Our Adventures

We are about to go on another adventure... so we thought we could update you on our most recent outings. We want you to be praying for our future adventures, too. Brian and Terry turned in the proposal to the Christian Science church in St. Johnsbury today. They will begin looking over the proposals and deciding to which organization they will give their building. We will know by October 1st.

Since we returned from our summer vacation, we have been very busy. Brian has been putting together curriculum for the new SS year, will help in training new workers this weekend and is having profitable counseling sessions. We have taken a few hikes to area mountain peaks... the second much shorter than the first! We went to a little bonfire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Nathanael has had a few play dates and Mommy is growing along with baby sister. Tomorrow, Nathanael and Mommy are headed to VA for our cousin's wedding, in which Nathanael will be the ring bearer. Meanwhile, Daddy will prepare for his first of 4 out of 5 weeks of preaching. CC will be flying back with Mommy and Nathanael on Sunday. Hope you enjoy the photos of our recent adventures!

Our Destination... Spruce Mountain

2.1 miles with 2 babies in tow... what were we thinking?!

We took many breaks on the walk up...

Inside the firetower

The view from the top

The Bonfire

Helping Mommy bake

Mommy was proud of this train!

This hike was much easier!

Lake Groton from Owl's Head

Kettle Pond from Owl's Head

our summer vacation, part three

From NC, we went to Myrtle Beach to meet Allison's family for vacation. We spent most of our days playing in the sand, sitting under the umbrella and swimming in the ocean. Nathanael had fun in the water clinging to anyone who would hold him close. One day he even wanted to go under, so we helped him with that. I think he opened his eyes underwater because he came up saying, "my eyes, my eyes!" He didn't want to go under again... We build sandcastles, took family photos, and visited with seminary friends, too! We ate ribs, Chick-Fil-A and Krispy Kreme hot donuts!! Nathanael was the only one who did not get sunburned (thankfully)!

Yum, Yum

Enjoying a hot doughnut with Aunt Holly

Allison's family

We even got to play with fire trucks!

On our way back from the beach, we rented another truck to bring back all our yard tools, baby things and Christmas goodies. We drove from 6am to 9pm that day. I am thankful that Nathanael slept and watched movies the whole day! What a day! We are grateful to be back in Vermont, settling back into our routine.

When we returned, we found out that there is a church building in St. Johnsbury (one of the places we have been considering for a church plant) that is going to be given away in October to a community organization. Brian and Terry Dorsett (the DOM for VT and the Pastor at Faith Community Church) visited the Christian Science church building, which is in downtown St. Js. Brian will be working on a proposal that will be considered in the group of organizations seeking to use the building. We will know for sure in October who will be the recipient of the building. Please pray that God will be most glorified in the giving away of the building. Of course this would be a blessing to the GMBA in starting an SBC church in St Johnsbury! We'll keep you posted!

The Christian Science Building that will be given away in October!

our summer vacation, part two

After being in Virginia with our families for a few days, we travelled to Raleigh, NC to visit our dearest friends! Against the advice of our friends, we drove by our old house (we really went more to visit our neighbors than to see our house). I just have to post the before/after shots. We were a bit disappointed in the care given the lawn and flowers after we moved out. Many of the flowers we had there were passed to us from friends and family... not sure if they'll make it another year. We did get to see our neighbors, the Berningers, who had a box of toys out for Nathanael to play with and sent us off with cookies... yumm! We woke our other neighbors up on Sat morning and the kids played in the yard for a while before we headed to Ms Tommie's house for lunch.

Feb 2009, putting the house on the market

August 2009, after a scorching summer

Ms Tommie

After lunch Daddy went biking with some friends while Mommy went shopping with Gretchen. Included in our shopping adventure was a milkshake from Chick-Fil-A and a short trip to Target!! After a long day, we went to Gary and Debbie's house to rest before dinner at Grace. Our Grace family has been so encouraging to us over the last few months! They hosted a cookout for us to visit with our friends. We had a great time visiting with everyone! Sunday we were able to visit with more friends and had lunch before heading to SC. The highlight of my (Allison) NC trip was a CD of original Daniel Tomyn songs combined with sheet music for my favorite one, which we also sang during the worship service on Sunday!! Thanks Daniel!! Nathanael's favorite time was playing with trucks and cargo at Gary and Debbie's house! Daddy enjoyed Kyle's teaching and preaching on Sunday and being encouraged by his friends at Grace! What a blessing our Grace and Seminary friends are to us!!

Brian and Carlos

(another former OMVer who is also a church planter)

Nathanael and Debbie

some of our sweet Grace friends

Our summer vacation, part one

Nathanael enjoying a carrot that he

picked before we left for vacation

After 8 states, 12 days including 4 days of driving (if you count coming and going), and visiting lots of friends, we are back in Vermont... and so are all of our belongings. We were all glad to have slept in our own beds last night. It will be a little while before Nathanael is back to his old self after having the time of his life being spoiled by CC, Grams, and Debbie! We had a wonderful time visiting friends and family and enjoying the southern summer sun!

Our first stop was Harrisburg, PA, where we spent the night on Tuesday the 11th after a full day of work. Nathanael was ready to get to CC's house and even tried to call her that morning. Thankfully at this point, Brian was doing all the driving!

We arrived at CC's house in Virginia on Wednesday afternoon (after stopping in MD to have CHICK-FIL-A for breakfast, YUM!) On our way, we were discussing things we brought, things we should have and things we forgot. One of those forgotten items included all Nathanael's beach toys!! Never fear, CC is here! Nathanael had a few presents at CC's that included a wagon of sand toys. He also had fun with his Wheels on the Bus book, as CC took charge in teaching him this song. We had dinner with CC and GG on Wed, mom went to Target with Grams, and Daddy got to ride his bike around his hometown.

Our busy VA stay included lunch dates, visits to the nursing home and hospital (my grandmother fell on Thursday and had pins put in her hip and femur), dinner with friends and a cruise on the lake at Rick's.

Driving the boat

We also played with bubbles...

and watched the sunset.

NC comes to VT

Can you feel the excitement...

This past week, we have had such fun with our friends from NC! We started the weekend just before they came with the annual town festival and a parade! It really felt like NC here with the heat and humidity we had all last week (or maybe it was just me b/c I'm pregnant!) They came on Saturday night and Nathanael was so excited! I think he was a bit overwhelmed at first, but shortly warmed up to everyone!

Barre Heritage Festival Parade

Faith Community's Float in the Parade

Nathanael's favorite part!

Sunday after church we went to Boulder Beach for the annual church picnic and outdoor baptism. Brian got to baptize one of my SS girl's grammy! What beautiful scenery to couple with beautiful obedience to the Lord. Our "Grace cookers," Rags and Bobby helped our FCC cookers, Roy and Dwain fix up all the food. It was a great time of fellowship for all!

Church Picnic

Nathanael was spoiled all week long!

Monday, it was back to work for Allison and off to explore VT for the team. Monday they travelled to Brattleboro and Windsor in the southeastern part of the state. Brattleboro, they found is one of the most liberal towns in the state. There are quite a few churches in town and most people expressed that there were alot of homeless with needs and nothing for the youth to do in town. In Windsor, they learned that most people drive to NH for work, there are hardly any more jobs left in town. There is a healthy evangelical church in that town, too.

Visiting the Fire Station with Gary

Longest Covered Bridge in the US. Windsor, VT

Ludlow, Londonderry and Cavendish were on the list for Tuesday. Ludlow is home to Okemo ski resort and they found the townspeople a bit hostile to the transient winter population. There are alot of vacant homes in the summer as many out-of-staters own houses in the town and rent them out during ski season. Our team also learned that much of the money that is paid in taxes goes to other towns in the state.

Porchin' it at the VT Country Store in Weston, VT

The team, minus Debbie and Nathanael travelled to St. Johnsbury on Wednesday. This is a town Brian and I visited for quite some time earlier this summer. They met a gentleman who runs a thrift shop and is looking for a church to partner with in the community. He is not able to meet all the needs of the many people who come to him. People reported that there has been cooperation of churches in town, but the evangelical presence is lacking. Debbie and Nathanael stayed home on Wednesday and went to the doctor's with me in the afternoon. Everything was normal on the ultrasound and they think it's going to be a girl. They won't say 100% girl, but they could not find boy parts on the u/s. Nathanael got a picture of his baby sister doing a thumbs up for him! He did great the whole time! It was also really special to me to have Debbie there!

North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury

I love this full spine shot!

Looking at Debbie and Nathanael

On Thursday, they headed to Waterbury and Morrisville. What beautiful scenery. Both towns have potential for growth and need evangelical churches that are involved in the community. Both are about within 30 minutes of Stowe ski resort, which makes property a little more expensive, but Stowe does provide alot of jobs for these two towns. Please continue to pray for us as we want to be in the place God can use us to reach people for the gospel.

Test ride in the store

Entertainment!

Stopping for a little whiffle ball lesson in Morrisville

We had a wonderful time of fellowship with our friends and were encouraged by their presence. The exciting thing is that we get to see them again in two weeks! We will be traveling to VA, NC and SC in the next few weeks to visit our families and vacation , too! Thank you so much, Grace for taking time to explore Vermont with us! We are looking forward to seeing you soon!

Maple Creemees with Shay and Christine

We also listened to a concert from Nathanael

We're going to get him used to this suit! He'll wear it in my cousin's wedding in September.

The corner statue in town

The whole group before leaving on Friday

I heard someone tried to kidnap my child! He loves you all!!