Frederick, Maryland Fun:)

Sunday afternoon was BEAUTIFUL!!! So, Nicole and I

decided to take a long-overdue walk!:)

We, of course, had to take a picture for Leah since she

was encouraging us to get out and walk more:)

Are you impressed, Leah?:)

I couldn't help but try and explore this old house on our walk..:)

(I think Nicole was a little worried;))

 

We had fun stopping and looking at graves, too!

Okay, so maybe it's a little weird??:) 

I think the oldest, legible one we found was 1811! Pretty cool:)

Adam & Katie came on Monday night and took me out to

Olive Garden.  It was SO nice to see them!  And look what

they were doing at the table!  So rude!;) haha

 

Love you guys!:)

Cheering competition in the gym

"Time for Trivia!" :)

 

Joe waiting to do a skit!  I will say he makes a great nerd!;)

The principal's daughter, Anna:)  She was pretty cute!

I was sitting by her on Sunday at lunch and we'd only

been talking about half an hour and she looks at me and says,

"My best friends are Gabby, Abby, and YOU!" :)

Now, who couldn't like a cute little girl like that?;)

 

Leesie and I trying to stay warm:)

 

The girls have really gotten into volleyball, especially

Janna!  I'm really glad and I think their mom is, too:)

Here they are trying to teach some other girls:)

Big Ball Bowling

 

Bonfire on Friday evening..

 

This week we were invaded by stink bugs!!!

The girls had fun flushing them down the toilet!:)

And as we were cleaning out our schoolroom

on Friday night, I found Nicole like this:)

She was having fun with the stinkbugs, too, I guess!

Had to get a picture!:)

West Seneca, New York

 Nicole & I stayed with the Mohr Family.

They had three little girls, Hannah, Molly, 

and Rachel and also a dog, Trix.. we had fun! :)

 Rachel excited to get a present from her dad! :)

 

At First Baptist Church, they had a lot of college age

people, so on Sunday night they all get together to play

volleyball and have a devotional.. it was fun to join in,

although I did horrible in volleyball that night!!! :)

With her love for China, Nicole found a kindred friend,

the first grade teacher, Sue:)

 Well.. we were supposed to get the red car, but guess

which one we ended up getting and which one the guys got!;)

I'm thankful Nicole can drive stick, but sometimes I guess I

wished she didn't!;) haha No, really, it was a very nice little car!:)

 

Nicole, and her tape wrapping skills!:)

She makes me laugh.. she organizes them just so,

only to have the guys come and wreck it all!

Oh well, I guess that's what it's for!:)

 They had these tables at lunch... the sign made me laugh!:)

"Nut free table".. mmm.. guess some people couldn't sit there!;)

 Stephanie enjoying her noodles & soup! :)

 

The war nights went pretty well.. 

probably an average of about 60 teens a night.

It wasn't a really big youth group at the church,

so this was a pretty good amount.

 Enjoying the skit!:)

 

Pastor Cline's daughters, Rebekah and Deborah..

The girls do their violin lessons with their cousin in WI by skype..

 It's a group effort.. :)

 

The final war night... a bit chilly, but it ended up being BEAUTIFUL!:)

 I LOVED the way the sun set on the trees..

This is our view from the registration table.

 

Then there ended up being a BEAUTIFUL rainbow!!!

I wished I could've gotten all of it.. instead, I got two halves:)

 GORGEOUS!!!

You should've heard me exclaiming!:)  

I don't know if anyone was enjoying it quite as much!;)

(or, at least, didn't exclaim it quite as much;))

 

The final cheering contest!

 Carter, the youth pastor's son, enjoyed it too!:)

 The judges..

 Tough decision.. :)

 Me and Lacey

It was so awesome to see the Lord work in Lacey's heart this week!

She was a senior at the Christian academy in West Seneca, NY.  

Although it was her last year, It was her first year at the Christian school.

On Thursday night after the War, I walked up, actually with the intent to

talk to Lacey's cousin who was with her, but, instead, I realized the Lord

had been preparing Lacey's heart.  She made a comment and after a 

little bit I realized that she had wanted to go back during the invitation

but was too scared.  I had the privilege right then to share with her the

gospel, that men are sinners in need of a Savior and the only way to

Heaven is through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

She did not accept Christ that night, but she was very clearly under

conviction.  The next day, I had the privilege of leading her to the Lord!

Right away, the Lord also broke her about her attitude to her parents

and the way she treated her family.. it was awesome to see how the 

Lord was working right away in this tender heart.

It was so exciting to see answered prayer and 

to see the Lord's miraculous working!

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Final Michigan Memories!!!

We had a great time this week at First Baptist Church in

Bridgeport, Michigan... our last Michigan stop on this tour:(

 We stayed with the Allens.. 

a sweet family from the church and also teachers at the school.

 Mike Fisher and his family joined us for this week.

It was fun to be able to spend time with them, and play

with their cute kids!:)  Dr. Jim also flew out on Friday

for his uncle's funeral, so Mike took over the Friday

evening War and bonfire.

 Abigail Rose Fisher

 Leesie and Abby having fun on the playground!:)

 Christopher Fisher

 

Our team usually does special music for the Sunday

service.. here is our quartet with the girls and Nicole

accompanying.. Funny little story about this..:)

So, how their church does it is when we go out for

the special we actually come in from the side door.

Well, I knew how to come in but I didn't know that

we were also supposed to exit through that same side

door..:)  So, here I go, tootling down the long flight of

stairs, while everyone else behind me walks calmly

back out the way they came in.. the way that we

were supposed to!:)  Aw.. good memories!;)

 

My cousins, Joanna and Tabitha, and my friend from

North Carolina, Jacquelyn, came up to visit on Sunday

night!:)  It was SO special and fun to have them!

We went out to Culver's after church and then back

to the hotel that we'd rented for that evening..

We had fun chatting, of course!, while we dipped our

feet in the hot tub, and also had some great, deep

theological discussions.. okay, well, deep for us, I guess;)

And, of course, we had fun being just plain crazy!;)

 

Enjoying our cookies from Pam.. she suggested that we 

stay in this hotel, but they didn't have cookies like the

Doubletree Hotel.. so she made us some!:)  Thanks!!:)

 

.. And like I said.. just being plain crazy!;)

 

Don't ask..?? :)

 

We did enjoy a yummy continental breakfast the next

morning.. of course, it's always better to shop on a

full stomach!:)

 We had fun meeting up with Christine, Jack's friend from

Grand Rapids, and going shopping at Birch Run.

Do you like the shades???;)

 

Tab & Jo had to leave earlier to be back for work, but

Christine, Jack, and I got to enjoy some more time

together.. we went to Frankenmuth to eat lunch and 

just walk around and enjoy time together and the 

beautiful day!:)

Here's a picture of the girls with their pumpkin pie

ice cream.. it was on the house, too!:)

(maybe our waiter had a crush on Jack??;))

 I had to get a picture of Rapunzel for my niece, Emily..

When commenting to her that her hair had gotten long

and asking her if she was going to cut it, she informed 

me, "I want to grow my hair down to here (motioning

to her ankles), and be just like Rapunzel!" :)

The cute little city of Frankenmuth..

 Bronner's Christmas Wonderland!!!

 At Frankenmuth, a sweet, older lady, when seeing

that we weren't all in a picture, asked if she could

take it for us.. well, we went over to Bronner's,

and, upon trying to get another picture, the same,

sweet lady was there to take it again for us!:)

 Thank you SO much for visiting, girls!!!

I had a blast and hope we can do it again sometime

real soon!!!:)  Love you!

 

Back to the War in Bridgeport.. :)

The recruiting this week was great for the guys!

They were able to get into two different public

school lunch rooms and ended up recruiting about

350 kids!  Our big night was Thursday night when 

we had about 120 kids show up!

 I think Nicole might've warmed her snack up just a bit too much.. :)

 The girls enjoyed watching videos of the twins with Miss Nicole!:)

 On Friday night, Emily and Lydia Bradley from Midland,

another church we were at a few weeks previously, came

to the War in Bridgeport.. Nicole and I enjoyed grabbing

some ice cream with them before the night activities began!:)

 Emily & Nicole

 I know you can't really see the sign in this picture, but

I had to put it in just for memories' sake!:) 

The guys were so gracious to stop by our home before going

to theirs every night.  Well, one night as we were driving home,

someone noticed this road sign, and guess what it said:)

"Tin Lizzy.."  You can just imagine that I was teased EVERY

night and still am about it!;)

That, along with our "country beeping", made for fun rides home!:)

We had a really good week in Bridgeport, and I believe 

really saw a break through in the school on Friday!

I'm not exactly sure how many were saved on the 

War nights, but we had probably over 70 visitors come,

and there was definite seed planted in many hearts!

I was personally able to talk to one about assurance

and another about her soul..

Thank you SO much for all who prayed!

God is so good and gracious to hear and answer

our prayers when we just simply ask.. such a 

simple, and yet life-changing truth!

Praise the Lord for His work and that

"He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.."