Its been busy aroung here

Last week we had a guest staying with us and his name is Matt Bell. He was in the Houston area for about 4 days and spent all but one night with us. It was a pleasure having him here and we did our best to help him get ready to continue on to NC. Matt and Heidi Bell, along with their son Isaac have been in Guatemala for that last two years doing medical missions with Agape in Action. It has been a joy to work with them these two years and if you want to check out some of their adventures while in Guatemala you can check out the Agape in Action blog, bookmarked on this blog.

Russ did his best to help Matt get things done while here in the Houston and Matt and his friend Martin (from Guatemala) got back on the road to NC on Wednesday night after driving to the US from Guatemala the weekend before.

Did I mention that it has been quite warm around here for the last few days? Well it has. This past weekend, Bethany attended the local Scrapaloofa at her mom's church. It was a Friday night and all day Saturday event. This meant that Russ and Tye got to have some guy time. They definitely had a good time and on Saturday, they went to Tye's grandparents house to help Granddad assemble the "park" for Tye. Tye's grand parents have a park for Tye which is the best way we know how to describe it to Tye at this point. It is basically everything a kid could want in a playground. It has a slide, swing set, bridge, climbing wall.....you name it they've got it. Needless to say, Russ, Tye and Granddad had a good time working on the playground on Saturday and Tye did his best to contribute to the effort. On Sunday afternoon Russ went to the lake with Chuck and Adam and they had a good time after a little bit of a battery fiasco with the boat (but that is another story).

Well that was our week, more or less, so we invite you to let us know what you have been up to lately and we will check back with you soon.

Peace,
R, B, T and ?

His drunken' sailor walk...

Just for fun...here's Tye and Isaac on the trampoline at The Ficker's house. Enjoy1



blessings...
bethany

We are home!

We had a fantastic trip to Guatemala, and it is always bittersweet to be back. Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers while we were there. Here is the slideshow of all of our pictures...I know there are a lot, but it is too hard to choose and eliminate, and with so many adventures, I had to include them all.



Love to you all...
Bethany

Heading Out

Well we are heading out for Guatemala tomorrow and we will be gone for about 10 days. We always pray for a good trip but that is a very general phrase used to encompass many different events that occur on a mission trip. We ask you to be in prayer for us and for the team that is going down with us. We also ask you to be praying for a replacement doc for Matt, Heidi and Isaac because they are leaving at the end of this month. The Lord will work it out in His timing and we desire to have full confidence and faith in Him for providing for these needs. He is our sustainer and provider and nothing that we do will progress without His blessing and provision to make it happen. We are excited for the Bell family to be moving on to the next chapter of their lives but we will definitely miss them and their hard work and friendship in Guatemala. Please be praying for them also, as they move back to the States to take on their next mission. We will check in when we get back....

Libby's wedding and some news...

Well, we had a great time at Libby's wedding and they should be back from their honeymoon today. Congratulations Libby and Ethan!!! Tye was a very cute ring bearer and he got the privilege of walking down the isle with Blake who was a beautiful flower girl (escorted by Russ). Russ had to make sure they walked all the way down to the front without making a detour. Russ led the congregation in two songs of worship and it seems that a good time was had by all.

In other news, Bethany is pregnant with child #2. We are very excited and we ask you to be in prayer with us as the Lord knits this child together in Bethany's womb. We are trusting in Him to create the child that He has for us. We look forward to the blessings He has for us to through this child.

These are some pics of the wedding and the events thereof.




Tye checking out the flower arrangement on stage.




Tye holding hands with the cute flower girl :)





Bethany and Tye saying cheese at the wedding.

Getting ready for Aunt "Bibby's" wedding!

We tried on Tye's tux for Aunt Libby's wedding next weekend, and he definitely has been going through a growth spurt, because...well, it did not fit. So back to Al's for the exchange. Here are a few pictures of him showing off his "special" suit. We are trying to talk it up as much as possible so he does not mind wearing it for a few hours and actually walking a straight line down the aisle next weekend. Libby is doing much better and went back to work this week, so praise the Lord for her healing. Thanks for all the prayers.



Okay, so I could not pass up posting this picture. He found these glasses in a box of toys a friend of ours gave us. He loved them.

It is the beginning of June

Well, it is the beginning of June and the year is flying!! Tye is 18 months old today. It is pretty warm here in Houston but we are enjoying the temperate evenings. Last night we sat out in the driveway and drank some ice water. It was nice. The immediate future for us holds: a trip to Guatemala July 3-13, refinancing our house, Russell's sister getting married, and looking for a missionary doctor to work in Guatemala. So we will be pretty busy for the next few weeks (Lord willing, we will find a doctor sooner than later). Please pray for the doctor search specifically.

Also, Russ's sister is having some health problems right now that could cause a delay in her getting married if the doctors don't figure it out soon. There have been rumors of her having anything from mono to Hep A to some sort of autoimmune disease. As of today, she does not have the Hep or the autoimmune but they still don't know what the problem is. I am not a doctor but none of these sound like good options. She has been nauseated for 2 or 3 weeks now and according to the most current tests, she is having some sort of liver problems. Not fun.

Tye is running around the house like a crazy man and he is a total joy to our family. We thank God for him everyday. As you probably noticed, above are couple of pics of him that were taken by our friend Rachel Vogel. Thanks Rachel...they turned out great.