STAS Final Few Memories

We made some special memories in our last couple weeks in the States.  We spent one day in St. Louis at the zoo, then we went to a Cardinal's baseball game with friends that night.  It was the kids' first major league game of any kind, and we had a blast!

 Some close friends have a large piece of property and several 4-wheelers, and they blessed us by letting us take the vehicles out for to drive through the Ozark mountains as a family. Such fun memories! 

 We also got to go out with some friends to try out wake surfing.  The kids picked it right up, and it was so fun to watch them rocking the wake. :)

Before we knew it, the time had come to return to the airport, say another round of goodbyes, and fly back to the Philippines.

We will miss you all!

STAS Family Time

Our favorite thing about STAS (scroll down to "Stas part 1" for info on STAS), is time with loved ones. and a highlight was definitely the Hagen Family Reunion and the days we spent with my parents at a resort.

  We so enjoyed our time hanging out with Steve's family, and it was especially good to finally meet our newest nephew.

 The girl cousins...

 ...and the boys!

 We had the reunion at the Lake of the Ozarks, so we spent a lot of time hanging out in the water and playing on the playground.

 SO thankful for the time we had with all the Hagens!

We couldn't have a Jackson Family Reunion, because both of my siblings serve overseas.  But we had a great couple days with just my parents at a resort.  We spent a LOT of time in hot tubs, and the views were amazing.

 We also went for another bike ride in a gorgeous park.

 Spectacular!

 The day we checked out of the resort, we headed to a small theme park for the day before going home.

 We had fun riding the rides and just hanging out.

 We are so thankful for our amazing families who stand behind us in our decision to serve overseas, and since we spend so much time on the other side of the world from them, we certainly cherish every moment we have with them!

STAS part 2

*for info on the very un-creative title, scroll down to see "part 1"*

Our big trip while we were in the States took us 5,000mi through like 10 states (and that's midwestern states, not itty bitty NE states! :) ).  I won't include tons of pics from everywhere we went, but here are a few of the highlights:

First, we headed up to Minnesota to see Steve's grandma and church that sent out his family.  

 After several rousing games of rumikub with Grandma, we headed West to South Dakota to see some of our great country on our way to our next stops.  First we saw the Badlands: absolutely amazing!!

 From the Badlands, we headed to Mt Rushmore and got the stock photo there.

 Next was Custer State Park, complete with wild burros.

 We drove around for hours, hoping to see some buffalo, but it wasn't till we had left the park and were headed south that we finally found some.  They were actually in the process of crossing the road (read: hanging out in the road), so we sat for about 20 mins in a buffalo crossing traffic jam. Living in Manila, we've sat in countless traffic jam, but this one was actually enjoyable. :)

 Next stop: Nebraska to see some dear friends from our Bible School days.  The adults had some great talks while the kids enjoyed their farm vehicles and wide open spaces.

 Kansas was next on the route, and we SO enjoyed reconnecting with our church family there.  We were spoiled rotten by our hosts, and we felt very loved and supported.  It is so good to know that people are so faithfully standing behind us like they are!

Here's a pic of us sharing at that church.  We spoke every Sunday we were back, often a couple times in a day.  The kids shared in our presentation too, and they did a great job!  Just like on the field, we are so thankful to have them on our team for STAS.

Something else we did as we traveled from place to place is toured college campuses.  Mikayla only has 2 years of high school left, and she won't be back in the States until she is starting college, so this was her only chance to see schools before she makes her decision.

 Our next stop was in Texas to see Steve's other grandma.  We had a wonderful time catching up with her as well, and Mikayla had fun doing some quilting and craft work with Steve's aunt there.

 Our last stop was in Arkansas to see some old friends from the Philippines.  These boys used to be all around the same size...not anymore!

And that concluded our tour of the Midwest!  It was a crazy trip, but we had a lot of fun and were blessed to reconnect with a lot of loved ones.  God is good!

STAS part 1

Ok, so the very UN-creative title gives you a glimpse into how shot my brain is...but we'll go with it. :)  STAS stands for Stateside Assignment, and we just got back from a whirlwind 2-month one.  STAS is when we spend time back in the states, re-connecting with loved ones and sharing with churches and other ministry partners so that they can better know how to pray.  Ideally, it is also a time to be refreshed and recharged to be ready to tackle life on the field again...but that can be tough to make happen, especially during such a short time.  This STAS felt like it was on fast-forward...our first STAS was 8.5 months, second was 4.5 months, and this one was 2 months.  Same number of people we want to connect with, same number of churches to share with, but everything happens at hyper speed.  We are so incredibly thankful for the time we had with loved ones and all the things we accomplished, but it was definitely too short.  

Ok, so on to the fun part - pictures!  Immediately after arriving in the States (less than 10 hours later!), the guys left on a 24hr drive to Florida to go hunting with Steve's side of the family.  They had a blast with the guys down there, and Zach even got a wild pig!

 They stayed in this cool hunting cabin and drove this swamp buggy around.

 Pretty good shot for his first time! 

 The guys got back from their FL adventure at the same time Mikayla arrived back in the States (she had to stay an extra week in the Philippines to complete exams).  Mikayla arrived one night and got her driver's permit the next day!  We packed in as many driving hours as we could over the summer.

 Since the four of us had to return to the States before school actually ended, Zach missed his 8th grade graduation ceremony.  This was disappointing, but he was ok with it, especially since he was going to get to go hunting with his grandpa and uncles.  Then we were shocked to find out that Zach had won the highest award for his class - "Vanguard Boy" that reflects his scholarship, character, leadership and involvement in activities.  So proud of him!  We didn't tell him that we heard he had won; instead we gathered a group of friends and surprised him with an award ceremony in the States. :)  So thankful for this group who was willing to come out and celebrate with us!

 Time with family was definitely a priority for us while we were back.  One of our favorite activities with my parents was family bike rides!

 One day we went to the Katy Trail (used to be a railroad), and we rode 26 miles that day!  At least some of us did; a few only did 13. :)

 Another fun thing we did those first couple weeks was a canoe trip with my parents (Jen's) and Steve's dad.

 It was absolutely gorgeous, and we had such a relaxing time on the river.

 We also had some fun reunions with friends.  A group of Steve's high school friends traveled in to surprise him for his bday!

 Then some of our friends from the Philippines came for a visit too.

And in the midst of all this, we were busy preparing our ministry presentation to share at churches around the area because we only had about 10 days all together there before we left on our looong trip around several states to reconnect with churches and partners and visit with loved ones.

2016 Prayer Card

Whew!  The last couple months have been a WHIRLWIND.  Honestly feeling like we are still spinning, but starting to try to get caught up...including here on the blog.  More posts to follow soon, but here's our latest prayer card to tide you over anyway. :)

Here is our latest prayer card!  Feel free to print a copy (or more) if you like.  Just save the image then take it to your local photo printing place and print it as a 4x6. Or send me a message, and I will mail you a copy if we won't be coming your way this furlough.

Your prayers mean more than you know!

THANK YOU!!!