Our Busy July

We anticipated that July was going to be a busy month for our family and it certainly exceded our expectations! Nathan serves as the Director of the Summer Institute Program at Master's College and all the students in that program are on campus for the 4 weeks of July. After spending 6 months interacting with nearly 150 students via phone and email, it was a joy for him to finally meet all the students and get to know them a little. But it also kept his schedule very full so he wasn't home too much. The kids and I went over the college a lot to see him though. In doing so, we also got to meet many of the students and make lots of new friends. Above is a picture of some of the students, faculty and staff who were here this summer.

I was blessed to participate in the program two ways this year. First, as a professor (wow! that sounds very official!!) And I feel very unqualified for such a title. But it was a huge blessing! I spent a week with 4 women in a discipleship-type class. And although I was the instructor, I learned so much through the experience. Second, I took my LAST class in the MABC program!!! Yeah!! And I was so fortunate to have Dr. Stuart Scott as my professor. He is a great teacher and I learned so much from him in the course of just one week.

While I was at school, Micah and Ashlyn had fun with Dianna (or Dinanna as Micah affectionately calls her). Thank you so much for caring for our little ones during this hectic time Dianna. It was such a blessing!

In spite of all our busyness though, we still managed to have some fun. So, here are some pictures from our fun times during our busy July. Enjoy...

We ate dinner in the cafeteria at Master's quite a bit this month. I loved it because I didn't have to cook. Micah loved it because he always got a special slushy drink and Miss Alma was constantly giving him yummy desserts. Add that to the soft-serve ice cream machine and you can bet that this kid was overloaded with sugar!

Nathan and Uncle Micah took a night off to take these two cute boys to a Dodger game. They had a blast, although I don't think they really knew there was a game going on. Micah andJosiah just had fun playing around together. But Micah now says he wants to be a baseball player when he grows up and he wants to play for the Dodgers (much to Daddy's chagrin - he's a Giants fan). As we were laughing about that thought, someone made the comment that if he ever did sign a big league contract with the Dodgers, Daddy would quickly become a Dodger fan!!


The Schlegel family (from Israel) was on campus for a few days so they had an IBEX reunion at the pool. Bill shared with us all about some of the things that have been going on with IBEX and also shared a devotional with us from Romans.


It was fun to see Stephanie again. I haven't seen her since we left Israel... 6 years ago.


Rod, Micah and Martin ~ Gooday Mate!

There were several students from Austrailia this summer and Micah had so much fun with them. A few of them came over one night to play games and teach Micah how to speak like an Aussie. They kept encouraging us to come visit Down Under and Micah is all ready to go. Now all we have to do is find the money to pay for the plane ticket! Yikes!

Ashlyn, Micah and Mama at the Hollywood Bowl

Micah's favorite movie is Mary Poppins. So when I found out that Julie Andrews would be at the Hollywood Bowl this month I knew he would love going. Most kids might not recognize Julie Andrews today as being the woman who played Mary Poppins, since it has been over 40 years since that movie was made. But on the 40th anniversary DVD there's a special bonus feature with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke reminiscing about making the movie - and Micah loves that just as much as the movie itself. Although they didn't play any music from Mary Poppins, there were several songs from the Sound of Music, another favorite of his.

Josiah and Micah at the Hollywood Bowl to see Julie Andrews

As we sat in the stands waiting for the performance to begin, Micah was so excited he was shaking. When the orchestra began with the Sound of Music, pictures from the movie appeared on the big screen, and Julie Andrews came on stage, he could hardly contain himself. It was fun to see him so excited! It was a great evening with wonderful music (including Jubilant Sykes as one of the guest vocalists). Micah gave us a good laugh at the end of the evening when he asked if we could go see Julie Andrews. He didn't understand that she doesn't know us since we know her so well. Doesn't she see us when we see her on the TV?

Lovin' on his sister...

We had fun cooling off at the Aquatic Center one day...

In addition to all that was going on at work, preparation for the Men's Conference also consumed a considerable amount of Nathan's time. There were nearly 400 men at the conference this year. Praise the Lord! It is exciting to see so many men eager to learn so they may effect change in the lives of others. If you weren't able to make it to the conference, DVD's from the 4 main sessions and MP3's of the breakout sessions will be made available through the website at www.masters.edu/mdm

Micah and Bonnie led the worship for the conference

Besides coordinating and "MC"ing the conference, this year Nathan got to join a great lineup of speakers in teaching one of the breakout sessions. It was a privilege for him to do that, but it also made for an incredibly full day. He was so thankful for the many volunteers who helped make the conference successful, especially Summer Martin and Dave Hulet - you guys were lifesavers!! Thanks so much!!

You can see more pictures from the conference at http://ckvphotography.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/324/

While Nathan was busy with the Men's Conference, I was busy with two little boys - Josiah spent the day at our house while Micah and Bonnie were at the conference. While I didn't find time to snap any pictures of Micah and Josiah, I did get one of Ashlyn and Joshua together at the end of the day. Joshua is growing fast and starting to catch up with Ashlyn.

It was a joy to have Karen Avinelis over for dinner one night. She is our friend who invited us to pick blueberries at the beginning of June. Micah enjoyed a partner in building a train track and reading Bible stories.

Ashlyn finished up the month with something new... grabbing her feet! It's so cute!