Engaged!

We are very happy to announce that this afternoon Zachary proposed to Elisha, and she said YES!  We are super excited for them!  Congratulations Zachary and Elisha!  We are praying for wisdom and direction as to where God would have you settle to start your new life together.   Enjoy these exciting days and may your love for each other grow deeper each day!

Open Market

Last night we had another MK Orientation night in which we had a little open market.  All the children had money in which they could buy anything they wanted at the market.  One of the vendors spoke Indonesian and the other one Spanish.  It gave the children an opportunity to do a little bit of bartering which was a little bit challenging since they do not speak Indonesian or Spanish.  However, I think all the children enjoyed their "open market" experience".  Although there was some candy the kids could buy, I know one boy was pretty happy with the pineapple he was able to buy.  

There will be so many challenges ahead of these future M.K.'s as they head into a new culture and language.  However, we know many children pick up a new language quickly and effortlessly as they connect with other children and adults in their host country doing fun things like playing on the play ground, and playing soccer.  Children also open up so many relationships for their parents.  When we arrived to Venezuela and were learning Spanish so many people would stop and talk to us because they loved our kids.  Please pray for these children and the adjustments ahead of them and they soon will be entering a new culture and language.

Let the Baking Begin!

This afternoon I went in to pick up our mail and there was a card in my mail box saying I had a package at the post office.  When I saw who the package was from I was so excited I was actually giggling in the post office.  The package was from a dear friend in Chicago who does a lot of baking all summer at our church camp.  She also blesses college students with care packages of baked goodies.  She has shared a few recipes with me before and they are always really yummy ones.  Well she sent me a HUGE bag of chocolate chips along with these other goodies and a whole bunch of her "special" recipes!  Anyone who knows me, knows how much I LOVE to bake and here on the campus I always have a lot of people to bake for.  So this care package was like speaking my love language.  WOW!  Thank-you God for blessing my live which such special people!

Caring for M.K.'s

With Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner it can be a hard time for M.K.'s who might really be missing their parents.  Today I had the joy of baking up several batches of cookies to send to some college M.K.'s whose parents are overseas.  This month many people on face book are going through what they are thankful for.  Are you thankful for the missionaries faithfully serving overseas?  One of the ways you can bless your missionaries is for caring for their children.  Why not adopt an MK this Christmas and send them a care package or gift card.  Let them know someone is thinking of them.

Passing on the Poof

That's right, Vern has passed on the Poof.   Elisha has successfully mastered the art of the poof.  :)

Congratulations Zachary

This morning we attended the 45th Convocation at Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning.  We were there to cheer Zachary on as he graduated.  He graduated with Distinction from the Computer Programmer/Analyst Program.  He put in many, many long hours and at times got very little sleep.  He worked his way through college without having to take out college loans.  We are pretty proud of Zachary and it was fun to cheer him on as he walked across the stage to get his diploma.  The crowd definitely heard us as we blew our horns for him when his name was read.  Since the graduation was an hour and a half from here, we went out for lunch to celebrate.  Way to be ZACHARY! 

Trick-or-Treating

 I always enjoy having the Trick-or-Treaters come by.  I especially enjoyed having the beautiful "Snow White" with one of the Dwarfs stop in.  Gideon was so into his bag on candy it was hard to get a good picture of him.  Then I headed to Seth and Camille's so I could see their little tiger.  It was a very rainy evening and Seth and Camille opened up their garage to trick-or-treaters as a "pit stop" and had hot chocolate available to help warm people up.  Jeremiah was sure a cute little tiger and he was totally enjoying his first Halloween.