Chicago

While in Chicago, we were able to spend a few short hours with my sister, Jodi, and her family. We were planning on spending a few days together, but our dear grandmother, Irene went home to see Jesus. She was 86 and had been faithfully spreading the gospel to all she met even through her last days in assisted living. She had been a widow for 15 years and was in poor health, so we rejoiced with her as she received her independence from this world on Independence Day. Mark and I were sad not to be able to change our travel plans to go to the funeral. In fact we had been planning on seeing Grandma only 2 short weeks later. As a result, Jodi and her family left Chicago to go to the funeral, shortening our time together in the windy city. But we made the best of our 3 hours together and spent it soaking each other at a splash pad with the kids. It is now week six of our tour around America. We have been in 5 states and have driven more than 5000 miles with a two year old in tow. We have stayed at 11 different houses and 3 different hotels. Reagan has been doing great sleeping in different beds each night. How hard can it be when you have new toys and friends every three days? Mark and I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing old friends and making new ones. Our trip has been a mixture of saying goodbye to friends and family before we leave the country, while also keeping people up to date on our plans to serve God in foreign missions in Honduras. Many people have responded with enthusiasm and encouragement. We have built two fantastic prayers teams and God is also beginning to bring in gifts to meet our financial need since we are not allowed to earn money over-seas. I believe we are now at about 50% of our monthly needed commitments. Many people have already made plans to come to visit us, and plans are falling in place to move to Costa Rica for language school in 6 weeks. We are so thankful that this trip has been so influential to move us toward service in Honduras.

An afternoon with Grandma

One of my favorite spots in my home town is called "The Sunken Gardens." When the city dug up an old trash dump, it left a pit of fertile soil where they planted a city flower garden. My mom and I took Reagan there to see the flowers. He loved running up and down the paths and spent most of his time trying to touch the fish in the coy pond. The climax of the afternoon was the ride on the steam engine at the zoo.

Highschool Reunion

Mark returned to his 20 year highschool reunion for Lincoln Christian School. The class of 1990 had 25 graduates and 15 of them found their way back to Nebraska for the celebration. It was a great evening of old memories and laughter. Many of the students are still living with Jesus Christ as the focus of their lives and it was a pleasure to catch up with them. It was so nice to see Mark's dad healthy again. While in Lincoln, we connected with many old friends to tell them about the ministry that God is leading us to in Honduras. One night at Mark's parent's house, about a dozen people came over including three of our former teachers. It was special to see Mark's 4th grade teacher, our music teacher and our principle. They represented a long legacy of faithful Christian training that laid part of the ground work in our lives.

Strategic Air Command Museum

My parents took us to SAC Museum near Omaha. They have a fabulous selection of airplanes and displays. Since Reagan shares Mark's love for airplanes, they were both in heaven checking out each bird. Afterwards we climbed the tower at Mahoney State Park, and Reagan climbed all 20 flights of stairs to the platform on top.

Family Fun

While in Lincoln we spent a lot of time with the Voss family. We celebrated Toby's 40th birthday, went to Grammy's swim club, caught lightning bugs and ate lots of Valentinos Pizza.

Colorado Springs

We enjoyed a very special day in Colorado Springs. We were able to spend the night with Mark's Aunt and Uncle who have a long, rich history in International Missions. They were a great source of wisdom and had lots of good advice for us as we enter cross-cultural ministry in Honduras. We were so thankful to be able to listen to them share from their experience. We also went to Manitou Springs where Mark asked me to be his wife almost 12 years ago. We found the little stream that flows through a park and remembered where we were engaged. It was a thrill to be there with Reagan thinking of how our little family began.

Denver

We spent 3 lovely days in Denver with Mark's sister's family. The cousins had a blast playing together and even camped out in the basement together overnight. We rode the train into downtown Denver to go to the Children's Museum. I don't know which was more fun for the kids, the museum or the train ride through the city.

Rocky Mountain National Park

We ended our week in Colorado by visiting dear friends, the Petersons, in Fort Collins. We spent a great evening relaxing in their pool and then eating Christina's fantastic Mexican food. On our way to Fort Collins, Mark rode his bike on an epic road from Lyons to Estes Park. It was a grueling 16 miles uphill, followed by a 4 mile descent into Estes. Reagan and I dropped him off at the bottom of the hill and then spent a leisurely lunch on the veranda of a cafe with a full view of the Rockies. We also took a short hike at Rocky Mountain National Park. Reagan rode on Mark's back on the way down the mountain, then decided he wanted to walk on the way back. He did great, walking nearly a mile up hill at 9,000 feet altitude.