Our First Three Weeks

We have been in the states for almost three weeks now, and we have already slept in eight beds, been in four states, and shared five times about what God is doing at New Day Orphanage.  

Here’s a quick recap of where we have been so far and what we’ve been doing.

Week 1:  Spent time in Nebraska with Laurie’s parents and other family members who dropped in for a visit.

 

 

Fun to be together with my mom, niece Amanda, and sister Pam. I'm still in jet lag so I can barely keep my eyes open.

Drove to Carthage, MO to see Wes’ mom, where several family members dropped in to spend some time with us as well.

Wes meets his 4-month old great niece who was only 1 lb. at birth.

Week 2: Spoke at WellSpring Church in Bolivar, MO, Wes’ ole’ stomping grounds. He was able to visit with several of his former college football buddies and coach, and we saw several people from the past. While there, we went to see Wes’ stepdad who was very ill. Although he could not really talk to us, it was good to see him as it would be the last.

Drove to Wagoner, OK where we spent two nights at Tulakogee Conference Center. We had the privilege of speaking to a great group of senior adults and spending time with our dear friends, Keith and Sandy Huddleston who had arranged this speaking engagement. We really enjoyed ourselves and met some really neat people and heard a great family singing group, the Link Union. Wow, they were impressive!

 

Good friend, Sandy Huddleston, helped arrange our speaking engagement at Tulakogee.

After leaving Tulakogee, we traveled to Muskogee, OK to spend some time with Wes’ brother Robbie and his wife Kelly. Sadly, Robbie’s dad (Wes’ stepdad) passed away during the night.  We returned to Missouri to visit the family and give our condolences. Because the family did not plan to have a funeral, we decided to go on to Texas. Although Wes was not close to his stepfather in his adult years, he still respected him for raising him.

We arrived in Cleveland, TX at the end of the week and spent two nights with Mark and Beth Cameron. Cleveland is where we lived before we left for the mission field back in 1991.  The Camerons are great friends and we enjoyed catching up and reminiscing about the past.  

Week 3: We began this week by speaking first at Cornerstone Church, Cleveland, TX in the Sunday School hour and in the morning service. We met some really sweet people and made some good contacts there--looks like we will have some volunteers coming to help from this church in the near future.

In the evening we spoke at FBC Liberty, TX and stayed with friends, Dennis and Penny Odell. It was great to catch up with them, see two of their children, Thomas and Amber, and meet their sweet grandchildren. When we left many years ago, Thomas was still running around in diapers. How did we get this old so quickly?

At the home of Dennis and Penny Odell in Liberty, TX.

For the past few days we have been staying at the home of David and Sandy Smith, Spring, TX. It is really amazing how God puts people together. We have never lived in the same place, worked together, gone to the same church, but through mutual friends, God has placed this special couple into our lives. We had a very relaxing and enjoyable time being with David and Sandy and were absolutely spoiled rotten by them!

At the home of David and Sandy Smith, Spring, TX

 

As I write this, we are staying in the hospitality room at West Conroe Baptist Church where we will try to get some work done before we start speaking again.  Well, I guess I’d better get busy.