The glass is (over) half full!!

Heather and I celebrated a special milestone a few weeks back that we have been meaning to share. We reached the halfway mark of our ministry support team! This means that the Lord has already introduced us to half of those who are joining us in this outreach to the un-reached (at least from a numerical perspective). We celebrated by...well, getting really excited and thanking God But we have been joking about celebrating, just the two of us, by throwing a "glass is half full" party! Does anybody have any creative ideas to boost our somewhat limited creativity. I need something more exciting than having half sandwiches, half glasses of lemonade and a half-pinata.

OK here's those pics of Elise to satisfy those relatives!










Because of what I have mentioned above, we have also enjoyed reflecting back on the first half of our ministry partnership adventure. The thing that sticks out to us most is the people.....you! We have gotten to visit very many special people, and have gotten to know many on a deeper level. What a blessing! Not everybody is lead by the Lord to join our ministry support team, but we still enjoy the blessing of getting to know people better! So many ask "How is this time been for you" and wince waiting for the result. My response, it has been incredible. We have gotten to spend time with so many family, friends, and different churches and have shared that inside glimpse of their lives I mentioned. And we've also had the privilege of inviting folks to invest with us their prayers and resources to join us in this very effective and practical ministry. I still remember that excitement I felt in 2003 when I learned about MAF. I was beside myself at how a 30 minute flight could save that missionary family two weeks of hiking through the jungle. And he could pick up a mom having childbirth complications in another village on the way back to the city, carrying her to a hospital for medical care (I could go on and on but I'll spare you!) So to invite people to invest with us in these things has been a privilege. And to see the way people have been led by the Lord to respond has been humbling, and it helps us know that He is drawing all of us into something bigger than ourselves!

A post, how novel!

Heather and I were at MAF headquarters in Idaho for most of this past week. While we were there, our friend Barb told us about this new online gadget she has that alerts her whenever someone has a new blog post (Hi Barb!). The point being so you don't have to check someone's blog a million times only to find out they still haven't posted anything (sorry, that's what goes on here alot unfortunately). I heard her comment on someone else's post, then she said "and all you guys ever blog about is your cute daughter!" True. A fact that my friend Craig called me out on a few weeks back (in good humor....hi Craig!) So we will just un-ashamedly launch here right back into our multitude of pictures and video of Elise! The other night Elise got a jack-in-the-box, and we rolled with laughter as EACH TIME the jack in the box came out, Elise squealed with delight, clapped her hands and said things like "Funny! More! Again!" (more comes out more like "moye" right now.)



When we were preparing to go out to MAF last week, we realized that we were going to be on the same flight out there with our good freinds Daniel and Joy once we connected in Minneapolis! We were very excited about this. During our month at MAF in January, they were our next door neighbors in the MAF apartments and we got to know them well and enjoyed their upbeat personalities. So here's some video of Elise hanging out with Daniel and Joy in the airport once we met them in Minneapolis.



The reason we went to Idaho was to attend MAF's safety training course. It was really good training on how to be safe when living in another culture. We are very thankful to be a part of an organization that cares about our safety so much and thinks through and plans for safety considerations.

OK, now that you've stuck with the blog post this long, here's the token "big slide show of pictures mostly of Elise!" Have a blessed week!

Wisdom Teeth!

Please pray for Heather, she has her upper wisdom teeth out today! Hopefully the surgery goes well and the surgeon does a good job. Just for fun here's a cute pic of Elise from the other day....



Report....thanks to all who prayed, Heather's surgery and recovery went great!

Then and Now

Last week we visited Columbia, and had fun exploring Rock Bridge park with the Eifferts. Heather and I enjoyed going there when we were first dating. I dug up an old picture we took at Rock Bridge back then, in 2003.



And so here's one from last weekend taken at Rock Bridge!