Summer days at the Burton Casa are filled with swimming...or "simmin" as Tag says.
Tag saying "Cheese". This face cracks me up everytime!
Faith just mastered the back flip! Look at her fly....
We went to Jes and Matthew's for some family Father's Day/Birthday celebrations a few weeks ago. I was 2 weeks post-op shoulder surgery...sporting my fashionable navy sling. :)
Kissing cousins...
Holding hands when we prayed...
Silliness
Faith lost a tooth while we were there!
Laughter
Matching cousins...
We took this for Tag and Claire. They love Elmo...
Pretzel on the street...
Rockefeller Center
Bryant Park
The Library
St. Patrick's Cathedral
They married in this beautiful little chapel at a camp and conference center outside of Colorado Springs. The chapel had gorgeous wood trim and pews...
...and beautiful stained glass windows that framed that sweet kiss.
The chapel overlooked the mountains...with Pike's Peak just in the distance. It was a chilly afternoon....but Beth was insistent on not wearing her sweater. :)
We walked along the grounds from the chapel to the reception site....and picked wild flowers along the way.
Kris and Mike thought of everything! They even had a "kids table" with balloons and bubbles. It was just perfect.
Kris' sister-in-law, Joy, made the wedding cake. (We are all jealous of her masterful creativity.) It was so pretty....and yummy!
I loved how the topper symbolized this precious family that God has woven together- Mike's hiking boot, Kris and Skylar's running shoes, and Duke's (Mike's yellow lab) pawprint. So sweet.
5 of our "Reunion Group" girls...and Susie's precious new addition, Lela.
Marci (the wedding coordinator extraordinaire) and Macy (the calm brains behind the whole operation).
I love this look on Kris' face...
Julie and I. Julie and Jeff are pregnant with their 4th! So fun to share in their happiness...
This is so classic "Macey and Luke". I love the fun relationship they have. They joke around with each other non-stop. I think Macey is the sister Luke never had. :)
Tag danced the night away with me...
...and Faith Anna with her Daddy. She had all the moves on the dance floor!
Faith Anna and Clara Vee
This is the face Tag makes when you tell him to say "Cheese!" for the camera. Ha!
This is our sweet reunion group...minus Jenni and Elissa. We have been getting together each year since we graduated from college! This is a special group of girls...
Logan made a new friend that he hung out with all night...Brandon Heath.
Dancing with the bride.
Tag loves Daddy.
Congrats Kris and Mike! We wish you many, many years of laughter!
The girls wore the cutest little black bubble dresses....with white gloves, pearl necklaces, and bracelets from Sydney.
Sydney looked ravishingly beautiful! But what I love most about Sydney, is that God gave her a beautiful heart. I always tell my girls that they look so pretty....but that their "prettiest part is their heart." That is definitely the case with Sydney. Her love for Christ radiates all over her!
Great grandma and her girls. Gwimmie was so proud!
Our sweet little family....minus Tag who had the joy of staying home with a sitter! :)
Daddy and his girls
The Burton men. We were delighted to have Jordan in from San Fran for the wedding!
Isn't this a great pic of Luke and his mama?
Granny Boo and Papa Dude with the girls. Aren't those fun little mum balls that the girlies carried?
Comin down the aisle. It was such a beautiful venue at the Arboretum...little white chairs...a gorgeous view of the gardens....picture perfect!
Here comes the bride...
Look how the sunlight came through her veil. So pretty. And pretty bridesmaid dresses, huh?
Mr. and Mrs. Rob Geisy. :)
Tired from taking so many pictures! But still cute...
My hunka hunka burnin' love.
4 generations of love...
Beth danced the night away at the reception...
Logan and Uncle Jordan goofing off...
Faith had too much fun....here she is crashed out in a chair at the reception!
Lunch in Harare before we headed to the airport....bound for Hoedspruit, South Africa! We were so excited to have a few days of relaxation on the end of our trip.
This is the "terminal"....just a runway and brick walkway inside. 
Unloading the luggage...
This airport mainly services the nearby game parks...so it was all done up in authentic safari decor. The kids loved it!
Checking out Pondoro Game Lodge. This place was such a nice resort! The back balcony of our cabin....overlooking the river. It was actually kind of hard to go from such extreme poverty at Karanda....to such extreme luxery here. Hard to wrap your brain around...
Our first game drive. This resort shared some 3 million acres with many surrounding lodges. They've taken down all fences and just let the animals roam freely. We travelled around in these open-top Landcruisers....very cool. Each game drive was 4+ hours....so we saw a lot of the countryside.
Each vehicle had a driver who narrated the whole time...and a scout that sat in the "bonnet" seat. Our scout, Sam, would go off on foot for over an hour at a time following animal tracks.
My girl.
My boys.
The elephants were probably the most impressive animal to me that we saw. They are just SO massive. And they come right up to the vehicle! We had fun watching them.
We even saw a baby elephant. He was trying to act all tough....like he was as big as the others. His mama was watching us like a hawk, though! We had to be extra-careful around this pair....didn't want to make mama mad.
All the men at one of our refreshment breaks.
This is the inside of our cabin. It was beautifully decorated....very rustic but elegant.
We ate dinner each night out on the main balcony. The table was always beautifully set....with a blanket draped over each chair in case you got chilly out under the stars!
We would sit around the firepit and relax for a few minutes while they got everything ready for us.
And the food...WOW! It was some of the finest I've ever had. Definitely gourmet...and gorgeous presentations. :)
Warming their toes by the fire after dinner.
This is the main gathering area where we had tea and snacks.
Faith Anna trying to stay warm on an early morning game drive....snuggling between Papa and Mama Sheets.
I love this picture of giraffe with the zebras. Their eyes are still glowing in the early morning light. So "Africa"...
What an amazing creature. The giraffes were spectacular. This one is actually pooping. Yep, caught him right in the act. :)
Speaking of poop, Sam took us on a Game Walk one afternoon and stopped to explain the significance of giraffe dung. I didn't catch all the details, but basically the locals like to have "Giraffe Dung Spitting Contests" to deem who is the most manly-man of them all. So of course Luke and Landon obliged and partook of this African tradition. :) Gross, huh?
Sam showing us the elephant scrapings on the trees.
The kids fell in love with the wild Mongeese. These were babies that liked to hang out on the porch of the lodge. They carried them around everywhere.
Monkey see, monkey do.
Mama and baby elephant
Breaking down a tree
Beautiful sunset
We finally saw a rhino on our very last day! Luke actually spotted it hidden out in the brush. It is a fantastic creature.
Impala were everywhere. These animals can jump so high- 9 to 10 feet! See the male in the very back with his horns?
Zebra with a Wildebeast. Our guide said they often travel together.
Male Kudu. Check out them horns.
Interesting looking animal....and massive! See the white stripes?
We learned alot about zebras. They each have a different stripe pattern that is unique.
And their manes stick straight up. If they are sick, the hair on the mane will fall over like it does on a horse.
See the baby in the front?
Warthogs
Happy boy. We had such a fun time! Everyone is excited about heading home tomorrow to see Beth and Tag...
We started saying our good-byes the next Sunday... it's been a great week at Karanda.
This is Yamisaveh. He had been working all week on this goatskin drum for Logan. He made it in trade for a pair of tennis shoes.
Kyle grilled burgers for us on one of the last nights. The kids thought the grill was fascinating.
This is a picture of the after-church ritual they do each Sunday. As you exit the chapel after the service, you turn to the left and walk around the circle shaking hands and greeting each person...then when you come to the end, you join the circle and become one of the people that's greeted. The whole time there are drums, maraccas, and tamborines accompanying the booming voice of the song leader. It is an experience!
One of the goals of our trip to Zimbabwe was to unload a 40 ft. container that our organization bought, supplied, and shipped there. It was supposed to arrive a week or two before we got there so that we'd have the entire 10 days to unload it. But wouldn't you know, it arrived at 7am the morning we were to leave!
Getting that 18-wheeler backed into the right place was very interesting. Here is a fellow holding the power lines out of the way so the truck wouldn't back into them.
Once in place, we realized we had no power tools to unscrew the hundreds of screws holding that plywood in place. So we worked our forearm muscles until they were mush...
We had over $500,000 worth of supplies, medicines, equipment, clothing, and shoes donated from various organizations in the United States. Hospitals of Hope and Blessings International were two of them that we were able to partner with for donations or for supplies at wholesale cost. We sent all of this for only about $30,000 cost to P.A.P.A. Missions, Inc. It was such a blessing to see all of our hard work organizing this container...actually come to fruition before our eyes as we unloaded it. Thank you Lord for being our Provider.
Dr. Roland Stephens and Nathan watching the show.
Assembly line. 
Everyone gathered to help us so that we could get this enormous job done in just a few hours. We worked 7:30am until about 2pm....and then hit the road by 2:30pm! A week's worth of work in about 7 hours.
Biggie drove the tractor and hauled the boxes to various storage facilities.
Logan and Faith Anna were "helping" by riding along on the trailor.
At the very back of the container we discovered 2 autoclaves (huge pieces of durable medical equipment used to sterilize medical equipment) that each weighed 27oo pounds...and we had no forklift to unload them! So we did it the old-fashioned way...with about 15 men heaving and pulling it out with a chain wrapped around it. Needless to say, this took a long time! What a crazy job. But so thankful we were there to help.
Saying good-bye to Praise and her baby brother, Ashley.
We passed out toys to our new friends at Karanda on our last day. It was fun to see their faces light up!
Faith and Inno.
Logan with his posse for the last time....Nicky, Tinashe, and Parker.
The 3 hour van ride back to Harare...everyone crashed out in the first 20 minutes or so! We were more tired than we realized.
Our kids were such troopers. They worked so hard...played so well...adapted so easily. They were truly salt and light to that community. Thank you Lord for all that you allowed us to be a part of while we were there. I pray you will continue to water the seeds that we had the privilege of planting. Continue to raise up leaders in that community that will seek and follow you. Thank you for the opportunity to go and serve....and the encouragement you gave us through the African Christians! We can't wait to go back one day.
