Hi Daddy!

Travis was complaining that he didn't have any new updates to look at while he's at work this week, so here we go! This one's for you babe!

Savannah's been a little sick this week. We started the week out wearing only diappers because she had her first case of the flu since becoming mobil. It was dangerous. Below: She's sick of oatmeal. That's about all I've been letting her eat this week. So I took some fun pictures of her to make it more exciting.

She looks like oatmeal Hittler.

I have no idea what I did to make her laugh so much, but it was good!

This is probably where she got the flu.

We went to eat in Des Moines for Trav's birthday last weekend and stopped at Jourdan Creek to play.

You can tell how much she loved her first ride ever. Her face stayed like this the WHOLE ride, until she finally cried.

Grandpa will do anything for a laugh. Including hitting himself in the head over and over.

Our little copy cat.

I'm working backwards here. Last week we had Max over to play for an hour. You can just see the magic in the air, can't you. :) No seriously - we DID have fun .... eventually.

Here we go again....

School is starting back up this week and that means so is Escape!

Travis and I have devoted much of our time, life, energy, and hearts to the high schoolers in the Ames area. Summer brings a time of randomness and relaxing. It's been a good summer ministry wise. We've had some good talks with students on the porch. We took a couple weeks off. We had a good time.

Well, things are winding back up! Tonight we have a dinner with the Escape staff. Friday and Saturday we have a leader training. Sunday we have a meeting with our Core students. And Wed we kick off the year at Escape!

This year will be even more crazy for us with Savannah being much more moble and needy. Travis and I are both leading Bible studies this year (one on Monday, one on Tuesday) so that's another thing too.

Please pray for Travis and I as we enter this year. Pray for peace and grace in all we do. Pray for calm in the midst of life flying around us. Pray for family time and marriage time. Pray for life change in our students!!!!

See ya in December!

Pinkey

Guess who has Pink eye....

Is it Daddy, who also happens to start work at School again today?

Noooooo.

Is is baby Savannah, who would be the obvious choice and puts her hands all over everything?

Nooooo.

It's mommy. It's 5:30am, I've been up stressed about it since 4am. Not sure where it came from but I have too busy of a day and to huggable of a baby to have a nasty eye sore today! UG!

Birthday Knife

My mom and dad got me a pricey little knife for my Birthday.

It's AMAZING!

It's a Wusthof knife. Cuts like butter. Very high class. Dinner will never be the same.

last week

Last week was a great summer week. Here's a few high lights:

We took a family trip to the pool on Tuesday. Travis had the day off so why not? My mom got us all a family swim pass for Carr Pool which has been great. We can go and splash around for an hour and not feel like we just blew $15 on one hour.

She likes the kiddie pool, but she loves the big pool! She's getting to be a good kicker and is an expert at holding her breath!

The harvest IS plentiful! When I got back from Panama our garden was busting with yellow and red tomatoes, cucumbers and onions! Let me know if you want some - really! Savster actually likes to eat tomatoes like their apples.

Savannah rocked a sick pone earlier this week.

And we finally got her a little tiny bike helmet so she can go riding with Travis.

This is Jasey.

Panama update

So on July 23rd I left for my latest adventure in Panama. Travis and I had decided serveral months ago that God wanted me and now him to go. I had flipped flopped a lot on my feelings about the trip but in the end I knew I needed to go. The night before I left was a hard one. I cried a lot about missing Savannah. Then when I woke up at 3:30 to get ready to go I felt totally spiritually attacked. I had a migraine and I felt very fearful about the trip and about leaving my family. Travis prayed for me the whole way to the airport. Once I got past the security gate though I felt fine.

The trip was great - for me, the students, and the people of Piriati Panama. I only had one hard night of missing my baby. I was able to call home and check in every day, I was surrounded by not only Americans from our group that love me but also Embera people that love me, the Holy Spirit worked in great ways to fill us in on what we should do with our time there, lives were changed, the Bible was taught, and I'm glad I went. I can give you many more details later - I'm still reflecting and remember what's important.

Anyway, here's some snippets of my trip in picture form:

Here's me - pretending to enjoy my 4th trip to the Panama Canal. I'm telling you- the most boring sight you'll ever see.

This is my good friend Yoellie. We've been best buds for years. I love watching her grow up.

This was a new sight for me to see. Colonial Panama - it's the second oldest part of Panama city and this guy was entertaining me!

This is our group and theirs. The church in Piriati has about 12 families in it and most of them came out to wish us farewell.

Trip highlight!: One night we split into small groups and went to people's homes for dinner! This family was a joy to be around and to learn about. They call the old guy "Abuelo", which means "grandfather" because like half the village is related to him.

Here's me with Leonora. She's a sassy Embera lady!

Another highlight!: We hosted a family day where the families finger painted pictures of their homes and families! It was sooooo fun!

Here a group of girls swarm over the pictures of Savannah I brought. One girl told me that she "looks like she has an attitude" - YEP!