Letters to Malawi

2010-07-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

Our new camper. We set it up this morning and this afternoon we willstart moving things from the old camper to this one.

A couple photos from the Youth Gathering!

2010-04-26T08:50:00.001-07:00

No photos this time. I just wanted to let you know all that is going on. Dad and I are in Austin this week. We were planning on saying after Dads meetings were over, but now we will be heading back early. Aunt Joy died yesterday morning. The funeral is Thursday and we want to be there.
When we got to our hotel in Austin we were surprised. We are in a suite! It is lovely. We are on the 8th floor and from our balcony we can see the capital. Dad has meeting all day and evening today and tomorrow(till 9pm) so we will not have the time we planned, but he does have a two hour dinner break each evening. We will head home sometime after the Wednesday session.(it ends after lunch) He will have to miss the last day.
Last night after we got here we went to the Congress Bridge in downtown Austin. Bats live under it and at dusk they fly out! It was amazing. even as they flew to the southwest you could see a line of clouds of them. I do not know how many there were but it had to be thousands and thousands.
Today Sharon is driving here and we will spend the day together.
Shawna and Jonathan leave Thursday for the Con in Tenn. They are pretty excited. We worked on costumes last week! I am sure they will put photos up on Facebook!
Well Better go, I love you both bunches!!!!!!

Spring 3

2010-04-10T00:20:00.000-07:00

Things are beginning to bloom. Above is the redbud tree just in back of the house and below is one of the tulips we planted last fall. Makes me wonder where you will be next spring!

We planted quite a few bulbs last fall, It is fun to watch them come up. None of our Lillies of the Valley have come up yet.

Dave and Isibella are in town while Katie is at a training camp. Shawna and I stopped in at Aunt Cindy's to see Bella! She is geting so big. She is 22 months old now.

She loved touching things in the garden. In this photo she had just dropped an empty plastic flower pot into the large pot!

Spring 2

2010-04-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

Easter sunset(on the way home from Grandma's house)

Grandpa and Monte at the lake after Church and Lunch Easter Sunday

Shawna and Krystal

Below, Dad in the lake checking to see if the pontoon boat he just bought will go into the lake!

our (new) pontoon boat. It is much lighter than the one Mr Meyers made so Dad hopes we can get it in the lake at Grandpa's.

More photos of the tree comming down. Dad worked on it every night for almost a week to get the leafing branches off.

And finally the llibrary room..... It still needs a lot of work. I need to go through more paperwork and get a lot of little things taken care of but it looks much nicer than it did!

did you notice the beautiful art work on the walls!

Well thats all for now. I realized as I was posting this we did not take any photos Easter morning!
That has to be a first! I think it was because we went to two diferent churches. Nathan and Shawna went to our church since Kimberly was being baptized and Shawna was a sponsor. The rest of us went to Grandma's church. Nathan and Shawna joined us at grandma's house before we went to the lake.

Spring 1

2010-04-08T07:59:00.000-07:00

Shawna and Zeke. Can you tell he loves being in the yard! (espically when we walk toward the balls.

Dad's spring project, get the tree down before it leafs out! Its roots were getting into places we did not want them to go...sad

It is amazing how much this tree had grown! It was a long way up!

Shawna and Amanda

surprise anniversary party for Kendall and Kaybeth 25 years!

We went to Kerianne's senior recital. She did amazing espically since she had recently been so sick.

On our way to Kerianne's recital and the surprise party we stopped at Taylor an Lisa's house for the night!

Ryan and Amanda went camping so we drove down on Saturday and spent the afternoon and evening with them> Bet you can guess where we were!

More to come! I have to get of line now but will try and post more later today!

Another snow!

2010-01-29T16:49:00.000-08:00

Zeke is pretty funny in the snow. He thinks there is a ball hidden under it somewhere!

The birds were happy to have us keep the feeders full. We had fun watching the birds come in to eat while we sit at the table.

Daddy and I took a walk in the snow. We walked to the end of the street and then down to the other end. It was cold, but so very quiet.

Here are the chairs we got for our room. We actually have a third one in the corner by Dad's side of the bed that Aunt Gwyn gave us for Christmas! They all came from Mrs. Jacksons estate sale.

This is the ding set, we still have not gotted it home. We will have to do that soon!

The shelves behind the chair are new also. They can be used as benches or stacked like here to make shelves.

Here is a photo of the sofa table. We may end up putting it in the old school room. Not sure yet. We will see after we get it cleaned out!

Schools and businesses were canceled yesterday and today because of the snow. We had ice and sleet most of the day yesterday and today it snowed. We got about 6 inches of snow today on top of yesterdays ice.

We love you!!!!!

Have a great weekend and good next week.

2010 is here

2010-01-02T08:24:00.000-08:00

Happy New year! Now we get to remember to write 2010. I think I need to practice 2010, 2010, 2010,2010, 2010..... OK so that is enough!.

I realized we never got the Christmas pictures up so here goes. Christmas was so very different with being snowed in Christmas as Eve. Jonathan and Nathan made it over before it got too bad so we had a quiet evening. We watched a Christmas movie that was on TV. It was Its a Wonderful Life. It was a quiet evening, yes even with the boys here!

Christmas morning was still snow covered, cold, and icy! Christmas morning worship was canceled. The storm had kept Karen and Steve from getting to Mom's house, so she decided not to get out Christmas morning . We went ahead and opened gifts even though Ryan and Amanda were not here. Shawna got a hand held game. a sheet set, a shirt and a stuffed Rhino. Nathan got a electric guitar with a soft case. Jonathan got a game and a small set of nut crackers for the tree. Daddy got a beautiful basket with hand done decorations!!!! He also got a shirt and tie and some Cd's. I got a beautiful wood carving of a mother and two children! I also got a scarf and some perfume.

We had a fun morning and then started getting ready to go to Moms. I made mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. I had taken most of the gifts over to her house earlier so we did not have as much to load up as usual! We had planned a late lunch (2pm) so that worked out good. The Jacksons did not make it till after 5. the highways were still pretty bad! We had a wonderful lunch! and as usual leftovers later.

We took Ryan and Amand's gifts with us so we gave shared gifts at Nana's house. They also opened the exchange gifts there. I have pictures and will post on another post. I realized I shold put pictures up before I type to have better controll of where photos go!

We miss you both and Katie and Dave and Amy and Drew!

I loved your Christmas day post!

We pray God will keep you safe and strong as you begin this new year and as you finish your work there.

Love lots, Mom

Christmas Snow

2009-12-24T10:39:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve snow!

This is just the beginning.

They are predicting

3-12 inches.

Shawna painted snowmen on the windows and we thought that would be our snow for this year. Right now they are saying 1-3 inches an hour for the next few hours. It is blowing though so driving is not a good idea. They were telling people to go home and not shop or they may end up spending the night in the stores. Zeke does not like it much!

I will post more pictures later.

We love you , Have a merry Christmas!!!

Christmas lights

2009-12-23T12:22:00.000-08:00

We drove to the Chesapeake facility and drove through their lights. They were amazing.

November and early December

2009-12-23T12:10:00.000-08:00

Kacyn Mathia born December 4, 2009 This photo taken December 20th at the church childrens Christmas program

Joanna and Carter

Joanna and Kacyn

Kacyn was baptized Sunday morning, December 20 at church

Progressive dinner first stop at Jonathan and Nathan's house. Yum!!! Jonathan had sausage balls, cheese dip and cresant rolls with little sausages cooked in them.

Katie, Dave, and Isibella at The Christmas store the day after Thanksgiving. Isibella loved the lights.

Visit To Georgia

2009-11-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

Katie and Isibella

Katie Dave and Isibella

Isn't she precious

I have enjoyed being in Georgia. It has been fun helping with Isibella!

Fall

2009-11-04T14:03:00.001-08:00

Thought you might like to see some fall color!

Our street

This is the tree in the neighbors yard

another view from our street

2009-10-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, so these pictures are in no order at all. Above is from the museum we visited near the airport in DC. I hope this picture will help your friends in Africa understand what a bear is.

These next two pictures are from our September camping trip to Red Rock Park. Dad is talking to you on the phone in the one below! Ryan and Amanda went with us and we had awonderful time. We did come home a day early because they were predicting rain and none of us wanted to put the camper down in the rain.

This next one is from Christian and Amy's wedding. Our two beautiful girls!!!! I love this photo of you both. It makes me smile!

Family camp aat Lutherhoma and a raft trip!!! We could hear you laughing before we saw the raft!

Another photo from the wedding It doesn't seem possible that you have been back in Africa for a month now!

Another photo of a bear. He makes you two look small!

We love you and pray that God will keep you safe and in His care. It is exciting to think ahead and wonder how He will use all your experiences from Africa in your future! He knows the plans He has for you!!!!!

Great Smoky Mountian National Park

2009-08-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

The Lookout in Great Smoky Mountian National Park is amazing! It was .5 mile hike on a blacktop surface, but it was all uphill. we gained over 300 feet in that half mile! We could really feel it in our legs! But it was so worth it!

another view of the tower

us at the top. This is the highest point in the park.

Just a little further up the road we came to the state line.

It was a fun day. Tonight we are in Pigeon Forge Tn. Tomorrow we plan on taking a short hike (about 2 miles ) to a water fall in the park and then heading west again. Tomorrow night we plan on being in Huntsville Alabama, then on to home Thursday.

Pa to NC

2009-08-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

Sunday Morning we left Wilimington Delaware and headed south on Highway 1 along the coast. Our first stop was Dewey Beach, Delaware. Because of the danger of riptides people were not allowed to get into the water so it was not to crowded. We walked along the beach and enjoyed the waves splashing our feet and legs.

Then we continued on to Ocean City, Maryland. Ocean City was bussier and more touristy than Dewey Beach. The tide was out so people were allowed in the water and we watched several surfers. The waves came in pretty big because of Hurricane Bill that had just passed.

Then we continued on and came to the Chesapeake Bridge and tunnels. It is considered the 7th engineering wonder of the world. This photo was taken ot the end of the second tunnel where they have built a fishing dock off the bridge.

We Spent the night in Virginia beach and this morning (Monday) we continued on. Our first stop was First Landing State Park. It was beautiful and very nice facilities. It would be a great place to come back and camp!

They had a walkway over the sand dunes to the beach It reminded us of Destin, Floridia. Since we were here pretty early there were not many people on the beach yet.

This park is on the Chesapeake Bay so the waves were not very big, but we saw lots of horshoe crabs and many small shells.

Our next stop was the Cape Henry Lighthouse. It was built in 1791 by the order of President Washington! Pretty cool. We did go to the top. It had a great view of the Fort Story Military base; and where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Chesapeake Bay.

Then we drove to Virginia Beach beach area. This photo is of the boardwalk along the ocean. It is very clean and well maintained.

The beach was pretty busy. It was hard to get pictures without a lot of people in them. We walked several blocks down the board walk then walked back along the edge of the water.

We ate lunch along the area where all the shops and hotels are and then headed west.

It made for a late evening, we didn 't get to our hotel till 10pm. But the beach time was so worth it!

Tomorrow we will visit Great Smoky Mountian National Park.

Philadelphia

2009-08-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

This is a view of Independence Hall as seen from the Liberty Bell

The Liberty Bell

Independence Hall

We left Pittsburgh before 8 this morning and made it to Philadelphia soon after 2. We went to the visiters Center and picked up our tickets for the tour of Independence Hall. It is free but you can reserve tickets ahead of time for a small fee. We had time before our tour to eat a late lunch.

The tour was very well done. It was amazing going into a building that George Washington once walked in! After the tour we went to see the Liberty Bell. Visiting here is a great reminder of how blessed we are to live in the USA. We the drove around the city a little and walked along the river before heading out. We had not been back in the car more that five minutes when it started to pour! (the rain bands from Hurricane Bill)

We are now in Wilmington Delaware for the night. Tomorrow we will drive part of the coast south.

A trip to New York

2009-08-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

Our trip to New York was great! We left Friday morning and drove to the town of Dunkirk right on lake Erie. We stopped at the lake and went to the lighthouse. Brent wanted to see the Marcellis formation along the lake. It was beautiful and we enjoyed our short time there. We then drove to Batavia where we found a hotel for the night. After we checked in and ate we drove to Niagra Falls to see them at night. We found out there would be fireworks so that was an added bonus.

On Saturday morning we got up and drove to the Finger Lakes. We followed highway 89 south along Cayuga Lake. We stopped at a winery and got a tour and did a little wine tasing. It was espically neat beacuse this winery was a family run winery and our tour was given by the owner.
It was very interesting.

We then headed to the south tip of Senica Lake to a State Park "Watkins Glen" all of the photos on this post are from there. This has to be in the top ten of parks we have ever visited and we only had a few hours to spend!
We arrived at the park late in the afternoon and the park closed a dusk. So we started on the gourge trail. Breathtaking is not a big enough word to describe it!

The above photo was taken at the beginning of the trail. The trail had 19 waterfalls and at each bend we would think it couldn't possibily be as beautiful as what we had seen. IT WAS!

At one point on the trail I just had to stop and Praise God! It was just so overwhelming!

The trail was a pretty easy trail with steps to help with the elevation climb. They did a wonderful job keeping the trail natural lookng and safe.

Since the park closed at dusk we could only do part of one trail we made it to the 1 mile point on this 1 1/2 mile trail before we turned back. We would love to return some day and camp there. !

On Sunday we got up and drove to another waterfall that could be seen from the road then headed to Syarcuse. There we visited the Erie Canal Museum. We wondered why it was not on the canal and were told that it had been. The road "Erie" used to be part of the canal. They made it into a street when the canal was no longer used! It was very interesting.

Then started the long drive back to Pittsburgh. We got on the road by noon, but because of road consstruction we didn't make it back to our apartment till 11pm. Long day, but the trip was so worth it.

Train Ride at Cass Railroad State Park

2009-08-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

Cass Railroad State Park in Cass West Virginia. The whole city is now part of the park.

The engines are all restored Shey enginesand were actually used in the lumber camps. The railroad was built in 1901 and they used it to haul lumber from the mountians to the lumber mill

Lookout on Bald Knob the third highest peak in WVa. It was an 11 mile train ride to get here. This was the end point. From here we rode the train back to the town of Cass. At this point we were only 4 miles away from the town of Cass(at lest if we could fly)

The passenger cars were the old logging flat cars that have been made into passenger cars.

It was a fun day. I had ridden a train here when I was a little girl. The park was pretty new then. They have expanded and there are three different destinations for the train rides.

2009-07-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we drove back to DC to meet Keah and Bryan. They had a 12 hour layover (it was supposed to be) We went to breakfast, then went to the Smithsonian Naturalist Center.

The Naturalist Center has hands on science. They have all kinds of samples that can be looked at close up! It was really neat!

We dropped them off at the airport around 3 to catch their 5 flight. We did not go in with them and found out later their fllight was canceled. They tried to get another flight and then ended up in Chicago with the second flight canceled. The airline got them a hotel and dinner. They finally made it to Oklahoma Sunday afternoon. (they left Malawi on Thursday)

They are in the US till Sept 13. They will be pretty busy between seeing family and doing some traveling.

2009-07-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

We drove to Shenandoah National park in Virginia last Friday. It is a beautiful park. The road and wall along it was built in the 30's by the CCC. The road follows a mountian ridge and is a great drive.

It was cloudy so we did not have clear views, but it was sstill amazing.

We even saw black bear.

The park has a 120 mile drive on the mountian ridge. There are amazing lookout spots. Some of the flowers were still blooming.

2009-07-28T17:29:00.000-07:00

July 18 trip to DC.
Mom and Brent on the steps in front of the Jefferson Memorial.

The Capital!

Korean War Memorial.
Brent and I in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

Hocking Hills State Park Ohio

2009-07-15T18:54:00.001-07:00

The photo on the right is from Wheeling Hill in wheeling West Virginia looking toward the Ohio River.The photo on the left and the rest of the photos on this post were all taken at Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. Hocking Hills is one of four state parkis in the area. We went to an area called Old Mans Cave. The hiking trails were beautiful. It had been dry so there was not much water in the stream but it was still a wonderful place.

There had been flooding in the past so this bridge was built to be more flood proof.

This picture shows the ledge that later on the hike we got to be on!

You can tell from how little the people look that this place is huge. This is the area know as Old Mans Cave. Gwyn is in this picture in the front in the red shirt.

June and early July

2009-07-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

Fireworks from downtown Pittsburgh July 4 2009.

Downtown Pittsburgh at sunset

Drake Oil Well, first oil well drilled in the United states was in Pennsylvania. There is wonderful museum here.

Fireworks from the ball park downtown Pittsburgh after a game. Taken from mount Washington.

Downtown Pittsburgh again

We went to Senica Rocks West Virginia. We hiked up to the viewing sight to the overlook

The lookout at the top. The breeeze was wonderful after the climb!

The view was worth the climb.

Smoke Hole Caverns In West Virginia. They got the name Because the Indians used to smoke meat in the caverns and people saw the smoke and did not know where it came from.

This week Nana and Aunt Gwyn are here visiting. We are going on a tour on the river tonight. This weekend we are going to visit Aunt Susie.

2009-06-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

We decided that this is where you would have been if we brought you here when you were little!

Blackwater falls is a beautiful park in West Virginia. I had been there as a little girl. It was fun to go back with Brent!

Pittsburgh Zoo. It is very nice but we were sorry there was no Kudu.

The above and below pictures are of amazing sea horses! We had never seen anything like these.

But we did see a rhino!

2009-06-14T18:39:00.000-07:00

Flowers around our neighborhood

We saw this house on a walk. The tree is huge! so I took this picture

Fallingwater.

Ohiopyle State park

Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh we attended

I guess this should be named Letters to Malawi and Oklahoma now!

We had a good weekend. Saturday we went to Fallingwater, a house built over a water fall by Frank Lloyd Wright for a Pittsburgh family for a summer home around the 1930's. THe following pictures do not do it justice! It was amazing. Every room had a balcony and lots of windows.

Sunday we attended church at First Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. We went back after lunch for a strawberry festival and a Lutherans for Life event. Then we went to a movie.

We love you all!

May and early June

2009-06-11T10:33:00.001-07:00

Aunt Noramay DIed June 6 while we were in Washington D.C. We got home Sunday and arranged to go the the funeral. We left after work Tuesday from Downtown and drove to Indiana. The service was Wednesday morning. After the funeral the church provided a lunch. The above picture is cousin Michael talking to his grandmother. (Noramay's mom)

Terry, The youngest of the boys. His boys were not there so we did not get to see them.

Uncle Dick. He is doing good. It is hard for him, but he knows where Noramay is!

Uncle Bob and Aunt Sue drove in also.

Michael, Ginger, Kelly, Kathlene, and John Michael. Kelly just graduated from high school

Scott and Melissa and their little one Caitlin(just three weeks old) They had been able to visit so Aunt Normay got to hold Caitlin before she died!

Gregg and his young son Blake. Lory was having surgery the day of the funeral so she could not be there.

It was a fast trip, but so good to see family. We had not seen most of them for years. We hope to see Uncle Dick again later this month or in July.

Brent had off Friday June 5th so we took the weekend to go to D.C.

The front of Amy's building in Washington D.C. where we stayed while we were in D.C. We spent Friday and Saturday night at Amy's place so we could visit Fred and Regina. It was a fast trip. We headed back home on Sunday after church.

View from the roof of Amy's apartment. You can see the Washington Monument

This is the roof of the apartment building

Looking northwest at the National Cathedral in the sunset from the roof

At the Hospice Hospital visiting Fred. Regina is holding up Issac up for Fred to talk to. We got to visit with Fred on Friday and Saturday for a little while. He tired easily so we did not stay long and he had other visitors.

View of the capital from the Old Post Office Tower in Washington D.C. We went to the old Post Office for lunch after our tour and before we went back to the hospital

The National Cathedral. Washington D.C. We took a trolly tour and stopped at the cathedral. The grounds there are beautiful.

Shawna and I went home for her graduation. The next day she left for Colorado for Camp. That next weekend we met in Houston for Elizabeths graduation. Before driving home Nathan and I took Shawna to the airport to fly back to colorado. We got home Sunday evening, and I flew back to Pittsburgh on Tuesday June 2.

Saying goodby to Shawna at the airport in Houston. She was heading back to Camp in Colorado

Grandma and Grandpa Roggow at Shawna's graduation She looked beautiful!!!!

Shawna's Graduation May 21. If any one has pictures please let me know, we didn't get may good ones!

2009-05-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

Spring is here, trees and flowers are blooming everywhere here. We took this photo on a walk just around the corner from where we are living.

This is our home away from home the window just above the tree and to the right is our bedroom window.

The liviing room and Shawna's bed!

The kitchen! It sure cleans up fast!

Our room.

This is at the Carnegie Natural History Museum. It is currently being worked but is quite impressive.

This is a photo of one of the many beautiful churches near us.

Just around the corner from us, but this is what most of the houses look like here.

Pittsburgh here we come

2009-05-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. This is just one of the beautiful orchids in the Orchihd Room

The flowers were all beautiful. The flowers below are what we used to have in our garden at home, but ours never got this big!

Bellefonte Penn. This park was beautiful. The visiters center and railroad museum was closed when we got there but we enjoyed the park.

Penns Cave

The cave was beautiful. We toured the cave by boat. The cave had a spring fed stream going through it.

This is where we entered the cave. We went through to the other side and came back. They had years ago opened up the other side and there is a lake there now.

Dad and I in the visiters area at Penn cave. The area is beautiful.

This is a bridge we pass often here. You would love the area, but it is hard to find your way around! We havegotten lost most every time we try to go somewhere. The GPS even has a hard time.

Shawna is working on finishing her classes. We are using weekends while we are here to see things!

Before we left we took Nana to dinner at Los Vasqueros. I love this photo of Nana and Shawna.

We Visited Grandma and Grandpa befoer we left.

April

2009-04-21T04:56:00.000-07:00

Hello Keah and Bryan! Here are some more pictures for you. I love the one above. It is a clematis (not sure if that is how it is spelled!) We planted two last year but this one never bloomed. I guess it only blooms in the spring, but it is beautiful! This is on the front porch.

Just so you can remember our spring sky. This is about an hour before it started pouring. It is looking east. We have needed the rain.

Shawna's Honor Banquet was Friday evening. Natalie, Hannah, and Jonathan were her guests.

Dad, Shawna, and me. We dress up nice don't we!

I just put this one is so you could see the front of the house! You can not tell from the photo but Dad cut way back the two bush trees on both sides of the house. (you know the ones that were right where we park the cars! )You can open car doors now and not worry about them.

Cousins and best friends. They all looked so beautiful! The girls didn't get to stay long they had to be home Saturday afternoon.

Amanda took some senior pictures of Shawna and this one is one of Shawna's favorites!

It was a fun day driving different places to get photos.

This is a picture being taken for graduation at COACH. They have poster pictures made and hung up around the room the reception is in. Lacy is the photographer. She takes all the senior s pictures for this.

We drove to Aunt Gwyn's last week to celebrate her birthday. We took her shopping and to lunch.

It was a fun day. We stayed till after dinner so we got to see Wes too.

Well that is all for now! I can not remember when you said you would be in town again. I thought it was this week. I am watching for your blog update and looking forward to pictures!!!!

Love you both bunches.

saying goodby

2009-03-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

Hello! Well I tried a new way to post and it is all unorginized! So much for something new. Here are photos saying goodby to Katie, Dave, and Isibella mixed with their goodby party. Above is Cindy telling Bella goodby and the car and truck driving down the street as theyleft.

To the left is Shawna holding Isibella and the "kids visiting on the front poarch. Below and right is Ryan and Amanda with Isibella.

Karen and Steve with Bella, I love this picture of Bella! We took all these photos to put in an Album for Bella so that they could show her so she won't forget us! I added a picture of you two from Christmas time!

This one is Katie and Dave getting in vehicles to leave.

Guess what Nathan got?????? He and Chad bought it together and take turns using it. You can guess what Daddy thinks!

Now that i have this all up I realized there is no photo of Katie!!!! Well there is but you can not see her very well in the car. I will post one next time. I wanted to get this up while you were still in town. I know that once you are back in the village it will be hard for you to get someplace to check it out. We are praying you move will go well and you will have a wonderful time while you are working there.

Its March!

2009-03-19T19:16:00.001-07:00

I know its March now and the above photo is from January, but I thought you might like to see a picture from camp. This was taken at Journey.

Here is Jonathan with his new truck. He traded in the old red van! He is very happy with the trade! It was a good time because his work has him doing a lot of traveling. He has been to Tulsa at least three times and to Wichita at least once since he got the pickup in February.

Shawna served a a tea at the Norman Library. She invited me to come. Everyone wore hats!

Of course we have enjoyed our time with Isibella! They move soon. We will miss her!!!!

Shawna ask Amanda to take pictures of her and the girls. She took these near the Crystal Bridge.

This oneis one of my favorites!

We miss you and think about you often!!!! I keep thinking it is not that long to you will be back for your visit.It is just about 5 months now. How is the foot??? We can't wait to see the pictures you have taken. Love you.

Mom and Dad

2009-03-04T19:57:00.000-08:00

We got to watch Isibella this evening. We took her to church with us and she got to meet Carter! They were so funny.

Carter wanted to hug Isibella, but she was not sure about that.

Carter is 12 months and Isibella is 9 Months.

Home from our Cruise!

2009-02-03T15:27:00.000-08:00

These first few photos are in Puerta Rico Rain Forest "El Yunque" We had visited there once before and wanted to go back. The visiters center there is beautiful! It looks like a cathedral.

The next two photos are still in the rain forest. The first was taken from a window in the tower pictured in the second photo.

St Thomas; We took a small boat to another island and went to a beach called Trunk Bay to snorkel.

This picture was taken on the boat as we headed back to the ship.

I think this is the dock at St Maarten. We took an Island tour here. This photo was taken from our room on the ship.

When I saw this I thought of you guys! The boy was taking the cows across the road. We saw several cows tied up along the road.

Dinner on the ship every evening was a three course meal.

Antiguia; Here we were on a Catamaran Snorkel and beach tour

This is St Lucia, We road bikes in a rain forest here. This is just before sunset back on the ship. We saw a beautiful rainbow as the ship was heading out.

This in the beach in Barbados. We just took a taxi to the beach. We practally had the beach to ourselves!

This is by the indoor pool on the ship.

I will send more later. We had a wonderful time and I think someday it would be so much fun to have the whole family take a cruise together!

Love you!

Mom

Thanksgiving and Progressive Dinner

2008-12-15T08:41:00.000-08:00

Daddys work Christmas party

At the Progressive Dinner Our house

visiting in the kitchen as usual!

Cindy Lance and Isibella at Aunt K and Uncle Steves house

Mrs Gordon, Uncle Steve Aunt K, and Faithe

Nana and her four girls

I love this photo of Isibella. Uncle Lance is in the bacground. It is his hat that you see around her head!

Katie's comminsioning

Katie and Dave

Thanksgiving weekend

Jon's birthday

Nana and Isibella

Games Thanksgiving weekend

Aunt Gwyna Uncle Wes and family

Aunt Gwyn and Isibella

It was so good talking to you on the phone. We Love you so much and we are so proud of all you are doing.

You ae in our prayers daily and

November 2008

2008-11-21T09:29:00.001-08:00

Shawna took these pictures of the red maples in our front yard. THis is the most beautiful they have been since we planted them.

We went camping to Great Planes State Park a few weekends ago. It was a beautiful weekend. Cold but beautiful. This is Dad, Uncle Wes and Aunt Gwyn near the stream.

And this is looking at the stream from where they were. It was so pretty.

In our campsight trying to keep warm!

Shawna and Ryan took a bike ride!

November picts with Isibella. Nana and Isiabella

Suzet and Isibella

Isabella and her mommy!

Another shot with Nana. Isabella has stayed at the house a few afternoons this week. It has been fun having her. I am getting stronger. I walked to the corner and back! I can still not sit longer than 20 to 30 minutes at a time but I can tell I am moving faster and doing better!

Love you and thinking of you as I see the trees turn and put on their fall colors!

Mom

Fall is here

2008-11-06T20:12:00.001-08:00

Jonathan came by on Tuesday to go and vote with us. Isibella really liked him! It was his first chance to hold her. He said usually when she was around there were too many others waiting to hold her. I think he enjoyed holding her!

Don't you love this one! What big eyes you have Isibella!!!

We put a sheet on the floor and let her roll around. She kept trying to get closer to Jonathan.

Jonathan and Isibella

A trip to the zoo. It was a beautiful day. We enjoyed all the fall colors as much as the animals. This is me with Shawna, Nicholas, Dylan and Isabella (in the stroller)

We had to take another picture with Aunt Cindy in it!

And no trip to the zoo would be complete without a picture here!

Last weekend we went to the farm. On our way home we stopped by a field of cotton to take this picture.

This is a farm near Grandpa's . The heads of these sunflowers were pretty big!

Grandma and Grandpa

Sunday after church in Breckenridge. Krystal and Shawna

On Saturday evening we went out to the lake. Daddy and Shawna fished, I just took pictures.

Shawna even caught one!

This is Shawna walking across the dam

And here is daddy fishing! He didn't catch any but he got a couple bites. It was a beautiful evening. Just before sunset the birds came in to roost. They were so loud! They made enough noise to scare all the fish! Then in just a moment it was quiet. It was so cool!

This weekend we are going to go camping. It will be our first camping trip this fall. Gwyn and Wes and the Girls will come on Saturday. The Perkins can't come, But Nana and Ryan are going to come. Amanda has to work so she can't come. We will be thinking of you! Just think in less than 9 months we will be camping with you probably!!!! It is still hard to believe that you have been in Africa almost 2 years now.

We love you,

Mom

Oh and Keah can you let me know in an e-mail just what kiva bags you meant!

more photos

2008-10-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

For Shawnas birthday we took a group to a corn maze! It was a beautiful evening and I think they all had fun.
Above is Jonathan and Nicholas and below is Christie, Jonathan W., Whitney and Shawna.

Nathan , Nicholas, Jonathan, and Dylan above and Ryan below. Ryan walked with me and we could hear the boys when we were close to them. It made us laugh!

This picture is just so you know that Shawna is being well taken care of!

We had a fall fun night at church. Shawna was the stars, Hannah the moon, and Dylan the Sun

two of pastors grand kids Presley and her little brother

I just had to send you this one His name is James and his family started comming after you moved. Isn't he sweet!

and this is a Caterpiller! This is Carter, Joanna's little one!

Here is the family picture I promised! This was taken the day after my birthday.

Hanna and Natalie drove up for the weekend so they went to dinner with us!

Miss Shawna!

Amanda Dad and Shawna at the robotics competition.

Ryan Amand and I

Ryan at The robotics competition, it went good. They were 4th out of 18 in the first part. That enabled them to go to the semi finals. There they placed 8 of 8. They had made an adjustment to the robot and it made it handle differently. They had fun though!

We are watching Isabella today, sop if there are typos we will blame her! IT is hard to type with a little one in your lap! We are showing her pictures of you buys so she will know you when you come home next summer.

We love you and pray you have a wonderful trip next week. ( I think that is when you were going to be visiting a national park)

Love you,

Mom, Dad, and Shawna

My Birthday

2008-10-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

We had Nana, Cindy, Aunt K and Uncle Steve, Karen, Dustin, Andrew, Nicholas, Jonathan,and Nathan come over for cake this evening. Ryan and Shawna were at the Robotics class.
I got your birthday e-mail ( : Thank you!

Nana got a cake and Daddy brought me the flowers!

After lunch I went and got my hair trimmed. It looked much neater than the earlier pictures!

Nana Aunt Cindy, Aunt K, and Karen took me to Lunch this afternoon. We met on Aunt K's lunch hour. Then Nana took me shopping. We went to the hardware store!

I am looking for a storm door with a screen for the front door. ( :

This is a picture of the practice for the robotics competition. The actual competition is the 18th. The practice was at the mall the actual competiton will be at a college.

Well Thats all! We are going to try to go out for dinner tomorrow and hope that Ryan, Amanda, Shawna, Jon, and Nathan can all come. I will even try to get a picture of us all to post!

We love you and I pray you are feeling better. (both of you) I would like to try and call this weekend.

Love, Mom

Dustins Birthday

2008-10-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

Hello dear ones!,

We were thinking of you this evening as we went to Dustin's birthday party. How many years we celebrated Keah and Dustins birthdays together!
Sorry there are not many pictures. The memory card filled up and it had Shawna's pictures for the robotic competiton on it so I couldn't deleat them!
Everyone wishes you a late happy birthday Keah. Aunt Cindy mailed a package this week!

A picture of Nana and it actually has her eyes open!
I had to take and deleat at least 3 to get a good one.

Dad and Ryan talking about bike riding. Ryan is going to ride in a bike race next weekend possibly.

Jonathan in one of his funny t shirts. He sends his love!

Katie and Karen. Katie had worked a full day at the tea room. She was worn out!

Nathan, looking very serious! He was actually in a little bit of pain. He ruptured his ear drum accidently last week! He is doing better and the pain is a lot less now than it was!

Andrew, He is now living in the extra room at Karen and Dustins place!

Karen and Isabella.
Every one wants to hold Isabella so Karen has to fight to get her!

Dustin with his birthday dessert. (only one candle we did not want to set of the fire alarm!) With Unlce Lance in the background. He had just played happy BIrthday on his guitar.

Shawna at on of the robotics classes working on the robot for competition. The competition is the 18th. Today they had a practice run. They have some adjustments to make before competition!

More pictures

2008-10-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

Fall has arived finally. We are having cooler evenings even when the days are still pretty warm (maybe not to you) The plant just off the patio in the photo on the right is milo! it came up from the bird seed we put in the feeder! We thought it was pretty funny!

Here are a couple pictures of the back yard. Shawna is becomming a good photographer. These were both taken early morning and you can see the fog in the back of the yard.

Below is Shawna and Hannah in Natalie's car and to the right is in Tulsa tt the field where Hannah has her softball games.

We went to the fair and met Ryan and Amanda there.

there are more pictures but I will have to add them later. We ate and visited some of the buildings. We had the usual fair food! Indian tacos, funnel cakes, and corn dogs. (none of us ate all of thet! ( :

Shawna spent a week at the Jacksons after their Great Grandma died.

She and the girls were able to spend a lot of time together. Erik was not able to get home for the funeral. He is hoping to come home later this fall for a visit.

I love these rose pictures. The red ones smell so sweet!

Cindy was keeping Isibella overnight on Wednesday. She had church and orchistra practice so we got to have Isabella for a few hours.

We had fun with her. She is rolling over now and makes all kinds of sounds. She smiles a lot(until I get the camera out!)

I had another phote here, but somehow lost it!

I am getting a little frustrated with this blog! I keep losing pictures i put on it! Then I get two of the same picture. I think I will quit for now before I lose them all!

I love you both and will continue to pray for wisdom for the doctors and health over you both! Have a good visit with your friends.

"and even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, your are blessed. Andd do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence." ! peter 3: 14-15

Nana just walked in and says HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEAH!

Love Mom

September 20, 2008

2008-09-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

Hell dear ones!,

I just finished reading your post and looking at the pictures. It never ceases to amaze me at what all you have done there. To see the difference you are making in peoples lives and realize that it is not just today but their future you have helped is such a blessing! It makes me realize that that is just what God calls us to do daily wherever we are. Some places it is more obvious what is needed but the same task lies before us, To love others as Jesus loved us!

Today was the Discover Real Love event and after that I took Shawna halfway to Tulsa. Natalie met us. Tomorrow Shawna has a meeting at camp and we couldn't find a ride from here. She is on the Journey committee. She is so excited! Anyway what I wanted to tell you was as I was getting back to the city it was just about sunset and the sun was the biggest orange ball just on the horizon. It was beautiful and it made me think of you. We see the same sun as far apart as we are!

Well that is all for now. I will try to post pictures soon. oh yea, i got the package to Catherine, it should be in Malawi next week.

Love you always,
Mom

Hannah and Nicks Birthday party

2008-09-13T23:10:00.001-07:00

Aunt Gwyn and Uncle Wes

Part of the party guests. Hannah had friends from Tulsa and friends she had met at Camp Lutherhoma come and Nicholas had some of his friends.

Nana with Isibella.

Aunt Cindy, Kim, Uncle Steve and Aunt K

Krystal drove down for the weekend for the party!

Aunt Gwyn enjoying Isibella. This was only the second time she got to hold her!

Aunt K and Ryan enjoying the meal!

Dustin, Karen, Andrew, and Uncle Wes

We painted the Entry way. If you can look close enough on the shelf behind the door, I put the Africa rock that Kim gave me!

I think everyone had a good time. Dustin brought his sound system and played music and they all danced! It was fun. Lots of food too. Gwyn and Wes had to head home this evening, but Natalie and Hannah will go home tomorrow. ( I guess I mean today now!)

By the way, I wante to be sure you saw both of the last posts. I did two on the same day. The flower one and one with Family camp pictures!

The Hurricane hit landfall early Saturday morning near Galveston. Tim, Sharon and Family are fine but without power. Kendall, Kaybeth and Family went to stay with family in College Station.

Well I need to get some sleep,

Love you both bunches!

Fall Flowers in our yard!

2008-09-12T12:48:00.001-07:00

Here are some flower pictures for you! Wish I could pick some and give them to you. This is the north side of the driveway out front. The orange and pink flowers are close ups of tome of the flowers in this garden

This red rose is in a pot on the patio. I wish I could send you the scent! It smells wonderful. This orange rose produces different colored roses at the same time!

I do not know the name of this plant, but we love it! It climbs up the side of the shed and it smells sweet!
Photo on the left is a close up of it.

I am not sure what this hanging plant is, but it also has flowers of different colors. Notice the pink on the left branches and some white blooms on the lower right.

This is some kind of a vine that took over some of the flower beds. We were not able to keep up with the weeding. We did not know it bloomed! IT looks and smells wonderful. Above it is covering another plant and below it is on the fence.

Well that is some of the flowers in our yard. I hope it makes you feel like you were here! We have some sunflowers also, I will try to get you some pictures of them. We love you so very much. It seems funny to think that as we get cooler you are getting hotter there. It is hard to believe that you have over 100 degree temp in the shade and that is not your hot time yet! I am getting a hot flash just thinking about it ( : !!!

Well some how I have erased or deleted some of the pictures! I will post more later. Love you both!

Mom

This is on the North side of the house along the driveway behind the gate.

The dogs like these plants before they bloom./ They run through them.

I love the color. they do not have a smell, but they sure look pretty.

FamilyCamp at Lutherhoma

2008-09-12T12:03:00.000-07:00

Daddy and Shawna! They were being silly.

On our way home we stopped at Sam and Ella's for lunch! on the left is Kim and beside her are Mr and Mrs Witten. On the right is Nana and Lori.

Here is Lori and Joe, Still at Sam and Ella's

Daddy and Kim.

You know this crew!!!! Goofing off on the deck.

Here is Joe with Krista, Hannah, and Jessica

Lunch line! Waiting for our turn. Krista ,being hugged by Lori, Joe and Nana

I do not know what it is about the deck, but we always seem to find people flat on their backs on it!!!

Here's the Man!!!!

John, preparing for the Sunday morning worship service.

Playing games in the dining hall

Back on the deck. This has Hannah(Jackson) Cheyene, Austin, Shawna, and Jonathan

We couldn't go to family camp and not take a picture of the river!

And of course Kim took lots of pictures of the river!

We played in the river on Saturday and found lots of friendship rocks. Kim found one that looked like Africa and it had a hole shaped like a heart in it. She gave it to me! She is so sweet!!!!

Still at the farm!

2008-08-25T06:09:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we drove to Alva. Daddy spoke to the womens group about Camp Lutherhoma. He talked about the Capital Campaign. We are almost halfway to the goal. With the funds raised so far we have enough for the pool and build two new retreat cabins. They are called quad cabins and they will have a central room with 4 sleeping rooms off of the central room. Me with a new haircut! It hasn't been this short in a long time!

after the meeting we drove home with a detour to Salt Plains. We stopped at the spillway and walked around. We even drove around the campground and saw where we camped with you guys!

Grandma, Aunt Minnie, Grandpa, and aunt Bernice

Grandma and your dad!

Dad, Aunt Minnie, Grandma, Grandpa, (yes he has a cast on his arm), Aunt Bernice

Angie, (with Aunt Shirley in the background )

Monte, Krystal, Aunt Marie, and Cody

Grandpa and Uncle Gene

Grandpa had a close up meeting with a cow. The cow got to close and stepped on the edge of Grandpas shoe. When grandpa tried to get the cow to move she moved faster than he expected and he fell. He will see the doctor again this week and we will know more about recovery. Daddy will be going upu for several weekends to help. Since it is Grandpas right arm he will not be able to do a lot of the farm work.

We love you and everyone here sends their love!!!!!

Mom

A Trip to the Farm

2008-08-25T05:49:00.000-07:00

This is the Meyer place. This year Grandpa planted milo instead of wheat.

This is the pasture on the Meyer place (not to good of a picture because I took it out the window as we were driving down the well road.)

another couple views of the milo on the Meyer place

I couldn't remember if Grandpa had his new shed up when you were home so here is a picture of it. You can tell the size when you see it beside his old shed.

They are widening the road on 74. this is between the city and Cresent.

I had more pictures to add but for some reason I am not able to add them so I guess I will try another post and see If I can do it.

More Photos!

2008-08-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

Baby Isibella!!! Is she not the most beautiful baby ever! Look at those eyes. Katie and Nana brought her over to see us. She has grown so much. Katie said to tell you hi!

Isabella is 2 months old now.

Lori celebrated her birthday with us. The twins will celebrate their birthdays next week.

That is Hannah on the left next to Lorie and Khrista on the right.

Shawna, she is pretty good taking pictures of herself!

Shawna drew this on the patio. It is chalk and it looked really good, but it was hard to get a good photo. I do not know if you can tell, but it is a girl in the ocean just past the beach. see the footprints heading into the water.

Well that is all for now. I will post more after Family Camp.

It was so good to hear your voices this morning. I am so thankful that you are feeling better Bryan!!!!! Have a safe trip to Dedza and then back to the village.

Love you bunches,

Mom and Dad

Vacation BIble School at Zion

2008-08-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

Ok,. I got it working!!! so here are some pictures from VBS at church. We had a small group of children and we had more adults helping than there were kids! It made for a pretty smooth week. Pastor as always really got into it. He was great! Enjoy the pictures.
Love you ,
Mom

Shawna and Lacey goofing off!!!

Pastor Ron???? Does he resemble a mad scientist??

Lisa and Shawna

Terri, Rachel, Lisa, and Shawna

Shawna

Presley, Hasn't she grown!

Pastor Ron getting all the childrens attention!

Terry and Rachel

Daddy, walking on water! You always thought he could do it didn't you! One of the stories the children studued was Jesus walking on water. They had a fun activity to go along with that.

Shawna with some of the children she worked with.

It is raining!~

2008-08-20T21:18:00.001-07:00

It is raining again. We have had over 8 inches in our yard in the last two weeks! I think that we have made up for the dry month of July! Zeke is definatly in need of a bath, but it will have to wait till the rain stops. (at least he is getting frequent showers) ( :

I am having trouble with the computer and my pictures again so I do not have any photos for now. But I will see if I can add some soon. Shawna starts classes at Coach tomorrow. One of her teachers used to babysit you guys! Do you remember Mischelle? Bothe she and hes sister used to babysit you all. (just a few years ago)

Well thats it for now. I will work on the pictures!

Love you,
Mom

Vacation post 2

2008-08-01T06:35:00.000-07:00

I forgot to add photos of the Needles Highway in South Dakota so here some are. That is Aunt Cindy and Ryan in the rocks.

Just thought you would like this one.

I love how blue the sky looks here.

This is in Rocky Mountain National Park on Trail Ridge Road. See how close the snow is!

This picture was taken and then the next is the sign talking about this point!

Marmets were all over the place, and they were brave. They ran across the road. We sat and watched them for quite a while.

Shawna and Amanda at on of the lookouts

That is our shadows in the picture!

Some Elk secided to pose for us!

A Family shot for you.

As we were headed home Saturday morning these Big Horn sheep met us on the road between Estes Park and Loveland. They mus thave come down to find salt along the road. We stopped and took several pictures. ( we stayed in the car!!!)

This picture was taken just before they charged oneanother! You could here the horns clashing toghether.

Our last visit before heading home was the Colorado Springs zoo ( Cheyene Mountian Zoo)

They have a wonderful set up. But it is on the side of a mountian so it was a steep walk to see some of the animals. We only stayed a couple hours because we still wanted to get home that night.

Well thats all! I may try to post again with some photos from Nana's or Cindy's or Shawna's Cameras. I need to go now. I love you and it was so good to hear you voice this morning : )

Vacation post 1

2008-07-31T09:56:00.002-07:00

This Photo is at Sylvan Lake Campground. We took this one for you! Notice the Chairs, There was a wedding here later the day we took this. Made us think of you!

Mount Rushmoe in the Evening. They had a lighting of the mountain and special ceremony. It was impressive.

Some of the crew!

Another beautrful photo at Sylvan Lake. (This is the lake we saw as we were going on the Needles Highway)

One day we went to The Badlands ane on the way back to camp stopped at Wall Drug. It was huge!!! and very crowded.

The pass on the way to yellowstone. SNOW! Nicholas, Shawna, and Dylan.

Daddy and I at Yellowstones Old Faithful.

Nana, Shawna, Daddy, andNicholas at Yellowstone.

Amanda with the youngest camper!

The Tetons from Jackson Lake campground

Daddy and I with the Tetons in the background!

Sweet Shawna!

We Took a hike above Jenny Lake. Here we took a rest stop!! Ryan, Amanda , and Shawna.

Daddy, almost on the top of the world. ( at lest it felt like it to our legs!!!)

Photo stop !

On the way back down we saw this tree and had to take a picture. See how the river has washed out below it!

Shawna and another tree. The roots on this one showed above the ground and were huge.

Saying goodby to the Tetons, I took this photo out the window in the side mirror of the trailblazer.

Well that is it for post 1, I will try to do more tonight. I did this once this morning and then erased it before I posted!!! So this time I will post and then proofread, so forgive the mistakes!!

Love you so much.

Mom

We are home from Vacation

2008-07-28T05:39:00.000-07:00

Hi,
We made it home about 3:30 AM Sunday morning! I think we were all ready for our own beds. It was a wonderful trip and in so many ways made us think of you two. As we were leaving Rocky Mountain National Park we saw several big horn sheep along the road. Two of them would get up on their back legs and ram each other with their horns. When I get the hard drive, that we put all the photos on (from Ryan), I will post pictures.

Now it is time to get back to a schedule. Today is laundry and general clean up. (House and Camper) I hope that I will be able to post pictures while you are still in town.

Love you both

Family Reunion

2008-07-11T08:13:00.002-07:00

Calvin and Gandpa at the reunion. (july 5) Calvin said to tell you hi.

Our crew. there were a few missing!! : ( (We did miss you guys, and Taylor, Lisa and children, and Shawn, and Jessica)

All of the grandchildren of Reinhardt and Ella. At least most of them, I think there were three missing)

The aunts and Uncles!

Hannah and Natalie visited us in Enid, so they came to lunch with us at the reunion.

Mollly and Shawna.

The 4th at Grandmas. Cousins!

Kila tom and Molly. Jessica couldn't come

Kendall Kaybeth Kerianne, Katelyn, Kendra

At the Perkins before we left for the farm. Amy and Shawna

Nathan got a new car!!! It is a Honca Civid SI. He is one happy boy!!!

Shawna and I went to camp to take your gifts.

Camp is still uning above ground pools whild the new pool is being built.

Erin says hi!!! She loved the gift and letter.

John and Joah showing off their gifts!

All the staff loved the key chains. Shawna and I tied them on twine so they could use them at camp. Everyone was so pleased to get them.

We love you, I miss talking to you when you are out of phone range. When we are on vacation I will have a phone card with me so we can call if you are in town.

June 26

2008-06-26T06:31:00.000-07:00

Since you got delayed again I decided to post, but do not have any new pictures. I found some from last fall I thought you would enjoy. Jonathan, Nathan, and Shawna helping rake leaves in our neighbors yard. I think they had as much fun as it was work. Of course the boys both had to give Shawna a hard time. She might think they were sick if they didn't!

I am so glad things worked out with the bank. I bet the problem earlier was a ATM problem and not yours. Who knows why but you needed to be in town another day!!! It could have been just so I could hear your voice again!!!!!! I loved the shower picture you posted. I am trying to figure out how you took it!

Katie, Dave, and Isibella spent the night last night. Dave has to work today so Katie and Isibella are spending the day on this side of town. Katie wants to start her baby album.

I haven't heard from Lynette yet and s he leaves tomorrow. I will try calling her today. She is such a busy person! Well I guess that is long enough, you will run out of computer time if I keep rambling! I Love you so much, consider yourselves hugged!!! Mom

Nana's Surprises

2008-06-23T06:09:00.001-07:00

Saturday's surprise was breakfast at Aunt K's house. Then we took her to get her hair done.

A pretty view of Aunt K's backyard. That is Aunt Cindy in the background.

Nana with her hair all fixed. Later Aunt Gwyn and Natalie came in town to take her to dinner to surprise her. She thought they had to leave Sunday Morning. After Mom left for church Gwyn and Natalie started getting the house ready. Wes came in I and I went over to work.

The back yard looked so pretty when we were done. Daddy brought over some fans to move air on the patio.

Aunt Gwyn, Uncle Wes, Natalie, and Aunt Carolyn sat in the Gazebo at Aunt Cindy's. Mom came out and the first thing she saw was Gwyn and Wes, She thought that was the only surprise till she got close enough to see Aunt Carolyn.

We took them back to Nana's house for the surprise party with friends from church and then when Aunt sue Arrived we took her to the front porch to surprise her again. She was so surprised.

Sisters!!! Reunited. They were all so happy. We had fun the rest of the evening with lots of food and fellowship. Aunt Carolyn has to leave today, but Aunt Sue will stay all week! Aunt Gwyn is staying longer also. Natalie and Wes had to leave last night.

Sorry I did not post last night. I was to tired! Today Mom is fixing dinner for Cindy's birthday. Shawna is still at camp and Hannah is there this week with her. Gwyn willpick them up Friday and I will go get her next Monday or Tuesday. Well I better close Love you Bunches!!!!!!!

Saturday

2008-06-21T19:37:00.000-07:00

Hello! I hope you had a good visit with Lynette. I believe they fly in here tomorrow night.
Today Cindy, Karen, and I had breakfast with mom on Karen's deck. It was very nice. Then mom got her hair done. This evening Gwyn and Natalie surprised Nana and came into town to take her to dinner. Hannah is at camp with Shawna.

Daddy worked outside all day. He trimmed trees, weeded in the gardens. Then he went and got a trailer load of mulch and started putting it in the flower beds and garden. I helped him some this evening. He finally quit around 7. I think he will be tired!

We only have the gardens beside the shed again this year. The big one in back is all grown to grass. Daddy planted strawberries again, but they won't produce till next year. We have tomatoes, we had peas and lettuce, but it is to hot for them now.

Did I ever tell you that We got Ryan and Amanda's old couch. The one she got from her Granny.
They got a new one when they bought their house. We put it in front of the fireplace for summer. The couch we got from Aunt Hilda is in front of the sliding glass doors.

No new photos today. I will add some tomorrow.
Love you,
Mom

a Trip to the zoo

2008-06-20T22:09:00.000-07:00

Isibella's first trip to the zoo.
She got a lot of attention!

Zebra, (from Africa) They were out and the closest

I had seen them to the fences in a long time!

This guy posed for us! He followed along as we walked by.

He must be used to cameras!

Katie holding Isibella, Aunt K, Nana, and Amanda.

Aunt Cindy came later.

They were out but not near the fnece, It made it

hard to get good pictures.

Aunt Cindy holding Isibella, Nana, Aunt K, Katie, and Amanda

Pretty as a picture! We also bought her a zoo hot, but it was a bit big. It worked to keep the sun off her head though.

Amanda Playing ball with Zeke this evening. He still can never get enough ball. If the doorbell rings, he thinks they must be comming to play ball! The second pucture here is the redbud tree. We told you storms took it this spring. It is starting to grow back from the bottom.

It has been an exciting day! Daddy used the car dolly to get the van. It broke down on Jonathan on his way home from work. They got the van unloaded at the repair shop and were heading home when Ryan called. His car was broke down also!

2008-06-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

Nana's birthday is next week. We have planned a special event each day since Wednesday. On Wednesday we ate lunch in Cindy's gazeba and then took mom to get her nails done.
Today we brought her over here and had lunch and watched a movie. ( the second National Treasure), tomorrow we go to the zoo.
I will post pictures when we get back!

Two more renformation pictures. Make sure and look at the previous post for more renformation pictures. I had called camp on Thursday( the day before the renformation camp started. I found out they could use some help so I ended up going and cooking for the weekend. It was fun!

We have had a lot of rain here. (over 4 1/2 inches since last Friday) The grass loves it!

You have been on my mind a lot this week. I was so pleased to hear you would be in town this weekend. I hope we can talk. Well that's all for now. Look for more after our zoo trip.

Love, Mom

Renformation Weekend at Camp

2008-06-19T15:50:00.002-07:00

Sunday Morning Worship was in the outdoor Chapel, Shawna was one of the knights chosen to be in the procession. It was pretty cool. The picture of the river was taken as I was walking to the dining hall early morning to prepare breakfast.

The New pool is not in so the pool company brought out two big above ground pools.

The Man with the birds came. He talkled to the campers about hawks then after lunch let people hold the bird.

Photos from Stillwater

2008-06-09T16:17:00.000-07:00

Animal and Amy had a very nice display of the things he and his dad had brought back from Africa.

Animal had the computer set up with some of his photos ready to show.

Sunday was actually Amy's birthday so after the presentation Amy had some gifts to open.

Zeke is not sure what to make of Baby Isibella! It the picture to the right He is looking at me, like "is this ok???"

Ok, so I have video from Sunday that I will try to put in another post. I am afraid if I try to add it here I will mess something up!!

Stillwater

2008-06-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

Hi, We went to Stillwater for the presentation by Kris. It was great. I did use our digital camera to video some, but ran out of memory card part way through it. I will have to figure out how to make a dvd or cd from it now. They had another check for you! I will deposit it tomorrow (Monday) It is a big as the last one.

I will try to post some pictures from it in the morning. You guys have so much prayers and support from them! It was exciting to be there. I am amazed that such a small congregation raised so much money!Kris is planning on being in the city soon and he will show us more of his pictures then. He tried to keep the presentation to an hour so he couldn't show many. I can not wait to see them.

Well it is late and I want to be up in the morning in case you need me to call.

We Love you!

BIrthday Party

2008-06-08T06:28:00.000-07:00

Baby Isibella at our house. Isn't she sweet! I got to hold her while they were getting ready to go over to the Perkins house. Zeke is not sure just what she is! He keeps smelling around when she is in the room.

A couple close up shots, she does have hair, but you see it mostly from the side or back!

Birthday Party at the Perkins House.

Lots of people and laughter. Amy flew in toward the end of the evening to see her new niece. It was fun, but I think Katie and Dave were worn out by the end of the evening.
Karen and Dustin
Typical birthday party, everyone laughing and talking. Sorry abour the hodge podge of order. I still have not got this down. The pictures do not end up where I thought I put them and the writing ends up in the wrong place!

Cleaning house

2008-06-07T06:36:00.000-07:00

I was cleaning in the school room. You remember the shelves I had stacked . They were on the right as you first walked in the room. I unstacked them and the top one was covered in dust!
Your artistic sister decided to draw in it!! So here is her art work.

This is the one I like best.

Here is your room. Aunt Cindy was given this comforter and she gave it to us. We put it on for summer. NOtice the picture to the side of the closet!!!! THe closet is totally full on either side. There is a little room left in the center front!

I hope you were able to touch base with Lynette! Give her a hug to send home for us and remind her to give you the one I sent. We love you!!!!!!!

A visit to Jon and Hathans house

2008-06-07T06:30:00.001-07:00

We had dinner at Jonathan and Nathan's house. Jonathan had been sick, but is now feeling much better.

June 4

2008-06-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

Shawna Had Chinese lessons today. After the lesson Stella took us to a Chinese Cafe. She wanted us to taste a special drink. It is considered real treat for her. It was a tea with milk chilled and served with large tapioca in it. You drink it with a big straw and the tapioca is pulled up through the straw and eaten. It was a fun place. We will have to take you there when you are home.

This evening We went to Nora's house( she works at Daddy's old office). Her daughter was involved in Renaissance reenactments. She has the garb. She let Shawna come try some on to pick something out for Renformation at camp!!The dress above is the one Shawna chose.

Shawna looked great in several of the dresses, but the fabric was much heavier on some of them and some were a little short.

This one reminded me of the civil war time.

While Shawna was in Chinese I ran by the hospital to see Katie. Amanda was there. Here they are dressing Isibella for her hospital picture. They were going home today.
Jonathan called this afternoon while we were out. He was at the house sick. I ended up taking him to a emergency clinic because Wednesday afternoons the doctors office was closed. He has Strep and is running a high fever. His throat hurt so bad he is not even talking!!! The doctor said it looked awful!

Did you see our new vehicle in one of the earlier posts?

well thats all for now. We love you !!!!!

Baby Isibella

2008-06-03T21:15:00.001-07:00

Proud Parents Katie and Dave I love this photo!!! They are so happy.
Such Tiny feet!!!
Two beautiful girls!!!!!

Now I am really a great Aunt!

Well Keah, This sorta makes you an aunt since Katie is sorta your sister!!!! Katie loved talking to you today. It made me so happy to know that you two could talk. More Pictures are comming your way vie Lynette. She leaves here tomorrow and should be in Malawi on Friday. Wish I could have come with them. You will laugh at what I sent! I found several old letters that Inever finished or finished and never sent. So you can read the old news! We also sent a couple of Shawan's drawings, and she sent you some of her journal. Missing you tonight.

Trying again!

2008-06-02T14:02:00.000-07:00

Jonathan and Nathan in their new home. We had a house warming party for them on Sunday (the 1st) evening. Of course they had to pose on the front porch. Nana, Aunt Cindy, Uncle Lance, Aunt K, Uncle Steve, Ryan, Amanda, Shawna, Nicholas, Andrew and Dylan all came. We got the boys an ice chest filled with kitchen things. Uncle Lance gave then a shovel and a rake. Nana and Aunt Cindy gave them some frying pans and dish towels. I brought over some cheese and crackers and ice tea. It was fun and the boys were pleased.

On Saturday (May 31) we went to Lake Arcadia and celebrated Amanda's birthday.
It was a nice evenint and in the shade it was very nice. Sorry the picture of Amanda is sideways. I have not figured out how to fix that!
Katie (very pregnant) and Dave planned the picnic. Everyone brought something, but no one thought to bring anything to turn the hamburgers with once they were on the grill! Ryan and Dave ran to the store to get something.

Daddy and I worked in the garden Saturday before the trip to the lake. We planted flowers in the front north flower bed.

more pictures, I hope!

2008-06-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

Hi, I was so excited to see your post, I feel like we are visiting when I write this. I am going to try to add more photos, I tried earlier but was only able to post one. I hope you are feeling better. It is so hard when you feel down. Life becomes a difficult circle with the sadness and the guilt and the increased sadness. I think maybe it would be best to say : God this is how I am feeling and I feel stuck, I can't seem to do anything about it. So I am going to do what I have to do and leave the rest to you." Then do what you need to do and don't let satin trap you into the guilt cycle. Tell him your God's child and God has it all under controll even if you don't!!!

Happy June!

2008-06-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

We added some flowers to the fron flower beds. This is the north side. Dad and I worked all morning getting the flowers and then getting the bed ready and the flowers in. I got really sunburned! I can not believe we forgot to put on sunscreen!!!

2008-05-30T05:48:00.002-07:00

Your little sis! We went to some local gardens to walk around and I took this photo of her.

Sunday morning worship at camp. We were thinking about you and praying for you!

THe big tree by the office at camp had to come down, it was half rottenon the inside. They were concerned it would come down on all the staffs cars. That is John and Bryan in front of the tree. John then went to the end and touched a leaf and said that he just touched something no other human had ever touched! Pretty cool.

Here is Nathan, with his new haircut! around him is Lizi, a friend of Shwanas, Nicholas, Cheyanne, Austin, Hannah, and Shawna. I will try to remember to get a clsoe up of him next time he comes over.

Kim, and her rocks! Her job was to get rocks out of the field, she kept a bunch of them! We got a new vehicle, at least new for us! It's a 06 Trailblazer. 06 was the last year they made them with the third row seat. We got it the Friday before Memorial Day and dorve it to camp for Work Weekend.

So here ia a picture of Katie and Dave. It was taken early in May. She saw the doctor yesterday and she could have the baby anytime now. They are pretty excited. She loved your gift. They are still living at Dave's parents place for now. His parents are out of town. They have spent the night here a few times!

I tried to call you yesterday and today, the first time I got that message you were not available and the second time it just rang. I will try again!!! I Miss you. After reading your journal I realize how quickly time is going. It is almost June.

Journal

2008-05-29T19:34:00.000-07:00

I have finished Keah's Journal. When is the next one coming!!!! It is good to read them and see the ups and downs of your life. You know, no matter where you are there are ups and downs, yours are just more spectacular! But the emotions that go with them are the same no matter where you live and work.
In some ways we are closer with you than we were with our parents when we lived in California. Not in miles of course, but in contact. With the computer and cell phones we are able to talk much more often than we did with our parents. (Now that does not mean we want you to stay there forever!!!!!!!!)
We read of your struggles and see how one day you want to stay there for a long time and other days you were ready to come home. But through it all you have a constituency in your faith that you are where you are supposed to be. That does not make the hard days easier, but it does help you to get over the pain faster!
We read of your frustrations and see that you are growing stronger and will be better for what you have lived through. You will be stronger and more understanding. You will be mindful of others and what they do in a new way.
We love you and are so proud of you guys!!!! You are where you wanted to be doing what you wanted to do(even in not exactly in the way you expected) You are where God placed you with the people He wanted you with. Who knows His plan, it may be more for you than for them. When you encounter difficulities remember what Christ encountered. HE will get you through the hard times and He will rejoice with you in the good ones.
Well thats it for now. I will be putting more pictures up soon. Nathan got all his hair cut off!!!

We love you both,
Mom and Dad

I did it, Pictures!!!

2008-05-26T19:49:00.002-07:00

Here is the house your brothers bought!! Wow !!! It is very nice and they are so happy. They are all moved in now. It is just about 6 miles SE of us. The neighborhood is nice and it has a walking trail pretty close.

Shawna and I at the seniors honor banquet for COACH. Isn't she beautiful. Can you believe she will be a senior next year.

Oops, I added it twice and I do not know how to delete it???

I figured it out! I hope you are as proud of me as I am of myself.... This is me at the women's retreat from Western Hills/ I went with Nana, Aunt Cindy, Aunt K, and Karen. We had free time when we first got there and walked around the grounds.

We just got back this evening for camp. It did not rain this year till this morning. That made it nice for camp. Erin was very pleased to be able to talk to you via text! She seems pretty excited about being a counselor. Kim and the twins were there. We were going to raft this morning, but a thunder storm started early morning and we decided to head home instead. IT was pretty warm, and we got home to over 90 degree temp. ( I know you think that is not so hot!!!)

We have rearranged rooms since Nathan has moved. His old room is a CM room and Shawna's old room is not YOUR room!!! at least it has your bed and your furniture and all your things in the closets. Shawna has moved into Jonathan's old room.

Well it is getting late so I will close for now. I loved hearing from you via text whild we were at camp. It was neat, because I had been looking at the stars just the night before and thinking of you. I had ask daddy if you could see the same stars. I can not wait to talk to you again. I hope these pictures are a blessing to you and that they do not make you miss us more. It is a fine line between the two!

I did it!

2008-05-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

I did it! Youe were right it was not as hard as I thougt it would be. Now I just need to figure out how to add pictures. I will do that later.

We have watched your viedo several times! It is wonderful. It made us laugh, smile and yes even cry! We can not wait for the update!!!!

We talked to Bob. He made it home Monday afternoon, missing his bag. They have called and said it was found and they will get it to him. So he will let us know when he gets it! We had a wonderful talk with him. He had such a good time visiting you. He had such wonderful things to say about you both!!!! We are so proud of you.

Well thats it for now! I will figure out how to add pictures the next time.
We love you!!!!