Visiting Mary & Suzy at PCC!

 Since Fort Walton Beach was so close to PCC and on

our way to Mississippi, Ariel & I were able to go visit

Mary and Suzy for most of Saturday!  It was so great

to see them again and meet their friends!  Ariel had never been

to PCC before so I think she had fun touring around too :-)

 We took the girls shopping at Wal-Mart.  By the way

they shopped you'd think that they were preparing for

a famine! :-)  Actually, they just don't shop much so

they make good use out of one trip!  Wise girls! :-)
And just in case you're wondering.. we did think to get
a cart, but it was a little too late ;-)

 Can you tell Mar hates spending money?! ;-)

 We joined Bethany & Jacob Koski for lunch at

The Four Winds dining hall.  It was very good food

and a fun experience! :-)  Nice to be back with A2 folk!

 Great to see Josh & Phil Hollandsworth again too!

 So, we got ice cream & Ariel was getting hers from

the machine when all of the sudden I heard a yell

from Ariel and looked over to see Suzy slamming the

ice cream machine to an off!  For some reason Ariel

was thinking that it'd automatically turn off, I guess.. :-)

So, when it didn't happen she panicked!  I wish so

bad I would've gotten a video!  It was SO funny!

 Meeting Friends :-)

The girls have made some very sweet friends!

 I saw these umbrella holders and thought that

this would be the perfect opportunity to have some

fun with Ariel :-)  Poor girl!  I just have too much

fun with her! ;-)  So, Mary told Ariel that these were

cubbies to hold wet shoes before you went into

The Crown Centre :-)  And,, yup!  She believed it! :-)

Touring Campus...

 The Crown Centre where campus church is held.

 Where Mary does her nursing classes

Inside of the MacKenzie building... the clinical room.

 Mary & Suzy's dorm building

 We even got to go see "the missions barrel", basically

the place where everyone puts their junk that they don't want :-)

I actually did find some nice flip flops, though! :-)

 You just have to be willing to dig... :-)

 And, of course, before we left we had to go see 

the famous waterpark :-)  It is pretty awesome, I must admit!

So great to see you girls again!  Miss you already!!

Starting another Semester of Travels! :-)

 I'm excited to be traveling with Ariel this semester!

We flew from Detroit to Florida together.

It was so nice to be flying with someone else :-)

 We had a little bit of a delay in Detroit due to storms

in Atlanta, where we were flying into for a layover.

Here Ariel is in the Atlanta airport sitting on the floor

because there were barely any chairs!  It was pretty crowded!

It was so nice to see Pastor & Mrs. Hollandsworth there too! :-)

They were flying back to Wisconsin from visiting their sons in Pensacola.

 Back with "my girls"! :-)

Poor things!  They had quite the previous night!  They

attempted to fly from Wisconsin to Florida the night before,

but were delayed in Tennessee due to a 600 page manual

that had been lost from the plane.  They couldn't fly without

it, so they had to print it all over again - which took a while

as you can well imagine!  As they getting ready to board again

they realized that they couldn't fly because their stewardess had

had her purse stolen and had gone home!  Well... so they ended

up staying in a hotel that night and then came the next day.

But even then their flight got messed up so they had to come

on a later flight!  And then when they did finally arrive, 

they realized their luggage didn't arrive with them!

Needless to say, it was quite the adventure for them!

Poor things were quite worn out!  That experience was

probably enough to last them the rest of their lifetime! :-)

(Just a little side note - think before you fly Delta!)

 Abi & Bobby Bosler are with us for the first

couple weeks as we did the War in Florida and

now in Mississippi.  Their son, David, is quite

cute and we're enjoying having him around! :-)

 Back in Florida!  Gotta love the palm trees,

warm weather, green grass, and sunshine! :-)

 On Tuesday night a lady in the church took Ariel & I

out to a beautiful, fancy restaurant that was part of a

resort!  It was such a special treat! :-)

 It had an awesome view of the water, but unfortunately

it was too dark to see it very well - or at least to get

good pictures of it!  Here's the view from the balcony.

 I love how they lit up the palm trees!

Just a quick, funny little story... :-)

So, on our way over to Destin, where we ate dinner,

we were driving along looking at the beautiful scenery

and talking when Ariel finally piped up, rather hesitantly,

and said, "Now, that's not snow over there, right?"

I looked over to see what she meant!  I guess the sand

was very white and could be mistaken for snow?! :-)

The only thing is that the 60* climate wouldn't probably allow for that ;-)

We've had several good laughs about that one!

 "Nursery Baseball" :-)

The things that the girls do to keep themselves entertained!

 Ariel & I stopped by Chick-fil-A on the way home

one night for milkshakes!  Ariel had never had one before!

 The WAR

 The man sitting right behind Ariel is the pastor's son,

Toni Stevens.  If you're a baseball fan for the Minnesota

Twins then you'd probably recognize the name! :-)

He used to play for the Twins before he joined the Marines

after 9/11.. pretty cool!  Pastor enjoyed telling stories about him :-)

 Pastor Matt, the youth pastor

 Spoke TaCkLe!

Nate, who traveled on the team the first full year I traveled,

visited us with his wife :-)  He's in seminary at PCC right now.

It was very good to see both of them & to reminisce about

"the good ole' days" with Nate! :-) 

 Ariel made friends with this little girl, Dejah :-)

 Big Ball Bowling!

 It was so cute how Dejah would just follow Ariel all around :-)

 The final Friday night campfire service...

 Ariel & Stephanie

It was a good week as we got started into the War routine again!

Quite a few kids were saved and the Lord definitely worked in

the hearts of the school kids!  One kid, Devan, who I invited to

the War, ended up coming late Friday night as the testimonies were

going on.  He ended up trying to leave again, but Bobby caught him

by his car.  Bobby witnessed to him & Devan was gloriously saved!

 Praise the Lord for how He works in willing, receptive hearts!

Party at Yuta's!

 Before I left home to travel again this semester,

Yuta had a group of us over to his house for a party!

Yuta likes to keep his house cold,

so Tab cuddled up in a blanket :-)

Emily joined her too! :-)

Bethany came to town for a couple weeks while Lloyd went

to Israel.  That night Bethany had gone to pick him up

from the airport, so the kids came over too! :-)

 Joanna was so excited to get her picture in the paper

and she loved showing it off to anyone who would see it! ;-)

 Yuta made Curry!  It was delicious!

Tab joked that they all sat cross-legged on the floor

like Indians since they were eating Indian food ;-)

(It was actually Japanese, but we won't spoil her fun!)

 Joanna & Alyssa ("Little Suzy" as we refer to her)

 George actually got Alyssa to go to him for a bit!

 Abz.. bein' Abz! ;-)

We ended the night, after eating a feast of food, with

playing some games.  It was a blast to hang out with

friends and family my last night home for a while!

We ended up staying way too late (since I had to still

go get my hair cut and finish packing), but it was worth it!  

Thanks for having us over, Yuta!  It was so much fun!

Break in WI :-)

 Mary & I took the Megabus to Wisconsin for a few

days to visit Tina, Steve, and the kiddos! :-)

Tina sent us this picture that she'd taken Wednesday

morning as we were on our way there... the kids are

excited to see the aunties!  Well, at least Levi is.. ;-)

 We traveled with Ariel & Britany on the way there.

It was their first time to take the Megabus, so it

was a fun experience to do it with them :-)

 Ariel got her Jamba Juice at the Union Station! :-)

 She's all ready with her Pepper Spray! :-)

 We got in to WI in time to grab a bite (okay, a little more than a bite ;-))

to eat at Culver's and then head to church.  It was great to see friends

again from college and traveling! :-)

 Thursday morning I had the privilege to wake up with the kids :-)

They then opened up their gifts from Mary & me.

 I loved them in their cute, snuggly shirts!

 Thursday we just chilled around the house.  It was so nice!

Brooklyn enjoyed reading books perched on the suitcase :-)

 She also loved playing with my camera case!

 Levi had a nose bleed.. :-/  Nurse Aunt Mary to the rescue! :-)

 We then got all bundled up to go out in the snow!

It snowed about eight inches, so there was definitely

plenty to play in! :-)

 Brooklyn loved the snow! :-)

 They look like little snowmen :-)

 Sledding with Dad!

 Brooklyn patiently waiting her turn...

 "I'm not so sure about all this, Mom..." :-)

 Mary brought her stethoscope & Levi loved "playing" with it!

 I absolutely love this pic! :-)

 Levi talking to the baby :-)

 Fishy Faces! :-8

 We settled down after supper to watch some Andy Griffith.

Levi was sitting next to me in the chair.  At one point, he

pushed me forward and then told me to lean back.  I realized

he did it in order to put his arm around my back!  It was too cute! :-)

 Brooklyn's new outfit compliments of Dad! ;-)

 Some more "check-ups" before bed :-)

 After the kids went to bed, the four of us played some games.

Here are some pictures of us playing Gestures.

It was so much fun!  Can you tell what people are trying "say"? :-)

 Tina displayed the panicked feeling of not grabbing

a card before it dropped just perfectly... :-)

 Thanks for the slippers, Amanda!

I love them and have already gotten some good use out of them :-)

 Tough little gal! ;-)

 Friday found Levi busy working away on things that

needed to be done around the house :-)

 Headed out shopping and to lunch!

 Culvers for lunch!

Levi informed us while we were out that he "needed Culvers" :-)

I love how he "organizes" his fries in his ketchup!

 He was so excited to get his own "ticket" and go

up to give it to the lady to get ice cream! :-)

Now tell me, who couldn't love this adorable little face?! :-)

 Levi even shared his ice cream with Brooklyn too!

 Levi looking quite contented as we shop :-)

 The kids were excited to ride the school bus!

I love doing things for them to make them smile like this! :-)

A deacon & pastor retreat started at camp on

Friday night, so we went over for dinner.

After dinner, Levi enjoyed playing ping pong

for a while in the fireside room! :-)

 Tina stayed for the service while Mary & I took

the kids back to get baths and put them to bed.

Levi loved having Mary make smiley faces on his feet with lotion! :-)

 Horsey rides before bed!

 Mary entertained Levi on the way to the Megabus.

Mary & I left today to head back to Michigan.

It was a fun trip, but too quick!

We already miss "our kiddos"... and Tina & Steve too, of course! ;-)

Thank you so much for having us!  We had a fun, relaxing time!