This year has been one for the books.  A year of motion.  If you saw our Christmas News Letter then you got the gist of it.  🙂 Here are a few more pictures. We are so blessed to have had such an amazing year!

U-Turn

2018 started out with a U-Turn of sorts.  As you may know, we have always prayed to be sent into full-time ministry.  That prayer was answered this year! We have joined Wycliffe Bible Translators and are heading to the Solomon Islands as soon as we have financial partnership for 100% of our Wycliffe ministry budget.

Full Speed Ahead

With our new direction determined, it was full speed ahead.  We put the finishing touches on our house and put it up for sale. Then we sold all we could, and packed the rest into a U-Haul and headed to Ludington to live with my (Katie’s) mom.

Rustic Rest Stop

We were sad to leave what we had come to love in the UP.  Whatever chance we got we were out on the trails, stopping at every rustic rest stop with a trail along the way.  We finally were able to make it to Yooper Days in Munising and saw the Pictured Rocks with a free boat ride for us transplants! We made it to Tahquamenon Falls, Wagner Falls, Eagle River, Copper Harbor, Lake Fanny Hoe and one last dip in Hungarian Falls.

Road Work Ahead

All adventures take work, and ours is no exception.  We started with a 6-week online course, followed by 2 intense weeks in Orlando, FL. We spent the following few months traveling through 7 states, visiting family and friends and sharing about this crazy cool story God has given us.  Next year we will have another month+ of training in NC plus 3 months of training in Papua New Guinea. Our hope and prayer is to be in the Solomon Islands by next fall

A young girl from the Solomon Islands’ province of Makira dances at the 11th Festival of the Pacific Arts

Slow Down

It has been hard to find time to rest and spend time as a family over the last 5 months, but God has provided respites here and there. For our anniversary Josh and I got to spend some time alone together camping in the Porkies Mountains. God’s beautiful creation continues to be an amazing place to go and recharge. We’ve also had a few times with our extended family that we normally do not have.

Children Crossing

Aaron celebrated his 14 birthday this year and enjoys solving the Rubik’s cube at ridiculously fast speeds.  Abigail turned 12 in July and enjoys coloring, jewelry, and nail polish. Andrew is now 10 and still writing books and telling jokes.  Anna turned 6 at the beginning of the year, so she is almost 7, and as energetic as ever. She enjoys helping mommy and actually potty trained her little brother almost all on her own!  Asher will be 3 in February and is as mischievous as ever. He has four adoring siblings and can now speak pretty well.  All children are excited to be moving to the Solomon Islands and to be a part of Bible translation, though they are all dealing with the sacrifice to get there in their own way.