Pictures Of Our Time In Phoenix

Isabella, Auntie Jess, Miai and the cat. Auntie Jess is who we stayed with most of the time we were in Phoenix. Miai is the little girl she was a nanny for.

We went to a baseball game. You could tell that we are "country mice"! All of our eyes were super wide as we walked around.

We have been good friends Auntie Deb for about 5 years now. She works with the organization that I took the Biblical Discipleship class with. We met Deb in Bible School and have been close ever since.

Auntie Jess had a birthday while we were there. We met Jess when Jen was pregnant with Isabella and she even came to her birth. So needless to say we are very close to her as well.

This is my class. It is amazing how close you can feel to people after you spend a whole week with them. We had a really good time together.

Well, I figured out that I CAN post pictures with just a dial-up connection...it just takes forever. I kid you not, it has taken me over an hour to post these five pictures. So I will post some of my family...tomorrow...

Good-Bye Arizona

( I just found out that the "Enter" key doesn't work on this computer here...so this post will look a bit funny...) Our time in Arizona was...well great. Four different cities...all vastly different. It was amazing that we were in the same state for all that time! And the experiences were as varied as well. When I was looking for pictures to post on this I realized that I had soooo many! I will never get all the ones that I want on here! Another wrinkle is that the computer that I am on now is dial up...So I don't even know if it can handle posting pics, so after I get this on the blog I will work on pictures. My class in Phoeinx went really well. They call it an intensive...and boy is it ever! About eight hours a day for five days. I told them that it felt like I was trying to drink from a fire hose. But really good stuff. It is a Biblical discipleship course and gives some real practical, biblical ways to work through issues in life. I am excited to bring it home and share what I have learned. Already two of my brothers have said that they will sit down with me and go through it. I think it would be really beneficial for all of us. After we finally left Phoenix we headed west to the border to visit the first "real" family member on our trip. My Aunt Eve, her husband, Uncle Ward and daughter Aly. I think this was the fourth time in my life that I have been down to their house. (How sad is that?) Last time we went (and Jen's first time) they were hosting the family reunion so we weren't able to really hang out with just them. I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive walking up to the house, but those feeling disappeared quickly. Family is always going to be family and we fell in love with this family all over again. The only other time I had ever spent one-on-one time with them I was a kid, so it was awesome to get to hang out as an adult...with a family of my own. Isabella had a wonderful time as well. She got to go to the river, swim in the pool, feed the dog...do what all three-year-olds love to do! Also there was another uncle that just moved there...Uncle Fred. One can't help but love Uncle Fred. Everyone loves him. Isabella even named her new stuffed animal after him. :-) I can't wait to get some pictures up about this trip. Well, we are now in California. Finally made it to the West coast! Yeah! Our Oregon plates on our car don't attract so much attention anymore! We will be here for a couple weeks hanging out with Jen's grand-parents and then up to Oregon. I'll update as often as I can and I will try to get pictures on right......NOW.

The Big Helper

While I have been at class and Jess is at work Jen and Isabella have had plenty of time together doing...well, let's see what they have been up to.

Isabella's first attempt at wielding a huge knife. I always say that the only response to a woman with a large knife is, "Yes, Ma'am". I think she going to make a cake.

There is more than one way to skin a cat...or smash cookies for a crust!

Vacuuming is a useful skill to have. I guess that now is as good of a time an any to learn!

Making Pb&Js...

Prayer Request

I got an e-mail a couple days ago from a friend that is on staff in Missouri. She has a two year old girl and Jen and I became friends with her and her husband over the summer before we left campus. It is kinda weird that we met and became friends because they had a loss in their family as well. She was 5 months pregnant with twins when there was complications and both little girls went to heaven. Interesting how God opens up doors to meeting people from what we went through.
Anyway...she passed on a prayer request:
A new student couple, Curtis and Lesley, were expecting a little boy in about a month, but then she stopped feeling movement and when she went into the hospital there was no heartbeat. So another little one has gone to heaven.
So hard to about stories like this, but I am glad at the same time. Now I can post it here for more saints to pray.

Dear Lord,
I want to lift up Curtis and Lesley right now. We know what "empty arms" feel like, but we also know what it feels like to get wrapped in your arms...I pray that you do that tonight for this couple. Help them as they try to be strong for their other two year old son, Josiah. Please, give them continued strength as the days go by. Thank you for all the many people around them comforting that as they go through this.
In you're name, Amen

Stories Along the Way

I am so glad that our camera is functional during our trip. We had to "jerry-rig" it to make it work, but thankfully even though it might look a bit silly, it still takes pictures! I was looking through different pictures that we have already, and different stories came to mind...so I thought it would be cool to pass some of those on.

This was taken in Utah. A pretty cool picture. As I travel cross country I am fascinated about how much time and work it took to make the roads. How long did guys working on them have to be separated from their families? How many times did the "workers" look at something and think to themselves, "There is NO way"...only to have it work out just like the plans said? And sometimes they make for good pictures as well.

I've always wondered what you would feel like if you had to us one of these runaway truck ramps...To suddenly realize that you are going too fast for your brakes to handle. I can imagine that it would be hard on the male ego to have to use one! Specially if it was your own fault. Growing up in the west I have passed many of these in my life,, but this was the first time I have ever seen one occupied.

Not every part of a trip goes super smooth. This particular morning we got up to leave early, only to find out that the battery had gone flat during the night!! I was trying to get everything hooked up, and as you can see, Jen thought thought it was a good time to take pictures. By the look on my face I don't think I shared her enthusiasm for the moment.

Another oooops happened when we took a wrong turn and ended up at a dead end. You can see behind my trailer that the the road simply ends...right there. I then had to figure out how to get my car with a trailer turned around! I ended up taking off the trailer and moving it by hand...then moving the car...then hooking it all back together! I just had to laugh as I was doing it, it was too crazy not to.

The drive between Flagstaff and Phoenix is a beautiful drive normally, but this day was exceptional. There was a thunder storm going on and we drove around a corner on the highway and saw a car pulled over and a lady standing out in the rain with a camera. Then we saw what she was looking at. Just one break in the clouds...quite beautiful!


Uhhh, there is absolutely no story behind this pine cone. What is it doing here anyway?

Our trip has been a blessing. We realize how unique this part of our life is and has been. How often do most people get to take a few months and travel crossed country visiting people? And God has totally been taking care of us. We were adding up or expenses on this trip so far, then we added up the gifts that people have given us, and for the most part they have matched! All of our bills have been paid for! Praise the Lord!

Back in Phoenix

Well, we are back in Southern Arizona...and so is the heat. We left Flagstaff this morning and it was 45 degrees and got into Phoenix three hours later and it was 85!
Blah! And it was only 9 in the morning!
This next week is going to be a busy one for me. I will be attending a "intensive" course with an organization called VCLI or Victorious Christian Living.
It is a Biblical discipleship program that I have been wanting to take for a few years now...so now is my chance. I guess that I don't know too much about it right now, so I will tell you more as I go through it.
Our trip to Northern Arizona was a relaxing time. Both the families that we visited are in missions as well and it was neat to visit and see where the Lord is leading us all.
Just a few pictures and I am going to bed. For this next week I need to be at class at 8:30! I'm not used to getting up before that!!

Kyra Joy...such a cutie!

Eric, Amy and Family

Divine Appointment?

We were supposed to leave Flagstaff today. We spent last night as well as today with our friends Eric and Amy who are heading to the mission field as well. It is about a three hour trip between here and Pheonix so we were going to head back down this evening.
But at the last minute we decided to stay for their son, Adin's, birthday. So that means that we now have to get up at 5AM to get packed and leave in order to be at church by 10. I was worth it just to spend some more time with our friends, but then something interesting happened.
There was a family friend there that we met. It turns out that he is from Missouri about an hour or so from NTM's campus and he and I started chatting about this and that.
He then looked at me and said that Isabella had come up to him out of the blue and told him about Anarazell and he wanted to know how we were. He went on to say that about 16 years ago he lost a son at two months old. Jen came into the conversation about then and told us that today is the 9th month since Anarazell's death. We ended up talking for quite awhile. The first time in a while that someone who has been through our situation have talked to us. And he actually asked serious questions that most people tend to shy away from.
After we talked, he looked at some pictures and then he mentioned that he first didn't know why he had decided to come to the party when he had been asked.
And we still don't know why Isabella went to the only person in the room that had been through our situation to talk about Anarazell.
Maybe a God thing?

Change in Temperature

We left Phoenix on Tuesday and drove about an hour and a half north to a place called Camp Verde, where we went to the castle and stuff. In Phoenix it was 95-100 degrees the day we left. Camp Verde was a bit cooler, but still 80-85 degrees.
We got into Flagstaff last night dressed in t-shirts, shorts and flip-flops...and were met with55 degrees and rain.
55 stinking degrees! That is like a 45 degree drop to what we have been living in!
WHAT THE WORLD!!!
It felt like winter in Oregon...only we are still in Arizona!
We have know Eric and Amy since Bible school. Jen and I were married for only a month when we met them and they had been married for two years. We considered them the old wise ones because of their two whole years...and here we are six years later.
We are also visiting a young lady who Jen met in Jr. high in Oregon. Her family have been good friends with Jen and I for quite a while now. Jaime is finishing up her masters degree here at Northern Arizona University and it is cool to be able to spend some time with her again.
For some reason Blogger won't let me upload pictures right now, so when I get that worked out I will put some more pictures on.

Ok..I figured something out, what I did I have no Idea, put here or some more pictures!

Our friends...Josh, Heidi, Micah and Mariah.

Jen and I at the Montezuma's well. On the left of the well are some houses that you can see below. They are made right into the wall. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Fun in the Arizona Sun

We have been enjoying our time with our friends Josh and Heidi. They are missionaries with NTM as well and are planning on heading to Mongolia the middle of next year. They are staying with Heidi's grandmother until then, and it has been a relaxing time with them.

Went to see some pretty cool sites today. A place called Montezuma's Castle. As we were heading there I was trying to figure out why it was called by the Aztec Chief's name, but I guess that when it was first seen by white settlers they thought it was part of his culture. It wasn't, but the name stuck anyway.

I love finding out about ancient cultures and things like that. If I had time in this life to do many things I would like to be an archaeologist. Searching for and finding places that have been built hundreds of years ago and trying to figure out what the people were like and how they lived. I find that fascinating. I wanted so bad to get into the castle, but that is only for cool people I guess... About 60 years ago anyone could go into it and the grandmother was able to back then...
Lucky...
One picture to show you how high and far away the castle is.

And then here is a close up of the castle. Crazy to think that about 600 years ago there was a group of people that was here and used this place to live out their lives!


The only things that live on the cliffs now...birds.

After we went there we went to Montezuma's well. A hole in the ground that 1.5 million gallons of water pump out of every day! All year long the temperature stays exactly 76 degrees. Crazy! An amazing amount of water pumping out into the middle of a desert!
But for some reason I can't post anymore pictures on this post....So I will post some of those later.

Internet!!!

I can't believe it! I am actually on-line! I did not realize how much I use the Internet if it is available. But since it hasn't been available...I have been missing it!
I think the thing that has been missing the most is communication. The friend that we have been staying with in Phoenix works full time and at her work she has Internet access...so she doesn't bother getting it to her house. She also has a cell phone so she doesn't have a land line coming into her house. So until she gets home we don't have contact with the outside world.
But I'm fine..I'm fine now.

It has been relaxing... and that has been really nice.
We are thankful that this past weekend was a holiday because that meant that our friends were all off work for three days and we could spend time with them, and we really had alot of fun.
We also got the opportunity to speak in a church this past Sunday, and that was a huge blessing.
The congregation is simply called Scottsdale Church and they are a wonderful group of believers. It worked out that Sunday was a Pan-cake breakfast as well, so we were able to spend some time fellowshiping with people as well as sharing.
I wasn't sure if we should spend as much time in Arizona as we first planned, but now that we got the opportunity to worship with this church I am glad that we are staying because now we have a few more Sundays to spend with them.
We have left the heat of Phoenix for a few days and are going to enjoy friends in the Flagstaff area. When we get some more pictures we will post them.