What happens when Mommy sleeps in....

Life just takes a new twist with lots of new adventures...Papi fed me my oatmeal on the porch, gave me my first taste of chocolate bread (Yummy!!) and let me be king of the trash can. It was fun! (I was glad that Mémé changed my diapers, though.)
Stefan

She's 26!

Happy, Happy Birthday, Johanna! We are so happy that we can be here to share the day with you. We are all praying that this year will be a special one.

Some new faces for you to meet

We have some new faces at CPBC, so I thought I'd "introduce" them so you know who I'm talking about when you hear about them.
1-Todd and Lorna Jones--attend on Wednesday night only--currently doing the music for a church in TN--trying to turn that over and then will officially begin attending CPBC. 2-Vic and Kristen Stitson: came b/c they heard Tim on Sermon Audio. Have been coming since. 3&4-Rachel and Andrew Winey--joined last Sunday. Just started a Ph.D. at BJU. 5-Nathaneal and Amanda Edy--from FL--been attending since January. 6&7 Beka and Wade Williams (former MMTers!); 8&9-Andy and Ellen Gellert--from Germany arrived last week. I already posted pic of Schlichtings in the last one. Those are most of the new faces--quite a few of them!--around our church, and we are very thankful for all them.

CPBC Annual Summer Picnic

We had our annual picnic this year on Labor Day weekend instead of July 4th! I just counted (by looking at the pictures) 72 people with 22 of them being under the age of 12! We have suddenly had a "kid boom" in the church. It was a lot of fun!

Top left to right: Tim, Nathanael, and Dawn Schlichting; Becky and Evan Wilbur; Ellen, Linda, and Liana Gellert (newly arrived from Germany--she speaks absolutely NO English!);
Middle left to right: Game time; Leo West and Judy Hurst; eating;
Bottom left to right: "Nursery" Men's Dessert Contest; Nancy Foster

A Day in Plymouth!

Today we went to Plymouth--we saw the Mayflower, Adonirum Judson's wife's grave and a couple other important people as well as the "rock". We had a very good tour guide and enjoyed it immensely. Right now jet lag has set in, so I hope this makes sense!

Mom's birthday breakfast

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Thank you for being the wonderful mother that you are.
Enjoy your 61st birthday in style: cuddling (if he'll let you!!) your newest grandbaby.
We love you!

We are here!

and we are loving every minute of getting to know Stefan. He is enjoying checking out his mom's "treasures"! We are tired but happy.

Baptism Day in Pessac

Here are a few pictures of Corine's baptism today. It was really nice and went well. We didn't get any pictures of the "collation" afterwards but it was nice, too. We were 38 in the afternoon which we felt was great, considering it is the end of August. Corine and the children will be gone when we get back.

Flowers!

Hannah and Erin bought me beautiful flowers for my first day of school. This bloomed yesterday and is absolutely beautiful. It has been joined by a second one today and is going a long way to cheer me and remind me of God's inticate and beautiful creation.
Thanks, Girls! You made me feel special!

Patience Goes to School!!!

Packed and ready....

Calling Daddy before going to bed...

Dressed and waiting for pancakes before heading out the door!!

Check out more pictures of our big day!

Back to School!

These are pictures that I took this summer. The idea for the board was Jo's, Thanks, Jo! The school theme is "Elect Success", so I tried desperately hard to pull it in!! 2nd day of school with students, and I am exhausted! Having two big groups this year is a lot more tiring. I'm worn out before the 2nd group gets here! I promised Jo I'd blog this, so I hope you all enjoy! Happy Back to School for those of you getting ready to begin a new year!

Happy Birthday, Isabelle!

Turning 7 and going into the 2nd grade! How exciting! I hope you have a great day and get a beautiful pancake like this for your breakfast in bed! I LOVE YOU!

Can you remember?

One of the results of sorting through 12 boxes of Jo's "treasures" that were in the attic is that we scanned some old pictures. If you are interested, take a look!

Reception

More reception snapshots!

Family

Snapshots from the reception.

The Knot is Tied

Amber and Josh had a beautiful wedding this afternoon. Just a few shots from the photo session before the wedding.

Go, France!

Train Ride at Cleveland Park

Last Saturday we enjoyed the kids' train at Cleveland Park for the first time ever during all of our Spartanburg years. Come join us! It's less than a mile from our house, and only $1/ride!

No Problem....

I can do this---I have lots of experience!

Bass Lake 2008

We had fun surprising G'ma & G'pa Martin at Bass Lake this last week.

Patience and Corban were giddy with the anticipation of sleeping in a cabin....  Mom & Dad scored lower on the giddy scale!

Patience discovers the "Beauty Shop" of Bass Lake.

Corban enjoys meeting new cousins! This is Brenda's great-niece, Shirley Kate. (Molly's youngest)

G'ma & G'pa were thrilled that we came!  We all had a lovely time and enjoyed all the visiting, singing and great food that is always a part of Bass Lake!!

Lincoln Log Cabin

These pics are now a week old, but I've been sorting pictures and thought you might be interested. We were in Greenup, Ill. last Wednesday night for a service, and visited the nearby Lincoln Log Cabin Historic Site the next day. The kids really enjoyed seeing the live actors, and trying to grapple with understanding what it would have been like "to have lived back then."

World's largest living organism

Last week I was in Sequoia National Park training the National Park Service. On the way out, I drove through the park and was able to stop and see the world's largest tree. It is eleven meters in diameter at the base. Hard to describe, and pictures don't do it justice. It is "only" about 2,300 years old, about 1,000 years younger than the oldest trees in that forest.
It was truly amazing.

Temple Square, Salt Lake City, UT

On Monday I had a layover in Salt Lake City, UT and decided to go downtown to see the Mormon Tabernacle. I made it in time for an organ concert at the Tabernacle (1). It was a great concert as far as concerts go, but it was much more upsetting to me than I expected it to be... to see this sect using Christian hymnody to legitimitize them as a religion.
Anyway, I need to put those thoughts to paper.... but, (2) is the temple itself (can't go there, nor did I want to), (3) is the outside of the Tabernacle. It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, and (4) is the new LDS Conference center. It seats 21,000 people, the largest of its kind in the world.

Practicing Up!

For fear of forgetting how to be grandparents (it has been soooo long since we have seen our own!) , we are practicing with the Razafindrabe kids this weekend. This is the first time that Lala and Ando have been alone since Antsa's birth!! They are sweet kids and we have had lots of fun. Of course, some of our "big" kids have helped with the entertaining! (The plant, btw, was a gift from Jeanine. Enjoy its beauty and we will see if it is living next year !