Burnett Family

With all the comings and goings of the summer season in a big family, life surely is exciting!!

The crew that attended the Nashville conference last week (Abbie, Hannah, Caleb, and three friends) arrived home late on Saturday night. We had a w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l time serving in the various children’s programs throughout the week and saw God work in many ways. Here are a few pictures…

Thanks to the guys for doing all the driving and praise the Lord for safety!…(not just because of the drivers.) ;)

We made sure we were well stocked with snacks for road. ;)

I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to be able to share heart-to-heart with teenage girls about the life lessons God has taught me and give them hope in their struggles. It’s an amazing thing as I continue my journey of faith to be able to call back to them as a “big sister” and encourage them to keep pressing on in the Lord!

The smiling registration team!

Abbie and two other young ladies taught a group of 16 children for 3 days! She hopes to share more pictures with you soon. We met some really amazing friends that we hope to see again in the near future. :) :)

No sooner had we arrived home on Saturday night, when Dad and the twins took off for Hot Springs, AR on Sunday afternoon! The girls are accompanying him on a business trip and will have some free time together in between trainings. :) Benj also left to spend a night and day with friends in northwest Oklahoma.

Before the AR crew gets back on Wednesday, John-Clay will be flying out for a 4-week film trip! He’ll be meeting up with a team in Virginia, and then they will make their way through New York, Michigan, Colorado, Hollywood, Los Angeles, and probably more places, before arriving home in July. Please be in prayer for him – this is a great opportunity!

After we say “goodbye” to JC and “welcome home” to Dad and the twins, Mom, Charity, Abbie, and I will be driving down to Houston for the weekend to attend a special wedding! We are looking forward to spending quality mom & daughter time together and having LOTS of fun. :) Don’t worry, we’ll take pictures. ;)

So, that’s TWO weeks out of our summer, I’ll wait to fill you in on our other upcoming adventures as they get closer. Where are YOU traveling this summer?? Drop us a note if you want to stop by! We love company. :)

A couple weeks ago, we attended the annual ATI home school conference in Big Sandy, Texas! It’s always a highlight of the year for our family to see old friends, meet new ones, serve in various ways, and be refreshed and encouraged in the Lord. Attendance was up a lot this year, breaking the 2,000 mark!

Opening night was especially memorable as we all took shelter from a tornado in the bathrooms and other safe rooms of the convention center. :) Praise the Lord, there wasn’t any damage, just lots and lots of rain!

Charity, Brooke C., Abbie, Hannah, and Brenna C. – fun times!!

Unfortunately, John-Clay and Caleb had work commitments and were unable to make the trip. The rest of us were involved in different ways throughout the week, so I thought I’d ask everybody what a special highlight was for them.

Dad had several highlights :), including getting to see his children on stage at one time or the other, sneaking away for lunch with Tom and Joyce Harmon, and Roger Magnuson’s presentation in the morning men’s meeting on "More Fun than Video Games" and the "Let’s go lion hunting" story.

One of Mom’s favorite sessions was a talk given by Michelle Duggar to all the mothers, followed by an insightful Q & A time, full of good reminders.

Hannah - I had the privilege of serving with the COMMIT program for girls ages 12-15. Being able to talk to them about the beautiful meaning of living for the glory of God was exciting for me!

COMMIT staff giving a presentation

Abbie was encouraged by Mr. Gothard’s session on what it really means to “lay aside every weight” (Heb. 12:1). After an exciting time of letting us attempt to guess the right answer, he explained that a weight is not necessarily sin, because the phrase “and the sin which so easily besets you” comes next in the verse. A weight can simply be defined as “anything that slows us down and takes time away from the goal”. How is your race going?

Abbie played a solo arrangement of “I’ll Be a Sunbeam”. Beautiful!

Charity doesn’t have a favorite highlight – she likes it all. :) Catching up with friends and hearing truth from God’s Word makes it a delightful experience!

Maggie especially enjoyed a session for the young people taught by Paul and Jenny Speed. She was challenged by their message to not let other people validate you and give you self-worth , but instead let Christ define who you are.

Alto section of the student choir. It sure was fun to have our former church music director, Paul Boone, leading this year!

Carinna’s favorite part of the week was when we had an impromptu student session on the hillside instead of in the meeting room. It was quite the experience to sit on the ground with a couple hundred young people, on an absolutely gorgeous day, listening to Tom Harmon preach in the open air!

Benjamin thoroughly enjoyed participating in the ALERT Cadet program again. Maneuvering the low ropes course and rappelling from a 20 ft. wall were his favorite activities. He learned that obedience and team work is a must!

The Cadets’ program presentation

So, that’s a recap of the Burnetts’ conference experiences. :)

Another special treat for all of us was meeting several of our blog readers in person!! =) =) =) If any of the rest of you are going to be at another regional conference this summer, come see me. I’ll be there with COMMIT!

More posts to come in the near future, I hope. Until then, be blessed of the Lord with complete joy in His presence!

John-Clay and I had the totally fun opportunity to drive to the Indianapolis ATI conference together. Just the two of us. :) I worked with the COMMIT program for girls ages 12-15, and J-C worked in the video department. And we managed to squeeze in some really fun stops on the way there and back. :)

Here’s a quick overview of our trip:

We won’t say who took this picture…..and who was driving. ;)

We stopped and spent the night with the Burns’ family….fresh blueberry pie,  foosball (five people at a time), laughing, talking about making films, laughing, listening to soundtracks, J-C’s stories, LAUGHING, and not enough sleep. We had a grand time!! :)

Caitlin (my friend on the COMMIT staff team) joined us for Chinese buffet – a family tradition right before  a conference.

One of my jobs with COMMIT is to organize the electives held each morning. These activity groups have always been a favorite of mine, so I really enjoy being able to coordinate them for the girls! Two of the favorites this year were fixing hair and making cards.

Throughout the week, we spoke about overcoming fear, becoming best friends with your siblings, knowing God’s love, how to hear God’s voice, and much more. The Lord really did a mighty work in many of the girls’ hearts. His truth is so life-changing! And being a part of that work is amazing.

Afterward, we got to tour a much anticipated highlight of the trip – the  Creation Museum!! If you ever get the opportunity to visit this fascinating place, DO IT! You will be tremendously blessed.

Dinosaurs are everywhere!!!

This was a time line of all the ways men have tried to destroy God’s Word since the beginning of the world.

Guess what. It’s  still here, and it’s still true! :)

Martin Luther, posting his 95 theses. Everything in the museum was done with excellent quality, including all of the life-size wax figures.

One of my personal favorites was the models of the Ark. They gave me a whole new perspective on this verse -

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Hebrews 11:7

I want to ride one of those someday. :)

Life Death, after sin entered the world. The best part of the museum was the “Last Adam” video that was played at the end of the tour. I won’t even try to describe it to you. You’ll have to see it for yourself. :)

These were the wonderful people that took us through the museum, and then they treated us to Skyline chili – yum! Thanks, Henlines!

Wow, lots of good memories made with my incredible brother! Love ya, J-C.