The start of the school year

I am finally home to stay. Since the moment I have stepped off the plane it has been nothing but speed, acceleration, activity, rushing, and haste. Not a day has gone by that we did not have plans or activities going on. From picking up kids for VBS to making many trips to and from the fair grounds with loads of animals and exhibits. And still to this moment life is full as it can be we started preschool with the 3 youngest and the rest of us start school on the 4th. 

I think the thing I missed the most while being in Haiti was my little siblings. Even though everyday I was surrounded by many little kids there also. But it was not the same thing. My little brother Matthias and I are so close. He great big green eyes and his hugs. His cute comments and his adorable smile. I have been given the honor of homeschooling them for the time being. We are working on colors, shapes, numbers and character. They are a blast but that is not to say that it does not get crazy. From trying to contain tempers to talking about not hitting your sister...But I love it. The little things they say and the way they improve so quickly. The way they pronounce their colors and their little fingers holding their pencils. 



I cannot express the joy and the sorrow of returning to the US. The different cultures and all that has happened. The ways that it changed me and the ways that it made me who I am today. It broke me leaving and still breaks my heart to think of the little faces crying on the porch when I left. And the sobbing and tight hugs I received. They became my family while I was there. Even though we could not communicate, we all became super close. We had some very good, very hard, very fun, and very crazy times together. I loved seeing all their faces popping out when I came into the the compound yard. And as I walked through the gate and was tackled down by like 19 little kids jumping up for hugs and kisses.  

Hannah

June 25th

Today is our last full day together as a team. Tomorrow I am moving to Living water ministries. My team will drop me off sometime tomorrow afternoon and then they fly back to the US on Thursday. Today we are going to go to another tent city and do some medical relief and a puppet show. We are also going to an orphanage.

Yesterday we went to a tent city and prayed for people, shared the gospel and gave out some bibles. Then we went to an orphanage and played with the kiddos and did a feeding program. We then went to another tent city and showed the Jesus film {which was a crazy experience}....

God is good and is working. The hearts here are so open to Jesus. We have been so blessed while we have been here. Please pray that all goes well today. Thank you and enjoy the photos! :D

Leesna and I <3

Pastor Brain!

Interesting name for a restaurant right?!?!

Our small team/army, heading out for an awesome day of ministry!

Hannah got sick...so she was takin a nap. She is doing better now, PTL

ummm...

I was walking through the tent city when I heard my name being called. I turned around and saw many heads poking out of one of the tents. It was a family I had met last year. Then motioned me into their tent and handed me a baby. They were so grateful still for the little that I had done to help them. They just got word from the mayor that they have a week to find a new place to move. It is one of the biggest tent city. Please join in pray for the hundreds of people that need homes. Thanks.

Logan, Me & Carlos. We all went to lunch on Sunday with the pastor. Learning so much about the Haiti culture and seeing many amazing things. Please pray that God will use us!

Haiti photos!

Wanted to post some photos. I don't have a ton of time for long stories but I will post some more soon! Thanks for the prayers! God is truly working!

Haiti sunsets are the BEST

Our team/Family (:

My tom tan

 

 

My Haitian family

Little feet

Auntie Pam!

Hannah! Peas!

Perfect love...

Puppet show



The 1st night we got here we did a dinner for the people in the tent city and we had 140 plates of beans and rice. And 138 people showed up. Talk about the hand of the Lord. More details to come.

Toms are the bomb! :D

The things God asks us to do are not always easy. Sometimes they are really hard. They require lots of focus and attention. Sometimes we are called out of our comfort zone. We have to rely on God's strength and not ours.
I was just reading in kisses from Katie about the statement "God will never give you more then you can handle". She was saying that God does give you more then "you" can handle. So that we have to trust Him to get us through. He wants us to "need" Him.  So that He can have all and do all. He will take over and do the impossible in our lives. He longs to have and take control in our lives.
What that being said, I am on a plan flying from Miami to Haiti. I just finished reading letters from my family. I cried like a baby. I miss them so much already and I am on day 1 of 50. I have a ways to go. After sitting and crying for a bit , I read what Katie had to say. I saw it as God's hand in my life. "Katie you don't have to handle this, I will. I have been with you so far and I will be with you forever."
The peace that comes with knowing that we can place our hearts in God's hands and He will be faith to handle what we cannot. God uses inadequate people. He creates beauty out of ashes. All He wants is a willing heart. I sit here hoping and longing for God's divine intervention, that He will teach, guide, protect, change, and use me for His glory. It is in our weakness that God is great. You can probably tell that I am pretty excited/nervous/scared/happy/anxious.
My prayer is that God will mold me more into the person that I need to be and that He wants me to be. God is faith to complete the good work that He has begun.
As I started this journey, I said good bye to my family, grandparents and friends at the airport. I had many phone calls, messages, and prayers of encouragement. I just want to thank you all for your support and prayers. I can't wait to see what becomes of this trip.
I love you all so much and I will try to keep you all posted with photos and stories.
Praying for you too.
 - Katie, in Haiti

The KIDDOS of the Busby family

Wanted to give an update of the family before I leave for Haiti. As a lot of you know we moved this past week and so our lives have really been focused on that but the whole family was together! So that was great! Even Josh was home. We had a blast even though there was and is still a ton to do. 

Anyways I have gotten an updated photo of all the kiddos and I am going to give a few things that are going on in each person's lives/interests  • Enjoy  ♥ ♥ ♥

JACQUELYN •1• ♥  { also known as Fattie Patty } ♥ 

She loves to eat  • just learned to say "nigh-night" • loves daddy 

MATTHIAS • 3•  {also known as Shmadley} 
He loves riding in the old Chevy farm rig "the monster truck" • jumping on the trampoline • cuddling on the couch with his "star" blankie • ❤'s cheeto chips

AIMEE • 4•  {named "Aimster" by Josh}
Loves walks/hikes • is our little model • popcorn is her favorite • gives lots of hugs & kisses

SAMUEL • 6•  {Sambo is his nickname}
Red is his favorite color, because it represents Jesus's blood • always reminds us of what Jesus would want • has a GREAT imagination 

JACOB • 9• 
Always helps dad with the chores • works really hard • likes adventures in the wilderness 

ABIGAIL • 10•  {Abi}
Loves her rabbits • a little mommy to Jacquelyn • jokes constantly 

AMBER • 11• 
Involved  in 4-H • ♡'s her horse Cheyenne •  training for Mt. Rainier again  

ALICIA • 13•
Working hard at horse/fair things • dreams to barrel race • Loves her dog Sofie & her horse Dakota • becoming so gorgeous and beautiful    

RACHELLE • 14• 
Raises and maintains her 4-H goats • amazing on the piano • learning guitar • sings amazingly • pretty much good at everything and anything she tries   

ME (KATIE) • 17• 
Y'all know me! ;) I leave for Haiti in 10 days!?!?! ❤ Prayers appreciated. 

JOSH • 19• 
Lives in ND • diesel mechanic • owns an AWESOME Dodge Cummins • SO GOOD TO SEE HIM AGAIN 



Well there you go! That is all the Busy Busby kids. Everyone busy as ever and doing  lots of things! Fun and great to see everyone enjoying life. As everyone grows up and gets older it amazes me to see how different everyone is from likes & dislikes to personalities & dreams. God has clearly made all of us different and has a purpose  {a GREAT purpose} for everyone! I can't wait to see how and where God uses all of them...and me ;) 

I LOVE ALL of my siblings! They are amazing and I could not live without them. I am going to miss them so SO so much! They teach me new things everyday. I ❤ waking up and seeing all their faces. 50 days without them is going to be really hard. But God will be there and a LOT of Skype dates with them will pull me through...!

I hope to keep everyone posted while in Haiti (if I have time) how things are going. So check back for updates. Hope y'all have a WONDERFUL and BLESSED summer! (:

Mother's day weekend

Dad (Stan) had to go to Montana to pick up a ropes course and for mother's day we decided to send mom along, that way she could have a somewhat quiet 4 day weekend to rest and enjoy not having to be "mom" for all of us 11 kiddos. So they left Friday morning about 8 to return Monday night. I am going to share a few of the things I have learned while they have been gone and a bit about what God is doing in my heart. So here goes!

My amazing Papa & Mama



Alrighty so Thursday night I was listening to a program on the radio driving around doing some errands, and it was talking about being a mom and all that comes with it. I am not a mom but I have been placed in a family with a lot of little people and I should take this opportunity to learn and practice as much as possible while I can, and also help my parents. It is easy to think about "my, me and mine". The Lord was kinda working on me in this area and was showing me some selfishness I had in my heart regarding this area of my life. As many of you know I am going to Haiti for 50 days on June 16th, so my focus has been on that quite a bit. Along with school, the normal daily routines and the things with friends and people outside of my family. And I have not realized how distracted I have been. So while listening to the program I really felt the Lord saying "Katie, you have whole weekend to focus on your siblings and your life at the moment."

Right then I decided that I was going to try to work on giving my siblings my full attention. To be honest it has been a fantastic weekend with them. I told my parents I was going work on training the kids and working with them on obedience and respecting. So we started the weekend off with saying we where going to try our hardest to watch as little TV as possible and to give them the constant attention and time they need. This is not to say that the distractions did not come, they did! I had to try my hardest to turn my attention to the kids. Distractions slip in through the smallest things from social net working to the lists of projects that I have piling up to do. So I tried to devote my time this weekend to the kids! 

Like I already said it was a fantastic weekend! We had all kinds of fun adventures and also lots of great learning experiences for all of us. It also showed me how much my mom does. It is a lot of work. Thanks mom for all you do! It truly amazes me.

I tried to take photos of the weekend and I will post little captions and stories below them. I hope you had a fantastic weekend also!

The 1st swim of the year! May 11th, it was pretty cold but it was a ton of fun and totally worth it. All the kids had a blast and it was really warm outside so that helped at bit with the recovery ;)

Fatty Patty & Rachelle

For a mother's day afternoon activity we made Oreo Chocolate cookies. It was a blast and a fun new recipe! Highly suggest you try it if you haven't.

Amber was having some issues with her horse, so we went for an evening ride to work with her.  It was fun and we got to have some good conversations which is always a bonus! 

Soooo this will be a bit of a story....

After Amber and I got home from riding the horses, Amber went to get Soffie off her chain outside but she somehow managed to get lose. We have not had her a really long time and we didn't know if she would try to get our rabbits or not. So to be on the safe side we started to bring them into the garage but their hutch weighed "a ton and a half"! So instead we carried them into another cage we had, mean while the house kinda got woken up. AND 2 bunnies escaped. Luckily we got them all into the garage safely. Then all of a sudden we heard Aimee say something about a frog. Them Amber and I started our toad hunt, and after a bit of screaming and work we caught it. At this point Ty and Aimee where up, and very excited to get in on the fun. We got the toad in a cage and we headed back to get the little's to bed.  
When I woke up Sunday morning I could hear the kiddos up talking about a huge moth in the house. Which we now believe to be a Hyalophora cecropia. We caught it and put it in a jar. Aimee claimed it for her own and she named it Sissy. Matthias claimed the toad (even though it is secretly still mine) and we named it Billy Cricket. 

After making breakfast, delivering a mothers day gift and some chores we started some "Moth and Toad" research to see what they eat and where they like to live. So the picture below shows us coloring some pictures of our SPECIAL new members to the family :)

Matthias giving me a big kiss!

We are really all just kids at heart! At least I am & I know I always will be.

I walked outside to find these little shoes of Fatty Patty's on the patio. 
It is truly the small things in life that matter.  

Out hunting for food for Sissy and Billy. 

Matthias came inside looking like this. All I could think was you have my heart and grabbed my camera. He is my bestie!

When we where doing laundry together today I put all the warm laundry in a basket and there where a lot of Matthias's clothes in it. He walked up and a pair of his little underwear where on top, he touched them and said "My undies are sooo HOT!" Made me laugh soooo hard! LOL  

A few seconds latter I find him trying to clean him self in the bathroom. There was now mud all over the sink, counter and floor but once again I had to take a photo. 
These are the moments you will never get back.

Chubby dirty little toes on the counter.

Fatty Patty has a hard life :) She is such a sweetie! She just learned how to throw her hands in the air and say YAY! So darling. She also started saying shoes and bottle. :)

Making some dessert with the little's. The cutest conversations EVER happen when working together.  

My 2 favorite youngsters:) Then to find Matthias with chocolate covered fingers trying to catch another moth to add to the collection. Made me smile and wonder what my life would be like without them.

Dinner

Nighty Night! Time for some Zzzzz time.

Today (Monday) consisted of  getting the house back in order and keeping the little hands busy and out of trouble. And A TON of laundry {I think 8 loads}. The little ones went down for an early nap due to that they are exhausted from a really busy, full weekend. And we are taking them out to Ice cream with a friend when they wake up for doing such a great job while mommy and daddy where gone. 

Now this weekend was not easy. There where those moments when I thought WOW there is a ton to do! I found out that there are not enough hours in a day for everything :) But God is in the industry of stretching and working on His kids. I had a few good phone calls from friends, fun conversations with my sister's, and many adorable moments with little faces and cute little actions that made every moment worth all the work.

I thank God for this weekend that opened my eyes to the hearts that we are blessed to have a chance to mold. And we pray that they will someday follow Him and spread His love to others. I LOVE all my siblings and I am blessed to have been placed by God into this family. Thank you Jesus. We are blessed beyond what we could ever ask for, and in ways we cannot see.
Remember friends to look for the small things to impact those small hearts around you. It is very rewarding.

Have a great Monday and a wonderful week! 

Photos of Billy and Sissy to come :) 

Also please pray for me and Haiti. I am starting to get a bit nervous but at the same time excited for it to get here. Trying to live in the moments and not for the moments. 


He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. Luke 16:10