Road Trip!

After almost a month on the road, we have visited with friends and family in Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia, Maryland, and South Carolina. Here are some pics from our time on the road:

We spent a few days at a resort with some friends of mine (Jen) from high school. Our 3 kids and their 2 hit it off immediately, and they had a blast riding ponies, swimming and fishing together. They spent HOURS fishing together, both with traditional fishing poles and with home-made tools (plastic bags, strawberry cartons, old string and hooks found in the woods, stale chips, just whatever they could find). They were surprisingly successful in their various attempts, and we even ended up with a fish fry one night. :)

1st fish caught in the grape bag with stale doritos as the bait: In Maryland, we got to visit with some dear family friends whom I have known since infancy. Their family has now grown to include 4 little ones, and our kids had so much fun loving on the babies. They also live close to the bay, so we all enjoyed some fun times on the beach, and Steve got to try windsurfing. Zach surprised with me with how much he loved the babies and how good he was with them. I like this pic of his foot with baby Thorin's foot.

While there, we also spent a day visiting the monuments in DC as a family. It was a tiring day, but it was good for the kids to get to see all these historic places.

After a long walk over to the White House, I turned around and saw Zach had figured out a creative way to get himself a drink from the too-high water fountain.

While there in Maryland, Zach also lost another tooth! It had been loose for a while, but he had been trying to hold out til we got back to Grandma's - I think he thought the Tooth Fairy might be more generous there. :)

We surprised the kids with a visit to our good friends from the Philippines (also on furlough right now). It was a special opportunity for them to catch up with their friends from the other side of the ocean.

We had a fun overnight stop in Alabama to visit the Wilson family. Those of you who follow our updates and blog will remember the role that Jennifer played in making it possible for us to stay on the field this past term - she is the speech therapist who came and trained me how to work with Ben. He has made HUGE strides in speech, but we still have a long way to go, and we appreciate your prayers as we determine how to best meet his needs. Jennifer has 4 kids, and our 3 had a blast getting to know them. We got to visit Megan (the volunteer who was with us almost a year in the Philippines) and her family in Mississippi. We had a great time there, but I forgot to take pics! Oops. This was the only one we got there - when we came in at 6am to get the boys and load them in the car to leave, this is how we found Zach sound asleep. :)

We had a precious time visiting with my aunt and uncle in South Carolina. The kids got to meet their 1st cousins once removed (my cousin's kids) for the first time.
My 91-year-old grandma (Jen's dad's mom) lives there with my aunt and uncle, so the kids got to spend some sweet time getting to know Nanny. After we got the 1st pic, Nanny said she was trying to hide her missing tooth in the photo. That was when Zach announced that HE wasn't trying to hide his missing tooth, he was trying to show it! So they decided they needed another pic where they showed their matching missing teeth. :)

While in Virginia, we also spent a couple days catching up with some friends who we knew from when we went through training before we left for the Philippines. They now have 2 precious little girls, and our kids had so much fun helping with them.

Mikayla managed to get Sienna to sleep after a long walk. Go, Kayla!

We also spent a week at our headquarters in Virginia at some meetings. We can't really share pictures from that time since most of our friends there work in secure areas, but we did have a very refreshing time, and we all made some new friends.

Well, we just got home last night, and we will actually only be home 3 days before we leave on the NEXT road trip (to Nebraska and Kansas). Thanks for your prayers for safety and health during these days of travel and visiting.

Hope you have a great 4th of July celebration!

Happy 7th Bday, Zach!

He finally got the remote control helicopter he has been wanting! And his dad got one for his bday too so they can have heli wars. :)Some of Steve and my friends from high school were able to come to the party with their little ones, and it was so much fun to see our kids playing with their kids.

Mikayla hit it off right away with Megan, the daughter of one of my best friends from high school. They invented these "grapes on a pretzel" lollipops and passed them out to everyone. :)

Family Time

Sorry it has been so long since I posted - we have been just too busy having fun here in the States! Our trip back across the ocean went amazingly well, with only 1 delay.

Back in the States after almost 4 years!
I asked Ben to watch our carryons while we got stuff off the luggage belt - and this is what I saw when I turned to check on him. :)
Since we arrived back, we have been having a BLAST catching up with old friends and especially spending time with family. Jen, Zach, and Steve have all had birthdays in the few weeks we have been back (pics of Zach's coming soon), and we have gone on vacation with both sets of grandparents for a few days. We actually had a family reunion with Steve's side of the family, and the kids got to meet their cousins for the 1st time!

Some rousing games of mini golf and shuffleboard...

A trip to Silver Dollar City amusement park with both families...

The kids surprised us by going on all the roller coasters and LOVING it! Even Ben went on the crazy ones. Mikayla was the only one big enough to do the loopty loop one, but she went on it a total of 6 times! That is a total of 30 times flipped upside down! Crazy girl.

Lots of swimming...

We attended the musical "Noah" with Jen's parents, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I actually had more fun watching the kids' eyes than the actors! :)

While it has been fun doing vacation with family, it has also been fun just being able to hang out and work together. Zach has been doing a great job with the weed-eating. (Also, check out our HUGE praise behind him - the vehicle that my parents got for us to use while we are back! We are helping with payments while we are here, then they will probably resell it after we go back. It will be perfect for us as we log a whole lot of miles this summer - it is so comfortable to travel in and even has a built-in DVD player! :) )

We are so thankful for all the special times we have had with family since we have been back!

the move

This move marked the 20th major move for Steve and I as a couple, and it was by far the most difficult one we have done (and it is really only 1/2 over as we still have to UNpack when we get back!). But it is OVER, and we survived it, and we are thankful.

So what made it so terrible? Well, this is prob way more info than you want, but I just have to document this adventure (for those of you who want the condensed version, just skip to the end where the pics are)...

* Because of my recent wrist surgery, I couldn't help much at all with packing, etc, and Steve was ridiculously busy at the end with ministry things.

* Mikayla was running a fever and throwing up for the last few days before the move and Steve and Zach were fighting a nasty cold.

* The night before the truck came, Steve we were sitting around the table making a game plan for the next day when Steve scooped Zach up to tickle him. He turned him upside down and put his head down - just then the plastic chair collapsed! So Steve and Zach came down squarely on Zach's head. As a result of the accident, Steve bruised his tailbone and Zach got 2 lacerations on his tongue, cut his hand, and bruised his fingers and toes - not to mention the massive lump on his head and headache for 4 days afterwards.

* While we were calming Zach down and evaluating his injuries, we heard a massive CRASH from the other room. Our pantry cabinet consists of 2 pieces stacked on top of one another. The top half is about 4ft tall by 3 feet wide with sliding glass doors. Well, Mikayla accidentally pulled on a string, causing the top half to come toppling down. Thankfully, she had the presence of mind to step back so she was not hit. However, when we all ran to the scene, we realized that Ben was missing!!! Thinking he might be UNDER the cabinet, we started frantically looking for him, when he creeped back in from the other room where he had run to hide when it fell (he had been in that room but ran when it started falling). While a lot of stuff was ruined/damaged by the falling cabinet, we were just so thankful that no one was injured. It really shook us all up.

* Once we all calmed down and were able to sleep, morning came very early as we got up at 5am to strip beds, wrap mattresses, etc so we would be ready for the truck when it arrived at 8. Steve was suddenly in a LOT of ear pain and took a bunch of meds to get him through the day.

* Well, the truck never showed up. Found out that the driver's wife had gone into labor. 2 pastor friends when on the hunt for another truck - said they knew a guy, and they would ask him to be to our house by 1pm. By 10:30 we still had not heard a confirmation from them, so we tracked them down and found out they had not been able to find anything and were too embarrased to tell us. Steve started driving around hunting for a truck to rent.

* It POURED rain off and on all morning due to a passing typhoon. Steve kept popping pills so that he can stand the pain enough to supervise the move.

*At 3pm, Steve finally found a truck, and by 4pm, the guys were loading it - in the rain still.

* Despite the fact that I am not supposed to drive for another 2 wks (our car is automatic so I just used my left hand), I left with the kids and 2 American volunteers who had come to help us (a huge praise!!!) to drive up to our new area, and make a few drop-offs along the way of fridge/food stuff etc.

*At the first stop, one of the American girls fell into a sewer ditch and blew out her knee. She was in a lot of pain, but we knew that going to the ER down here was not a good idea if we could help it, so we started making phone calls to try to get her on the next day flight up to Manila. As we made phone calls and arrangements, we continued driving to our various stops.

*We finally arrived at our new house at 8pm and worked together to unload the inside and topload of the car. Since it was just Anna, me with my injured wrist and 3 kids, it was quite an adventure. We finished unloading at 8:30, but poor Ella was in a lot of pain with her knee and soaking wet from the ditch she fell in, we still had not had supper, my arm was KILLING me by this point, and the truck had still not even left Iriga to drive up to where we were.

*We made the decision to head back to the hotel and let Steve supervise the unloading by himself (poor guy, but we needed to get Ella lying down). By the time we got back to the hotel, finished making arrangements to get Anna & Ella on the am flight, got the kids scrubbed up and in bed, it was 10:45pm.

*Steve finally got back to the hotel at 12:30 am. He slept fairly well, but Zach tossed and turned and woke up a lot.

*I had planned to take the girls to the airport in the am, but Steve was awake and insisted on doing it since I shouldn't drive any more than absolutely necessary so they left at 5:30am. Zach woke up in tears from ear pain.

* Turns out they had not quite gotten all the stuff the night before, so once Steve got back from the airport at 7:30am, we headed to our house to finish up the last load. By the time we finished up everything, dropped that load off at our new house, and moved some boxes and furniture around so that they wouldn't get destroyed if the windows leak in a storm, it was 2pm.

*Steve and Zach were still in a lot of ear pain despite lots of pain meds and decongestant so we called the dr and got on the list to see the ENT that afternoon.

*Turns out that Steve's eardrum had ruptured the day before, and was in danger of doing it again. Zach's was about to rupture. We went and got them the meds they needed then headed back for the hotel and an early night.

*Steve had a VERY rough night and was in a LOT of pain. Didn't think he would be able to go to the last day at the Bible Studies today like he had hoped. Prayed long and hard for healing, and he finally got a few hours sleep then woke up feeling a little better. He left for the villages this am, armed with all his meds, and he has texted saying that he is in pain but hanging in there. He should be home in a couple hours - by 7 or 8pm hopefully.

Here are some pics of our adventures the last 2 days.

Anna and Ella were a HUGE blessing to us as they ended up here unexpectedly and worked incredibly hard to help us finish up all that we needed to do. They also took some time to love on the kids and play with them. :)

This is a pic of the cabinet that fell towards Mikayla and Ben the night before we move. The next picture shows what was left of the double glass sliding doors.

Boxes everywhere!
Once we FINALLY found a truck, we had quite the time getting it into our driveway to make loading faster. The truck actually moved the concrete gate post about 1 inch!
Steve lifted the power lines with a piece of wood to let the truck pass under.
The loading finally starts!
The kids enjoyed watching all the activity, and were thrilled when they got to check out the inside of the truck.
We are all absolutely wiped but happy to be done. Tomorrow we head up to a hotel closer to the aiport and finish up a few things at our new house (changing out locks, etc) before we fly to Manila the next am. Steve will have a root canal that afternoon (pray for him, it has been a tough couple days for him) then we fly to the States on Thursday morning!

last few days

First, I thought you guys might like to see the finished product of the oral story sets that we have been working on in 3 different languages. Megan did a lot of the leg work while she was here, and then Steve and I have been scrambling the last couple weeks to finish them up. Each of the 8 audio kits contains a small mp3 player, a portable, re-chargeable speaker, and the necessay plugs and cords. Each mp3 is loaded with whichever languages(s) that village needs to be able to learn the stories and teach them to others. These are designed to work as a tool to aid them in learning the stories better to teach them to new groups. In addition to the audio kit, each church will get the written version of the stories in their language. Please pray with us that these tools make them more effective in spreading the Good News throughout their people group!

Second, please continue to pray for our family as we finish up our last few days here in the Philippines before heading to the States for our first stateside assignment. Here are some specific requests for you to lift up:

1. On Friday and Saturday we will be moving about 1 hr away to our new house. Pray that the logistics for renting a truck come together. Pray that the current tenants can get out by Friday so that we can move our stuff straight in rathen than having to move it into the next-door house for storage, then re-move it later. Pray for GOOD WEATHER - there is a typhoon enroute to the western Philippines. Pray for dry days as we move!

2. Tomorrow and Sunday mark our last days in the village with the Agta churches until 2010. Pray for precious times of worship together as we say some difficult goodbyes.

3. On Tuesday we will fly to Manila. Pray for Steve as he will get a root canal that afternoon. Pray that he is able to recover quickly with no infection and minimal pain as we travel.

4. On Thursday the 14th, we fly to the US by way of Japan! Pray for smooth travel - no baggage weight issues, on-time flights and that immigration and customs would go well in DFW as we have only a short layover there. This may seem trivial, but please pray that our LOOONG flight over the water (18 hrs I think) has individual screens on each seat so that the kids can watch movies/cartoons to keep them occupied. It may seem silly, but that makes a BIG difference in how well the flight goes!

Thanks for your prayers in the days ahead!