A Beautiful Life

We are sad to report that Ganesh lost his battle with HIV and is now with the Lord. While we were in India his health was declining, but in early October his health quickly deteriorated. In 12 short years he touched many lives and was a HUGE encourager to everyone he met. We rejoice that he is with the Lord, but we mourn that such a promising young life was robbed by such an awful foe. His death has been hard on the workers at House of Hope. With 13 other HIV children some of the workers are feeling hopeless. Please pray for them right now, that God would sustain them, encourage them, and that their hope would be found in Him.

Work Hard, Play Harder

Bigwheel Buddies

Being back home has given us more time to spend with family and boy has it been fun! We babysat our little niece Erin last week who is currently potty training. It was an eventful morning full of playing, eating, going for walks, riding bikes, and of course going to the potty several times. We were very proud to report that there was only one small accident all morning long. After returning inside from a stroll in the stroller and a bike ride aunt Kasey walked into another room and left uncle Tim and Erin to themselves. I returned to a wet floor and uncle Tim saying “oh no”. We just aren’t use to the signs yet, but we will know to pay better attention next time!

Chopsticks Never Gets Old

An Autumn Stroll

We spent the afternoon with Erin’s older brothers Ethan and Eli. After being in the house all morning, we thought we would be the cool aunt and uncle and offer to take them out for lunch. Little did we know that we were opening a can of worms. First they had to have a discussion about where each one wanted to go and why. We spent that next few minutes listening to Ethan (the older of the two) try to convince his little brother that his place had better food and was obviously the best choice. Next, we listened to Eli’s argument for his lunch pick. Finally, being the gullible aunt and uncle we are, we agreed to eat at Wendy’s (Ethan’s choice) and to play at McDonalds (Eli’s choice). All parties were pleased, including uncle Tim who got to climb and slide down the slides at McDonalds Playland.

Sleepover at Grammy's

Small steps...

Our house is officially on the market. There has been a healthy amount of interest, as several couples have been back twice to get a second look. As of today, no offers have come in. However, we remain confident that the house will rent or sell before we head back to Colorado in January. It has been hard getting the house spruced up, knowing that we aren’t going to live there again. The house has been a huge blessing to us and we are grateful for the time we have had, but we are sad to be giving it up. As we have cleaned, we have prayed for the next family that will make this house their home. It’s exciting to think of the memories a new family will make in the home and that helps us get through the waves of emotion.

Now we're cookin...

Last weekend we helped Kasey's dad cook 45 Boston Bucks in preparation for our BBQ plate fundraiser next weekend. By the time we finished chopping all the meat, we had 60 gallons of chopped BBQ. We're hoping to sell 500 plates with all of the proceeds going towards our support. We can't thank Kasey's family enough for all that they are doing in preparation for the big event. Her Dad and Stepmom have organized the whole event and several members of the family have helped by selling tickets, advertising, chopping meat, and cooking all the side items.

We'll spend next weekend in Laurinburg putting the BBQ plates together and then sell them Friday and Saturday at her parent's church. Then on Sunday we'll have an opportunity to thank the church for their past support and talk about our time in India. Please pray for some hungry people to come by the church next weekend to not only buy BBQ but to also hear about our ministry.

She's dangerous with a knife

Here comes the bride

Below are some pics of Kasey’s brother’s wedding from last weekend. It was a great time! Everything ran very smoothly and the church looked lovely. His new bride’s coworkers actually handled the entire reception…they could not have done a better job. The bride and groom where pleased and seemed to have a wonderful day. We were the only attendants in the wedding, so it was fun keeping the ring bearer and flower girl in their appropriate places and quiet! It was so good to see family and to celebrate such an important day.

The newlyweds are off now enjoying their honeymoon at the beach. We have decided that honeymoons should be mandatory every year!

(L) Goofing off before the service

(R) First dance of the evening

One proud mama!

The winding trip home

Our journey back to NC was even longer than our initial trip to Colorado. We covered 2,200 miles over a week, stopping to see family in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, OK, then a brief stop in Ferdinand, IN (the boyhood home of Abe Lincoln), cruised into Bumpas, VA to visit with our adoptive family the Williams, and finally back to Asheboro, NC. We spent 3 days in NC, then drove with Kasey's family to Miami to set sail on a family vacation. We enjoyed our time with family, but the visits were too short. We also learned two important things about ourselves, 1) Tim does not enjoy long periods of time in the passenger seat and 2) Kasey can't talk and control her speed at the same time. There was lots of laughter and karaoke along the way, it truly was a great adventure for us. Below are a few pictures from our winding road:

Having fun with Kasey's niece, her husband, and their two boys (Heather, Johnny, Caulyer, and Zachary.

Tim's niece Addison sporting the latest in Indian fashion.

Lee and Francis shucking corn for a traditional Williams lake house meal. Lee and Stacey are really excited about the nightly sunset lake cruise.

Decked out with Kasey's family.

Time alone

Before Tim and I left Colorado, we were given the opportunity to stay a few days at a retreat center in the foothills of the Rockies. The cabin is owned and run by a retired missionary couple who seek to serve fellow missionaries by providing a sanctuary from the noise of ministry. To say we were blessed by this time is an understatement. It was just what we needed and so much more! We went into the weekend with our little agenda, wanting to know what the next five years holds for us (that’s not too much to ask is it J). However, the Father had better plans, thank goodness His thoughts are so much higher than ours. We sat down in the silence shortly after arriving and He immediately informed us that He brought us there to spend some intimate alone time with Him. He just wanted to be with us. So He arranged this perfect weekend just for the three of us…I know it still blows my mind too! That is exactly what we did, we spent time with Him as a couple and as individual children. Time sitting or walking among the fields of wildflowers that reached 20 arches around, resting in the hammock, eating on the porch while watching the beautiful hummingbirds, bouncing on the trampoline and playing board games like little kids. The best thing is we had no idea how much we longed for that time. We were able to start our journey home feeling refreshed and ready to be with family and friends. What an incredible Dad we serve. He knows our hearts so much better than we do!