J's Birthday!

On Saturday evening (August 25), we had a bunch of people over till 11. It was great! Lots of games, fun and food (Chilli and corn bread thanks to Merrilea, Sara and Chassiday!!!) Joseph really enjoyed his birthday part as did everyone else who came!

Here's most of us hanging out after eating Joseph's R2D2 cake. (Thanks Sarah! It looked GREAT!!!)
We had to hunt around to 5 different shops to get icing sugar for it!
The 4 people in the left most part of the picture are our new team members. Boy are we ever glad they are all here. By the way, that's not me in the right side of the picture...that's a friend from Texas!


Joseph and his cake. I don't think we ever sang the song in tune but we sure had fun.

We REALLY had fun with helium balloons. I'm not sure how much helium is healthy to inhale ... maybe we all have some dead brain cells because of it! :-)

What Happens on a Sleepover....

Our friends have gone out of town so we are having their daughters as guests for a week. What do you think they do with our girls?....

FACIALS!!!! Quite interesting...even for Nafisa!

Facials...cucumbers on the eyes....


A mixture of oatmeal, apples and some other stuff makes for smelly concoction!



Whose having the most fun?

A Day in the Life - August '07

Joseph (Alias "J", "Joe" , "Guiseppe") with Merrilea


YUCK - Youth Under Christ the King,
Saturday evening August 18 in our living room).

Playing UNO with friends at an engagement party for friends....


More games at that party

Nafisa couldn't get enough of Connect Four!


New bunny from Oma! Came Saturday the 18th! Thanks Oma!


Our friends: Shine and Janina - engagement party!

The Terrace

Sometimes you may just get in your car and drive to a special place to relax. For me (Bill) back in the US in Massachusetts during my young adult years, that would have been the Blue Hills or Wampatuck State Park or just getting onto I-95 and cruzing up to New Hampshipre to get on the Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountains and back. In Wyoming, that would have been a day trip to Sheridan or the hot springs. When we are in Pennsylvania with Merrilea's mom and dad, for me it's driving through the hills to Amish country and purchasing some of their GREAT cheese!

Here, it takes a bit longer to get places. 45 kilometers (28 miles) may take an hour or more. We've gone to some 'hill stations' - low mountains to the west of our city. There's one place that is known throughout our state for strawberries.

Sometimes, if we just want to 'get away' we sit on our bedroom patio, here called a terrace. It's a small area but it overlooks that park and the mountains to the south of our city. We get a really good breeze there as well. ... So make a cup of hazelnut coffee, take a Bible or another family member and just sit for a while!

At the Park + College Interns

Joseph and Maria and Bill took Nafisa and Sofy to the park this week when it wasn't raining.


Sofia (Sofy) is Nafisa's best friend. Her mom and dad own the coffee shop we go to - Coffee Jar. It's got the best coffee in town!

They really enjoyed the rides and the other stuff.


On Friday we gained another two team members for 6 months! Chassidy and Sarah arrived from Southwest Baptist University in Missouri. We promptly put them on an Amazing Race Pune to become confident moving in community, riding several rickshaws to various places of interest around the city. They then went with Merrilea to visit some of her friends.

Our kids went out to their youth group this evening, so Nafisa and I spent some time together joking and playing.