"2000 words"

June 27...back in Ohio

June 27...totally different weather here in Ohio. New Jersey seemed more often cool than hot; here in Ohio, muggy and warm. Yes, we're back "out west." Our journeys in New Jersey were sweet and FULL of friends. We enjoyed presenting at Franklin Lakes Baptist Church, and at Hainesport Community Baptist Church where we had a church lunch and an intense Q&A (we learned more about our kids that afternoon--wow! Thanks for asking those questions, Hainesport). Then we drove out to the Quakertown-PA area, and visited with our family at First Baptist Church, Perkasie.

Between all the church visits, we also had great reunions with Kevin's family at his mom's 75th year birthday party , and with friends such as the Mahaffeys and the Santanas and the Gaumers. We also took Grandma Reilly into the city to visit the American Museum of Natural History.

June 15. Last week (June 5), the six of us flew from San Jose to Fort Lauderdale to Detroit. From Detroit, we drove down to Cedarville, Ohio, where we have a house . . . sounds simple enough. Unfortunately, the originally-two-hour-yet-suddenly-a-one-hour layover was not sufficient for us to make the connecting flight, and along with four other families, we ended up living inside the Fort Lauderdale airport for nine hours.

We did have a good time as a family, in spite of the hassle, and the rest of the trip went very smoothly. We arrived at the Jacobs’ house in Cedarville at midnight, and the next day were able to move into our own house, where our friends had delivered our furniture (moved from being stored in our garage) and dropped off some basic staples. THANK YOU!

June 6 also brought us the gift of a borrowed 4-door pickup. Thank the Lord for the generosity of friends!

That evening was fellowship time at Grace, our church in Cedarville, and how fantastic it was to see so many friends there! And how those kids have shot up in two years. Wow.

The rest of the week included many shopping excursions, meals with friends, Kevin visiting the Veteran’s Administration in Dayton (paperwork and medical adventures), Sean meeting with ROTC officials and Financial Aid counselors at Cedarville University, and touching base with family and friends via telephone.

PRAISE THE LORD: Kevin was able to get in for a doctor's examination he's been waiting to have for about a year (updating medical situation with the Veteran's Administration).

June 10: fellowship at the Shaw's with many new and old friends, played a mean game of Taboo, and got a glance at their 49 goats, 2 donkeys, 3 llamas, 7 dogs, and 4 cats. Missed a great photo shot of a Boston terrier sitting in the driver's seat of one of the visitor's cars with a sipper cup in his mouth.

June 12: Met with Pastor Craig, who came to pastor at Grace just when we left for Costa Rica.

June 14: we traveled out to Hackensack, NJ. On the way we stopped and visited with Mom Reilly. And again, upon arrival in Hackensack, we were welcomed with the generosity of friends here through food and board. We met our next door neighbor, in the mission house, the new youth Pastor and his wife--George and Laurie Ward--and their five children. Our kids are enjoying that!

June 15:Kevin spoke at the Hackensack graduation. That went very well, and again, we are just enjoying so much seeing old friends. One highlight of the graduation was also a flashback to life in Paraguay: our friend and coworker Dani Baez currently lives in New Jersey with his wife-of-one-year, Christina Mish, and they both were at the graduation. Afterwards we went out for a healthy fare at a New Jersey diner.

By the way, we decorate home ministry with as many stops to New Jersey pizza parlors, Dunkin Donuts shops, and Greek/Italian diners as possible!

In the beginning . . . .

. . . of our blogging venture, we just want to say

We're here!

I know what a blog is, and now we're toying with beginning one, so in the beginning,
we'll let you know that
we are here in Cedarville, Ohio
just for two months
before returning to our spot in Central America
where we work
in several ministries . . .