Monroe, WA.. traveling once again! :-)

 I flew from Detroit, MI, out to Seattle, WA.. 

once I got closer to Seattle, the scenery was BEAUTIFUL!

 Mt. Rainier

 A family from the church took our team out

to eat at a Mexican restaurant on Sunday afternoon.

 Who ever knew petite little Ariel could eat so much?! ;-)

 Mama Van's (as I like to call her :-)) birthday was this

past Monday, the 22nd.  The girls & I tried to think of

things to do to make this big day special.. we started

out with having her go on a scavenger hunt around the church :-)

 Finding clues...

 She was then led to this room where we'd decorated

the table and had an ice cream cake, presents, and

flowers (thanks to the guys!).

 Good job, guys!  They're beautiful & she loved them!

 The Minutemaids & Minutematies ;-)

 Ariel so diligently working in our schoolroom :-)

This week our schoolroom was surrounded with big

windows, as you can see behind Ariel.  It was very nice!

 I found this in Leesie's Spelling notebook as I was grading...

 And then I found this on the next page! :-)

 The sun kinda makes it hard to see, but this is some

of the team.. Matt, the Army captain, is on the far left

and Thomas, the Marine captain, is on the far right.

 We went to eat at the youth pastor's house on Tuesday

night.  This was the neighbors dog peeking his nose

through the fence :-)  Guess he wanted to join in on the fun!

 Look at those sad puppy eyes... ;-)

 Recess time in the courtyard playing soccer!

 The auditorium

 Monroe Baptist Church

Registration.. who ever would've known 

I'd still be at it three years later?! :-)

 THE WAR

This week there wasn't a Christian school attached with

the church, so we just did a War.

We had a high of about 35 teens come.. not too

bad with a youth group of about 7! :-)

 TV Skit... the guys did a great job!

I think Thomas definitely makes the best cook I've

seen yet!  Must be something with him being Italian?! :-)

 Pastor Aaron, the youth pastor

 Ariel & Janna

 B.O. Man!

 Thomas makes an excellent mugger, too.. Italian mafia?! ;-)

 DJ, the Navy captain, giving his testimony

 Matt & DJ singing

 Thomas giving his testimony

 The three captains singing...

L to R: Matt (Army), Thomas (Marine), DJ (Navy)

 Chill & chit chat time in the kitchen after the War

Okay, so a special kitchen memory...

 A group of us girls were in the kitchen chatting one

night after the War when Sammy, a teen who'd come,

walks in.  Sammy is.. well.. likes to express his gifts

and abilities! ;-)  So, he comes in & starts rattling

off the "50 states", starting with Japan :-)

Then he wants us to guess his weight, so I give it a try!

I started with about 105, which is what he looked like, and

he kept having me guess higher & higher until I finally

got to 150!  When we expressed our amazement, he said,

"Well, I don't really wanna have to do this, but.." and he

proceeded to pull up his arm sleeve & flex for us!

He walked out of the kitchen soon after that, and we all

were left to have a very good laugh! :-)

 Justin, DJ, and Ben

 Matt & Dane

Dane, DJ, and Ben

This is Dane (on the left).

After much time and explanation, DJ was able to lead

him to the Lord on Wednesday night.  Well, I wish

I would've gotten a picture of Dane that first night

because the change between Wednesday & Thursday

was amazing!  Dane cut his long hair & when he

came back on Thursday his face was glowing and he

was soaking up the Word as he stayed and talked

with people after the War!  Transformations like

this is what makes it all worth it!  Praise the Lord

that He continues to change lives!

I'm excited to see the miracles He will continue to do 

this semester as we trust and obey Him!