Passion for Paraguay

We are officially heading south. Right now we are in Kentucky and this afternoon we will be in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee for a three day retreat. Thanks to some loving friends, we will be staying in a quiet cabin where we can fish, hike and rest before heading home to Paraguay.

Last night we had the opportunity to hang out with our CMA friends. We met with the ReRiders Chapter in southwest Michigan for their weekly ride. It was a great chance to meet new bikers and thank them for their contributions to Run for the Son. This year we are going to be able to distribute a record number of motorcycles to different ministries throughout the country. We'll be working on that project as soon as we head home (in less than 3 weeks). Next week we start making our way down to Miami, so keep us in your prayers as we have two more speaking engagements before we leave. We are on the home stretch and looking forward to going home to Paraguay.

There's nothing like Michigan in the summertime! We've really enjoyed eating fresh berries and campfires at night. Here are a few pics of our experiences with family and friends... Tigers Game with Grandpa Timmy and Lukie playing on the train at John Ball Zoo Henry Ford Museum Celebrating Great Grandma's birthday. Timmy helped mommy make the cake. We would appreciate you keeping us in your prayers as we have three more church visits this month and lots of miles to travel before we head home on the airplane in less than a month.

It's very hard for us to capture all that's going happening in our lives this month. With Children of Promise training, North American Convention, our church visits and a few outings in between, we feel like we're barely able to keep up with our correspondence and our blog. Almost two-thirds into our trip, we feel like our trip has been not only beneficial for us to "unplug" from the heavy demands on us in ministry, but it's been a fantastic opportunity for us to reconnect with important people in our lives. We are needing prayer for our third and last leg of our journey. We are once again living out of suitcases and on the road a lot. Timmy has already asked us to "go home" to Paraguay. He misses his bed and his amigos. We are striving to give him love, grace and routine in the midst of many changes and we hope that God gives us strength to finish strong. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers. Here are a few shots of what's been going on ...

This week we were honored as the alumni of the year for our graduate alma mater . All the way to the banquet, we kept wondering why they selected us! This is an award we certainly did not expect and we do not feel we merit such an accolade. Our desire, above all else, is to serve our Lord well and finish the race. We give God the glory for any good thing that comes out of our lives and are very humbled that He would use us in any way.

These folks are like family to us. Celebrating Norberto's birthday with a cookout and ice cream cake (a big favorite here) Preaching at the church of dear friends who are pastors in Kendallville, IN Speaking at the NAC 100th annual convention last night. We had a fantastic Children of Promise directors training. Here you see over 30 directors from all over the world. Our close friends, the Wagners after church at South Meridian During the week-long training, we had a few outings like visiting the Indy Children's Museum with all the directors. Another fun outing with the directors and Timmy's first bowling experience. He scored a 35 (without bumpers!) We've really enjoyed our time in Indiana. After the NAC conference ends, we'll be speaking at Church at the Crossing this weekend and will head up to Michigan right after the service.

We just got home from a memorable day with Thomas the Train. We've been looking forward to this special event for a long, long time (we started planning this from Paraguay). It was a total surprise for Timmy, so he only found out on the way to Connersville, that we were going to ride a real train and partake of all the fun activities involved in the Day out with Thomas events held around the U.S.! Here are some of our pics from our great outing: Seeing Thomas for the first time coming down the tracks! Really unsure of getting too close to Sir Topham Hatt Timmy and mommy on the train anticipating our departure Thomas! Trying out the hand pump car What a great day! We are so thankful that we had this unique opportunity as a family. Tomorrow we will be sharing at South Meridian church in Anderson, so if you're in the area, we'd love to see you!