Follow the adventures of our family around the world

Home

March 18, 2007

First of all I need to apologize for not updating for the last 6 months.  There is no real excuse except that life gets busy and transitioning back to the real world from the ship has made time fly.  We have tried to let the kids experience a normal life back here in the USA.  We have tried to take weekend trips to places in Texas so the kids can acclimate to being back.

March 10, 2007

We had to take Cailin into the clinic for some advanced Urinary tract testing.  Since the first of the year she has been struggling with UTI's which are highly unusual for a girl her age.  The good news is that she does not have any tumors or reflux, but we still don't know what is wrong.  For now she will be taking a prophylactic anti-biotic to help fend off the infections.  We would appreciate your prayers as we search for the best way to deal with this.

March 3, 2007

We traveled to Dallas for Jessie to compete in a Destination Imagination competition.  Its a competition where kids have to find solutions by thinking out of the box.  Zana was the coach.  Their challenge this year was drama emphasizing difference in cultures. They were able to place 5th out of 18 teams.  Not bad for their very first time.  I'm so proud of both of them!!!

February 27, 2007

We had great news today, Zana does not have breast cancer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She developed several lumps over a month ago and we have been waiting to get into a clinic where she could get all her testes done.  Zana and her mom went to the doctors today and got a clean bill of health.  Praise God for this great news.

February 21, 2007

Zana's mom, Gay, came down for a week's visit.  It was awesome to have her here.  The kids really miss their grandparents and this was a good opportunity for her to see how God has blessed us and our ministry.  Gay seemed to enjoy the quiet country life that we now live, and managed to adopt a local wild cat that she started fattening up.  She also took the girls out and bought them some new COOL clothes.  We normally can't afford this type of shopping, so the girls put on a fashion show for us when they came home.

February 18, 2007

Jessie was given the opportunity to experience small plane flying through her school program.  This experience qualified her to become a Young Eagle which is sponsored by the Experimental Aviation Association.  She took a 20 minute ride with a World War II US Marine pilot, I was their and jealous and Zana was home saying her prayers.  Its awesome that Zana who is afraid of heights would allow Jessie and me doing these type of things.

February 12, 2007

We celebrated Cailin's birthday with some of her classmates.  What do you give a birthday girl who just spent 2 years at the equator in the third world nations?  A birthday party at an ice skating rink!

January 1-31, 2007

Simply put we have the PLAGUE, CRUD, STOMACH FLU and any other name you may have for the Norwalk virus.  The girls have missed over 16 school days this month.  Some school systems have just shut down for days at a time because so many of their students were out and the schools needed to be disinfected.

Christmas, 2006

Christmas in Texas, OK so there is no snow only rain; much like West Africa.  Except......THERE IS WALMART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The girls had wanted electric scooters that they saw in movies on the ship, so we got them some cheap mini electric motorcycles for their Christmas present.  We decided to get a palm tree for a Christmas tree, well just because were strange.

December 9, 2006

We drove to San Antonio for Zana to attend a medical Pri-Med conference.  Zana needs to attend several of these to catch up on her CEU's since we were away for 2 years.  The kids and I got to do the tourist thing, we visited the Alamo and the Ripley's Museum.  We even did our best Nacho Libra impersonation.

November 17, 2006

We flew to Maryland this Weekend to visit Ted Stephanie Ranft.  Ted is a former Inktomi co-worker who supports our efforts with the orphanages in Africa.  We were also able to attend Eric Williams' wedding in Virginia.  Eric was a good friend onboard the Anastasis and it was really exciting to see him start this new chapter in his life.  We were also able to hook up with 2 dozen friends from the ship who also made their way to the wedding.  We finished the weekend by meeting with our supporting church in Waldorf, Maryland.  Ann from the Kenyan orphanage was there and I was able to present my findings from the trip we took.  The church was extremely generous and raised over $4,000 for the kids. we are hoping that we will be able to get Living waters to finish their well project.

October 30, 2006

Our first Halloween back in the US had to include pumpkin carving!!! No Trick or Treating but candy was had.

September 17, 2006

Mark has gone to Kenya to visit an orphanage in the hill country outside of Nairobi.  He is going as Missionary for the Victory Chapel church out of Waldorf , Maryland.  Pastor Pat has asked Mark to assess the orphanage to see what we can do to help the 100+ girls that have been orphaned by AIDS.  He will be traveling with Joseph, a Kenyan man who now lives in Maryland.  Check out his log and the page we set up for the orphanage.  The Lord seems to be using our experience building orphanages and networking other NGO's to help these poor kids.  If any of you would like to get involved with these orphanages please let us know.

August 1, 2006

Well we have finished our great sojourn to return home.  We left Ghana and flew to London then flew on to Singapore.  For 2 weeks we met with our missionary friends and rested before we headed back to the states.  We then spent the next month traveling across the states visiting our family, friends and supporters.  We thank God for the chance to reconnect with those who have supported us over the last 3 years.

Looking at these pictures we are reminded how small are quarters were.  We didn't seem to mind at the time, there was always enough room for us and what little stuff we had.  This was truly a great experience, that we will never be able to thank God and all our supporters for allowing us to help so many half way around the world.  We got to be the hands, feet and face of God to some of the poorest people in this world.  They blessed us by showing their undying faith in God, while living for years in conditions that can not even be imagined by an American