Trip to the Magic House

Today, we went to the Magic House with friends. This is Jonathan with his friend, Gavin... fun times!

We leave tomorrow for Arusha! Our time here has FLOWN by so quickly. I can't wait to see Bill, Katrina, and Heather again, and of course Bill and Carolyn my in-laws. But, that means good-bye to my parents, brother, family and friends here. Ah, the life of a missionary...

Welcome 2010!

Another year has come and gone, and I must be getting older, because it seems like this year has flown by. A year ago, this time, we were preparing to come back to the US to have our baby. We had no clue at that time whether it was a boy or a girl... and certainly didn't know about the problem with his foot.
Today, I am preparing again for another trip to the US, this time with that baby- Jonathan. We will be leaving from the Kilimanjaro airport on Jan. 14th, and returning on Feb. 15th, the day after Valentine's day.
2009 brought many blessings, the biggest of which was our son, Jonathan. I look forward to 2010.
Happy New Year everyone!

Good bye girls, for 10 days

I'll miss my girls...

Tomorrow, Jonathan and I will be meeting Bill in Lincoln, IL, thanks to my father-in-law giving us a ride down. Bill, Jonathan, and I will spend tomorrow night at my parents in St. Louis. Then, Saturday the three of us will continue to Anna, IL to spend the night there. Sunday we are presenting at First Christian Church of Anna, IL in the morning, and then Bill is preaching at Fairfield Christian Church in Fairfield, IL in the evening. That night, we will continue on to the Mississippi Valley Christian Service Camp where we will be staying until Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday night-Sunday we will be at Morton Christian Church in Morton, IL being the missionaries at their VBS. We decided that instead of taking all three kids on this long trip, to leave Katrina and Heather at Grandma and Grandpa DeLaughter's house. I will really miss my two girls, but just think it will be so hard on them. Jonathan has to be with mommy since he is still nursing... I couldn't leave him anyway at this age!

So, Katrina and Heather... I'll miss you!!

Good bye Henry Higgins

Tomorrow, Bill leaves to return the car we've been borrowing from Valley of Baca ministry in Kentucky. We've enjoyed the HHR, fondly named the Henry Higgins. It's taken good care of us, and taken us many miles. Thank you Thomas and Claire for allowing us to use the car. We'll sure miss it!

Bill will be flying from Kentucky to St. Louis, where he will pick up the "new" car that we were just given by some missionary friends and then he'll meet up with us again.

We have a very busy couple of weeks ahead, but I will try to keep the blog updated.

Father's Day at Beecher City Church of Christ

Father's Day

We spent this Father's Day at Beecher City Church of Christ, in IL. We had a lovely time with our hosts, Charles and Paulette Miller, who were very hospitable for our family. Bill preached and spoke at the adult Sunday School, and I spoke to the Jr. high/ High School Sunday School. It was fun, and we enjoyed our time with everyone.

Our gracious hosts

We saw this sign on the way home... too funny!

Jonathan's baby dedication at Eastview

Jonathan's baby dedication

This weekend at Eastview Christian Church- Cedar Rapids, IA, we dedicated as a family to raise Jonathan to know Jesus. We were so happy that both sets of grandparents were able to come too. Both my parents, and Bill's parents were there for both Katrina's and Heather's baby dedications as well, so it was a very special time. Katrina was dedicated on Mother's Day, 2002 at 2 weeks old in St. Louis. Heather was dedicated in Morton, IL in Oct. 2004 at only a few weeks old as well. Jonathan seems so big this time, being nearly 3 months old already.

We were happy to be able to do this at Eastview Christian Church, which has become so close to us over the years.

We had a wonderful time with everyone at Eastview all weekend at various activities, and meals (doesn't fellowship = food?) :-] It was great to meet with those interested in coming in 2010, and hammering out some project ideas with them. Somehow, out of this meeting, Bill was talked into promising to shave his head on Aug 2nd, if they are able to raise $7,000 towards their trip to come by that date. Quite a commitment for Billy!! Let's see if they can do it! We are so excited to have the group coming next summer.

Off to Eastview...

Hello, hotel!

We are on the road again. This weekend we left on Thursday, to get to Cedar Rapids, IA on Friday, to be sure we'd be there on Saturday morning. We are going to visit our sending church, Eastview Christian Church.

Jonathan is also going to be dedicated this Sunday, so both sets of grandparents are making the trip up to Iowa to be there for it.

We are staying tonight in Quincy, IL, just about half way from St. Louis to Cedar Rapids, IA.

The kids were SOOO excited about the hotel room. They are easily amused! The room is really nice though. This is the first time we've stayed in a hotel this time back.

Jonathan spent most of the car ride either screaming or sleeping fitfully. The doctor thinks he's teething (already???). So, we rubbed teething gel on his gums about 5 times, and it seems to help for awhile, so maybe he is teething... it makes for quite an eventful trip!

Eastview, here we come!!

A Loooooong weekend!

Our first "official" road trip

We visited Southlake Christian Church, Crown Point, IN, this last Sunday, and were blessed to have lunch afterwards with folks from the church at Ponderosa. The drive up took 2 days, we stopped halfway in Lincoln, IL to stay with our good friends, JD and Norma Harrold. Since we are coming back up to this area next weekend, I decided to stay here (at my in-laws in Crown Point, IN) this week. Bill went home with Katrina on Monday, and plans to come back here with her on Friday, God willing. We will then go to Remington Christian Church together on Sunday, and return home together that night. So, this "weekend" has turned into a week away from home, and from my husband and oldest daughter. I am enjoying the extra time with Bill and Carolyn, though. Carolyn even baked me an early birthday cake-- German chocolate... yum yum... my favorite!!

I am REALLY looking forward to seeing Billy and Katrina again this weekend.

The three kids crammed into the backseat, with our luggage piled into the back.

Jonathan having a nap with Grandpa.

Heather and Katrina enjoying bike riding around Grandma's neighborhood.

Jonathan smiling with Grandma.

An early birthday cake, yum, yum... Thank you Carolyn!

And we're off...

Today, we visited Ferguson Christian Church, one of our supporting churches... in fact the first church that supported us while we were still living on campus at St. Louis Christian College back in the day...

This begins a busy schedule for us, visiting supporting churches. We will be at a different church almost every Sunday now until we return to Arusha in August. We are going to try to see as many of our supporting churches as we can, which will mean many miles under our wheels, many fast food meals on the road, and of course... getting to get reacquanted with those churches that believe in us and have been standing behind us.

Let the adventure begin!!