Fun w/ Family

Two weeks ago we got to spend four days up in the Lebanon, PA area reconnecting w/ family, friends, and supporters, and sharing in several churches. We stayed with my Uncle Mark and Aunt Alice right down the lane from the dairy farm. Aunt Alice's "midnight snacks" were a big hit w/ the kids after we'd come home from presentations way past their normal bedtime.

The kids had a blast playing on the farm! Of course, after seeing so many water buffaloes, snakes, chickens, monitor lizards and other "normal" animals over the past several years, it was a real treat to spend some time with some truly amazing ones--good ol' milk cows. The twins went nuts over the cows. It was pretty funny.

As crazy as Britton is about animals, Hudson is equally enthusiastic about tractors, trucks, planes, etc. So he was really thrilled to be able to "drive" the Bobcat, and tractor w/ my cousin, Duane. He's been talking about it ever since.

Last Thursday Grandpa and Grandma Forney took the kids fishing. Everybody caught some nice fish!

Then on Sunday the whole family went up to James Buchanan State park for a picnic. The kids had fun playing in the creek catching crayfish and frogs. Tanner still sports his little "speedo" style trunks from Indonesia.

The latest excitement are the baby chicks, hatching in the basement. For the past three weeks, Grandma and the kids have been incubating little chicken eggs, turning them each over several times per day. Yesterday they started to hatch!

As you can imagine, this has caused much excitement, though Britton's comment that "these would make good python food," did not go over well.

Pennsylvania

It's hard to believe but we've been in the Pennsylvania area nearly five weeks! Time as flown by as we've been very busy! We're still re-adjusting to life in the "fast lane", getting used to convenience store gas stations, huge food and drink portions, massive grocery carts, and people who drive really fast...but usually obey the laws. Joy was very disappointed to find out that the local Sheetz gas station here no longer offers their fresh, Mennonite-made whoopie pies. Bummer! Don't know what a whoopie pie is? Go here to find out.

Birthday season is over for us. Hannah's b-day happened while we were at MAF headquarters. So she got to celebrate three times--once there, once in Oregon w/ Joy's side of the family, and once in Pennsylvania w/ my side of the family. She had a fancy little tea party w/ her cousins. they all wore the dresses that their grandma made.

Hudson's b-day was next. We went to a local petting zoo, where he got to feed some animals. Then we fed our own faces at McDonalds--a treat for our kids. Funny thing is, the twins still won't eat a cheese burger. They don't know what they are. They keep asking for fried rice!

Britton's b-day was next. For his b-day we squeezed in a day at the National zoo in Washington D.C. Here's a shot of our 9 yr old with his mom. Aren't they cute, and handsome?

Here's all the kids, ours and my sister and brother-in-laws, eating ice cream cones on the steps in my parents back yard. It's been great for the cousins to get re-acquainted.

We did have a few days to sneak in a trip to a cabin in West Virginia with the whole family. My sister who's been in China going on six years was there, as well as my other sister and brother-in-law, as well as grandpa an grandma Forney. Here's Gpa and Gma with all the grand kids in the woods.

Here's Joy with my two sisters. Cute huh?

We did a lot of "horsing around." It makes me realize how open the woods are here compared to the jungles of Kalimantan!

We had a lot of fun there. Thanks Dad and Mom!

Last week, while skyping with some of our MAF friends back home in Tarakan, our Indonesian house-helper and her sister had a chance to get on camera to say hi to the kids. We are so blessed to have such a great gal to help Joy at home with the myriad of things it takes to keep things going in a place like Tarakan. A day rarely goes by over there when Joy doesn't say how thankful she is for Abby, and the kids really adore her. As soon as Tanner and Tyler saw Abby and her sister, Orpa, on the computer screen, they both climbed up on the chair, bent over and smooched them. We couldn't pull them away. It was pretty funny, but of course made quite a mess of our screen. Oh well. :)

Continue to Pray

Please continue to pray for the AIM AIR family. I apologize for being so late on these updates. Several days ago Ryan, the AIM AIR mechanic, succumbed to his injuries and also went home to be with his Heavenly Father. He leaves behind a wife and four young kids. Please continue to pray for both Frank's and Ryan's families. I can't even imagine how difficult this must be for all of them. You can get updates and contribute to memorial funds by going here.

Please Pray!

Some of our good friends that serve with AIM AIR in Kenya are in the midst of a very difficult time right now. I'm sure they would appreciate your prayers.

On August 1st an aircraft accident claimed the life of pilot, Frank Towes. Frank was one class ahead of me at Moody Aviation. I'm sure his wife and four children could really use your prayers. In addition, an AIM AIR mechanic was critically injured. His condition is still very critical.

Please pray for the entire AIM AIR family.

To find out more, or to find out how you can help with memorial funds go here. Thanks!

Scenes from the Road Trip

Well we made it to Pennsylvania. Along the way we had the oppoturtunity to stay with several friends and supporters, share at two churches, and enjoy some of God's beautiful creation. Each day we tried to have one fun thing for the kids. Here were some of the highlights.

Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon.

Craters of the Moon National Park, Eastern Idaho.

Drinking coffee at 6:00 am in the car while watching the sun rise on the Grand Teton Mountains, WY. Keep in mind we still averaged 500 - 600 miles per day even with a scenic stop along the way.

Yellowstone National Park, WY. Old Faithful blew a few minutes after we got there at 8:00am.

Oops, somehow we missed all the signs about not getting to close to the buffalo. But this is a telephoto lense, so it's not quite as close as it looks. It kept stairing at us, and then I realized that the bright red lady bug was right behind me and the kids. Probably not very bright!

The Bighorn Mountains.

The Black hills of South Dakota and Mt. Rushmore.

The Badlands of South Dakota.

The wide open windy prairies of the Midwest.

And one of the biggest highlights of all (drum roll)... helping to unload hundreds of baby pigs at our good friends' pig farm in Iowa. We really enjoyed our time there at Pulaski Mennonite Church, and the kids thoroughly loved the opportunity to help out on a real, live pig farm...not that we were really much help. But it was fun!

Our time in Pennsylvania has been very busy! But we're enjoying the opportunity to share with many churches and supporters, and re-connect with friends and family. The kids are really enjoying their grandparents and cousins here. Next time I'll try to post a few pictures of that.