A City Life For Me

Today I just want to share how thankful I am for my in-laws.  I know many people do not have a good relationship with their parents-in-law, but I feel very blessed to have gained another set of parents when I married Ben.  Visiting them isn’t something I dread, but something I enjoy. My in-laws live the perfect distance away.  Three hours is an easy trip, even with kiddos.  We can visit fairly often.  But…they aren’t on my doorstep every day.  (Just kidding, Sissy!) Mom & Dad Hamilton have been a particular blessing as we have started deputation.  We have dropped in numerous times to split the distance between a meeting and home.  We have used them as a “base of operations” as we visit New England churches.  Sometimes we call the day of and say, “Can we stop by for supper?”  They are always glad to have us, even on short notice. In fact, the sheets in the guest room are ours, and the pack n plays have remained set up, just waiting for our arrival!  We got to stop by last Friday

Guess whose feet!

For the Campout to celebrate Elaine's birthday, all the boys donned their finest...   OVERALLS!   Dad Hamilton, Nolan, Nehemiah, and Ben  

...A backyard campout, that is!  In order to include Grandma & Grandpa in Elaine's birthday celebration, we had to do it a couple of weeks early while we are here this weekend  Something Elaine has mentioned wanting to do for her birthday is camping.  But since she's a November birthday, it's usually too cold.  Ben came up with the idea of camping out in the backyard at Grandma's house.  It's not too cold yet, and the house is right there if things do get too cold during the night.  We opted to keep the babies inside, so it was a Grandpa-Daddy-Elaine-Nolan campout.   The birthday girl and her gifts & balloons     Grandma did the menu and the cake, and it was fabulous!  The kids got to roast their hotdogs over the fire pit (pictures did not come out well), and then we finished it off with an amazing ice cream cake and mini cupcakes!   blow, baby, blow!   best combination ever - mint chocolate chip and moose tracks ice cream with oreo

Elaine will turn five on November 5th.  Just twelve days away!  (I know because I get asked several times a day!) However, fitting in a birthday celebration with our deputation traveling is tricky.  It worked out for us to be with Ben's parents this weekend, so we are taking the opportunity to celebrate her birthday tonight.    Someone told Elaine that this is her Golden Birthday, and she has been talking about it incessantly.  She wanted to have her hair put in curlers last night and she picked out a fancy dress today.  (We had to change dresses, because the birthday celebration she chose is camping in the back yard and roasting supper over the fire).   Since she was all "duded" up and in a happy spirit, I snapped a few pictures.  I was super pleased with what I got after just a few shots.     I love this shot - the smile, the curly hair, the big bow... so we needed it black and white and color!  {Grandma - click to enlarge and save it to your computer!}

We have just returned from one of our “bigger” or “extended” deputation trips thus far.  We were in three different conferences back to back, taking us from October 8th to October 19th.  I think the Lord is giving me “little” trips like this to practice packing, presenting, and parenting on the road so I know better how to do it when we leave in January for 4-5 months.  {Not yet looking forward to that time, but it’s growing on me}. There were some funny moments, hard-to-deal-with moments, and exhausting moments (like putting 4,000 miles on our van since October 1st, including round trip from MA to WI in three days).  But all of these make up some very Missionary Moments .  I thought you might want to laugh and experience them along with me. In Palmer, MA I gave my testimony for the first time without crying!  That’s a definite improvement!  I learned that our new van is easier to move around in, but it also takes the bumps a bit harder.  I hit a Brooklyn pothole on the way out of

My heart is so full as I write this.   Today has been a full day, and I’ve shed quite a few tears.   Some sad ones, many happy ones. Brother Clark M. at our church has been ill for several weeks.   He had a stroke and has difficulty recovering.   The kids have helped me to pray for him many times a day.   We pray for Brother Clark to be healed, and we pray for Mrs. Linda (his wife).   Today, God answered our prayer.   In the wee hours of the morning, the Lord saw fit to call Brother Clark home to heaven.   We received the news as we were preparing breakfast this morning. Linda gave such a sweet testimony of the Lord’s work, His grace, and His salvation in the church this morning.   We know of at least one person who trusted the Lord because of the witness of Linda during Clark’s illness.   I am so happy for Clark – he is healed – just not here on earth.   He is in such a better place, in the presence of our Lord.   My heart is heavy for Linda. We have a good friend named C

Throughout the week I often capture pictures on my phone instead of pulling out the camera.  The pictures aren’t always the best quality, but it’s real life in action.  Here are the “best” shots from last week…    Elaine cleaned out the fridge for me :: Uncle Evan gave a tractor ride to the “bigs” I’m an auntie!  Baby Amelia is a sweetie… The kids climbed a tree – for the first time – by themselves!  They were playing Hide N Seek with Ben This picture doesn’t do justice to the amazing fall colors we experienced in Vermont this week.  It was THE week to be there, and the drive on Sunday morning was breathtaking!  We were on state road 58, which isn’t even paved all the way through, but the view was worth it! Sidewalk chalk at Grandma’s house.  I’ve noticed these two hanging together a lot lately – Libs and Noley. Nehemiah is a true boy – content with a bike or ball. Nolan’s heart.  He’s never stuck with it to color anything in completely before! Elaine’s heart.  And some things

As we prepare for full time deputation, we have been hashing out ideas for how to travel when the van is “home”.  With all of the baby gear needed for twins, and the addition of homeschooling, the minivan just didn’t seem big enough.  And though it seats 7, it’s more like 5 1/2 when you add in four car seats. We decided to start looking for a full size van.  Dad found one right away on a government surplus auction site.  Everything seemed good – only 26k miles, maintained every 3500 miles, in Florida near my brother so he could go an inspect it.  The price started right in our budget range, but we didn’t know if it would sit there long. We watched the van for 10 days.  Finally, on the night before the auction ended, there was a bid.  We waited until a couple hours before the end of the auction to enter our bid.  We had determined our highest possible price, and prayed that if God wanted us to get the van, that He would provide it. On the afternoon of the bidding, we received a check

Baby Amelia – our first cousin (on either side) – was born on July 31st.  I was praying for an August baby, but she came in four minutes too early!  We finally got to meet her on Friday.