our new home!

After spending an amazing summer in our hometown with our family and friends, we are now halfway across the country in our new home!  We are thrilled to be here, but also missing everyone back home.  We definitely LOVED our summer.

 

But anyway, onto our journey.

 

Nathan and Aaron did an awesome job of packing this trailer to the max.  I was a little nervous the door would pop open or something, and tons of stuff would spill out...but I know I worry and analyze too much :)  It didn't happen.

We are so blessed with such amazing parents.  My parents and Nathan's parents came along with us (Dad and Mom M, thank you for hauling the trailer!  And Dad and Mom S, thank you for hauling Kaine and Halle! :) ).  Aaron's dad also came with a truck full of our stuff--we missed you, Carmen!  Wish you could have come too!

We were honored to spend 10 hours in our van with this lovely traveling companion.  Deborah, we are so glad you came with us!  We so loved talking with you and catching up on life.  And our kids loved the attention you gave them, too!

I was super excited to see the Arch!  St. Louis looks like a beautiful city.

Finally, we arrived at New Tribes Mission's Missionary Training Center (MTC)!  We were so glad to be here.  The drive went well, but 10 hours of sitting down is a lot!

Here is a picture of our apartment (for now).  I will post about this more, but we are living in temporary housing while the maintenance guys furiously remodel our bathroom.  We are thankful for how hard they are working on it so that our family can move into our permanent apt soon!

And this is a pic of our "real" apartment!  Isn't it beautiful?  These apartments are kind of like 4 townhouses attached together.  So we will have a 2-story apartment, which I think is so fun :)  Our apartment unit is the one on the far left.  We are also excited to have good friends from NTBI as our next door neighbors!

Here is the view from our front door.  The apartment building that you see in this pic is another "4-plex".  Aaron and Jill live in this one.  We are so thankful that they live so close to us!

The staff has been so kind and welcoming to us.  Here we are with Tom, taking a tour of the place.

What a beautiful place that God has blessed us with for the next 1.5 years!

A staff family invited us and a bunch of other new students over for a cookout last night--it was so fun to meet new people and catch up with old friends!

They made our parents feel welcome too, which we were so thankful for!

We are very excited to be trained at this exceptional facility.  We know we are about to learn a ton and be challenged, stretched and grown.  We are so very thankful that God led us to New Tribes! 

 

 

We would appreciate prayers as we settle in, get Kaine started at public school and our kids in their classes, and as we continue our training! 

third annual slip n slide day!

Our kids are loving this tradition that we have unintentionally started!  Nathan's dad builds houses, so he always has tons of visquine (no idea if I spelled that right!) around the house.  They also have great hills that are perfect for a massive slip n slide.  So this is the third year now that we have done this, and it is so much fun!

 

At least, Kaine and Halle think it is so much fun!  They were loving that thing.

Layla, on the other hand...not so much!  Ha!  Poor girl...Nathan thought if he just tossed her down she would see how much fun it was.  Nope, didn't work.  (Love my picture-taking shadow in this pic!  Seems to be my usual pose :) )

Daisy wasn't too sure about the slip n slide either...

But Nathan sure loved it! 

And being the great daddy that he is, Nathan soon had the these two begging for more.  Good job, honey!!

 

 

Fun times.  Great summer.  Headed to Missouri for our next phase of training in just 2 days...and more on that later!

ahhh...these friendships of ours

Ever since we have been heading to the mission field, I have started viewing friendships differently.  While I definitely LOVED and valued friendships before, I now see them in a whole new light.  This summer we have been so blessed to strengthen friendships, but it is bittersweet. The closer that we get to people, the more difficult it will be to say goodbye!  Sigh.  How I long for heaven.

 

This was a very BUSY and FUN summer.  We filled it with family and friend time.  I wish I had taken pictures of each family or friend that we spent time with, but I didn't take my camera everywhere (although I'm sure it felt like it to my kiddos!)   Oh well.  So these pictures represent a small part of the people we (and our kids) were blessed by this summer.  (I am going to make a mental note to make sure to take pics of Nathan and I with friends next summer!  Almost all of my pictures are of our kids and their friends!) 

 

 

 

So thankful for friendships!  Nathan and I believe strongly that friendships are one of the GREATEST gifts that God has given to us.

2 peas in a pod

 

LOVE their matching facial expressions!!!

A visit from Aunt Jenna

A highlight of our summer is always when Jenna comes to visit!  Our kiddos absolutely adore their aunt Jenna, and they pick up where they left off with her like it was yesterday.  I am so thankful for that.  The last time Jenna was home was at Christmas, so our kids were so excited to be with her again.

 

Our time with Jenna was very short but sweet this summer.  She came home while we were in Florida, so we had a few less days with her.

 

Grandma Steffen took us to Grounds and Grains for a yummy breakfast (and super yummy coffee for me!!)...

We celebrated Kyle's birthday...(and no, Nathan is not sleeping in that first pic!  There is just something about Jenna that brings out the weirdness and goofiness in him!)  :)

Here is Kyle, just moments before his hair almost caught fire!  No kidding...it was singed and we could all smell burnt hair.  Yikes!

Kyle and Jenna took Kaine and Halle on an "uncle/aunt/niece/nephew date" to the Tin Caps.  Kaine and Halle had a BLAST, and they loved being spoiled by their uncle Kyle!  They came home with Tin Caps hats and these short little souvenir bats. 

And Kaine is showing off his almost empty bag of cotton candy :)

 

Good times.  Jenna, we LOVE having you home!  Now, we are excited to come and visit you and our kids can't wait to meet their "cousins" in Mexico!!

good buddies!!

I just love to watch Ivy and Layla's friendship as they grow older!  They are one year apart, and they are really becoming such good friends.  I love that my kiddos have cousins their age!