Summer Fun

 

This was a gathering for the 4th of July for Ben's side of the family. We had a great time eating, talking, laughing, swimming and celebrating birthdays and the 4th.

We had a gathering for our pastors and families at our home in June. It was a fun time of food, fellowship and prayer. It is not easy gathering busy pastors and their families so I was grateful for the time together.

These are 4 of the 7 Pastors Ben gets to serve.

We were also happy to see our friends from Guatemala the Harmans.

They were staying at this beautiful place on a lake about 2 hours north of Indianapolis.

Here is the whole crew. They have 7 kids and we have 8 so when we used to get our families together it was a crowd ;-)

The girls got to go bowling.

Daddy daughter date for ice cream. Already starting to tell them that any boy who wants to get close to them has to talk to Dad first ;-)

Of course. lots of library visits this summer.

Ben took a day retreat to pray and plan for the rest of the year. He is also working on a 5 year vision. Please pray for this process.

Lake House Trip

 We are grateful for some summer down time this past week. Levi and Alanna were able to be here for a a few days too. It is a beautiful place and great to have extended time together relaxing. See some of the fun below.

This is from our traditional dinner at Cracker Barrel.

We spent lots of time in the water!

Emma most of the time preferred the baby pool.

Vacation

 We are grateful for a Lake House here close that our friends let us use so we can take some breaks occassionally from the norm and get some down time together. It was good to have this time after a crazy few months of life and ministry. It was hard to be there without the whole family though. Enjoy some pics below. 

(Apparently sun was bright and Emma didn't want to take her pic which is the norm)

We have 2 traditions every time we go there now. One is to eat dinner one night at Cracker Barrel and the other is to go hiking with the boys on some trails not too far from where we stay. (see pic below)

We had lots of time in the water or at least the kids did.

Cuties

Dad taking Emma on a Kayak ride

Hiking with the boys

Luke won't get in the lake but enjoyed the baby pool we set up.

Beautiful Sofia

The lake was very warm.

Summer Fun

 We have had a lot of fun this summer with many different fun activites together as a family. Check out some pics below.

We have spent a lot of time in the backyard. We are so grateful for the place the Lord has provided for us in this season!

Levi and I took a trip to Kansas City where he considering going to college and seminary.

This was a family gathering with all my family including Harry my stepfather's kids which was fun. It had been many years since we have all been together.

Jennifer and I took a 25th anniversary trip. We went back to Guatemala and stayed at the beautiful lake a few hours from where we lived. It was an amazing time of rest and renewal other than the river we literally had to drive through to get there...see above.

The view there are incredible. The pool was nice and that is mostly what we did...sit by the pool and rest and read and swim. Oh and we ate a lot too. We are so grateful for 25 years together!

Our last night was in the city, Guatemala City that is. Our friends the Harmans took us and hung around for dinner and games together. Good times!

We also got to get awy to the Lake house our friends so generously let us use. It was a great time swimming, kayaking, reading, resting, playing games etc.

What a crew! We are so thankful for many times together this year which may be the last times together with everyone for a while.