FYI: March, April and May Archives

For those of you who attempt to follow my blog, you might be wondering if I am even alive! Yes, we are very much alive and enjoying our time here in the States. However, we've been so busy LIVING our life, that I haven't had time to stop and DOCUMENT it!

So for anyone that's interested, I have recently posted a ton of pictures from last March, April and May. Included are some of our last day in the Philippines and first days in the States, Easter and Caleb's first taekwondo competition. I try to post everything close to the date it actually happened, so you'll need to look in the archives to find them. I hope you enjoy! I'd love to read your comments!!

The Best Birthday Gift Ever

October 25th, 2009 is a day that I will remember for a long time!

First of all, it was my birthday. (Although I'd like to FORGET how OLD I am now!!)

Second, I was blessed to be able to play with some of the greatest musicians ever in the morning worship service at Antioch.

Third, I spent the afternoon with the Greenbriar District GMAs, who gave me a really cool birthday cake!! (Pictures will come soon.)

Fourth, I got to eat dinner at Marketplace (my fav) with my parents and in-laws!

Fifth, my cool husband got me the gift I'd been wanting....Guitar Praise!! (It's like Guitar Hero, but with Christian music.)

But the best part of October 25th, 2009 was seeing my son baptized!

Caleb was one of 12 that were baptized that night. Here are a few of the others.

Bro. Steve Crawley baptized his daughter

Mom had a front row seat!!

This is Caleb's friend, Payton

Payton's mom, Kristen, and I grew up together and have always been close friends. In fact, she was one of my bridesmaids in my wedding. It was pretty special that our boys were baptized at the same time.

Caleb and his buddy, Turner

Thank you, Lord, for a very special day from beginning to end!

There's no place like home....

After 26 days and 14 states, we FINALLY saw this sign!!! Woohoo!!! Home sweet home!!

Wow, what a trip this has been! I feel like we've crammed about 5 or 6 vacations into one month!

Thank you, Lord, for all the things You have allowed us to see and experience.

Thank you for all the wonderful churches we've been privileged to visit and new friends that have been made or old acquaintances renewed.

Thank you for protecting us as we traveled and providing for our every need.

I pray that those we've visited with have caught a vision for what You are doing in Asia-Pacific.

And I pray that our kids have a greater knowledge and love for their home country.

St. Louis Zoo - Part Two

Here are a few more pictures of our day at the zoo...

Things got a little "hairy"!!

These guys are always fun to watch!

Feeding time!!

Big 'ol black bears!!

One of our favs of the day were the penguins!

These guys were just too cute :)

Feeding time!

The pelicans were greedy!

And naughty!!

Right at the minute we arrived at the hippo exhibit, they were climbing out of the water and going into their "cave" so we didn't get to see much of them. But boy, are they huge!!

We had to look hard to find these two guys.

We enjoyed walking this trail and finding animals. Some were real....

....and some weren't. Thank goodness!!!

A fun-filled family day!! We are so blessed!!

St. Louis Zoo - Part One

Seeing as how our kids were SO LOOKING FORWARD to going to the St. Louis Zoo, they were able to twist Dad's arm (with a little help from Mom) to spend one more day in St. Louis and go to the zoo on Monday. After all, what's one more day when you've been on the road for 25 days, right???

This time, God blessed us with a beautiful day!

We started off the day with the little guys.

"You lookin' at me??"

Allen's swamp monkey?

So is he black with white stripes or white with black stripes?

This guy reminds me of home. Both homes!

Cool!! We live in the Visayas!!

Our God is so creative!

Loved that there was a brown giraffe and a black giraffe

Didn't your momma teach you to not stick out your tongue?? How rude!

Love the momma and baby

Up close and personal!

Sometimes you don't need words to communicate

This guy was so much fun to watch. He entertained us for quite a while!

But the ABSOLUTELY COOLEST thing was the sting ray exhibit!! They had a pool full of sting rays - with the stingers detached - and we could feed and/or pet them!! How cool is that??

Carly petting a sting ray. They were slimy feeling!

Wade feeding him some shrimp. He put the shrimp between his fingers and then just held out his hand flat. The ray would just swim over the top of his hand and then suck out the shrimp. Very cool!!

Sorry that this video is side-ways, but it's too funny! Well worth watching!!

What an incredible opportunity to learn more about God's creation. So thankful we decided to spend an extra day to do this. Those two faces make it all worth while!