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.

Ben, Nicola and Amy's Visit

Last week my sister Nicola, her husband Ben and their daughter Amy came to visit. We had not seen them for two years so Amy had changed so much. It was great to see them. We only had a few days to show them a few of the sights around here. This is us in front of the governor's mansion here in Frankfort. We spent a little while playing at the park. Matthew and Amy had fun on their scooters.

I gave Matthew the camera and he took some pretty good photos, this is one.

Spring in Frankfort

Spring in Frankfort is really pretty. Here are a few photos that Anna-Marie took.

Frankfort Flood

A few weeks ago we had a lot of rain and the little creek that runs behind the church flooded. It came into the church entrance and up a couple of steps but thankfully the damage was minimal.

Anna-Marie's Spring Break

Anna-Marie went with a friend and her family to the mountains in Tennessee for a few days over Spring Break. Her friend, Bobbie, took these great photos so I thought I would post a few.

Mark's trip to Manaus, Brazil

The Lord has been incredibly gracious to me and allowed me to spend 8 days in Manaus, Brazil. A team of 9 from Buck Run went to build some benches for this church below. Manaus is situated in the north of Brazil, in Amazonia.

The finished product. The benches in the front were the ones we built. We finished 100 which enables an extra 500 people to have seating.
Here is the team, I am the bearded one in the back middle.

We had a few days to trip around and no one goes to the north without taking a ride on the Amazon. The Amazon (brown water on the left) meets with the Negro (black water on right) right at Manaus. Its an amazing thing to be bitten by mosquitoes on the Amazon!

Here I am heading into legitimate Amazon rain forest, what a privilege and joy. As soon as this photo shoot was over I scurried back to the boardwalk! This area floods in the rainy season and about half way up the trees were big black termite and ant nests. They know where the water level is going to be and build their nests just above it; amazing!

Here is the wonderful family that 4 of us stayed with for the week. Gregory and Sandra, their daughter Lurissa, and her husband. Sandra spoke very good English. Obrigadu (Thankyou) to this lovely family.

Buck Run Baptist Church

Below is a photo of us outside our new church in Frankfort, Kentucky. The church is called Buck Run Baptist church, and it is at Elkhorn Forks. We are privileged to be here for a year. I (Mark)am assisting the Pastor; Dr. York in all areas of pastoral ministry in the church. Dr. York was my preaching professor at seminary.
Here is my little office situated in Dr. Yorks office. They are not my books but his. The photo below this one is Dr. York preaching the morning sermon.

Here is a great photo of the inside of the church with Sereena in the foreground.