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.