A City Life For Me

During December we traveled through Lakeland, FL to see my friend Danielle and her family.  While we were there we took advantage of the close proximity to Disney World...yes...our kids got to experience Disney, compliments of Grandma & Grandpa as an early Christmas present.  We didn't tell them where we were going, but waited for them to guess as we entered the park gates.  Danielle joined us for the day. She is a Disney pro, and it was such a great blessing and help to have her along!  We  were able to see/do everything on our list, and the kids enjoyed the day with minimal attitude issues! Here are some of the highlights from our trip...    On the ferry over to the Magic Kingdom.  We got up early and made it there for the ribbon cutting ceremony to open the park.      Elaine and Nolan were the most excited about the day...they understood more everything that we would get to see and do.  This was the...

Today I am thankful for missionary housing.  As a family we have been in our temporary "home" for less than two weeks since September.  That's a lot of moving around!  Hopefully it makes for a lot of support raising (we have  added 37% support this year).  But...it also makes for a lot of instability.  It's hard to have a routine and keep things "normal" when every week (or sometimes twice a week) you are changing lodging and re-setting up "home."  We did enjoy six days with my girlfriend from college in December, and also a week at my parent's in Denver for Christmas. However, since last Saturday, and for more than  three whole weeks , we will be in one location!  One of our supporting churches has a missionary home and they have graciously allowed us to stay here for most of January.  Not only is this a place to make home for an "extended" period of time, but it is very nice .   We have actually stayed in several mission...

Usually Christmas is exactly that for me.  Snow.  Hot chocolate.  Twinkle lights.  Tissue-paper-wrapped packages.  Gingerbread lattes.  Fresh cut Christmas tree.  This year, however, things were much different for us!  We were on the road since the day after Thanksgiving.  Everything of ours…all of our traditions, were in storage.  We had one Christmas celebration in Florida on Dec. 14th with Kenny & Becky.  No offense to Floridians, but doing a winter holiday in a hot state is about as un-Christmas as it gets in my mind!  Then we drove five days to get to Denver and arrived in freezing snowy weather.  Opposite ends of the spectrum!  Mom & Dad had just moved, and then had the trip to Florida, so when we arrived the kids got the pleasure of decorating Grandma’s tree. They got a little ahead of Grandma and helped themselves to the box… …and we got a little bototm heavy on the front of the tree! But I ...

When I was a teenager we had a lot of missionaries stay in our home. It was something that was very influential in my life at a critical time when I was considering my future direction. I believe the Lord used the influence of missionary families to reinforce His call on my own life to serve in the field of missions. As missionaries on deputation, we often rely on the generosity and goodness of others to help us down the road to the next stop. The Lord always places the right people across our path at the right time to take care of our needs. But just like the Lord, He so often doesn’t just give us the necessities – He gives us blessings in abundance upon what we actually need . Many times this comes in the form of gift baskets or “care packages” from our hostesses and often from the church at a mission’s conference. We have truly been blessed by many generous people this year. My kids love opening a “care package” and going through all of the goodies. Before we started traveling I did...

We have been on an extended road trip for most of this year, and nearly every weekend last year. It’s called deputation and it’s our full-time job right now. It also means the van is our full-time home. I thought our Brooklyn apartment was small! There are a few things we have done to make travel with all these little people, and for this length of time, more manageable. Many of these suggestions won’t be helpful to most people, unless they are traveling for an extended period of time. But maybe some of you are just curious as to how we make this work! For the Kids We have tried a lot of things to help the kids stay happy in the car. Let me start with what doesn’t work. Keep in mind my kids are little – five kids ages six and under! Crayons – these ended up spilled next to the heater but underneath a bag we didn’t access often. The result? A multi-colored puddle of wax melted into the carpet. I also spent a good bit of my time reaching and moving in the van trying to pick up the...

We were in Manomet, MA last week for a deputation meeting.  We took the opportunity to stop by Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower replica on our way out of town.  Elaine is studying Early American History this year.  I had been here in 1998 as a Sophomore in high school.  Our youth group attended a Teen Holiness in Rhode Island, and since we flew into Boston we did some sightseeing.  Though I knew Plymouth Rock was nothing spectacular, I tried to play it up as exciting for the kids.  They were a little chilly in the wind without their jackets (yes – a nice old man reprimanded us for not wearing coats), and very unimpressed with what Plymouth Rock turned out to be! I thought it was a lovely, albeit cloudy, day at the Cape! At the Mayflower, and uber disappointed that we did not purchase tickets to climb aboard! Plymouth Rock As we drove up the hill to turn around, Ben noticed the Monument to the Fore Fathers through the trees.  We never even knew this...

As I’ve been looking at Henry these last couple of weeks I keep having flash backs to when Elaine was this age.  So many times I look at him and I see baby Elaine!  But then some people say he looks like Nolan or Nehemiah.  So here are some fun comparison pictures… Newborn Pics of the Kiddos:                  Elaine                                                           Nolan                      Liberty                  ...