Halloween fun around the world.

Yesterday we went to a Fall festival that some friends of ours hosted and we had a great time of games, costumes, food and fun! As you can see our costume was the CIA. Many times since we've been here we've had local people ask and wonder if we worked for the CIA so we just decided to go with it and have a little fun with the idea this halloween. Hopefully this never gets in the hands of those that are already a little paranoide. :)

Bizenge a small village in the Mountains

Last week we had the opourtunity to take a little field trip to a village we had never been to very near the Georgain boarder. We had a great day of hiking and fun with the family and a good friend named James. Wish you could have been there......

If a picture says a thousand words........ what's this one saying?

Yes the boy can fall asleep anywhere......... and I mean anywhere!!!!

A 4th of July Shoot Out

Do I need to say much about this priceless photo?! The boys were having such a good time and as you can see they are just a littel scared of cameras.

4th of July Celebrations with all the Gang

Here we are in all our 4th of July festivity. We had our team mates and one other family over to celebrate the day with a time of worship, food, some games and of course some fireworks to top it all off. I think we scared our neighbors when the fireworks started exploding since one of Whitneys girl friends said their family thought it was gun shots. They’re not completely used to having Americans live near them but they love to watch us and find out what weird and crazy things were up to next.

Last month we had the privilege of having a team retreat in the mountains with all of our team. On Thursday we had the day off and were able to enjoy a little fun and relaxation. If you look close to the back of the raft maybe you can see Jennifer and Whitney enjoying their time of relaxation.
Team retreat truly was an awesome time of worship, fellowship and team planning and building. We were also blessed to have a team from Tennessee come and do a VBS with our kids! They were great and not only blessed our kids with great fun and Bible learning but they also gave us great fellowship and encouragement. Thank you Tennessee team and may the Lord bless you as He did us through you.

An awesome day for a walk.

Spring has officially sprung in our Republic and we are enjoying every minute we can. We took this walk last Saturday and along the way Luke found a rock I guess he really liked because he carried it all the way home which was about 2.5 miles up and down hills. We still have the rock and I guess we’ll probably have it forever. We also put up a tree swing in the back yard for the kids and planted a few things in the garden.

Lukes 5th B-Day

Mt Elbrus Skiing Trip 2009

Our new home

This is the home that the Lord blessed us with in December. Our Christmas present from Him. We hope to be able to continue to rent it for a long time, but we will see what the landlord will allow. The house has a kitchen, living room, office/school room, 3 bedrooms, and 1 1/2 baths. Having an extra half bath is very unusual in this area and we were pleasantly surprised. You can see the lots are narrow, the neighbor's homes are close, but our lot is long. We have a nice long yard in the back.

We enjoyed a few hours at the Grand Bazaar today wheelen and dealen for a few hand painted plates. More then buying things at the Bazaar we enjoy that atmosphere of just being there. We also enjoy serving as the walk through entertainment for all the shop owners there. They love to count our kids and make funny comments like, "I make large discount for large families" or "One, Two, Three, Four are all of the kids yours?" The Turkish people are generally very loving and seem to really enjoy kids.

As we walked today through the bazaar people would just walk up or as they pass by reach over and pinch a cheek of the kids or rub them on the head. It's really funny to watch and the kids do very well with it and always keep a smile. Luke seems to get the most attention but in typical Luke fashion he eats it up and makes goofy cute 4 year old faces at all of them.

Sunset at the Jetsons house

Sunset at our house is often a time of worship! We can't help but to be amazed by the power and creative ability of our Lord and Savior. He created all of these wonders and more but still He cares for something as weak, simple and selfish as me. What else can I do but serve Him and how much could I give but all there is!

Fun in the back yard.

Fun in our back yard with our new sled. We can't wait to try it out on a real hill but until then we'll just have dad and mom pull us around the yard. They need the exercise after all those Christmas cookies!