The Revolving Door

Todd Jr - Gone to Myrtle Beach with Ashley and family

Adam - Back from Kenya

Daniel - Off to camp (but back this afternoon)

And so it goes... Life is changing in so many ways... but good ways!

As Daniel was getting ready to leave for camp on Monday, he was contemplating the significance of his first trip to camp for five days and said, "You know, Mom, I think I'll feel older after this trip." Me too, Daniel!!

It's been a quiet week around here. Adam has, for the first time in his life, felt what it was like to be an only child. His comment on it, "Really weird, kind of boring." My sentiments exactly!

Adam had a wonderful time on his trip and is glad to be back home. He's been training for soccer season and catching up on his sleep. I'll post pictures soon.

I've been trying to make the most of my work time and doing some spring/summer cleaning. I'm trying to squeeze everything I can out of each day of summer - so far, so good!

Todd and Darcy continue their daily walks, which is truly all that Darcy lives for. Todd enjoys it too, but Darcy does more.

I guess that's it for now. Stay tuned for Adam's Kenya pictures!

P.S. Todd Jr just called, and he and Ashley are on their way back from Myrtle Beach. Ashley starts classes on Monday, so they're headed back to get her settled. It sounds like they've had a wonderful week in Myrtle Beach, good weather, good food, lots of fun!

A couple of links

I have two links to pass along to you. I'll put them here and also on the side. The first one is the blog for the Kenya team that Adam is a part of. They are sending daily updates and posting pictures. What a far cry from days gone by when hearing from missionaries took months instead of minutes... http://www.fmckenyateam.blogspot.com/

The next one is for a friend of mine from high school who is currently in Ethiopia adopting a beautiful baby girl. Her blog has journaled the adoption story from the beginning, and if you have a lot of time on your hands you can read the whole thing from beginning to present.

A prayer note: They were supposed to leave Ethiopia Friday to come home, but there was an error on the adoption papers, and they cannot leave with Zoie until this is corrected. Please pray for speediness in this correction so they can bring their daughter home and that God will give them peace through the waiting process. http://www.zoiegibson5.com/web/do/site/home?ID=226921

Fourth of July Fun

We had a wonderful holiday weekend! The weather was wonderful, and we had a relaxing weekend...

Ashley came to spend the weekend with us (YEA!). Friday we grilled and ate out on the back patio under the umbrella that we've had for two years and never put up (I'm not sure why), and then Todd Sr mowed, and Daniel I weeded five of our seven flower beds and replanted four hostas we had transplanted from the front yard.

We rounded out the day with fishing at Fellowship Point (Nobody caught a thing - Todd Jr was sure it was because we weren't using live bait) and a campfire complete with S'mores (We replaced the Hershey bars with Reeces p-nut butter cups - sooo good!). Since we had already set off all of our fireworks with Adam before he left for Kenya, we sat by the fire and had a panoramic view of all of the neighborhood firework sights and sounds.

Saturday was pretty laid back as well. Todd, Ashley, Daniel and I went garage sale-ing in the afternoon and came up with a few finds. Todd got a DVD, Daniel found a Super Nintendo game he didn't have, and I walked away with a grill pan. Cost of items - $4. Memories - Priceless.

We again attempted fishing at Fellowship Point (this time with live bait) and scored a few (tiny) fish. Ashley, Todd Jr, Tom Sprunger, Todd Sr. and I each found success. I even touched a worm and baited my own hook, only to promptly lose it while casting it into the water.

We had a great weekend, but it wasn't the same without Adam... Keep him in your prayers!

Click on the picture for a slide show!


July 4th Weekend

Adam's Kenya Trip

Adam left Wednesday for Nairobi, Kenya, on a missions trip. After a 22-hour trip, they arrived in Kenya Thursday at 2:16pm Eastern time, 9:16pm Kenya time. They traveled from Fort Wayne to Chicago, London, and then Nairobi. All of their bags arrived with them - Praise the Lord!!




The team will be teaching Sunday school, leading a VBS, putting on puppet shows, and visiting at least two orphanages. They visited the Huruma Children's Home and will be returning there next week. Today, they had an "outreach event" in Robyn's (the missionary who they are staying with) complex. Apparently there was an "intense" soccer game by one report...




Please continue to pray for safety and health for the team as they minister to the children of Nairobi, so many of whom are orphans of HIV and/or victims of this disease as well. I'll continue to post updates as I receive them.

By the way, you can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them...