Spring 16

During our first years in Mountain Home, Ed developed a friendship with a chaplain (Richard) and a chief (Vance) that has continued strong ever since. They keep each other accountable to live godly lives. God provided for us to go to Andrews Air Force Base for Vance's retirement. Vance was the Command Chief there. Richard's family was there too. It was a great reunion. 

Resurrection week, we put on a Journey to the Cross event at the chapel. It was a lot of work but worth it.

The above picture is one of the stations. 

Our wonderful Chaplain Findley, started Wonderful Wednesdays each week this spring. His wife LaWanda made supper and then we would break up into small groups. I think it was a great experiment that we plan to continue in the fall.

Chaplain Findley has invited us to help him reach out to various units on base. Janet and I have each made hundreds of breakfast burritos to hand out to the airmen. We have only gone to one unit but plan to do more when Ch. Findley's schedule allows. This is a huge honor for us. 

2016 marks 30 years of marriage. I always wanted to go on a trip with Mormonism Research Ministry (MRM). They usually go to the Holy Land. We can't afford that. This year they did a trip in the Caribbean at a much more affordable price. God provided the funds for us to celebrate 30 years and go with MRM and CARM (Christian Apologetic Research Ministry). If you know me, you know I love Mormons and have a desire to reach the LDS people with the true Gospel of Jesus. I got to meet perhaps the most knowledgable Christians on the planet about mormornism. One of my "giants of the faith" Sandra Tanner was there. 

We met Andrew Rappaport (Striving for Eternity Ministries) while standing in line to check in. 

At the beginning of the trip, we were already enjoying being with each other.

One of the many meals we enjoyed with our group.

The whole group dressed up for dinner.

On a trip into Mexico to visit Chichin Itza.

The week after we got back, we went to NE Oregon to help a widow with repairs and upkeep for the Christian camp she manages. We had excellent participation from our group here. The nine men worked very hard. We had one AF guy who grew up in the Bronx who had never done anything like this. He loved it. Janet and I fixed the meals.

Winter 15-16

Since I last blogged, I had to replace my computer twice. I am not a computer whiz so this has really slowed me down. I also seem to get headaches while using the computer so I have avoided it. Today, I figured out a way to connect my computer to the tv and the bigger screen seems to help. 

We have only three families left here who were with us just a year ago. We have no singles left here from a year ago. I do believe God is using this transition time for us to make changes. We have a great chaplain we work with and he has some great ideas. So, we are excited for the future. 

In November and December, we had our usual Thanksgiving and Christmas parties. 

On Christmas Eve, we had dinner and white elephant gift exchange at our house. We had to say goodbye to one of our families then. It is so hard to always have to say goodbye. We then headed to the base chapel for the Christmas Eve service. It was great!

In January, our family celebrated "second Christmas". We had enough airline miles for Ed, Greg and me to fly to Anchorage to be with the Cornells. We had an amazing time there. They are very involved with our colleagues, the Caudles, at the hospitality house there. We got to hear Jesse share his testimony there. The next day I got to go skiing at the base ski hill with Greg and Julie. What fun! And of course, I got to spend lots of time with the precious grandchildren.

Summer 2015

This was probably the busiest summer of our lives. I traveled to Texas to visit all of our offspring for a week. 

Shortly after this, we took a trip out East for a staff conference and visiting supporters and friends. 




These are dear friends we made in Mt. Home who have since moved away. We had a little reunion in North Carolina. 













Sharlene and Elisha are "my girls" that I also met in Mt. Home. They both have since moved away. This mini reunion was in Nebraska where Sharlene lives. 

We saw so many more dear friends on the trip but can't include all the pictures. We are so blessed to have relationships with such wonderful people as part of our ministry. 












We are grateful for our dear colleagues, the Thimells. Here, we are pictured at the staff conference in Wisconsin.





We took a trip with our group from the Hospitality House to the beautiful Wallowa Lake area of NE Oregon for Labor Day weekend.











Jule and Jesse moved from San Antonio to Elmendorf AFB, Alaska this summer. Julie, children and friend Sara came to our house for 5 weeks. I adore those babies. So, while I was very tired, I loved every moment of their visit.  

 Jesse came for the last week and a half of the family visit and completely remodeled our bathroom. What a labor of love! 

The picture below is of the children in Alaska.

Five of us from the house took a trip to Moab, Utah in October. I walked over 20 miles and climbed the equivalent of 60 floors. It was so beautiful there and the fellowship was sweet.

Spring Has Sprung!

I LOVE Spring! 

At the end of February and beginning of March we were on a trip to celebrate my mom's 70th birthday and my brother's wedding. It was a great time with family. The picture below is of my nephew Kyle, my dad, mom, and Ed.

We got to visit Ed's folks too!

 Our car broke down outside of Hood River, Oregon

 The tow truck driver dropped us off at a church. It was a great sermon!

We stayed at the Hood River Hotel. It was like a mini vacation. The repair was costly but we had a full day in Hood River. The weather was lovely and the people there were friendly. 

With ministry to young military folks comes opportunities to minister to their children. We watch children in the nursery at chapel and sometimes they invade our house. The above picture is our patio that is nearing completion.

With young couples comes babies. We have done many baby showers here. This dress is my latest offering. Most of gals have had girls, so I make lots of dresses. The next few babies are boys, so I have figure out what to do for a boy. The picture below is our most recent baby shower. About half of these ladies will be gone in a few months.

We have recently learned that even more of our folks are leaving Mountain Home. My estimate is around 70% of our regular attenders will move this summer.

We have had record attendance here and were wondering how we could possibly fit any more people in this house. We probably don't need to get too concerned about it now.

The pictures above give you an idea of Friday nights at our house.
Sometimes, we serve each other by helping them move. This time, Elyssa and Scott are moving back to Mountain Home. Scott deployed and Elyssa moved near family while he was gone. 

Spring has been good for us. I get more hiking in when it is warmer. Recently we hiked to the top of Table Rock above Boise. It is quite a climb but great exercise.

Early Spring... I Mean Winter

For most of 2015 so far, it has been nice and mild here. I am very grateful as I have a hard time getting anything done when I am cold. 
Ministry here is going well. We have started having our folks share their testimonies on Friday nights. Matt was the first one.

We have a new couple here. He is a chaplain assistant. They both grew up in Cambodia. They brought some yummy Cambodian food for the Friday night dinner. It was so good, it all got eaten. 
















We went on a hike with Rex and Sovatta the next day to Bruneau Dunes. 

We have been encouraging our group to participate in causes outside of Mt. Home. One time we went to Boise to support Nagmeh Abedini when she was ready to speak to the President during his visit there. She asked the area pastors in the crowd to come up and pray for her. I nudged Ed up there for that.

We then went to a Rally for Life at the State Capitol. Ed got picked for an interview by the local television station.

We still are very involved with events at the chapel. We had a bunco party for the ladies. Unfortunately, in the military, other events come up that conflict with our programs. So, this particular night, we barely had enough. 

We figure we will be losing about half of our folks this spring and summer. We almost have to start over again on some things. So we are cramming in as much time with some of them as possible. Rachel and Jonathan invited me to go skiing with them. It is about relationships here.