Ty, Trev, & trip...

As you can imagine, my cousins Trev & Ty are high on entertainment value for me! They gave me some stellar puppet shows yesterday.


They are both WONDERFUL boys & this picture kind of sums up their different interests: while Ty (5) loves flinging his body around to make football catches in the living room, Trevor (8) would sometimes rather curl up with a science magazine and learn all kinds of neat stuff about bugs or creatures or space.


Ty's best mid-air catch! Go Ty!

Helping Trevor practice his piano-- he's sounding great! (even with the football helmet) :)

From Caroline: Daddy, I am having a really hard time since you left. I won't let Mommy out of my sight, and if she even leaves the room, sometimes I'll completely melt down. I think it's because I miss you and I'm in an unfamiliar place. But don't worry about me, Daddy- I'm having a great time here, sleeping & eating great, but I just won't let myself have a good time unless Mommy is right there with me.

Mission trip update: (the following is from a quick phone conversation with Marc on the train) After sleeping on the floor of a hosting church last night, the group had some more training/teaching time this morning. From what I could gather from Marc, it was about how we ALL are broken, and we can truly relate to the poor because of that. Marc said that although he already knew the things that were taught in his head, today's training really helped him personally connect it to his heart.

Then they packed lunches, took the train downtown, split up into small groups, and had the assignment to take an extra packed lunch to eat with a homeless person. It sounds like each group had different experiences with this, but Marc told me that one of their group's 2 men was so excited and thankful to receive the meal while another one acted in denial of his circumstances. ("where do you go when you get really cold here?" "I don't know where they go.") Guess we all like holding onto some dignity.

After lunch, they headed over to a place called Hope House, which is a ministry to help felons transition back into society once they are out of jail. Our group got to tour the ministry and listen to some former felons share their personal stories. (one man had killed two people and was crying as he shared. Wow.)

Since I'm not there (Caroline & I are staying with my sister here in Chicago), I can't tell you everything they're learning & feeling firsthand. But wow- just hearing what they've already done & seen in 24 hours shows me that they're definitely not going to return the same as they came. I'm so excited to see how God works through them & especially IN them!!