Whirlwind Trip to the States

Here it is! The family picture that you've all been waiting for. We realized that with a 3 year old and a 1 1/2 year old, that a good picture is characterized by everybody looking at the camera at the same time! We hope to have prayer cards made in the near future from this picture, so that we can leave them with the churches that we visit for deputation starting in December.

We had a great trip to the States - time FLEW! We were so busy. We started in Oklahoma City for the Work and Witness conference, and we had a great time. Clark and Connie came down to stay with the kids while we were at the conference. They spoiled the kids as much as they could in the 3 days they had with them, even including a trip to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner the first night. They had a great time together.

We had 2 services in the Kansas City area on Sunday, and then we headed to Candy and Dan's house to spend some time with them. Dan is currently in a nursing home, and we went to visit him on Tuesday, and took him with us to Crown Center to visit the Crayola store. It was nice to be with our KC family for a few days, before we had to leave for Indy on Wednesday.

Elijah at the Crayola Store

We had a great flight to Indy, and a wonderful service on Wednesday. On Thursday, we got to see Peyton, Paige, Uncle Josh and Aunt Kris. We had so much fun - Peyton practically lived at gramma's house with us! Elijah had a blast playing with his cousins. Sydney didn't know where she fit in, because she's too small to play with the big boys, but she's too big to play with Paige. We'll figure that out later in life!

We went to Columbus on Friday and Saturday for the second work and witness conference, and enjoyed being with many Nazarenes that believe in Work and Witness. We hope to have made a few new contacts for our projects in Maxima Mision.

We had great services on Sunday, and couldn't believe that our time had come to an end, when Monday morning arrived. Elijah LOVED being on all of the airplanes that we took during this trip. In Dallas, they have a SKYLINK that is like a train, and he thought that his day was PERFECT, since he got to ride on a plane and a train on the same day. The kids were so good on the way and on the way back.

Sydney playing with the toys in the

Children's area at the Dallas airport

We are glad to be back in our own house, and playing with our own toys. Scott and Emily are deep into a missionary training, and we appreciate your prayers. We will have a busy 2 1/2 months to finish up lots of projects before we head back to the States for our real home assignment. Also, Sydney and Elijah have started on an antibiotic for sinus infections - please pray that they get better soon - it's starting to affect their sleeping patterns. Love to you all.

Elijah, Sydney and Rosa Alba (our new nanny)

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.

Scott, Emily, Elijah and Sydney

Our little evangelist

We have a funny story that we wanted to share with you all. A few days ago, Scott and I came home for lunch. Our new nanny starting telling us about the morning she had with the kids. She said that Elijah was telling her that Jesus lived in his heart, and he wanted to know if Jesus lived in her heart! He was explaining to her that the Jesus that lived in HIS heart was little, because he was little, and that the Jesus that lived in Scott's heart was big, because Scott it big. Our nanny is a Christian, so she told Elijah that Jesus lived in her heart, and he went on to tell her that her Jesus is big, because she's big. Then he asked her if she new the song Jesus Loves Me. She told him that she didn't know it, so he told her to listen to him sing it, so that she could learn it. She thought that it was so funny -we did too. We also think that it's pretty special that even a 3 year old can be bold enough to share his childlike faith - if only we were all that way!

Taking an idea from some friends (thanks Tricia and Jeremy!), we are going to start posting a "Funny saying from Elijah" every week (or at least whenever we have one). So, in honor of this new installment, we have the first one that he says often, and it makes us laugh everytime:

Funny Saying from Elijah:
"Excuse me...I just burped in my pants" - Elijah after "passing gas" :)

Love to you all. No picture this week, because I can't get it uploaded We are having professional ones taken when we are in KC next week - we'll be sure to post it! WooHoo! We'll be in KC and Indy next week! Can't wait to see family!

Scott, Emily, Elijah and Sydney

A good weekend

Hello! We just wanted to say that although our weekend was REALLY full, it was really good as well. We had our RAC interview, and we feel like it was really good. The members only asked us one question, and 3 of them had really positive feedback comments for us. We should find out in the next few weeks if we are invited to General Board, officially.

Sydney after "eating" a chocolate beater!

We also sang on Sunday morning for the special service that we had for the RAC committee members, and it turned out great. We spent the evening on Sunday with the kids, and just goofed around, since we didn't spend much "family" time together for the past week. Here are a couple pictures.

Missionary-style "Power Wheels" - Elijah pushed Sydney

around in this plastic tub for about 5 minutes,

before he pooped out!

What a group!