So…last night Stephanie helped me set up a facebook.  And right now as we speak, Stephanie is helping Israel update his facebook.  It’s pretty amazing how many people have facebook.  Anyhow, we’ll see how it goes. 

Last night, I helped Sikhu wash out her ears.  HAHAHAHA.  It was so funny.  I was inspired by when I got it done with the help of Justink, Jen, and who else was it?  One of the missionaries…
Anyway, I think by the end, Sikhu thoroughly enjoyed it, right?  I think it had been at least a year since I last laughed as hard as I did last night. 

We did something crazy this past weekend.  Israel had a meeting with the presidents of the regional YCs and decided last minute to drive down (and I won’t tell you why to save his reputation).  We, (us and Sikhu), decided to go down with him last minute.  So, we drove the 9 hours down to Ann Arbor on Saturday afternoon, got there at 4am Sunday, and left to come back up on Monday afternoon.  It was a lot of fun, though.  We were able to see and surprise lots of people (like the ASCercisers, my family, the Mendezes…).  And, when we came back, we brought Steph along with us.  🙂 

That was, FOR SURE, my last big trip. 

Anyhow, I need to get going to my doctor’s appointment.  Here are some pics that I stole from Hyun-June from the trip down:

 

They’re little and I don’t know how to make them any bigger…

It’s been a long time since we last posted so I figured now would be a good time to catch up on what’s been happening.  Imanuel turned 18 months earlier this month and the baby turned -2 months (meaning that in 2 months, he will officially be 0 – aka: born).  The weather is getting chilly up here and the leaves have begun changing colors which is nice.  We were able to spend a lot of time outside especially in our backyard.  Imanuel loves going outside and eating our apples from the trees. 

Some of his favorite words/phrases now are: 
crocodile, apricot, pasas (raisins), Uncle Bjorn, outside, gone, pray, (za)patos (shoes), and again
He can also repeat prayers after us which is exciting.   “Amen” is his favorite part though. 

As for the little one, he can pretty much just swim around and occasionally gets the hiccups.

The pets are also loving it outside although we have been more cautious about letting them out since we spotted a few coyotes hanging out in the tall grass behind the apple trees.  A couple Sabbaths ago, Israel let Bentley out in the morning and he ran straight for the backyard barking.  Israel thought it was a deer (bc he loves chasing deer), but he saw a couple coyotes back there.  They obviously didn’t run away from Bentley and crouched low instead.  To cut the drama, Israel had to run out there with a broom and start yelling to scare them away (and save Bentley’s life).  The next morning, they were out there again and we obviously didn’t let the pets out.  We haven’t spotted them since so hopefully they were so traumatized by Israel’s waving broom that they decided going after our pets wasn’t worth it.  (They eat dogs and cats, you know.) 

We just back from England a couple days ago.  It was a nice trip but I wish it would have been a little longer.  Israel spoke at the Adventist Student Association’s Student Weekend with Eugene Prewitt.  It was so nice and refreshing to see/hear Eugene speak!  Anyway, we stayed with the Hushes and we fell in love with them!  They are such incredible people.  They have a 5 year old son named Adriel, a 2 year old named Lea (pronounced LAY-uh), and a newborn that was only a couple weeks!  His name is Lukas.  They also have a Jack Russell Terrier who is a sweet-heart.  Her name is Katie.  Anyway, very kind and godly people.  We really enjoyed spending time with them.  They took us around sight-seeing for the one day we had off.  If you could just imagine what it was like with the 4 kids, us 4 parents, another couple (Manjit and Emma), and the dog, Katie, all in one mini-bus for an all day trip…it was crazy, but fun.  They lost my luggage from the flight over, (which is still lost now BTW), so that was a pain.  Anyhow, it’s nice to be back home though.  Traveling when you’re so pregnant isn’t the most comfortable thing.  It was definitely worth it though.  It was my first time in Europe.

Okay, I think that’s enough updating for now.  I’ll post some pictures up (which is probably what people want to see the most anyway).  God has been good to us as always even through the good times and the seemingly bad. 

PS:  What’s with the Facebook boom?  I’m feeling the pressure to join…

In our backyard

(I decided to swallow my pride and include a picture of me.)

At the park

Walking by the canal
     

Israel’s first baptism :  Lindsey Sutton on August 11, 2007

Eugene Prewitt preaching on Sabbath in Birmingham, England

Israel & Imanuel in John Wycliffe’s church

And right next to this….

By the decree of
the Council of Constance, more than forty years after his death his bones were
exhumed and publicly burned, and the ashes were thrown into a neighboring
brook. “This brook,” says an old writer,
“hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow
seas, they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem
of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over.”– T. Fuller,
Church History of Britain, b. 4, sec. 2, par. 54. Little did his enemies
realize the significance of their malicious act. – GC – the chapter on John Wycliffe.

This was that stream where they dispersed his ashes.

Checking out Robin Hood’s old stomping grounds…

The oak trees are almost 1,000 years old.  They were huge.  Supposedly Robin Hood hid in the trunk of this one.

Pastor Hush and Adriel

We visited Oxford and also did some shopping there.

Aren’t they adorable?  With their english accents, they were even cuter!

A picture I snuck early one morning.  Imanuel slept in the bed with us one night there.  🙂 

This last picture epitomizes our trip.  We suffered from jetlag and right when we were adjusting, we headed back home.  We’re adjusting well now, though.  Wow, this was a long post.  I’m hungry.