From the 'Ville

On July 10, we made our way to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to report to ABWE headquarters. We made our presentation to the board the day of our arrival and then had the weekend to kill before the annual Missionary Enrichment Conference began on Monday. The kids had some fun pool time and Luca continues to show no fear in the water and enjoyed swimming laps, literally. We took the kids to see "Wall-E" as well, however, it was not enough to keep Luca's attention and to avoid causing great annoyance to the other viewers I had to take him out of the theater. My absense did not please Emma, thus she and Luca pretend played on the video arcades for the second half of the movie. Samuel liked it at least and I look forward to seeing it when it comes out on DVD. At this age our fun family outings can be a total bust. Over the weekend we also took the opportunity to travel near Philly to visit a college friend and his family: Jon & Sarah Culver with their two girls, Summer & Sienna. What amazing friends they are and it was such a HUGE blessing and encouragement to see them and attend church with them.

Monday began ME and a very busy and tiring week for us. The theme was "Rising Above the Storms of Life" and it truly hit home and was so encouraging. Our ABWE family is so precious to us and it's so great to be around a group of people that can totally relate and share our joys and trials with an understanding of "We know what you mean, we've been there." It's just nice to not feel alone in this cross cultural calling. There was one lady honored for her 60 years of active service. They had to drag her back from the Philippines where she has a vibrant women's prison ministry...talk about being faithful! She did not want to come but they convinced her that her presence would be such an encouragement to the younger missionaries, and it was. She is such a fire ball...in her 80's and in fine health. Jonathan and I attended a module on TESOL since that is one our first projects we'll set up when we get back. Very useful and some great ideas gleaned. The kids did really well in the MK activities and Emma is doing really well at being left in classes with strangers. Samuel enjoyed a Limo ride to McDonalds one day and made a scene during the kid's closing song because he wanted to watch himself on the projected big screens. So he was waving most of the song, while singing and watching his movements on the screen. Those moments as a parent you want to crawl under a chair, but everyone else thinks it's the funniest and cutest thing. At least he wasn't the only one with a few crack up moments.

We returned on Saturday afternoon after a long drive back with no AC in the van. Thankfully we did not have to travel on Sunday as we presented at our home church. It has been so wonderful to reconnect with so many friends here in Cedarville. So far, each day has been filled with an engagement with friends. Our time is passing quickly with just two weeks remaining in the 'Ville. Which by the way, hasn't changed a bit. The kids seem to like "Ho-Hi-Ho" as well since they are getting lots of playtime with other kids their ages.

Just real quickly...pray for us as we are needing to determine in the next couple of weeks if we need to cancel our return tickets to Italy. We are still needing the bulk of our support amount that we originally set out to raise. God knows the "how" and "when" and are trusting in his provision.