Christmas and Portland

We spent Christmas in South Dakota at my grandparent's home, leaving the day after Jesiah's 3rd birthday party. Two sets of aunts and uncles came so we got to see quite a few relatives. We enjoyed playing some games and being entertained by the kids. Here's my dad's family with him, my great aunt Ann, my grandparents, aunt Libby, and aunt Karen. Here's my uncle Mike and their dog Homer, my new foster cousin, Ariel, and aunt Libby. Here's uncle John and aunt Karen (my cousin Chris couldn't come so that was a bummer!).

If my daddy were a cowboy...here's how he'd look. :) John and my dad switched hats for a funny picture.

The drive back wasn't very fun on the ice, but the sunset was gorgeous!

A few days later we opened Christmas presents which is fun with 2 kids who love to rip wrapping paper! We celebrated our friend Lindsey's birthday after arriving back to Miles City. She was feeling sad about turning 25, crazy girl!

Tomorrow, Gretchen and I leave for Portland, OR for a week long conference with Wycliffe Bible Translators called Total It Up. Our team is currently seeking out options for translation training for our ministry in Vanuatu so we are checking into some things with Wycliffe/SIL. Lord-willing, we can get some training at the Australia SIL center called Equip. This workshop presents an opportunity to meet some translators, have some questions answered, learn more about training, and to network with some translators from Papua New Guinea (who will be facilitating some of the workshop). Please pray for health for us (Jesiah, Houghton, and I are sick) and for Houghton as he braves the kids alone for a full week! Also pray for safety on the roads and over the mountain passes on the long drive to Portland from here. Happy new year!

December small groups

December is here and churches were difficult to schedule with for the month so we went to plan "B," small groups. Indeed it should have been plan "A!" We have a few more home groups to schedule from our home church but we are already going to several a week and they are so much more fun than full church presentations. Not only do we get to stay in one spot for longer than a few days (here in Miles City, MT), we get to know people at our sending church better and build deeper relationships here. Also, the time is more informal and relational and we get to answer more basic questions about missions and give better understanding about the kind of "home team" we are hoping to have backing us and how people can be involved that way. Keep checking back as I'll continue to add pictures as we go along of the different home groups we share at in the coming weeks. Nothing beats a cup of tea, a Vanuatu video, time to chat, and dessert with other Christians!