An early Christmas

We have been traveling for the past 4 months, so much of our stuff has been in storage for that time.  Last week we arrived back in North Carolina and will be here until we depart for our new overseas home on Dec. 29.  With less than 6 weeks left in the country, we pulled everything out of storage so we can re-organize, get rid of things we won't want in 4 years and pull out the things we want to take with us. 

A couple of days ago we opened up one of the boxes of B's toys, which he hadn't seen in the last 4 months.  It was so fun and a bit hilarious to watch him excitedly exclaim over each thing he pulled out.

"My water airplane! It's landing on the sea!" (pulls out his sea plane and "lands" it on the coffee table)
"My flipper!" (pulls out his Dutch slipper and tries to put it on)
"My police car!" (pulls out his Texas state trooper car) "There is a police car guy inside.  And a police car mom, too!"

Now we have to decide which toys are the favorites that we will take with us....we certainly don't want to fill up our precious space (6 suitcases) with just toys!  Although I know a 2-year-old who wouldn't mind that...

This is an old picture...but shows B enjoying his toys!

B Quotes: "Bruther" edition

B: "I'm a bruther.  J is a bruther.  Papa is a bruther.  Mama is a....[pause]...girl bruther"

B Quotes: Nov. 7 edition

A couple weeks ago we went to the dentist for check-ups.  We were waiting in the waiting room to be called back when an older gentleman walked out.  He had white hair with a long white beard.  He was heavy set and wore glasses.  Anyone who saw him would immediately think: Santa.  He fit the description perfectly.  He stopped when he saw B and asked how he was doing.  B, in typical 2-year-old fashion, hopped around while saying, "good".

Then, Santa, with a twinkle in his eye, asked, "I hope you are being a good little boy.  You know who is coming soon?"  B didn't miss a beat, with great excitement he blurted out, "THE DENTIST GUY!!"

Santa was obviously a bit surprised, "Ha ha...er...ho, ho, ho". :)

We weren't about to tell him B's never even heard of Santa....but at least now we can say we've all met him...at the dentist. :)

B Quotes: Oct. 31 edition

So were were talking about the Fruit of the Spirit the other day.  B's been struggling with some of them... like kindness (particularly toward his little brother), gentleness, love, etc.  So, I thought, maybe it would be good for him to memorize Galatians 5:22-23.  After I recited it to him a couple times, it was his turn....

B: "Love, patience...carefulness...."

Hmm, I guess I know what else we talk about a lot...


Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.  Against such things there is no law.

The King's Heart...

It seems like it is quite often that we find ourselves in this situation.  A situation which looks impossible to us...where we think that humanly speaking, there is no way for it to work out.  And yet, each of the times that we have been in this situation before, it HAS worked out.  God has worked miracles.  Literally.  Let me review some of the amazing things He has done in our lives...

February 2012- After 6 weeks of phone calls and stress and being told it was not possible, my medical insurance came through...within 3 weeks of J's birth!

January 2012- The day before we arrived in North Carolina, we had the exact amount of money that we needed to begin our next class with our organization.

November 2011- Our monthly financial support jumped 18% in one week...the very week that we prayed God would direct us as to whether we should stay or move on.  It was a very direct, obvious answer to our prayers.

January 2011- Three days after K completed the job interview with our organization, within the 2 weeks we had to find the next job, we got word of a flight instructor position open at LeTourneau.  He was employed there 2 weeks later. 

December 2010- After waiting 5 months, we received K's green card in the mail...within 7 days of moving across the country!

Should I keep going??  I feel like I could.  God has done some amazing things in our lives!

So, here is the current situation we are faced with:  We have tickets to move out of the country on Dec. 29.  We have been waiting 10 months for K to have his US citizenship interview (which was previously scheduled in January, but we had to delay it as we were moving across the country).  Nothing has happened since January.  And we cannot move until we have the interview and citizenship.  All of the inquiries we have made into his case have led to nothing.  The most recent letter stated that they have to perform additional review to the case and that if we do not hear a decision within SIX MONTHS to contact them.  Seriously? Six months?  

Well, I was so encouraged by a reminder from a friend today.  

Proverbs 21:1

"The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord;
He turns it wherever He wishes."

Remember all He has done in the past!  And He can do it again. 

Would you pray with us that, in His will and time, K's citizenship would come through?  

Recent B and J Pics

Happy to be outside!

Who says you have to be 16 to drive?

Fun in the wagon

Can you tell they're brothers?!

Well, hello there, J!

Happy Boy!

Get ready for some cuteness...

B trying to get J to give him a high-five!

On a walk with Grandpa

The greatest part of our 3 month trip has been all the people we have been able to see and spend time with.  Here are some pictures of B and his 90-year-old great-Grandpa.  I love them so much!

Riding in the van....

Since our kids (and us!) have basically lived in our van the past 7 weeks, I thought it appropriate to share some pictures from our ride today.  We are currently in Nampa, ID, heading to Eagle, CO on Friday.

You Never Know Who's Watching....

There's nothing like a good heart check when you have a 2-year-old who will repeat anything you say or mimic anything you do.

Spokane update!

It's hard to believe our 4 weeks in Spokane is almost over.  We hit the road again on Wednesday morning.  We have four more weeks of travel ahead of us, eventually leading us back to North Carolina. 

It has been such a HUGE blessing to be here in Spokane.  Probably the highlight has been going to our church 4 Sundays in a row.  After months of being in churches where we don't know many people, it has been a great encouragement to realize how many faces we recognize at His Place.  We seems God's confirmation once again in choosing them as our "home" church.  And they officially commissioned us this morning to go as missionaries to South East Asia.  Someone in the church bought our tickets, so pending the completion of our partnership team (we are at 86% of our monthly budget!), we leave on December 29, 2012!!  I don't think it will seem real until we are on the airplane (and even then??).

A brief update on the boys:

• B is truly an amazing 2-year-old.  He has adapted to our traveling lifestyle.  One of his favorite questions right now, "Where are we going, Mama?"  I'm thankful there is usually a hint of excitement in his voice when he asks.  His favorite toys: legos!  That kid can be occupied with legos for HOURS. 
• J is officially sitting up on his own AND mobile.  He rolls all over the place, but just in the last couple days has figured out an army crawl that's a bit more efficient.  I'm guessing that in the next month he'll be up on his knees crawling even faster.  He's a chunky baby, but super active and full of smiles. 

Thanks for your prayers as we continue to travel!

Add to B's list: got to drive a tractor!

J ready for a bike ride
(we are thankful for the chances we've had to go on bike rides as a family)

B and his buddy Collin

We're in Spokane (Home?)

We made it to Spokane! The boys did good on the 3 consecutive 8 hour days in the car. We usually tell people we have no home. However on our trip we've found that there is a little bit of home in all the places we've stopped. When we walked into our church this Sunday we felt at home as well. Thanks for the welcome reception.

Idaho (almost there)



Lego's in the back seat kept B happy (among other things)



Feed him and let him sleep and J is almost always happy :)

Headed West!

We'll be on the road again tomorrow. 3 8-hour days to make it to Spokane. Pray for our sanity (and the kids).

Busy Traveling Days...

We are now 3 weeks into our 3-month traveling tour of the US of A.  It feels like we have already been everywhere and done so many different things!  We feel blessed to have this opportunity to travel, visit family and friends, and see Benji and Jozie enjoy the many new experiences they get to have. We have already shared some of the highlights from Benji's perspective....riding a train, seeing all the airplanes at Oshkosh, and riding the four-wheeler on the Thieszen's farm. 

Here are some of the other highlights:

Playing with Judah Mann
(son of close friends from Moody)

Walking through one the largest planes in the world

Snuggling with Grandpa (his great-grandpa)

Seeing horses up close...

...and getting to RIDE them!!

We are looking forward to the adventures that still lie ahead of us!  We have 2 more days in Lincoln, NE and then we head on to Spokane, WA.

Nebraska!

We've had spotty internet access the last days. Not that we didn't have internet, but rather that our computer would only load one webpage and then quit. We'd restart and get one more page before having to go through the process again.

 We based out of a farm in N. Central Nebraska, visiting family friends.

Benji loves four wheelers, he thinks Nebraska is great!

On the Road Again!

Today we're on the road again. This time further west to Nebraska.

For breakfast we're hoping to meet a guy who mentored me in my maintenance skills when I first went to Moody. He took me under his wing and taught me a lot of hands on skills I never learned as a kid.

After that we're headed out to Omaha to spend the evening with a family Missy grew up with.

OshKosh is Over!

 It's been a busy week. Missy and I feel like we lived seperate lives for 4 days. We stayed in an amazing house 40 minutes north of OshKosh and I drove in every morning to work the booth. Often Leaving at 6:00AM and not coming home till 8:00PM.

Having fun with my former student Joe (representing LeTourneau University) The 50kg rice bags were filled with packing peanuts.

Standing by the Helio Courier with Gregg (a good friend from LeTourneau) It was fun to have this airplane at OshKosh because I often rode in it as a kid in Indonesia when it was PK-JAA.

Another blast from the past when a pilot came by who used to fly me as a kid came by with his boys with whom I went to school.

For me OshKosh was a reunion of sorts to see people I hadn't seen in a long time. But also a time of new contacts who were pleasantly surprised to see young people with our organization.

Some people heard of Bible Translation for the first time, and despite some responses I think seeds were planted.

Oshkosh

Today we head up to oshkosh for the 2012 EAA Airventure.  For those of you who have never heard of OshKosh or the EAA Airventure check out http://airventure.org/.

 Here are some of the facts I found on wikipedia.

• It is estimated that 10,000–15,000 aircraft visit OshKosh during the EAA airventure.
• About 300,000-500,000 seperate people visit OshKosh during the EAA airventure.
• More than 4,000 volunteers contribute approximately 250,000 hours before, during and after the event
• Approximately 1,100 portable toilets are supplied for the event, and EAA estimates that more than 2 million sheets of toilet paper are used (you probably didn't want to know that.)

 All that to say that this is a huge event. Our organization has a presence here every year along with many other mission organizations. This year there are over 200 representatives from different missions. Kars will be helping man a booth, being the face of our organization, who many people have never heard of.

part of the main display at the airshow a few years ago.

The 75th anniversary of the Piper Cub

Train to Chicago!

One of B's favorite shows is "Thomas the Train." Since the kids have been restrained in their car seats for many hours and will restrained in them for many hours in the future. We decided to take the Metra in from the suburbs where we are staying.
 It was a fun day of seeing old friends and familiar places. But also a day of 7 miles of walking in the heat pushing two little kids in strollers. Missing a train by mere seconds and having to wait an hour in the ogilvie station. Overall a full day of adventure! Next time we'll take the van :)

We thought just B would be Excited but J was very excited as well.

Both boys really enjoyed looking outside

Seeing friends at Moody, not many of them left on campus

Eating lunch with Joel.

The stroller fits perfectly in the bike section.