Thank you so much for all your prayers while we were traveling!  We arrived home yesterday afternoon and are busy getting unpacked and settled back in.

Our second week in Melbourne was packed full. We were blessed to meet with multiple friends for meals and swimming and fellowship.

We have some exciting news to share. We found out on our trip that we are expecting a new little one early next year! We took all the kids out to dinner last night after we got home to share the news with them, and they are all so excited!

Thank you so much for your prayers for Carri!  I praise God that she is showing slow improvement.  She remains in critical condition, however.  Please continue to lift her up as she will likely have a very long recovery ahead of her.

Our first week in Melbourne has been busy with meetings, visits with friends and supporters, even a radio interview! It was such a joy to sit down with Patti Spangler of WRDJ and share about what we experienced when God called us to serve at GFA and about our work at the home office. The interview will be edited for time before being broacast, but I’ll be sure to post the link when it’s ready. We pray that it will touch someone’s heart and encourage listeners to follow where God is leading them.

We have quite a bit more on our schedule before we load up the Suburban and begin our drive towards home the end of this week. Thank you for lifting us up in your prayers!

I’ve gotten a bit behind on updating the last few days. We spent a nice relaxing day at our hotel in tiny Waldo, Florida on Thursday. I drove out and picked up my baby sister, Cassie, and my three nieces, and we all hung out all the hotel pool for the afternoon (with permission from the hotel, of course).

Allie (my niece), Allen, Samantha, Kristen (my niece) and Cassie (my sister)–aren’t they a beautiful bunch?

I love this picture! I think it’s such a beautiful illustration of the pure trust that a little boy has in his daddy.

Ray spent much of his time launching Allen and Sean up out of the water so that they could do backflips.

After swimming, we all drove over to my mom’s house for dinner.

On Friday morning, we packed up the car again and headed east to St. Augustine Beach where we met with some friends for lunch and fun at Splash Park.

Saturday morning, we set off to our final destination for this trip: Melbourne, Florida. We’ll be visiting here with our home church, Calvary Chapel Melbourne, for about two weeks. It looks like it’ll be a busy time, and we’re really excited about all that we have planned!

We had a wonderful time sharing with Orange Heights Baptist Church in Orange Heights, Florida, last night. It’s been about four years since we were there last, and I think everyone enjoyed the update to what we’ve been doing. What an amazing group of believers!

Before coming here, we spent two nights at the Florida Black Bear Cabin in Wellborn. We had planned our little side trip there for some rest and relaxation, and time to just enjoy each other. When we arrived, we were amazed at what a beautiful cabin it is. The pictures on their website really don’t even do justice to how welcoming and comfortable it is. It was the perfect setting for a few days of peace and quiet. (I wish we could have stayed a week!)

We played hours of “Speed Scrabble”. Allen and Ray played badminton, and Allen worked on his badminton serve nearly the whole time we were there. We curled up inside and read books that we’d brought with us and books and magazines that were on shelves throughout the cabin. We ate yummy food, including chicken, zucchini and bread that Ray cooked on the grill our last night there.

We picked blueberries from the bushes right next to the cabin.

And, we made blueberry muffins to snack on.

We checked out some cool bugs, including some really pretty spiders and skins that had been left behind by locusts.

I gave Samantha some cross-stitch lessons, and she picked it up really quickly! She should have a completed project to show off soon.

And, Ray and Sean built a campfire so we could roast marshmallows and have s’mores.

We are definitely planning to come back here again!