Thursday, July 31, 2008

July 1 - Celebrating 8 Years of Marriage

While visiting Sunriver, Oregon, Jon and I had the opportunity to properly celebrate our anniversary! The church gave us a gift certificate to a real nice restaurant and they even provided a babysitter. It was nice to be out on a "date" since that is a rare opportunity for us. I praise God for giving me such wonderful husband and I am looking forward to many more years to come.

Monday, July 28, 2008

July 2, Happy 1st Birthday


Unfortunately Jon had to make more space on the computer so he had to transfer a ton of pix out which means that a few months are missing........but you get the idea of how much our sweet baby has changed!

Applegate, Oregon

We spent our time in Applegate in the home of the Johnsons. Brian went to The Master's Seminary and is now pastoring at Applegate Community Church. Jon met Brian once in October of 2006 at a TMS chapel. Jon was manning the Samara table because that day was a focus on missions. Brian came up to him and asked a few questions. A little while later Brian and Kelly inquired about our ministry and began supporting us. Later on the Lord lead Brian and his family to this church in the beautiful Applegate town. They were so hospitable to us. It was also great having adult conversation with a like-minded sister in Christ. I praise God for the friendship that has been formed between Kelly and I. The kids also loved playing with each other. Kelly went out of her way for us and made some great meals. We even had homemade ice cream one night!!! From Applegate we took off for Sunriver, Oregon.....






Sunday, July 27, 2008

The Fairhursts

Well these are the Fairhursts. Like I wrote previously I met Linda at Dr. Tamashiro's office when I was 19. I still had a lot of growing up and maturing in the Lord to do back then but Linda was super gracious to me and never judged me for it. Linda was a real sweetheart and made me feel so welcomed at my first real job. Naturally a friendship grew out of it and her and I had some real deep conversations. At the time she wasn't really attending church but the Lord really began working in her heart and her and Bill (her hubby) started getting involved in a church where they lived. It has been awesome watching them grow in the Lord even though for the last several years we have only kept in touch through e-mail. They moved from Palmdale and landed in Grant's Pass, Oregon. It was great spending an evening with them. They have a beautiful home. Linda's mom lives with them. Her mom had an addition built onto the house and she has her own living quarters. They have also taken in Linda's nephew whose parents aren't around much for him. Not only that but recently they have taken guardianship of a friend of their sons who is now a recovering drug addict. Bill and Linda are truly living out James 1:27 which says "This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress". They have gone above and beyond that and are actually caring for orphans (the two young teens) and widows (her mother). Bill and Linda are also involved in youth ministry at their church and they just love it. Isn't it exciting to see God working in people's lives?



Linda with her husband Bill and younger son, Jordan.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Did somebody say road trip?

On the 18th we left for our Oregon road trip. The purpose was to visit two churches and since we were on the road we also made a stop or two at some special places (more to come on those). On the 18th we made our way on the boring 5 interstate and stopped overnight in Sacramento. Then on Saturday we headed towards Applegate, Oregon to visit the Johnsons and their church. We even made a stop at a dear friend of mine......I have known her since I was 19. We met at the pediatrician's office where I worked for 10 years. The road trip in general went well. Nathan had several meltdowns but Josiah did better than I thought he would. Jon was a great driver and I got a bit of reading in. Here are some pictures from our trip on the way to Applegate.

CROSSING THE OREGON BORDER!



Friday, July 25, 2008

Hezekiah's Tunnel


This was definitely one of the fun things that we did while in Israel. Hezekiah's tunnel was engineered during the reign of Hezekiah. It is 1750 feet long......kinda amazing when you think of the engineering of it. It brought water to the opposite side of the city of David and emptied out into the pool of Siloam.

2 Chronicles 32:30
This same Hezekiah closed the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them down to the west side of the City of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all of his works.

Tight squeeze for my hubby!

At the exit!

Nazareth Village





I didn't go on this tour but Jon did. I really like the pictures he took here, especially the one of the little girl. This is basically a re-creation of a village in Nazarene and what it would look like in the days of Jesus.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

The Davis Family


Before leaving for our road trip to Oregon we got to spend some time with the Smith's (Keith and Rita) and the Davis Family. Andie just had her 3rd girl!!! That is 3 girls under the age of 3.......wow! Josiah and Nathan have some future wives to choose from. Keith made a great BBQ and we had a great time catching up. I have known Andie since she was in the 6th grade. I was helping my sister coach the AWANA Olympic team at Grace and that is when I first met her. She was an AWANA clubber. Later on in high school she was in my discipleship group. She also worked with me at the pediatrician's office. I am so thankful for such great friends like her She is a true blessing in my life and it is so exciting to watch her grow into the Godly wife and mother that the Lord has called her to.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

The Western Wall





One of the sites I wanted to visit when we were in Israel was the Western Wall. I have always been intrigued with it for some reason. I have often seen pictures of Jews praying there and leaving their requests in the crevices of the wall. I don't know how I can describe being there in person. I definitely felt a wave of sadness and many times I wanted to yell out "THE MESSIAH HAS ALREADY COME!". These Jews were very devoted as they offered their prayers with much fervor. As you can see in the pictures the women and men are divided. Our time there was brief but well worth it.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Guilty Pleasures

Throughout the year in Russia I often think of all the great stores there are in the States and how much I miss them. I also crave several food items. So......here are some of the things I have been up to since we have returned to the States.
1. Shopping at Target (twice)
2. Dining at In'N'Out
3. Eating Ding Dongs
4. Shopping at Michaels and Joann Fabrics for scrap booking stuff
5. Eating Reese's peanut butter cups
6. Browsing at Best Buy
7. Eating Cherry Cordial ice cream
8. Grocery shopping at Food 4 Less in my own car

No wonder I gain several pounds during the summer. There are still many more places I want to go eat at and so many more stores to go shopping in! I also need to go to 7 eleven and get a suicide slurpee.......I have been craving one of those for months now.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Sea Of Galilee



Our second day of our trip to Israel we stayed right by the Sea Of Galilee in Ein Gev. We also got to go on a boat tour of the Sea. Josiah got to join us on the boat ride but not sure that he enjoyed it so much since it was so hot outside and no where to go on the boat. It was exciting to be on the same body of water where so many events in Christ's ministry occurred on the Sea or near by it.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Our Traveling Woes

I thought I would blog our return trip back to the States just so that I can recall all the events in detail! On the 1st of July we left for Samara, Russia from Israel. We got on a bus and along with several other missionary families we headed towards the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. We made our way to the Lufthansa entry point and underwent some serious baggage security. I have been told that Israel has the tightest security in the world. We then went to check in and this is where our problems began. Our flight had been delayed by 4 hours which meant that we would miss our connecting flight to Samara. Our hands were pretty much tied. Initially we had planned to be back in Samara by early morning on the 2nd of July since we were leaving for the States on the 3rd of July. After an hour of trying to figure out our best options with the ticketing agency, Lufthansa put us up in the Intercontinental Hotel of Tel Aviv......very plosh! They also took care of our taxi ride to and from the hotel but we ran into some problems because the agent who was new on the job didn't know where to take us to catch the taxi......augh! After 15 minutes of going back and forth to the Lufthansa ticketing she finally figured it out. So, we get to the hotel and the workers there didn't know what to do with us. They finally figured it out and sent us to our room............we get to the room and someone was already there. Back down to the lobby to let them know. The embarrassed manager then re booked our room and then personally walked us to our new room overlooking the Mediteranean Sea. Lufthansa also took care of our dinner, so we ordered room service. It was delicious and after not eating since the morning it was quite a feast for us and an expensive one but we didn't have to pay the $113 bill. Our sleep was a short one though and we really didn't get to enjoy the 5 star accommodations since we were up at 1 in the morning to be back at the airport by 2 a.m. Well that is enough for now. I will continue the story later.



THE VIEW FROM OUR ROOM ON THE 23RD FLOOR OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA

Sunday, July 6, 2008

The Conference Bug

We are back in the good old U.S.A! Even though it is great to be back we have had some pretty awful days since the day we left Israel. At the conference a nasty stomach bug was going around. It decided to invade my family on the day we were traveling from Israel. It started with Nathan on the airplane and then spread to Josiah and yesterday Jon came down with it. I hope I don't get it. I will blog more later when I have some time!