Canada….eh? August 24, 2010

Did you know that Canadians really say “eh?” after a lot of sentences?? Mainly after questions or if they say a sentence and are inquiring what the other person thinks. Kind of like Americans say…”ya know” or “don’t you think” after a lot of sentences.

We were just blessed with some time away from Seattle and had an adventure in Chatham, Canada (an hour from London, which is 3 hours away from Detroit, Michigan). Our friends Josh and Becky got married, where Becky is from. Her home reminded us so much of Minnesota. She lives/d on a chicken farm… 9,000 chickens in one barn and the three total with chickens in them!!! Open fields and gravel roads…it was quiet and peaceful : ) and very humid!!!

Some of my favorite things about our five-day trip:

-the green and yellow fields that went one forever

-the short, full trees

-the gravel roads

-the stars and noises of insects at night

-Becky’s lovely family that hosted us

-Patricia’s chocolate chip cookies

-the golden doodle Catie

-the devotions and coffee time

-the wedding – very traditional and dutch : )

-conversations with my husband, the family, and Averi

We are so grateful for that refreshing time away and just wanted to share it with you!!

well…. August 7, 2010

long time no type!! Where to even begin? I don’t even remember what I wrote in my previous blog, so I will just update on what has been going on the last couple of months.

Month of June went whizzing by that I am having a hard time recollecting what happened. I know we celebrated our friends Sam and Shelli’s birthday on the 14th. We went camping with the Roper family on the weekend on the 20th’ish. Camping is very different in WA than in MN….the pine trees are so incredibly tall here that you have to leave the campsite to see if it is even sunny. Where as in MN the tress are short and wide and the sun shines very brightly there. Of course Jeff loves the shade and I like being in the sun rays.

July, my birthday of course and was blessed by so many of you with wonderful phone calls and cards. My amazing husband made teriyaki chicken, rice, vegetables, egg rolls, and cheesecake….all from scratch!! Lovely. Then we went cosmic bowling with a few friends. Last month Jeff was very busy with financial meetings within our church and house churches. As most of you have or will receive a letter/postcard/brochure about all of that. Him and two other ladies went and spoke with each small group about tithing and where our church is at financially. I have just been busy with children’s ministry….in July we had a goal of getting 10 backpacks filled with school supplies to give to families in need in our communities and God gave us 16!!

A huge youth group came from Texas to minister along side of our church, 50 high school students!! We’ve also had two interns help out the last month that had come from Alabama.

Personally within our marriage we have been talking a lot about babies, houses, WA, family. Please lift us up in your prayers regarding the next stages that are coming in our life. That God would bring us into unity in decisions with discernment, wisdom, and faith in everything we do. We have been learning a lot about where God has us at and the beauty and difficulties in everything! Praise God that He is just, faithful, and forever loving.

This coming week we will be near London, Canada for our friends’ Josh and Becky’s wedding. Tuesday evening to Sunday. Jeff will be his best man and is excited to be in a wedding…usually I am in the wedding party and Jeff has to tag along : ).

We love you all and thank you for all your support and prayers!!

Love, Kari