Cutting his cakes

Steve with Peter and Jill

(nice to see since I haven't seen him in a while!)

We had a good road trip recently! The kids did great in the car for most of the 3300 miles. We got to see lots of people dear to me, some of whom I hadn't seen in over 20 years. We enjoyed the time with Terry's family and also with my home fellowship in Midland, TX.

On our way back to AZ we stopped at Carlsbad Caverns. One thing we did that I had never experienced there before was to watch the nightly 'Bat Flight' as hundreds of thousands of bats leave the caves to hunt at dusk. Before the bats came out a park ranger was giving a talk with information on the bats. One thing he mentioned was that as soon as a bat is born it automatically clings to the roof of the cave because clinging to the rock is how the bat is most at rest. I've been enjoying that mental image lately in relation to how secure and at peace we are clinging to our Father!

Steve left for Fiji right after our return. He's been doing well there although we're all missing each other heaps. It was very sweet at the airport to see how much the kids didn't want to see him go as well! 'Dad' has been very good to us so far in our 'bonding time' and we've made much progress.

The other night the teams in Fiji as well as all of Steve's friends around Suva gave him a surprise party since this will be his last trip with his former organization in New Zealand (pictures above). The end of an era! Peter and Jill Schultz who are dear friends of mine as well sent a couple of pictures of the event. Jill said that they knew Steve was a great guy but it reminded them just how fantastic he is to hear all of the nice things said about him by people who have known him for years. :-)

Steve will be gone for a couple more weeks. He's staying a bit of extra time to do some repairs on the house in Suva since nothing has been done to it since I moved out over two years ago! It's still not a good time to sell in Fiji so we're blessed to have two 'M' ladies from New Zealand living there currently.

Current Events:

It's been a while since I've done a general update on us, so I've decided to do something about that! Steve and the girls have been back from Fiji for a couple of weeks now. They had a really great time there. The girls very much enjoyed catching up with old friends the first week and working alongside the team that Steve led the two weeks following.

One of the highlights of the trip for them was being part of the first group with women in it to be allowed in the Maximum Security Prison. Steve had organized for a group from New Zealand to donate solar powered radios preset to Chri*tian radio stations in Fiji and the team went along for them to be presented at the prison. They were surprised to find that the Commissioner of Prisons had organized for a ceremony where the prisoners performed Fijian dances, etc, there was a formal 'handing over' ceremony, and a meal.

The experience at the prison meant a lot to the girls for a couple of reasons. One was that they got to meet George Speight, the 2000 Coup leader, who already knew about them from Steve. They said it was very strange to see his face, remember all of the emotions tied to the coup, and then realize how he has changed since then. Another reason is the people who kept coming up to them telling them that they loved Terry and had appreciated work in the prison as well.

The girls also joined the team in min*istry in squatter settlements, schools, etc, and spent time in the interior of the island of Viti Levu in a village situation.

They came back obviously having had some good bonding time with Steve. They are both joyful and excited about the future of our family together in min*istry. And they are both obviously closer to our Father, whom they would tell you themselves they haven't always been on speaking terms with over the last couple of years!

We will have a few weeks of just being a family here before we make a trip to Oklahoma and Texas to catch up with friends, partially in preparation to head overseas. Then, Steve has to make a final 4 week trip to Fiji in mid-September to finish out his role with the organization he worked for in New Zealand.

We still tentatively plan to head to New Zealand near the beginning of '09 where we will spend some time getting to know Steve's family and culture and have more needed time bonding as a family ourselves.

We will be taking a road trip of over 2000 miles (to Tulsa, Dallas, and Midland) at the end of the month to see many of you as we prepare to leave the country.

Meeting Steve's Family!

We've had a great week of enjoying time with Steve's sister Jenni and her husband Keith. They were in the States attending a conference for Keith's work and then got to come our way for a bit. They were the first members of Steve's family that we met in person (and they did a good job of representing the clan!).

We took a small trip during part of the visit. On the first day we went up to Sedona, AZ, and saw an ancient American Indian cliff dwelling and a 1000 year-old irrigation system. Very interesting! We spent that evening in the quaint town of Williams along Route 66. In the morning we finished the drive up to the Grand Canyon and enjoyed seeing Keith and Jenni's reaction to the spectacular site that pictures just can't capture.

The whole visit has been a great time of fellowship. I've learned a lot more about New Zealand, the Pound family, and what Steve was like as a baby since Jenni was a teen when he was born. We also enjoyed Keith's real life 'Cold Case' stories of catching killers through DNA, at least the ones he deemed gore-free enough for little ears!

Keith, Jenni and Steve

Wordless Wednesday

Girls in Fiji

The girls are having a fantastic time in Fiji! Last night they had a dinner with members of our old youth group in Suva and I've already received a couple of photos from Kula (pictured below with Rachel) who was one of our original youth in 1993.

It was great for me to see these much loved faces, and while I'm sure people in Fiji can't believe how the girls have grown, I can't believe how much these kids have grown and changed!

I've mentioned Jope (bottom right of the group photo) many times in the past. He is still leading the group along with another guy, but Jope is a married man now! His wife Brownyn from Australia is also in the picture.

I spoke to Steve last night and he's doing very well and told me about many of our mutual friends that he's seen and the work that the team is doing there. He's very much looking forward to having the girls back with him tomorrow night.

Our Wedding Photos!

We have the 'official' wedding photos (thanks, Jeremy!) and are thrilled to be able to share them with you! The groom hasn't seen them himself so hopefully he can find a fast internet connection in Fiji soon.

Steve and the girls are doing very well in Fiji, by the way!

Just click on "Our Wedding Photos!" above to view the pictures and the easiest way to see them is to choose the 'slideshow' option......

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Earlier this week Steve had our family play a game of Monopoly together. Half-way through the game he paused and had the kids think through financial planning by using examples from the game and we talked about ways that we could improve on our family budget together. The older three kids listened well and actively participated in the conversation, but Adam got the wiggles and spent more time playing with game pieces than he appeared to be listening.

When we resumed the game after the discussion, however, Adam dramatically passed his hands over the property cards that he had collected and solemnly said, "THIS is my future!"

Guess he was listening after all!