Summer Sprint

Life continues to be rich this summer with good times with friends and family.

Nathan and I returned early this week from a long weekend in BC which included the wedding of a wonderful childhood friend of Nathan's.  It was at a mountain top resort in Vernon and was a beautiful and meaningful ceremony and reception.

From Vernon, we traveled to Kelowna where many of Nate's relatives from his mother's side live, and  had a bit of family reunion there with his parents who had taken vacation and did a road trip west.  Nate's sister and her family also came out for the weekend.  One evening was also the "cousins party" where I was able to meet a number more relatives from that side of the family.

Immediately following our return home, Nate turned around and headed to the Church of God campground to participate in the week of family camp.  I headed down for an evening service with a friend from church midweek and then returned Friday evening after work, for the rest of the weekend.  

Now it's Sunday evening, and Nate's parents are staying a few evenings before beginning the road trip home to Ontario.  

We are excited as a week from tomorrow, we leave for Spain!  So the week ahead will be full of planning, packing, and anticipation for the journey ahead.  

As for baby, all is well.  Tomorrow marks week 25 of the pregnancy, and I am showing more and more.  Still (happily) not to the point of discomfort or reduced mobility, so we are both pleased and praying this continues through the next few weeks until we return home and settle in for the last few months before baby comes.

24 weeks

I'm happy to report that Nate has also been able to feel the baby moving, in the last few days.  I have tried to move his hand to my belly in time to catch some movement in the last number of weeks, as the kicks have become a bit stronger.  However, each time I would tell him to feel, baby would stop moving.  However, on the drive home from Kelowna, baby was on the move at one point and I was able to move Nate hand over and he could feel it!  Baby was also moving during one of the evening services at family camp and since Nate was sitting next to me I was able to nonchalantly move his arm over to hold his hand leaving it resting against the side of my stomach where he then felt 3 kicks within a minute or so.  Its great to be able to finally share those moments.

It's hard to believe we are about 2/3rd of the way through the pregnancy.  I have no doubt the next few months will go just as fast!

We appreciate your continued support and prayers, and will work to continue to update you on how things are progressing.

Guam

It's Friday morning here and we are getting ready to head over to Vacation Bible School.  It's the last day so we will be doing our normal morning routines with the kids but then tonight there will also be a program for the kids to invite their parents to.  They have been working on dances to songs this week and they will put all they've learned together in a short program.  

I got my bag yesterday!  Nate's is nowhere to be found still and they don't know where it is, so we will put together an itemized list of contents, when it was bought, and how much it was purchased for. That will take a bit of thought and time.  

For those who didn't hear the whole story, after we checked our bags at the airport when we left on Friday early evening, we didn't see them again for a long, long time.  We were supposed to pick them up on Friday night when we landed in New Jersey to stay overnight before checking them again on Saturday morning when we left to fly the rest of the way to Japan and then to Guam, arriving Sunday evening.

Through our daily call to the airport we found that somehow our bags (or at least mine) was tagged incorrectly from the start and if they ever did get to New Jersey they were then sent on to Dubai... then London... then somewhere along the way someone realized there was some type of mistake and sent it back to New Jersey...and then Japan....then, miraculously, did finally end up on Guam where it should have been all along!  So while I might not have traveled around the world yet, my bag has.  And Nate's bag has perhaps decided it likes the view somewhere else and has made a permanent home elsewhere because there is no sign of it. 

Onto more fun topics...    

We did a long hike on Tuesday and planned on doing one yesterday as well but it rained most of the day so we called that one off.  Next week we are planning on going kayaking, perhaps another hike, beach/snorkeling and a place called Chamorro Village that is every Wednesday and you can see local food and dance there.  I think Nate will be able to go out for a dive with a friend sometime next week as well.  So I'm sure he will be excited to get that in.  

Everyone is incredibly friendly, warm, and welcoming.  We have been showered with hugs and gifts.  Many of the church has been "off island" so I am meeting people at a nice easy pace.  A few new faces ever day which is helpful in remembering names! 

Nate will be preaching this Sunday so we've bought him some nicer clothes for him to be able to preach in.  It's been a busy week with most times that would have been "down time" turned into "run-to-the-mall-and-shop time" ;)  So while it's nice to get some new things, it's not as fun when you are under pressure!  So today after meeting some folks for lunch we will try to find some dress shoes for Nate before coming back for the evening programming.

The time is going quickly and it's hard to believe it's Friday already.  

It's time to go sing songs with the kids.

I will try to update again soon!