Back in the Swing of Things

We are pretty much back to normal now. At least as close to normal as we get. (he-he) The boxes are unpacked, and things are reorganized. We have more space now that we have down-sized somewhat.
A couple of weeks ago, we started back to Awanas. It was fun to see all of the kids again and the other workers. We don't have much time to talk on Wednesday nights, but I enjoy the people who work at Awanas. They are a great bunch, really dedicated to what they do. The children enjoy them all so much.
The pictures are from Awanas last night. I almost forgot that I had the camera with me, so I just got pictures at the very end.
This past Sunday we did children's church again. We had turned to whole thing over to someone else when we left, but it was too overwhelming to her. Now that we are back we need to reconsider trying to get someone to take over. We have been having lots of kids, and not enough volunteers. We average around 20 kids, which is overwhelming for many people. We could possibly split them up by ages if we could get enough teachers. Anyway, we are going to miss a quite a few Sundays visiting other churches. We hope to build on our few faithful volunteers, and have things going smoothly by the time that we leave. It has been a learning experience for both Stephen and myself. We need to work on how we transition as we leave. This will be good experience for the mission field. Our purpose is not just to go and minister to the people there. We want to be able to train people in the church as well as the hospital to be able to do things on their own, and not be reliant on us always.
This has turned rather long, and I hope that it makes sense. I have to go play dolls now!

Quick Update

I haven't had time to blog since we have been home. We spent the 4th-6th with the Hines in Cody, WY. We had an enjoyable time there, but we never took any pictures. Sunday was a long drive home. We made it back at about 11:30 to find that everything was just as we left it. (It was also cold, and there was and still is snow on the ground.)
Monday Ian went back to school, and Isabelle and Kathleen went back to preschool. Stephen had his first day of work yesterday. We have been trying to unpack from our trip, unpack boxes, and get things cleaned up. It seems like an impossible task right now!
Caleb's birthday is tomorrow, and I should have some pictures from that to share. It's hard to believe my baby is turning 2!

Ian turns 8!

We are still on our trek home. We are in Casper, WY right now, and today we will leave to go to Cody, WY. We are going to spend a couple of days with the Hines. Then it's back to Browning!
Ian enjoyed sleeping in and then swimming in the hotel pools. All of the kids had a great time, and now we are just hanging out for a little while before we have to get back in the car.

Christmas Day in Eastern KY cont.

These pictures are of the kids opening their presents from Granny and Grandpa Wegner. I don't know why we didn't get any pictures of Ian. But don't worry, he got presents, too!

Christmas Day-Eastern KY

On Christmas Day, we drove from my grandmother's to Stephen's parents. Considering the fact that the kids had been in the car for over 4 hours, they did well for their pictures in front of the tree.

The last of Lewisport

These are the last of the pictures that I took at my grandmother's house in Lewisport. The shirts that Isabelle and Kathleen are wearing are some that my grandmother made for them.
I love the pictures of Ian. He has discovered reading chapter books over the last few months. When he is reading, he doesn't notice anything going on around him. His favorite right now is the Magic Tree House book series.

More from Lewisport

Happy New Year! We are in St Joseph, MO, on our way back to MT. The kids have done well over the last 2 days of driving. We have lots more to go!

These are more pictures from my grandmother's house in Lewisport on Saturday (Dec 22.) Once I saw the pictures, I realized I didn't get pictures of everyone, and I only took one of my grandmother the whole time we were there. I seem to do better when it is nicer weather and we are all outside. I just don't think of taking the pictures inside as much.

Jack (my cousin Carrie's son)

Joy Beth (Carrie's daughter)

Susie (my aunt)

Granny

Curt (my cousin) with Summer (his wife). That was the first time I met Summer, so I'm glad they were able to come while we were there.

Rick (Carrie's husband) That is the edge of Carrie's head on the side. That is the only picture I took of her!