Breakfast with the Denbows

As we pulled in to Kansas City last night around 10:30pm, we got a hold of Gary and Stephanie Denbow who used to attend River Valley Church. Man it was great to see them again. Gary is in a graduate program in Music Performance and is busting his chops. After seeing them, I realized how much I miss Gary's sincerity and stories. What a blessing, though. The hotel we stayed at, one that we happened to stop at last year on our way down to Mexico, just happens to be about 10mn from their house and less than 5mn from Stephanie's work. They are attending what sounds like a very dynamic inner-city church. What an awesome couple!

One of Noah's assignments for Science today was to look around his classroom and identify living and non-living objects. As we were reviewing this, we happened to be in the middle of rural Kansas on I-35 South. He said, "But dad, I don't have a classroom," to which I responded, "Sure you do, look out the window (of the minivan), that's your classroom."

We began watching Hurricane Rita today, building off the gulf coast and projected to hit TX. Hopefully we'll beat it and not get caught in too much rain. We made it to Ardmore, OK and spent the night.

Kansas City or Bust!

Well, after spending the night in Mankato, MN, we had a big breakfast with Grandpa and then off to Wal-Mart for some last minute necessities. The kids had a great time and it will be a morning that we will look back on and cherish.

God, you have done an incredible job of completely restoring my relationship with my father. I thank and praise you for that!

Out of the nest

First day out on the road as a missionary. It's sort of a novel experience. So what does it feel like? It's kind of like your birthday when you're younger and people would ask you, do you feel a year older? You really don't, because you've been growing and learning a day at a time all year long, so you don't really notice the growth and your birthday is more of a milestone.

That is surprisingly how I feel today. I recognize it is a key day, however, God has been so involved every step of the way (He had to or we wouldn't be here right now) that it just seems like the logical next step and to do anything else would seem strange or illogical. It reminds me of the swimming lessons for the children. You spend your first couple years in the shallow end with water wings and kickboards, but sooner or later it's off to the deep end. In our case, we're using God's guidance and everything we've learned over the last several years to keep us afloat.

The kids (Noah and Bianca) start school in the van today (2nd grade and Kindergarten respectively).

The Migraines of Moving

We were trying to pack up all our last minute things yesterday, but had more last minute things than expected. We also had more boxes than would fit into the van, so we ended up having to consolidate (which led to more last minute things to pack up). Yesterday after church, we had lunch with several friends from church, what an incredible circle of friends we've been blessed with. I ended up with a migraine and at about 4pm, with the advice of some dear friends of ours, we decided to postpone our departure for a day.

The Gesk's gave the children new Toy Story toys to take to Mexico with them, they've been a hit! Gabriel hasn't gotten tired of pushing the laser blaster on Buzz' arm (not the cause of the migraine).

The Day Before

As we get ready to begin our trek to Monterrey, MX on Sunday, September 18, 2005, we are excited and at the same time are tying up loose ends. We will be sharing our mission and vision at River Valley Church this evening and tomorrow morning and are looking forward to what God has for us. In the coming days, I will post some recaps of what He has so faithfully done over these last several weeks. Look for more soon!