California Roadtrip

Oh my...where to start on our incredible trip to northern CA with Johnny and Krista (Jeyson's brother and his wife). I can't even tell you how wonderful it was to have a real, several day vacation. We've taken over night trips in Brazil before, but it's been 2 years since doing a several day, just for fun trip. And this was our first time since our honeymoon taking a trip that didn't mean staying with family. This was so fun and so appreciated!





Johnny and Krista live in the L.A. area but we drove up to see Sequoia, Yosemite, and San Francisco.


The first stop was Sequoia....


Among the towering trees...

We felt like ants. Below is General Sherman...the biggest tree in the world in terms of volume.

There was so much to discover and see as we hiked around.

Look at the size of the base...and this wasn't even a "special" tree in the forest.

Probably the peak of the trip (pun intended :) was Moro's Rock. It was a pretty intense hike up but totally worth it!

Just breathtaking! I can't tell you how many times we said that!

Next stop: Yosemite There was so much to say here too but no words would do it justice. This is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen!

We hiked for hours...I was so sore the next day but it was worth it!

The next day we explored San Francisco which was a whole different kind of fun. Clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls. You can't go to San Francisco without trying one!

Followed by sundaes at the original Ghirardelli's where the make their own hot fudge sauce in the store. The only thing better than this:

Was this:

Yum!

We toured the docks and saw the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset

And of course, we followed the old song's advice....that when you're going to San Francisco be sure to wear some flowers in your hair :)

Ahh...what a wonderful day!

Driving home we went along the famous Highway 1. The best part was seeing the elephant seals that have a natural, undisturbed habitat along a certain point on the beach.

They were so adorable and each one with a different personality. This little baby wanted to come to Brazil with us....not sure how it would get through customs though :)

What a wonderful, refreshing trip. Thank you Johnny and Krista for showing us around your beautiful state!!

Goal Update

So we've been mentioning how we're busy raising our level of monthly support. You may be wondering how it's going...so it's time for a quick update.

When we started out raising support this Fall, we were at just about 83% of our total goal of $3,600 monthly.



It's a little tricky to know exactly where we're at now since there is a bit of a delay until gifts are processed and we can know the committments that have been made. However, to the best of our ability to assess, we know that now we're at about 88% of our goal.



We're excited about this progress towards our goal and are so thankful for God's provision even during difficult economical times. We still have about $410 to raise, but we're excited to see how God is going to work! We have so much to be thankful for at Thanksgiving time!

Furlough Funny

We've had a lot of different opportunities to share about our ministry in the past weeks. We've shared at crowded churches and one-on-one. We've shared with senior citizens and young families. One of the most memorable moments of all though, was sharing with a group of children at a camp that I grew up at.

We began sharing with the kids how our goal is to reach people that live in the middle of the Amazon with the Good News of Jesus. We told them about the dense forest and how there are no roads. We told them how the main way to get around in the Amazon is by small boat....generally canoe type boats. Just then, one kid raised his hand though and completely seriously suggested, "Maybe the people in the Amazon could get around by jetski" I could barely hold in my laughter at the idea of imagining simple, simple people like these.... Whipping to and from the poor, isolated villages of the Amazon on one of these!

Such a cute and memorable moment of furlough! But it would so neat to see the kid was thinking! After all, it was just around that age that I first felt lead by God into missions...he could be a future missionary!

A Family Post

Lately our families have been on our minds and hearts, so I can't help but include this post in our blog. Recent family changes and news have been both sad and happy lately.



First, the sad part is that just yesterday my grandmother passed away. We haven't seen my grandparents in a few years (since we've been in Brazil) but while we were in NJ we were able to visit with them twice. Since grandma passed away very quickly and unexpectedly, a few weeks ago when we visited she was in good health and herself. We had a great time catching up with them, talking about how she would make homemade ravioli and hearing my grandpa's war stories....just like a visit to your grandparents should be. I'm so thankful to have this wonderful last memory of her. I'm also SO thankful that we happened to pack our camera with us when we visited, and impulsively I asked Jeyson to take a picture of the three of us. This is possibly the last picture that anyone has of grandma, and I'm so glad to be in it with her. Grandma, you will be missed!



At the same time that we're struggling to process this sadness, we have other joyful family news. We are so excited to be welcoming not one, not two, but THREE little nieces and nephews into the world very shortly. This is especially a joy since up until now we don't have any little ones on either side of the family. So we will get to be aunts and uncles for the first times, three times over.

We are expectantly waiting for news of the births of Lucas (Jeyson's sister's little one), Charlotte (Stephanie's oldest sister's little one), and Baby Schuld (Stephanie's second oldest sister's little one).