News from the South

So I know that many of you are waiting to hear about the trip, but I feel like I'm still processing it as it was so much in two short weeks. So I'll give you some updates from our first week back in the states.

Like always it was a whirlwind. Sunday we arrived in Detroit early in the morning and crashed for like 12 hours (alright 14 for Allison). Our luggage arrived and we took off for Traverse City, eager to see our smiling kids who somehow managed to stay awake until our 11 PM arrival. Tuesday was a quick stop through Lansing for the dentist and dinner with a great friend from work and back to Livonia in the evening. Friday found us on the road again...this time heading to SC, with a stop in Cinci to see some old college friends.

Today was quite nice, it was great to be back at our church and see so many people that we missed all summer. This afternoon we, in attempt to deal with the heat down here, headed out to Lake Monticello for a picnic and swimming. Pizza was the food of choice, and was quickly as the kids wanted to get in the water. Kelly told us the water was cold, but when we got in we found it to be bath water temperature. A couple hours later we, thoroughly pruned, emerged from the water. After two days of relaxing (still feel like we are recovering from jet lag) we hope we are ready for Brian to start school tomorrow.

Back in the states

Just a quick update for everyone. We are alive and, aside from being a bit tired (still not quite back on a normal sleep schedule), back in the states again. The trip was great. We feel like we saw so much for being gone just a few short weeks. Everyone's question to us seems to be if we have made any sure plans. As a brief answer, not yet, but we certainly have a lot to talk and think about.

We'll try to write some more later.

About time for an update

Well, I've had hopes of updating this sooner, but no such luck (or time). I just finished my week long class down here in Columbia. It was an amazing week of being introduced to the world of Islam. There is so much to learn, but I'm excited to learn more about it, especially with our future plans looking like they might be in that area of the world.

Speaking of future plans. We'll be heading out tomorrow (soon to be today) for a couple weeks. The kids will stay in Michigan with their grandparents (pray for our parents as they try to keep up with the energy of kids), but Allison is flying down tomorrow and will meet up with me (I'm in Columbia) in Atlanta and then we'll be checking out some future possibilities overseas. Not sure exactly what to expect, but we are very excited. After finishing my class yesterday I've spent the last day and a half running around trying to get all packed up. I think I'm doing pretty good...even had time for a haircut. Guess we'll see when I get over there. I always feel like I'm forgetting something when I leave for a trip. Oh well, can't worry about it too much I guess.

It was great seeing a lot of people in Michigan and DC the past month. Hope to see some more of you when we get back in a few weeks. Don't know how much access we'll have to blogging and email over there, but feel free to send us some (Allison loves her email) and we'll do our best to post some updates.

Traveling here and there

So a busy couple weeks of traveling and more to come. June 4th we headed out from South Carolina. We stopped in Charlotte, NC to see Ben, Daniela, and Josiah. It was great catching up with them and the kids loved playing together. To top it off, we had a great feast (Potato Soup, Breaded Chicken, mixed vegetables, fruit filled brownies, chocolate covered strawberries, and...later...strawberry smoothies) as Daniela is one of the best cooks I have ever met. Ben said he is always disappointed when they go out to eat and I can understand why.

Then it was on to DC to visit my Ron and Kristina. The great food continued there as my brother loves to cook as well. Saturday we went to the zoo with the kids. Brian liked the big cats and reading every sign he could find. Kelly loved the the Giant Pandas and the snakes (go figure). Sunday brought us a trip to Annapolis where we had a great seafood buffet. Who knew Brian would love oysters and muscles...Kelly just wanted mac & cheese and fruit. Later we picked up my sister from the airport (she's doing an internship in DC) and my dad from the Appalachian trail (he was doing a month long...400 mile...hiking trip). As Allison and the kids had never seen much of DC, Monday we went and walked around the mall, dragging my dad with us...not sure how excited he was for more walking. After three days of walking everywhere we were pretty dead. So we just relaxed on Tuesday. We also got to see some more old friends, Craig, Kristen and Holly who are all living in DC. Sadly it was time to head out on Wednesday, so we packed up and drove to Livonia for the night and then on to Traverse City the next day.

Spent the last few days in Traverse City. It was great to see family and friends. A close family to ours had their last daughter graduating from high school, so there was an open house Sunday, and another close family friend was moving to Ohio. So we had a going away celebration for him. We will miss him a lot, but the party was good.

Today was a bit crazy, we wanted to fit in some time with my brother as he was pretty busy while we were up there. So he, Allie, and I did some mountain biking today. 13 miles later and we are both hurting quite a bit (I think my dad's bike has the most uncomfortable seat ever). We then took off to Lansing to meet with some people from South about our upcoming trip and our now spending the evening at Ray and Robin's. We'll relax down here for a few days (recovering from that bike trip) and then head back up to Traverse for another week (and possibly some more biking torture).

Stitches, Weddings, and Biking

So kinda an eclectic title, especially as the stitches had nothing to do with biking (no injuries on that one...probably because we kept Kelly in a the kid backpack). So, it starts last weekend when we wanted to have an end of the year Cub Scout party, so we went bowling...what's the worst that could happen. Well, the first game went great. The kids had a blast due to the bumpers and Kelly (due to the kid bowling ramp and some great aiming from her father) even won. However about midway through the second, as she carried her ball up, she tripped and landed with her chin on the bowling ball. Chin is definitely not stronger than bowling ball and after a trip to the ER she emerged with her first two stitches (her Uncle Mike is so proud that she is following in his footsteps). But all is ok. She did great (handling things much better than her mother who skipped the trip). All week she ran up to anybody she saw and tipped her head back to show off her stitches, which are hidden just under the chin.

A little less drama was had yesterday as we went up to West Virginia for a wedding. We spent Friday night in Hitton, WV at a nice little hotel. Saturday morning after a healthy breakfast at Mickey D's (kids choice) we headed out for a hike in the mountains (beautiful) followed by swimming at the hotel pool. Kelly did take a little fall coming down the mountain, but no harm done this time. Then it was off to the wedding in the afternoon. It was outdoors and the light rain from the morning cleared up and everything was great. It was definitely one of the best weddings I have been to. The farm was beautiful and everything was pretty low-key, but well done. The message was one of the better ones I have heard at weddings. After the ceremony the reception was outside at the farmhouse with dancing on the driveway. It was just a blast to hang out, have all the families around, and see an amazing couple get married.

We headed back down last night to have a last Sunday at our church here before heading to north later this week. The message was outstanding and, as often seems to be the case, was just what I needed to hear. Later we headed out for some biking. It was raining on the drive out, but we stopped for lunch and it cleared up for our bike ride along the Lake Murray Dam. The ride was great, although Kelly missed most of it as she fell asleep in the back pack. We stopped for ice cream before turning around. All of us were quite tired by the time we got back as we rode a little over 9 miles and quite a few good hills in there. Brian and Allie did great, but all are were pretty tired tonight.

So a good start to our last week down here for the summer. Looking forward to heading north and seeing friends and family.

Done...for now

We just submitted the final for our last class of the semester. That feels good. It's a strange combination of feelings. We both love our classes and it is great to go, yet it also is nice for them to end. I am done with my Greek series though. Two years of Tuesday's evenings have been devoted to the language and I can finally say I'm done. That one for sure is one that has the mix of feelings. It was awesome to learn and I've gained some great insights. This semester alone was truly amazing as we studied Luke, a book my professor has spent his entire life studying (that and Acts). Just listening to his insights each week was astounding. So, it looks like just one year left and I'll be done for good!

These past two weekends have been fun as we've had some visitors from Michigan. Ray came down two weekends ago. Saw "the sight" of Columbia and got interviewed for the news (learned they like to put their own twists on what you say...although I didn't make the cut as only Allie and Ray were on TV...and I thought Kelly sitting on my shoulders would have given me extra points). We celebrated Kelly's birthday on Friday and Ray was quite gracious to join us at Chucky Cheese, much for all in the end I think as they had some good games there. We also had some board game action, introducing Ray to Settlers.

Last weekend my sis came into town, she's doing an internship in DC this summer. We also took her to "the sight", but she wanted to do some hiking with Zuke (Laura's Great Dane for those of you who didn't know), so we went to Harbison State Forest and would probably about 5 miles through the woods. It was a blast. Kelly loved "walking" Zuke. Not sure what would have happened if he had decided to take off while she was holding the leash...we told her to let go, but we kept a close eye on it. Brian was running all over the place, but got a little tired at the end as Laura and I ended up going ahead to get the car and come back to get the rest. A great time overall, the only downside for us was the bugs and Zuke did not enjoy the heat. The neighborhood kids got a kick out of seeing Zuke, they had never seen a dog so big. Sunday we had a lunch picnic (some great food from Fatz Cafe) which was cut a little short by a thunderstorm. We thought we were good under a pavilion until the wind got so strong that it was blowing the rain sideways even under the entire pavilion. So we made a mad dash for the car and were thoroughly soaked, but had a great time. The only sad part of the weekends was watching people go. It was great to see them, but difficult to say goodbye.

Hopefully we'll see everyone when we come up to Michigan in a few weeks.

Kid Stuff

So busy week with the kids. Aside from the normal stuff we had a few extras this week. Brian had the council Pine Wood Derby race for cub scouts on Saturday. Hundreds of cub scouts, plus brothers and sisters all running around a gym...absolute chaos. The actual Pine Wood Derby portion was quite well organized. I've never seen such a nice track or such nice cars. Sadly, Brian didn't do quite as well as last week, but he had a great attitude about the whole thing. One scout was a little more sad after losing, and was crying while walking out next to us. The dad, ever practical, was trying to tell him about not being a sore loser. The mom turned to the dad and said emphatically, "He's not being a sore loser, he's nine!" I was especially proud of Brian because he did most of the work on his car, with just our guidance. As I talked to some of the other parents I found out that for some of them, this was more their project than their kids.

Although Kelly had her Trike-a-thon at school to raise money for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, apparent Kelly that was not big enough for us. So Wednesday at Bible Clubs she decided to dive over the sidewalk into a brick ledge. She caught her head right on the edge and gave herself a nice little gash on her temple :( So we spent the evening in the ER getting her checked out (no stitches even), but thankfully she is fine and was back to her energetic self the next morning. So, nothing major in the end, but a great reminder of how much God is watching out for us because it easily could have been much worse.

In news for Allison and I, it looks like we will be heading overseas for a couple weeks this summer in July. If you'd like to know more about it, please email one of us.