Last week of July

This week I am up and around again after my surgery. I'm not feeling 100% yet, but every day is a bit better than the day before. This week we have been asked to give two missionary presentations at Hoodsport church Vacation Bible School. The theme was safari, so I dressed in my hiking clothes and am telling the kids about hiking through the jungle to teach our Isnag friends about the Bible.

Between those two presentations we made a quick trip to Spokane to see the Sullivan family. Russ and Nancy were classmates with us back in mission training days. They went Thailand and we went to the Philippines so we don't see each other often; ten years in fact. They only had a short time in Spokane before departing for Manitoba, Canada, so we jumped in the car and went to see them. We really enjoyed our visit with them and we ran into the Eyestone family from Manila while were were there too.
Spokane has a beautiful waterfront park with all kinds of flowers, bridges, waterfalls etc. The thing that really surprised us was the giant wagon.

On a dark night five years ago I stopped to help push a car out of an intersection. Five years ago the doctor told me I had a hernia. For five years I have have been at large hiding from surgeons in remote mountainous regions of SE Asia. Last week I turned myself in and was sentenced to a few hours in the hospital. My behavior must have been okay because I was released. I am now home recuperating and Heidi is taking very good care of me. I have learned my lesson, and I will surely wait at least a week before pushing cars around.
Thank you to all of you who prayed for me.

Sand-dogs on the beach

The Harada family from Canada came to visit and so we took them to see one of our great Washington beaches. We planned a great day complete with a hot dog roast on the beach. It was a beautiful day with blue sky and plenty of sunshine, but the wind was blowing and it felt very cold to us. We managed to get a good fire going and had fun cooking the hot dogs, but before long we noticed that the wind was sandblasting them as we cooked them. This made for crunchy eating until Christine discovered that if you didn't actually put your teeth all the way together you wouldn't feel the sand. I tried mulling my hot dog and she was correct.

Geff, Christine, Nathan, and Elliott

Jacob and James

Carrie and Grace

Bird Watching

Elliott's wedding

Meet Mr. and Mrs. David and Maria Elliott.

We enjoyed their wedding on July 13 and thought you might enjoy seeing a

few of the family pictures we took. Gary and StacieJohn and Libby DreisbachTom with Jon and StephenHeidi with Kristen

(Kristen has been teaching English in China.)David and MariaJon and Katie
Stephen with Naomi Stephens

(also a MK from Philippines)

Jon used to carry Thomas around on his shoulders when Thomas was just a little guy.

Summer Hummer

In June we helped at Westwood Baptist's summer Bible camp for children called, Summer Hummer. It was great experience as we worked with the other 300+ volunteers to put on a evangelistic program for 850 children. I started out my mornings as a pancake cook for the staff.



As soon as the cooking was done, I went and did crafts with the younger children. In the afternoon I ran a carnival ride. During the day Heidi worked in the nursery with the babies and Carrie worked in the toddler room. She didn't mind being in command of a stroller for 6.
James was an assistant counselor for a group of young boys and Thomas enjoyed being one of the campers.

More Regarding Canada

Wednesday morning we prepared to visit a forest park near the Harada's house. One of the necessary preparations was braiding Grace's hair. It seems to me you can tell if the braids are tight enough by watching the lips.

After loosening the braids a bit we started off. The Canadians are going to be hosting some Olympic games in the future, and James would like to introduce the little known sport of stump diving. I doubt if it will be popular. The younger boys tried it and decided that the catapult was a lot more fun.

Speaking of competition, Thomas had his big moment in the spotlight on the North Vancouver waterfront. They were having a family fun time and diabolo tops were provided for the crowd to try. The only problem was that no one seemed to know how to use them. Last year when Thomas was missing his brothers, he would often go out and spin the diabolo top in our front yard. All those hours of practice paid off. He was asked to preform in front of the crowd and did a great job.

Last year a Canadian couple let us stay in their home in Manila for a few days. In the cupboard they had a can of Tim Horton's coffee. When we questioned about it, we learned that T.H's is a popular doughnut and coffee shop all across Canada. After learning that, no trip to Canada could possibly be complete without a visit to T. H's, so on our final day in Canada we went out to breakfast with the Harada family at T. H's. It was Geff's birthday. Happy Birthday! Geff.

Canada Day

We woke up this morning to a bit of noise on the street. When we went out to investigate, we discovered that not only were we in Canada visiting the Harada family, we were in Canada on Canada Day.

So, after watching the Canada Day parade for a while we headed to the beach for a picnic.

Thanks Harada Family for your hospitality and a picnic at the beach.