Lisa's Graduation Weekend

For Lisa's graduation celebration, we invited both sets of parents to come to Washington for the weekend. Unfortunately we had normal Seattle weather but that didn't put a damper on our celebrating. Kevin came up with many different ways to entertain and we went on all kinds of adventures in a short weekend.

Lisa was able to celebrate with a chocolate cake that her mom made and strawberries on top from Kevin's parents. It was delicious!

The next morning Kevin was very ready to teach everyone how to make Sushi. Since it is big up in the Seattle area, we wanted to teach our family members while we were still here.

Our families enjoyed making sushi. However, I don't think they will be making it on their own any time soon.

Once we were finished with the new experience of sushi, we headed out for a Vietnamese drink known as "bubble tea". Bubble tea can actually be different types of drinks: fruit drinks, smoothies, tea, etc. The reason we call it bubble tea has to do with the little tapioca balls in the drinks. Can you see the dark, little balls mixed in the cups?

That night, once we were actually hungry again, Kevin taught everyone how to make homemade tortillas. They were excellent! However, the method of taking two cutting boards and standing on them to press the tortillas was not the way we were taught. A tortilla press is much easier, though not as fun. :)

All-in-all, it was a terrific weekend. Lisa had a wonderful celebration, Kevin got his sushi, and our parents got to see our home one last time. They also took a bunch of our stuff back to Oregon. Our time in Washington is just about up.

Shifting Gears

Well, we are working hard at wrapping up everything in Washington. Kevin finishes work next week and I am anxiously awaiting my final presentation at City University. We are working hard to down size everything we own. The plan is to fit everything we can in the back of Kevin's pick-up and everything else...we get rid of. Obviously, we are very selective in what we are keeping. We are very thankful that my parents have offered that we stay on their property (in their trailer) while we raise support in Oregon. It will be good to so close to our families while in the state. It has been awesome to watch God moving in this long process.

So far, support raising has been wonderful. God has moved people in every church whether it has been through prayer, finances, or encouraging words. We have certainly felt the joy of the Lord in the different Evangelical Churches. At this moment, we are one-third of the way funded for our two year stint in Bolivia. We know that God will get us there in His timing, and it has been very encouraging to see how quickly He has been moving.

We are also anxious to get down to Oregon where there will have more time to devote for praying, reading, preparing for lessons to teach and getting involved with churches during the week. With Kevin working and me in school, it is difficult to feel prepared for weekends, let alone anything during the week. Once we arrive in Oregon, we will begin preparing for the ten days that we will be spending in Pennsylvania during the month of July. We have been asked to teach at a week long family camp and so we will be working hard to be ready.