Our road trip has finally ended. But before it did, we enjoyed a couple more camp outs followed by a couple of weeks in Springfield, Missouri. In Springfield we attended, a re-entry seminar and missionary renewal. We got to visit with old friends and make new ones. The kids had a great time in the MK program and are still singing the songs that they learned. The most exciting thing that happened was that we got our final approval to transfer fields to Japan!

As an added bonus, we had a mini APTS reunion in Springfield. We were glad to meet up with fellow missionaries who served along side us in the Philippines for a pick-nick at a local park.

Now we are delighted to have a home again. We arrived in St. Petersburg, Florida and moved into the D&D missionary homes 2 weeks ago. We have a 3 bedroom, fully furnished house. Hudson finally has his own real bed! The house is nicer than we expected and we feel very blessed to be here. While it was fun visiting friends and family, national parks and campgrounds, we are glad to unpack and have a home again for awhile.

Photo of the kids in front of our new house in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

Our Last Day in New Mexico

Yesterday we enjoyed a visit with Uncle Kevin and Aunt Judith. Uncle Kevin is Chris Dad’s twin brother. They look very much alike and the kids at first were a little bit confused. LOL! Uncle Kevin and Aunt Judith have a ranch complete with 400 cattle, a movie star goat, 6 dogs, various cats and of course, horses.

Addie’s dream job is to be a horse rancher and she was thrilled to get to ride on one. So despite the over 100 degree temperature, the kids enjoyed a short horse ride and petting the various animals. Chris and I were glad to catch up with Chris’ Aunt and Uncle as this was the first time we have seen them in 12 years! One of the benefits of traveling all over is getting to visit friends and family. It was a great way to spend our last day in New Mexico.

New Mexico visit in pictures

I thought I'd add a few of our photos from our 2 1/2 weeks in New Mexico.

The kids enjoyed the fishing pond at Beulah...

The boys each caught their first fish!

We also had a nice dip in Cousin Mike's pool.

Chris poolside with Cousin Mike and Great Aunt France



Adelaide enjoying the children's science museum in Albequerque.

Chris braves the high wire bike at the museum.

Beulah

We’ve spent the last two weeks at Beulah, a privately owned guest house for people in full time ministry. We’ve also spent the last two weeks un-plugged. I must confess that I have missed having internet access, but without it I have managed to read 8 books! Besides the mini library here, we have enjoyed fishing and canoeing in the pond and having access to a kitchen. It has also been a nice break from camping, especially as the temperatures have risen up over 105 degrees here in New Mexico!
During our stay we have met several lovely couples. Like the couple who are music ministers and were a delight to our children. They still talk about singing to the catfish in the pond! Another wonderful couple we met here run a children’s home. They were a huge blessing to us as they watched our children while I took Chris to the doctor. Chris seems to have a pinched nerve in his neck. We are praying that the medicine he is on works well and that he doesn’t have a disk problem that may require surgery.
Besides meeting people here at Beulah, we also had the opportunity to visit with some of Chris relatives and family friends. We enjoyed a visit with the Neely’s and a BBQ with his great Aunt Frances and her family. The kids especially enjoyed swimming in Mike’s pool!
Like we have done on many of our stops, we have taken the time for some “field trips”. We discovered another great museum, Explora, a children’s science museum in Albuquerque. The kids enjoyed a flight simulator, designing floating paper cup propellers, and making a stop action film. They also enjoyed the giant marble run and a train set, which have given me some ideas for Christmas gifts. ;) There was even a high wire bicycle that Chris ventured out on!
We are not just vacationing in New Mexico; we have also driven all over the state visiting various churches. We’ve seen some budding new churches, some firmly established works, and met some wonderful people. We’ve made new ministry partners and have enjoyed sharing our heart for the people of Japan.
Our road trip adventure is only halfway over. We have 4 more days in New Mexico. Then we are back to Utah for a few days and on to other states. There is more fun to come!

Colorado

I’m very sleepy as it is late and I didn’t sleep much last night (even though I am feeling better). However, I think we may be without internet for some time. Therefore, I’ll attempt to give an update.
After spending a couple of days in Vernal, Utah, we enjoyed attending the morning service at the local A/G church and sharing in a window in both the main service and kid’s church. We also had a couple of nice meals with the pastor and his family. It was exciting to see how this church is reaching its community!
Later Sunday afternoon we headed out to Roosevelt. There we enjoyed a pot luck and the opportunity to share about our ministry and a message from scripture. The people of this church we so friendly.
This morning we met the pastor from Roosevelt, his wife, grandbaby and a member of the church for breakfast. Soon after that we hit the road. We headed south. On our drive today I overheard some interesting conversation from the back seat including, “I have hair like Daddy’s. See this? I’m bald!” “I am not a fossil!” “I am not Dr. Pain!” Yes, all these were uttered by Hudson.
We did take a break from all the driving and visited Arches National Park. We took in the inspiring views and pointed out what we “saw” when we looked at the rocks. In one rock formation I saw a giant hand; Wesley saw Jesus. We also enjoyed a brief hike and a stop at the visitor’s center.
Tonight we pulled into Cortez, NM. Chris lived here when he was in first and second grade. Driving through town brought back memories. Tomorrow morning we might try to drive by his old house, before we head off to the Faith Comes By Hearing Campus near Albuquerque, NM, our next stop on the road trip. We will be based from there as we visit various churches in the NM area for the next two and a half weeks.

P.S. I tried to post this last night, but the internet wasn't working well. So, I am posting this now, on Tue. morning.

Our Day in Vernal

Today we decided to take a look around Vernal, Utah. After a breakfast of instant oatmeal and showers, we left the campground for the local natural history museum. Vernal, Utah is known for its dinosaur bone discoveries. The museum showed a lot of them.

It was a great hands on museum with lots of activities for children. The kids enjoyed putting together dinosaur bones in a puzzle like fashion, an activity where they had to guess which were the real fossils and which items were not, and an interactive tool for distinguishing the types of dinosaurs by looking at the bones.

It was quite an educational experience. The kids learned about what a paleontologist does, what fossils are and about different types of rock, including some that glow in the dark! They also enjoyed seeing life size replicas of dinosaurs in the outdoor dinosaur walk.


We like to sneak in educational activities whenever we get the chance and this museum was a great one. I especially appreciated how interactive it was. It really captivated the kids' interests. The museum made such an impression on Addie that she is now considering becoming a paleontologist! I highly recommend it!

After our tour of the museum we went to Wal-Mart and picked up some food for lunch. We returned to the camp sight and ate. After lunch we had a quick phonics lesson and math review. Then the kids decided that it was time to swim. Unfortunately the pool was not open. Even worse, I (Lindsey) suddenly came down with an upset stomach. The sickness, being overheated and having some minor heart troubles made me long for a bed. When sitting in the air conditioned car and sipping some Gatorade did not help, Chris graciously gave into my pleas and got me a hotel room. We found a cheap one with a pool where I am now resting. When Chris checked out of the campground they said that several people there had come down with tummy troubles. Ah well, the kids are on their way to the pool here at the hotel and I am enjoying a real bed!

Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow. We are supposed to be meeting up with a pastor tomorrow and then will be speaking at the Assemblies of God church here in Vernal on Sunday. I hope all of my readers have a wonderful weekend!

Hello Utah!

We’ve made it to Utah. Last night we spoke at a church in Payson. While visiting with the pastor, Chris was informed that the town was only about one percent Christian. It was a Mormon town. My heart just breaks for the Mormons. They try so hard and are still so lost. How they need to really know Jesus!
Tonight we are camping again. The kids are having a great time. We’re staying at a nice campground with running water, bathrooms a playground and a pool. We also bought an air mattress in hopes of a better night’s sleep. Here’s hoping that this combination will make for a more enjoyable camping experience.
We made smores again with the kids. Every time we eat them I am reminded of the time in the Philippines that we introduced Mario, a student from Indonesia, to them. Tonight Addie came up with her own solution for keeping smoke out of her eyes….

She’s wearing her swimming goggles! LOL! What an inventive girl!