The Arcade & Attica RR

Today I took my two younger sons to ride the Arcade & Attica Railroad! Aunt Ruthie went along, too. Between the two of us, we got some great photos of the boys and the train ride, but I don't have a way to upload photos right now...as soon as I get home I'll be posting quite a few from our time here! Suffice it to say that we all had fun, but Nathaniel thought the train's whistling and whooshing was a bit too loud at first. The whole first part of the ride he sat on my lap quivering and holding on to me while I held his head against me, covering his ears! Of course it didn't help that we were the first coach behind the steam engine! On the way back, we were the last coach and the sounds were much less loud...and Nathaniel enjoyed it much more! This particular railroad dates back to the 1800's when farmers in this part of New York wanted to get their produce and goods to Buffalo and thus to the rest of the U.S. It still runs today, but a lot of its revenue comes from these excursion rides. It really was fun, and a great way to spend a few hours with my younger boys who can't really take advantage of the fishing and such that their big brother and Dad can! Stay tuned for some great photos when we get home!

Sorry I've been MIA...

It's been awhile since I've posted, but I've had good reasons for it! Last week I taught four lessons a night at our church's VBS (and my voice shows it!), but praise God, several children made professions of faith, and the week went really, really well. This week we are enjoying great Bible teaching and fellowship at Odosagih Bible Conference in Machias, NY, with some friends. Funny thing is, the speaker this week is speaking on the exact same material I taught last week at VBS! Do you think God is trying to tell me something? I will have to post more about that at a later date, but suffice it to say that the material in question is from a great organization called Answers in Genesis which exists to share the gospel through Creation evangelism and what they call "The Seven C's of History": creation, corruption, catastrophe, confusion, Christ, cross, and consummation. They run the Creation Museum in KY which I believe I have blogged about before, as we were privileged to visit it awhile back--I highly recommend it! It's been a relaxing week with fun for everyone thus far. Jonathan is on a missions trip with his youth group, so he's not with us, but otherwise, we are all here and having a great time fishing, swimming, reading, shopping, eating, and the like. I've been so relaxed that I haven't even taken any photos yet! Shame on me! I'll try to remedy that soon. We still our $2000 shy of our agency fee, so continue to pray that we can raise that quickly and get our dossier to Taiwan ASAP. Thanks!

Only $2000 More Needed!

We are praising God today for another generous gift towards our adoption fund from another dear friend. We are only $2000 shy of our entire agency fee which will allow us to send our dossier to Taiwan and get our daughter Sophia's referral! Please thank God with me, and continue to pray for a miracle! Don't forget to check out our adoption blog for more updates!

Adoption Update

For those of you who don't regularly visit my adoption blog in addition to this blog, I thought I would post a little update on our journey to our daughter Sophia in Taiwan. We are praising God for the funds to pay the first half of our agency fee, and now we are praying fervently for the second half ($2750) since now all of the items needed for our dossier to go to Taiwan are ready and waiting to be sent! We received our government approval of the advanced orphan petition much sooner than anticipated, so we are now ready to get moving, but we need the money in hand. Please pray with us to that end...thanks! For more info, visit our adoption blog!

Musings on Family and Country

I can hardly believe it is the 4th of July already...well, almost, as I'm posting this on the 3rd. We are going to be spending some time with family this weekend and enjoying a BBQ and good fellowship. My older boys keep wondering when summer is going to come, as it really hasn't been unbearably hot here yet. This past week we had rain every evening which kept the temps reasonable. But I'm looking at the calendar and realizing that one third of their summer vacation is over, and with as busy a month as July is, soon August will be here and school is right around the corner again!

This month I am directing and teaching at our church's Vacation Bible School, and we are planning a little vacation to upper New York State with some friends. I know the month will fly by very quickly. The other day I reminisced by watching two old videos that haven't seen the light of day for quite some time. The first one was of a patriotic cantata that our school community did in Santiago, Chile, back in 1989. I was a senior in high school, just about to graduate, at the time. It was great fun to look at everyone in the cantata, and the audience, and realize how much time has gone by since then. This year would be my 20th high school reunion if our little school did such a thing! The second video was of our wedding. I don't think I had ever really watched it before. A friend was our videographer, and she got shots from the rehearsal, photo session, wedding, and reception. I recall so few details of that day, so it was fun to watch the video and remember. My kids enjoyed watching their mom laugh and cry all at the same time more than the videos, I think!

Whatever you are doing this weekend, have fun doing it. Stay safe and healthy, and remember to say a prayer for our country and her leaders. We are going through trying times and I believe that it is only through a return to the ideals and beliefs of our country's biblical heritage that our country will once again be great.

God bless America!