RUN AWAY BRIDE

The evening started out to be a pretty normal Saturday night. But then Ruth got a craving for some potato chips. Since we live in a very small town and the local grocery store was closed Ruth wanted to make a quick trip to MACS. (It is a little convenience store.) But then Ruth got the bright idea that maybe we should go in there all dressed up or looking a little bit goofy. And from there the idea was birthed of the "Run Away Bride" idea. Can you tell we were a little bit bored and don't get out much? The ladies working at MACS got quite a kick out of us adding some excitement to their Saturday night. And it was their idea to go outside and have a picture with Ruth so we could prove she was there. As we returned we had some fun taking pictures around camp. I hope you enjoyed your Saturday evening as much as we did!

An Undeserved Blessing

Doesn't it sometimes feel like all you hear about is another person coming down with a serious illness; one more person gets added to the prayer list. At the beginning of the week I went to the doctor for a fairly routine type of visit and the next thing I knew I was getting tested for a fairly major disease. It seemed like several very long days of waiting with a wide range of emotions involved. I would like to say that my faith was unwavering, however I can not say that. There were many times during the last few days that I had to come to the Lord and confess that I was not resting. Yesterday the results came in negative. THANK-YOU LORD! I know that God could have very easily had the results been positive. And so in the world of much sickness and pain I wanted to give the Lord the Praise for this answered prayer.

The Black Hole

Last night Vern and I were invited to the "Black Hole". The 'Black Hole" is the name of Shane and Karen Whatley's coffee house. They are a staff couple that we work with here. Every Tuesday night we have meeting here on the campus. We often will have missionaries home on furlough coming in to share with us. The "Black Hole" is a way that the Whatley's open up their home to several different couples after the meeting to have a time of fellowship. Karen is a professional cappuccino maker. She has all different flavors to put in your cappuccino. It was a fun evening and it was a real treat. Shane and Karen are such a neat couple and we love having them apart of the training staff. They are actually working towards going to Indonesia to work in one of the M.K. schools there. We will sure miss them but we know they will be such a blessing in Indonesia.

Back to School

The last couple of days I had the privilege to fill in for the first and second grade teacher who is away. I home schooled our children for many years. Although, it was a lot of work I did enjoy "doing school" with our kids. The children in the first and second grade are such great kids. And it was fun to spend a couple of days "doing school" with them. They all get along so well and they all enjoy learning. Their parents are doing a great job parenting!

How Does Your Family Mark the Official Start of Spring?

So, how does your family mark the official start of spring? Is it when March 20th arrives, or is it when you can see more grass then snow, or is it when you see the tulips popping their heads up, or when you can finally be outside without your winter jacket? Well in our family we mark the official start to spring when the motorcycle is out of storage and on the road for the first time. So yes, today was the official start of spring as the motorcycle came out of "hibernation". Titus enjoyed getting a ride to his piano lesson on the motorcycle and Vern and I took a quick little ride before supper. YES! SPRING HAS ARRIVED!!! (Thanks again Greg, for giving the bike a face lift, the paint job looks great!)

Welcome to Waukesha

chillin with the family


Zachary enjoying tuning the world out listening to his ipod


Time in the "Coke Room"


Zachary's last week of work as Jewel is closing down


Time to say good-bye






Seth, Zachary, and Jon are on an indoor soccer league. The Bible School has a team from called "The Ripple". It was a lot of fun to be able to go to their first game. Mind you, the game was at 11:00p.m. so it was a late night by the time we got home. But we enjoyed going and being able to cheer the kids on. That was the first time I had ever seen indoor soccer played on official indoor turf. Unfortunately they did not win the game but they did have a lot of fun. The guys will have a great time playing on this league. We just wish we could go watch a few more games. GO RIPPLES!!!

My kind of town, Chicago is

We make it into Chicago several times a year but since we are usually busy visiting our family we don't make it downtown. Titus has really been wanting to go to a museum. He has an interest in things like "mummies". So we took part of Monday to take the "L" downtown and go to The Field Museum.













When I was a kid it seemed like we would take a field trip every year to a museum. I had no interest in going again for a long time. I had not been to the field museum in about 30 years. It was fun after so many years to walk around and see all the different displays. There were all sorts of stuffed animals. Some of them had been in the Chicago zoo and had died and then were stuffed and donated to the museum. There was quite a display on all the groups of Native Americans. Some how that didn't seem too impressive to me like when I was a kid. I think it is because we lived with people who still weave baskets and bags just like what was on display. So I felt more like I was walking into a tribal village in Venezuela then in a room in a museum.















Here are the mummies that Titus was wanting to see. There was this "tomb" that you could walk into. There were all sorts of carvings on the walls and then the many different mummies.
























This sign was hanging up and there was a curtain you were supposed to open. Behind the curtain was a mirror so you could see what was the most unusual primate. (Titus cooperated very well for this picture.)

Spring Break

This past week we had our spring break. We took off for Chicago and then headed to Waukesha. We spent the weekend with family. We have a lot of family in Chicago but we are usually only in the city for a couple of days and so usually don't get to see many of my siblings and family. It was neat that we were able to see 11 of my 14 siblings. Some we only saw for a few minutes but it was great to connect again with them. We stayed with Caleb and Kris and spent much of Saturday with them. Kris made us a great pancake breakfast with strawberries and whipped cream. (Yum, Yum) We had Chicago stuffed pizza which always hits the spot. On Sunday we went to our home church for their morning worship. It was so good to connect with them again. We were able to talk to quite a few people. This church has been so supportive of us and are a real blessing. Several folks came up to us and let us know that they pray for us every day. WOW! How we value that! The rest of the day was spent with my parents and family that dropped by.

Ruth's new friend "Bob"

Feel the Love

The guys hanging together


Enjoying some Chicago Style Pizza.


This is me with three of my sisters.

Party Time

Yesterday afternoon we had a little party for Titus. We started off the party by sending the kids on a scavenger hunt around the camp. The girls ended up winning. Both teams were tied until the girls came up with the longest toe nail. (Thanks to the help of someone on camp here who donated to their cause.) Once the teams were back from the hunt we played several other games. I had a ping pong ball toss into canning jars, a penny toss, a word search of things about Titus, and a cross word puzzle again with things about Titus' life. We watched "Flushed Away" and then played a couple more group games. Next year Titus will be a teenager. We will have to think of something special to do to celebrate that milestone. (When we were in the tribe and our older boys turned 13 that would mark the day they were allowed to drive solo on the motorcycle. I am quite sure we will not be doing that with Titus next year.)