We had a wonderful time in Portland during the Warner Pacific College Alumni Weekend and the weather was sunny and warm. We shared the stories that made WPC special to our lives and celebrated with those being honored for their service to the church. The campus has seen some wonderful improvements over the last 25 years since we were last there. We cheered on the Knights basketball teams to 3 out of 4 wins (time for "free-throw" practice! after the one they lost). Reminisced with Richard Craghead one of the key professors directing my studies at WPC years ago. We met several other professors, area pastors and retired alumni that touched our lives in some way. Staying over the weekend we were able to worship with the Lynchwood Church of God and specially thank them for their investment in our lives as WPC college students. It was truly a blessing having Pastor John Kuykendall pray a blessing over us as ones sent out from that congregation. We met several we had worked with in our internship and was privileged to see Norma Webber, whose husband was the pastor we served under developing the leadership in us that would help us serve the church over the 26 years since. We had worked with the Davidson boys and now were privileged to hear some of their girls sing and they have wonderful voices. A couple of other youth we had worked with Brad and Cindy invited us to a Thai lunch with their family. We even met Kathy from my home church in Willmar, Minnesota, who I had not seen for almost 30 years. We were so blessed renewing contacts with so many at the church there. In the afternoon we had the opportunity to meet with Mt. Scott Church of God missions team and hear the report of one who had served in Uganda from there. With many other contacts made we returned to Iowa's snowy landscape to get on with the work we currently have.

This coming Saturday, the Ellis Park Church of God is hosting a "Chili Fund Raiser" to raise support for our mission to Africa. Several of the local "chili specialist" will be providing their special recipe chili for the event running noon to 4 pm with a silent auction.

This month is very important in our fund raising as the nurse that Lori will be replacing, Rebecca Pierce, will be leaving KIST the end of this month and we need to get there as soon as possible. The home we have been privileged to live in will be needed in May, so we will be needing new housing then as well. My bus driving job ends in early June with the end of school, so we are hoping to be close to full funding then.

In just a few weeks we will be heading to Orlando, Florida to celebrate the wedding of our middle son, Aaron to Holly his college sweetheart. The April 3rd wedding in Florida sounds so good after a long cold and snowy winter in Iowa. It will be great traveling with our oldest son Adam and his family.

Well it's time for me to prepare for the "wheels on the bus to go round and round" and yes the kids I drive go "up and down" plus other directions... Wonder what the school fed them for lunch today?

Traveling time is near for us. We are going to Portland, OR on Thursday to attend the Warner Pacific College Alumni Weekend. There we hope to connect with individuals and church that may become partners with us in missions to Kima International School of Theology in Kenya. It has been over 25 years since we have last been at WPC so we are excited to see all the developments we have heard about over the years. We hope to renew friendship and develop new ones in this time and get to cheer for the WPC Knights Basketball team again.

Christmas Memories

We had a wonderful Christmas with our family and hope that you did too. What a blessing to make memories with our family and friends. I'm still awed that God knows everything about us and still loved us so much that he gave us Jesus. The snow is falling as I hear people talking and laughing here in the coffee shop. We plan on playing table games and watching the Nativity Story this weekend. Make it a happy new year!! Lori

Happy December! As we celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends we couldn't help but wonder what the holidays would be like next year in Kenya. I'm sure there will be plenty of new friends as well as missing our family and friends in the US.
For now, we cherish the time together. The grandkids bring so much fun and laughter. It is perfectly acceptable to crawl around on the floor, play with playdough, sing silly songs with Bob the tomato, play peek a boo, and read the same book four times in one afternoon. I can't think of a better way to spend my day off from the clinic! Ernie drives a school bus, so much of the day it is just me and the grandkids. Kaylee and I enjoyed our quiet snack for about 20 min while both babies were napping, maybe one of these days they will both sleep longer at the same time! Oh how I will miss these little ones!
Another missionary family that is in the fund raising process to go to Kenya have two boys. Joshua is 11 years old and Michael is 5 years old. Since we will be neighbors, I'm sure I'll get my playtime in!
As you plan for Christmas, remember to pray for those missionaries already on the field, our military men and women that are fighting for freedom, and those who are spending their first Christmas without a beloved spouse. This will be my dad's first Christmas without Mom. They were married for 55 years before she passed away in May. I'm so thankful that Dad can spend Christmas with us and meet his new great grandson!
Well, I think we've occupied this table at the coffeeshop long enough, we don't have Internet at home, but I thank God daily for the missionary house we are able to live in this winter!!
Enjoy your day with Jesus! Lori

I can hardly believe it is into the middle of November, but the weather is turning cold and wet. I have had to scrape frost off the windsheld several mornings now. The Ellis Park Church of God had a wonderful reception for us last Saturday and several ministerial friends from Cedar Rapids were able to attend. We had a good time sharing with the Zion Community Church of God in Ottumwa and are very thankful for their gift. I'm trying to find a way to link our newsletters to this... maybe even our Thanksgiving/Christmas letter we hope to have out this week. We are traveling on Saturday to get my mother for a week's visit. We plan to meet my brother Paul who is bringing her about half way to Normal, IL. It will be good to have lunch with him there too.

As October ends we had hoped to be moving on to being in Africa, however the economic conditions have slowed our fund raising so that perhaps we will be able to make that move just after the first of the new year 2010.  Thankfully we have been allowed to remain in the missionary housing provided by Faith Bible and keep Lori's position working as Dr Lottes' office nurse.  I have found interim employment driving bus for the Cedar Rapids School District.

We are a bit disappointed in where we are at, but look to the positive side of having one more Christmas with the kids.  We hope to have my mother visit at Thanksgiving and Lori's father visit for Christmas.  Last week we had all the boys home and got a picture of them all in uniform.

This weekend we will be putting shelves in and organizing the storage trailer.  Next weekend we will be speaking in Ottumwa with the Zion Community Church.  We enjoyed our visit to the Des Moines Church of God two weekends ago.  Last weekend we met Aaron and Holly in Tennessee to transfer Tux to them.  Somehow we keep going and going. 

The Ellis Park Church of God is going to have a celebration for us on November 14th honoring our years of service here which will bring a closure needed.  

We have overcome the hazards of traveling in Wyoming "winter" weather.  Hitting "black ice" sends one flying through the air and landing in a ditch, thankfully upright!  We had a tire come off the rim and it it took about 3 hours to get it fixed and back on the road thanks to AAA.  (We could not get it jacked up high enough, nor dug out of the mud enough to get the spare tire on.)

Should be home in Iowa tomorrow to get the tire fixed and check the alignment on the Envoy.

We now have the storage trailer we have named "Behemoth" (it's 8'x24').  We have some of what we want to store in it, but are awaiting the shelves on "back-order" at Menards for the rest. Aaron came home for a visit and he helped me get the equalizing hitch set-up for pulling it.

With Aaron coming home, we made a trip out to Wyoming for him to visit Lori's dad, he was in military training when his grandmother passed away in June.  So we have been in Casper, Wyoming for 10 inches of snow and record cold (14 degrees) and delayed traveling home until today.  Should have waited another day perhaps, but Thank the Lord we stayed safe!