Hidden message?

Hmmm...
Eat lots of pizza tonight...
Tomorrow, take a solemn look at the fire on Tim and Ruth's tire.
There's no mistake... its a robed figure, trying to send them a message.
What could it be?
Get a new car? Sign up with AAA?

Rejoicing in a Flat!

So, we had a little bit of an adventure on the way home from KY. A flat tire! We were very grateful for all of the Lord's little providences, however. Through the help of some TN natives, we were able to locate a local truck repair shop nearby that was open even at 10 p.m.! 

A sea of men ...

at the Together for the Gospel conference. 

Dreaming of the zoo

If you're wondering how to wear her out, Jennie, I have some suggestions. :-) Here are the sleeping beauties. 

The Louisville Zoo

Well, we made it! Our day began slowly, Bob bringing a sleeping Patience to our room where our kids were still sleeping. After a leisurely pancake breakfast in our hotel's restaurant, we made a break for the zoo. We stopped at K-Mart to buy some swimming supplies for tonight's entertainment, and then began our zoo adventure about 11:30 this morning. We pretty well covered the entire place, and managed not to lose any children! Then this evening, after dinner with the boys (that would be Bob & Tim, in case you are wondering) we swam to our heart's content. (Sorry, no pictures there. I wasn't stupid enough to risk that with our digital camera!) Wish the rest of you could have been here. We sure had a blast.

Family Limerick Contest

I thought we should have us a little Limerick contest. I'll start it by writing about my two brothers. Just remember... it's just for fun! See what else you can add!

State Science Fair

On Saturday, April 22nd, at 6:30 in the morning, I went to the Mankato Science Fair with my friends from church, Stephanie, and Ethan. We had a fun but sort of boring time because we sat all morning, until about 12:30, and then had a quick lunch. We decided to not stay for the over-one-hour long cerimony to see who got rewards. Then I found out on Monday that I had gotten third place in my category and got a bronze medal and $15 gift certificate to Walmart.
Do you notice the sweater I'm wearing, Uncle Bob and Aunt Jennie? It's my lucky sweater :-). 

Together for the Fun of It!

Our daddies might be "Together for the Gospel", but we are together just as cousins.

Check back for a report of our day at the zoo tomorrow!

Making brownies (or should we say, "Eating Brownie Batter"?)

 

A+ for ALICIA!

Alicia has been with us for over three months now and we have not had one "normal" week. She certainly gets an A+ for adaptability! She has jumped right in and done whatever she could--from keeping the nursery, washing dishes, befriending students, filing, etc. etc. etc. Her most formidable job was the wedding cake and her most rewarding was leading Gina to the Lord and continuing with her discipleship. Pray for her as she will need to adapt again next week when we leave. We will miss her, but she will still be here when we get back! Today was her 25th birthday. We celebrated by going to Flunch with Crystal before she left and then a little "surprise" party tonight. Happy Birthday, Alicia! 

SOUVIENS-TOI--REMEMBER

On the way home from conference, we took the girls to Oradour sur Glane. It is a village where the Nazis came in on June 10, 1944 and brutally killed everyone. 642 in all including over 200 children. The people of the area have left it just as it was as a reminder to people of what happened. It is a sobering experience to walk through the streets and imagine that horrible day. As Crystal said, it is hard to find the right adjective to describe the experience, but it was worth the time and definitely unforgettable. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

A very happy birthday to a fun-loving, spontaneous, lovely sister/daughter-in-law, mom, wife, cousin, auntie,....and though I know the list goes on, I think that about does it for this side of the family!! I hope you do something very special on your day. Wish I could be there to celebrate with you. Joyeux Anniversaire!! 

Florida SUN!!!

 

Conference 2006

We got home a couple of hours ago from conference. This year, we met with the German field of BMM. It was really nice to get to know them. We met at Chateaudun as usual. These are a few shots of the banquet night. This year we had a "wedding anniversary" theme. Everyone really enjoyed it. Picture 1 and 2 are of the "photo table." Some of the pictures were hilarious! The next two shots are of the skit/song that the kids did. You recognize Crystal, Alicia and Grant. The other boy is from Germany. The next picture is the quartet--they sang "When you and I were young, Maggie". It was great. The next is of the choir (singing Brian's song!) and then Alicia playing a special, the speaker (Kevin Mungons from Ames, Iowa) and finally, of course, Ben. He is faithfully waiting until he grows up to marry his first love! 

Trash Day, part 2

OK. So today after the trash man's weekly visit, I find Micaiah pushing around his Tonka dump truck with a piece of plastic trash in the back of it. Not making the connection, I simply tell him that he needs to put the trash back into the trash can. But he then informs me that he is driving his trash truck, and proceeds to demonstrate how one dumps the trash out of the truck. So maybe he has the actual process a little mixed up, but this proud mother was pretty impressed with the creativity of her 2-year-old, and I therefore post a few pics here for your viewing pleasure.

On Easter a little rain must fall...

We had a wonderful day. It started early with breakfast (107) followed by a great service with several choir numbers and good preaching with 129 in attentance! Then a quick dinner at Gramma and Grampa Martin's and finishing the day with eight men around our table talking about a potential building for our church. A glorious day! Even with the sparatic rain fall, but of course that did give Patience the chance to wear her new rain coat! 

Easter in Greenville!

We were ten for Easter lunch as a combined effort at Tim and Ruth's. Liz Cole made the beautiful cheese cake you see in the background. As you can tell by Miriam's smile, lunch was scrumptious.

 

"Sunrise" Service (at 9am!)

The weather was absolutlely beautiful. Probably about 70 degrees. We had a wonderful service singing, reading scripture, and Shawn gave a short devotional on the Resurrection. The tent was a left over from a wedding the previous day, and we were very grateful to have the use of it.
 

Easter Breakfast

We served about 60 for the breakfast after the early morning service. It was very nice. I organized the breakfast, but many hands made for light work. I had to picture the floral arrangements as I am the one that put them together! (Jo and Brian went flower shopping, though!) 

Our Easter

We had a very nice Easter Sunday. We started the day with breakfast (which is much easier to pull off in France than in the states!). We started the service early and sang more songs than we normally do. Dad even got out his trombone with a little insistence from his wife :-) We also had our regular "repas fraternel." It was Antsa's 7th birthday. She was delighted with her cake. The newlyweds are here now and everyone enjoyed visiting with them.

Resurrection Hymn

I thought the hymn our choir is singing tomorrow was worth sharing with you all... a great addition to your choirs' repertoirs. Words and music are by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty, the same duo that has produced such great new hymns like In Christ Alone, How Deep the Father's Love for Us, and others.

Resurrection Hymn (See What a Morning)

See what a morning - glorious and bright
with the dawning of hope in Jerusalem.
Folded, the grave clothes; tomb filled with light
as the angels announce Christ is risen.
See God’s salvation plan wrought in love,
borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,
Fulfilled in Christ the man,
for He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

See Mary weeping, “Where is He laid?”
as in sorrow, she turns from the empty tomb,
Hears a voice speaking, calling her name -
it’s the Master, the Lord raised to life again!
This voice that spans the years,
speaking life, stirring hope, bringing peace to us
Will sound till He appears,
for He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

One with the Father, Ancient of Days
through the Spirit, who clothes faith with certainty.
Honor and blessing, glory and praise
to the King crowned with pow’r and authority.
And we are raised with Him;
death is dead, love has won, Christ has conquered!
And we shall reign with Him,
for He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

Munster, Germany and Dubai, UAE

I'm sorry we haven't written or commented for so long. As you know, I was overseas. I really enjoyed Germany -- more than I expected. The people were extremly kind and helpful, and I had a good time. My only faux pas was that I woke up on the morning I was suppsed to leave (had a 7AM flight from Munster to Amsterdam) and there was no one to check me out of the hotel. They hadn't taken my credit card when I checked in. I asked them to, but they said they "trusted me." I waited until someone finally showed up at 6AM. The airport was a half hour away, and I still had to drop off the rental car. To make a long story short, I arrived at 6:45, and they refused to check me in. [Mind you, I didn't really care too much... the flight over I thought I was going to die. It was an OLD prop plane with 11 people on board. the door to the cargo bin didn't latch and kept banging the whole time. It was very rough (they had deadly tornadoes the day before) and I got quite sick.] Anyway, since I had a 6 hour layover in Amsterdam and it is only a 3 hour drive, I went back to the rental car place. They were kind enough to give me back my little Audi A3 without charging me for another rental, and I took off and drove to Amsterdam.
Dubai was great. It was overcast the first 2 days, and if you look closely at the last picture you can see that it even rained (that's what they called it, anyway). The pictures, from top to bottom are as follows: 1 and 2: shots from my coworkers apartment complex; 3: The indoor ski slope (from the oustide). You can see that it turns and wraps around the Mall of the Emirates. 4: The outdoor mall where we ate dinner (never ate before 11PM); 5: The most famous landmark... the 7 star hotel in the shape of a sail boat; 6: I got to see the Sheik, number 2 in command. He came through the entrance of the World Trade Center (where our hotel was) and I decided to take some shots. Unfortunately, most of them didn't turn out well. 7: a shot from my hotel; 8: One of the Sheik's horse racing ranches. He is really into horse racing. Of course, he always wins. They said (with utmost sincerity) that father and son are so good and so evenly matched that they usually have a photo finish - father in the lead, of course - and are often holding hands as they cross the finish line. When questioned, they did have to agree that he owns all the horses and riders. 9: rain.
Sorry this is so long. We love you all. Daniel 

April 10.... Five years of memories!!

 

The Cantata is History!

The last performance of the cantata was here yesterday afternoon. We were thrilled with the attendance--about 80 people plus the choir and us(32)! We were especially happy that 7 people from the neighborhood were here. 5 for the very first time. There were lots of other visitors, too. We had refreshments afterwards, but the the weather had turned cold and rainy so we had to have it inside. Our house was packed! These pictures were taken after many had already left. (Should I challenge you to name people? :-) It was also Bakers' last night, so it made a nice send-off for them. They left at 7 this morning.
 

Dad's Choir

Your Dad thinks you need to see some pictures of his choir! We didn't get any really good pictures, but here are a few that give you an idea how we fabricated a stage. My tablecloths covered the cement blocks and boards. The piano was in the hall.

Brian and Jo

Brian and I went to Clemson Botanical Gardens yesterday. We had a nice picnic and enjoyed strolling through the beautiful outdoors. We finished the day off with dinner at Trios in downtown Greenville. It was a great day!