Surprise!

It is hard to believe it has happened, but my little brother has tied the knot! Matt and Heather married on May 27th on the beach in California and from what I can tell from the pictures they had a great time!

We were so excited to hear a few months ago that they would be getting married. We figured, however, that we unfortunately wouldn't be able to come home for the wedding. Between just having returned to the PI in January, Jason being in the middle of his check out process, the kids finally getting settled and the amount of money it would cost for all of us to fly back, we thought that there was no way to make it happen.

I had kind of resigned myself to missing one of the most important events in my only brothers life, as hard as it was, but I would still found myself getting teared up when my Mom would send a picture of her going with Heather when she was trying on wedding dresses and it would hit me again how much I miss being around family and being a part of what's going on. Out of desperation one day I sent an e-mail to Jason's parents asking them if they wanted to come fly over to baby sit so that I could fly back by myself to go to the wedding. I sent it mostly as a joke and figured that there was no way that it would actually happen. They wrote me back right away saying that Jason's dad already had vacation scheduled at the end of June (which he had asked off for months in advance!) and that they would love to come out if it would free me up to go to the wedding. God is good! I love how He plans fun suprises for me to remind me of just how good He is and how much He loves me!

I was originally going to come back for their CA beach ceremony but would have missed spending time with them when they left for their honeymoon so I decided to wait and come for their AZ reception. I was able to keep the visit a surprise from Matt and he certainly was surprised to see me!

I've had such a great time here spending time with Matt, Heather and my new nephew Kristian! It has been such a blessing to be able to be at their reception and be part of their wedding experience. Congratulations! We're so happy for you all as you start out your new life together.

It has been so much fun being here. Pretty wierd being away from Jason and the kids, but a wonderful vacation for me :-) The best part about being here is feeling like it is time for me to go HOME. I haven't felt that way in a LONG time! Besides my husband and kids - it is great to know that I have a life, a house, a bed and even a dog that is waiting for me to come home!

Into the Tribe

Last week we made our maiden voyage as a family into a tribe! We had been waiting years for this day. Ever since we arrived here in the Philippines, we have waited for Jason to be able to fly our family in to visit our co-workers in the tribe. Since Jason was able to get his pilot's license, we were his first offical passengers.

Mirielle thought it was great having Dad as the pilot. I had fun seeing Jason in his element and had to admit that I was pretty proud of him being able to do such crazy flying. Kellan just slept through the whole ride after moving from his carseat to my lap. A much more comfortable ride!

The tribe we visited was about 45 minutes to the north of us. It was a beautiful flight along the coast and we saw some amazing scenery. We had a great time with our co-workers Ray and Chris Pollock. Jason had met them previously as he had flown into their strip getting checked out but it was my first time meeting them. We enjoyed getting to know them and were excited to hear about their ministry in the tribe. They have lived in the tribe for a few years and are beginning to near the point in language proficiency where they will be able to start preparing Bible lessons. Please pray that the Lord would give them wisdom as they work on getting the language down and understanding the best way to communicate the truth of His word for the first time!

It was a blessing for us to be able to go in as a family and to see first hand the work that is being done. Please pray for the NTM team here as we all work together in our ministries to bring the Gospel to the people of Palawan.

Check out our pictures of the tribe in our photo gallery.