Summer

Well, I thought I would post a few photos to show you what we have been up to lately. The girls left for Mexico on Wednesday. I received a email from Anna-Marie today and her and Rachel are having a wonderful time. They are finding it very challenging but are loving it. She said it is very hot and they have seen 5 or 6 tarantulas every day but that they have had many opportunities to share the gospel. They are spending some of their time interacting with the locals and some building a home for a church family.


This is the Sanchez family that the team is building the house for. Anna-Marie in Mexico

Anna-Marie and Rachel with their good friends Taylor and Courtney.

Praying before departure.

Anna-Marie has found somewhere to ride. She had not ridden for about 5 months and was really missing it so this a real blessing.

Teaching the chocolate game to some friends of Anna-Marie and Rachel.

We have been going swimming with a family from church at their parent's house. It is a great place to be in this heat.

Fergus

While we were in Fergus we went for a day trip through a Mennonite community. We went to a local market, which was great and had a picnic.

Canada - Niagara Falls

The first thing we did when we crossed the border to Canada was visit Niagara Falls. We spent several hours there. They are pretty amazing. We then went on to a little town called Fergus in Ontario where we stayed with a friend from seminary.

Lake Erie

On our way to Canada we spent a night at Lake Erie. It was great to see some water again and walk along the beach.

Rachel's 14th Birthday

Wow, Rachel's 14, time goes so fast. We were not able to do much on her actual birthday so last week she had three friends over to stay and to go to a ball game. She has such wonderful friends. Megan took these great photos which I have borrowed. Rachel has become a lovely young women. We love you Rachel!

Fun in the Sun

In May and June in Kentucky we have beautiful weather, a lot like summer in New Zealand. It gets so hot here in July and August that we have been trying to be outside as much as possible. We have been playing cricket, soccer, tennis, going hiking and swimming. Tonight we took a bush walk and a drive and saw 52 deer, 4 groundhogs, a turtle and a raccoon.


Mark is still busy at work preparing to preach this Sunday, counselling and preparing a new members class. Next week we head to Toronto, Canada to renew the girl's visas before they head to Mexico on a missions trip in July. Mark is preaching at a church up in Fergus, Ontario where a friend of his from seminary is the pastor. We are thankful for the opportunity and are looking forward to our time up there. On the way we are going to visit Niagara Falls which I'm very excited about.

I hope the photos of us swimming as the cold weather hits New Zealand don't make you all too jealous. This photo of Rachel and Joel swimming in the creek which runs behind our church. It looks different now than it did in the photos of the flood.

Joel's summer hobby, reading. I paid for them all to swim at the local pools. I could have left Joel at home to read and saved some money!

Matthew with his friend, Connor.

Summer Vacation

Friday was Anna-Marie's, Rachel's and Joel's last day at Dorothy Sayers. Matthew still has a little bit of school to finish up at home but not much so we are now on summer break. It feels good to be at the end of another school year. Dorothy Sayers was a great blessing to us, I'm not sure about how I'm feeling going back to home schooling in August now with two high schoolers.

We have been trying to get outside as much as we can lately as the weather is beautiful, a lot like a Hawkes Bay summer, but it will get very hot soon so we are enjoying it while we can.

Mark took Rachel and Joel kayaking this morning. Their youth pastor at Buck Run Baptist Church helped Mark get some kayaks together. They had a great time. Here are a few photos of the kayaking and some other random photos.

A few days before school ended Anna-Marie needed to visit several historical sites. This is a photo of her at Camp Nelson.

Ben's Graduation

I was wonderful to attend the graduation of our good friend, Ben Saunders, we know how hard he worked. Ben and Chelsea are the couple who lived with us for a year and were an incredible blessing in our lives. We will miss them! Rachel with Ben and Chelsea's little boy, Noah. He is so cute!

Ben taught Joel to grill while he lived with us so Joel spent all night grilling about 50 burgers.

Matthew helping with the little ones, his favourite thing to do.