Baby" and wanted to hold him. He also wanted to rock him, singing, "Rock Beeee, Rock Beeee." So Cute! Asher has just mostly been sleeping, eating, and being precious these first days. Here are our newborn/family shots taken when Asher was 10 days old:

Side Note: He rolled over from his back to tummy and tummy to back during the shoot- crazy little guy!

Arrival of Baby BOY number 2- Asher Scot

I had a doctors appointment early the morning of September 8th. Moving along fine in pregnancy terms, but no "real" sign of labor in my immediate future. (My due date was the 18th). Then, later that day as Branson was taking a nap I decided to lay down myself for a few minutes- a regular occurrence at this point. I started feeling, crampy-ish, I suppose. I just couldn't fall asleep because I was having some pains. After a little while of this I decided maybe I should be timing this pain? (With Branson, my water broke so the whole labor bit was kind of a no-brainer) I began timing and interestingly enough I was having some pretty consistent pain, about 8-10 minutes apart. I decided to take a shower just incase. They were getting closer together and more painful with the passing time so I called Chris to let him know. I started to make some dinner and was getting ready for My brother Tavis and his wife Cindy to come visit. It was her birthday so I was planning a little party for later that night. The contactions were getting stronger. I called Chris to ask where he was and why he wasn't home yet. Apparently my call earlier wasn't clear enough because he was just working away, and kind of oblivious to the fact that I might actually be in labor. I'm pretty sure when he got home he found me lying in bed curled into a ball holding my breath- I think he started to realize maybe this was it. I was in pain, but the contractions were still about 5 minutes apart so I was doing what I could to finish dinner, not wanting to rush to the hospital if this was just a false alarm. Finally, we called the hospital and the nurse told me to come in once they were closer together and the pain was to the point I couldn't talk through it- yay! We had Christopher's sister on stand by so we called her and caught her right before a nice date out with her hubby, sorry Annick! Chrisopher decided we should head to the hospital so we did, and by the time we were at his sisters house dropping off Branson, I was SO GLAD we were on our way. Contactions were only 1-2 minutes apart and I was in quite a bit of pain! When we got to the hospital I knew they were going to admit be, or I decided I would stand in the waiting room screaming until they did. They admitted me and we were in a room with an epidural around 11pm. The epidural worked MUCH better this time around and I could barely feel the catheter, THANK GOD!! Annick ended up coming to visit after Branson fell asleep at her house with Uncle Jared and we called our photographer friend, Jess. She made it just in time, along with my friend Alexis. Annick and Jess were in the room during the delivery, snapping shots and capturing video footage- I was fully on display! :) The delivery went pretty quickly and although I still felt more than I wish I could have (Why epidurals don't work as intended on me, I have NO idea) It was so much better than my first delivery! We did not know what the gender was and decided to let the doctor tell us both. I couldn't risk Christopher mistaking parts, sorry babe! Out came the baby and the doctor exclaimed, "It's....a....BOY!" Ok, I was sort of hoping for a girl, but when he said BOY, it was as if I already knew. I just kind of said, of course it is!! And when I held him in my arms for the first time I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Boys, Sons, Brothers... and most importantly, A Healthy Baby!! What a blessing. And so we named him Asher Scot Liles. "Asher" comes from the Bible, meaning HAPPY, and "Scot" after his daddy's middle name, spelled wrong and everything. We had a great experience aside from Asher doing a bit of coughing up/choking and leaving us to call the nurses in a couple times. They had to clean out his lungs a bit and we were definitely on edge, but by the time we left the hospital he was doing well and seemed to be living up to his name. We couldn't love him more!

Joys Baby Shower

I had the pure HONOR of throwing a baby shower for my good friend Joy. It was a joint effort for sure, but we had fun planning a special little afternoon to love of our friend and enjoy some time with the girls. Joy is having a little girl, due October 13th and I am so excited for our kids to be friends (or to build a lifetime love??) But really, it has been wonderful to share in this pregnancy together and I am looking forward to our adventures in mommy-hood!

Fallons Birthday

This birthday being all big and pregnant, I decided to just spend a quiet day with my little guy. We started by getting some yummy FREE FOOD at Joe's Farmgrill and had a surprise visitor- Joy- a great start to any day! Next, we headed over to a public pool, Mesquite Groves (I highly recommend going) and had fun splashing in the water. It was a special time spent with Branson while I can still give him undivided attention. Later that day we spent with Christopher and my dad enjoying a great dinner and family time. I feel so big these days that a quiet birthday was just what I wanted!

Maternity Pictures

Before The Arrival of our second child, we were able to spend a warm afternoon taking some pictures with Jay and Jess from SessionNinePhotography. They are friends and wonderfully talented and creative photographers who have just recently started their business. We also have them scheduled to take pictures in the hospital and newborn shots once we get home. Taking pictures while pregnant is not a favorite of mine, but I am glad we captured this special time in our lives as we anticipate adding to our family.

Cabin Time with Friends

We got to take a fun weekend away with a couple couples to the In-laws cabin and had a great weekend away. We went on hikes, played games, chatted, spent time in downtown Prescott, and enjoyed the cooler weather. Thanks for a great weekend Lundbergs and Hermanns! We will have to do it again (But with our growing families I'm not sure how we will fit) :)

4th of July, 2009

We spent our 3rd Annual 4th of July at the Blocks House this year and had a great time as usual.

The boys took more pictures and they have grown up so much this past year. I love that I have some great friends going through similar experiences with having children and especially love that we all have boys that get to romp around together. Maybe more boys are in our future as Alexis and I are both expecting but the gender will be a surprise!!

Christophers MANY Birthday Parties!

Christopher turned 27 on June 2nd and we celebrated a few times. I am not sure how that really happened, but I guess we just love him so much we had to have more than 1 party! First, we had some friends over, then we had some family over, and then on his actual birthday a couple days later his sister and brother-in-law came over for dinner. I made a cake/cupcakes for each party, and by his actual birthday, we were so sick of cake we didnt even eat any... what a waste! Branson became a pro at blowing out candles!!