Tuesday, June 26, 2007
First Days in the States
Here are a few pictures from our first days in the States for Dk and Oscar. The first is them eating a "Vienna" hot dog in the Chicago airport. The next two are from their dinner at Cracker Barrel.
Monday, June 25, 2007
The Last 2 Weeks
We have been quite busy since arriving in Missouri, but what a blessing our time here has already been. I will give you a recap of whats been going on since arriving stateside.
June 13th: Getting Home
We found it quite interesting in Chicago that the customs officer was way nicer to the boys than to Matt and I. Our officer asked us so many questions in a not so nice tone of voice, while the boys custom officer was cracking jokes, laughing and smiling-even speaking Spanish with Oscar.
However our flights home were nice and smooth. We really liked flying straight into Chicago and then only having a one hour flight from there to Saint Louis.
Matt's mom was able to fly in about 20 minutes before us, which worked out perfect. As we were walking towards the baggage claim, Matt said, there's your parents, so I turned to look, and lo and behold, there was mom running and waving her hands and dad crutching as fast as he could towards us. Then my brother, his wife, Grace and Samuel who I had not met yet, surprised us by being there to greet us as well. It was a great time of reunion.
We ate at Cracker Barrell for dinner before heading home. The boys couldn't get over all of the options they had to choose from. Then when they chose their main dish, they couldn't believe they had to choose the three sides. It was entertaining.
June 16th: Stephanie's Birthday
Before the big party, we had a little party of our own to celebrate Amy and I's birthdays. I was so blessed with gifts and cards, and mom even made my favorite: great grandma's cheesecake. Yum!! Even the boys got me something which was super sweet, and what they wrote in their card had me rolling in laughter.
Although we were expecting more people to show up for the party, we still had a lot of my (Steph's) family come. It was really nice to be able to see and visit with them. We gave a short presentation of our year in Austria and then allowed them to ask us and the boys questions. It was a good time had by all.
June 17th: First Christian Church of Shelbina
We were able to set up a booth in the church foyer which allowed us to talk and share about our ministry with many people. It was nice to see people we had not seen in a long time and catch up with them and share about our life in Vienna.
June 23rd: Christian Day with the Saint Louis Cardinals
My mom was able to get us all free tickets to go to see the Cardinals play. Before the game they had fun stuff to do at a block around the corner with free Chic-fil-A and Coldstone Creamery ice cream. The game was HOT and DK brought pants to wear-he was quite toasty. Towards the end of the game a thunderstorm rolled in which cooled things off nicely. After the game some of the Cardinal players like Wainwright the pitcher, Pujols and others gave a brief testimony. Mercy Me was also there in concert.
June 24th: Northside Christian Church in Warrensburg, MO
What a blessing this church family has been to us. We worked there on the weekends in 2003, helping out with their children's ministry and ever since, this family has been a blessing to us. We were able to see old friends, and "our kids" all grown up. One of our grown up kids came and gave us big hugs. We were also able to see our adopted grandparents, Cliff and Dot who we stayed with every weekend during our time serving at Northside. We surprised them in coming which was a lot of fun. We were able to attend the anniversary picnic the church had that afternoon/evening which was a great time. There we were able to give a presentation about VCS and share some of our first year experiences. We were tremendously blessed by the worship and time spent in fellowship with them. Overall, we are so thankful to be serving Northside in Vienna. We are so thankful and blessed to be a part of a family of Christ like Northside.
This is also the day we sent the boys to churchcamp with my sisters who are the same age as them. The churchamp is just across the lake from my parents house so Matt is still able to take DK into town to golf in preparation for his tournaments. So far I think the boys are having a great time here, living on the farm and all that it entails. Hopefully during their time at camp they will be able to make new friends and meet God in a new and challenging way.
Until next time...
June 13th: Getting Home
We found it quite interesting in Chicago that the customs officer was way nicer to the boys than to Matt and I. Our officer asked us so many questions in a not so nice tone of voice, while the boys custom officer was cracking jokes, laughing and smiling-even speaking Spanish with Oscar.
However our flights home were nice and smooth. We really liked flying straight into Chicago and then only having a one hour flight from there to Saint Louis.
Matt's mom was able to fly in about 20 minutes before us, which worked out perfect. As we were walking towards the baggage claim, Matt said, there's your parents, so I turned to look, and lo and behold, there was mom running and waving her hands and dad crutching as fast as he could towards us. Then my brother, his wife, Grace and Samuel who I had not met yet, surprised us by being there to greet us as well. It was a great time of reunion.
We ate at Cracker Barrell for dinner before heading home. The boys couldn't get over all of the options they had to choose from. Then when they chose their main dish, they couldn't believe they had to choose the three sides. It was entertaining.
June 16th: Stephanie's Birthday
Before the big party, we had a little party of our own to celebrate Amy and I's birthdays. I was so blessed with gifts and cards, and mom even made my favorite: great grandma's cheesecake. Yum!! Even the boys got me something which was super sweet, and what they wrote in their card had me rolling in laughter.
Although we were expecting more people to show up for the party, we still had a lot of my (Steph's) family come. It was really nice to be able to see and visit with them. We gave a short presentation of our year in Austria and then allowed them to ask us and the boys questions. It was a good time had by all.
June 17th: First Christian Church of Shelbina
We were able to set up a booth in the church foyer which allowed us to talk and share about our ministry with many people. It was nice to see people we had not seen in a long time and catch up with them and share about our life in Vienna.
June 23rd: Christian Day with the Saint Louis Cardinals
My mom was able to get us all free tickets to go to see the Cardinals play. Before the game they had fun stuff to do at a block around the corner with free Chic-fil-A and Coldstone Creamery ice cream. The game was HOT and DK brought pants to wear-he was quite toasty. Towards the end of the game a thunderstorm rolled in which cooled things off nicely. After the game some of the Cardinal players like Wainwright the pitcher, Pujols and others gave a brief testimony. Mercy Me was also there in concert.
June 24th: Northside Christian Church in Warrensburg, MO
What a blessing this church family has been to us. We worked there on the weekends in 2003, helping out with their children's ministry and ever since, this family has been a blessing to us. We were able to see old friends, and "our kids" all grown up. One of our grown up kids came and gave us big hugs. We were also able to see our adopted grandparents, Cliff and Dot who we stayed with every weekend during our time serving at Northside. We surprised them in coming which was a lot of fun. We were able to attend the anniversary picnic the church had that afternoon/evening which was a great time. There we were able to give a presentation about VCS and share some of our first year experiences. We were tremendously blessed by the worship and time spent in fellowship with them. Overall, we are so thankful to be serving Northside in Vienna. We are so thankful and blessed to be a part of a family of Christ like Northside.
This is also the day we sent the boys to churchcamp with my sisters who are the same age as them. The churchamp is just across the lake from my parents house so Matt is still able to take DK into town to golf in preparation for his tournaments. So far I think the boys are having a great time here, living on the farm and all that it entails. Hopefully during their time at camp they will be able to make new friends and meet God in a new and challenging way.
Until next time...
Welcome!
We have been debating for quite some time now about changing our blog. We like the one we had, but it is hard to add pictures to our posts with it. Since we want you to be able to see lots of pictures, we decided we should switch to a blog that is better for picture posting! So welcome to our new blog where we hope you will enjoy more and better pictures in the future!
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