Author: Joyce

Mulberry Inn

MulberryInnAndrea had a soccer tournament this weekend.  This year, Allan found us Mulberry Inn, a Victorian house that Deana, the owner, told us was built before Abraham Lincoln became president.

It was a pretty house with a nice yard for the kids to explore. We were able to rent the whole second floor and were told we could use the room on the Widow’s Walk if needed.

The inn was perfect for our needs this weekend.  It was inexpensive, the hotel would have cost more! We needed to leave by 8:00 on Saturday and 7:00 on Sunday to get to the fields in time for practice.  We were supplied breakfast food, but we prepared it when we wanted in the full kitchen in our room.  We used the kitchen again for dinner on Saturday when we decided to eat in.

Do you enjoy spiral staircases, dolls, antiques and knickknacks?  Prefer a casual bed and breakfast?  You might enjoy the Mulberry Inn.

Maple Leaf

Maple leafHebrews 12: 1 ESV “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

Arrived

Mark at site
Mark at transmitter site, almost 3 years old

After watching a map all afternoon to see approximately where Mark was, we knew that he arrived in Jo’burg at 9:18 on Tuesday evening. We knew that he would be exhausted.

Today, around 3:30, Mark called. He said the connection was bad, so he could not e-mail, but he could talk for a little while. He mentioned he was tired, that the flights were long, whenever he started to get hungry they started passing food out again and it was mostly cloudy the whole trip.

They spent the night at a guest house and drove to Swaziland this morning. He would have talked more, but the phone was acting up and Mark was sounding so tired.

Thank you for praying for his safe trip there. If you want to see what he is doing, check out his blog here.

Today’s Smile

meganmomPumpkinMegan said, “this is Megan and Mommy pumpkin! Audrey helping me do each le’er”

Audrey will tell Megan what the new letter is, or write it on another paper.  Megan than writes it down.  She does not write all her letters, and they don’t always turn out so nicely, but she is doing very well.

World Traveler

MarkAnother nice thing about teaching your children at home, is the opportunities that become available when students are not required to be in a class room to learn.

Mark was born in Swaziland.  He was little when we moved back here, but he has always wanted to visit Swaziland.  He does not remember much of Africa, but he has heard us talk about it.

On Monday, Mark starts his journey to visiting Swaziland.  He leaves Chicago mid afternoon and arrives in Jo’burg the next evening.  Then he will journey to Swaziland to stay for a month with his Opa and Oma.

For school, he is taking some math and books that he needs to read for Literature class.  He will using his writing skills to send me notes and write blogs.  Past that, his job is to learn whatever he can.

We are not really sure what Mark will be doing there.  He is hoping to learn about the transmitter site Opa and Daddy used to work at.  He is looking forward to helping Oma do different things.  Exploring the town and meeting people is exciting too. He would love to visit game parks.  He wants to learn a little siSwati. There are so many opportunities!

Please pray for Mark and his grandparents!  Pray for safe travel and patience during the long trip.  Mark gets to experience jet lag and missing his family. Pray that he can be a great help and an encourager to those he meets.  Pray that so many new experiences won’t overwhelm him.  Please pray also that Mark’s relationship with his grandparents grows as he learns more about what they do and interacts with them on a daily basis.

Most importantly, please pray with us that as Mark leaves most everything he is comfortable with,  he grows in what he knows about the true God.  We would love to see the faith that he has to grow and become stronger.