Let rehab begin...!

Fun at the Fair

So...what did I do this fall? Pictured above is a volunteer presenting the gospel to one of the children at the Kansas State Fair. http://www.cefofkansas.blogspot.com/

Allyn, I and Tim coordinated the Gospel Handpainting Tent for CEF of KS. There were around 1,660 + kids that came through the tent and heard the Word. We are so grateful to the over 140 volunteers that gave of their time and energy.

While it was so fun to coordinate...I was also happy to get the mound of handpainting supplies out of our bedroom. I'm ready to get into a Fall routine.

Did I ever mention to any of you that I love fall?!?! The weather. The colors. The holiday of Thanksgiving. Ah. So refreshing.

Pray for Rachel ...

http://www.healrachel.com/

So, Sept. 6th ended on alot different note than anticipated. I was down in Hutchinson, KS that evening preparing for the final CEF Handpainting Training. Tim and I had set up the State Fair booth. Last I had talked to mom, everything was laid out and ready to be packed for the rehearsal dinner the next day....

The training went great. It wasn't till afterwards that Allyn told me that my sister-in-law to be had been....life flighted. (gulp)

The next morning we learned specific details of what happened. Rachel suffered an injury at the chiropracter that lacerated the verteberal artery (it's a major artery located in the spinal column). She was life-flighted into the University of Iowa Hospital. After 2 strokes and a seizure, she underwent an emergency operation to remove the VERY LARGE clot in her brain stem.

The first few hours after the surgery were very intense. The news that day was sobering. We wept. We prayed. The last 4 hours of our trip to Iowa City were some of the longest in our life. Immediate family and close friends arrived to the hospital throughout that day (mainly those who would have arrived for rehearsal). Dad had visibly the hardest time. His eyes were always moist.

Rachel began to stablize over that weekend. She has overcome alot of hurdles. She is not out of ICU yet. There are some big mountains ahead. PLEASE continue to pray! Be specific and be bold. http://www.healrachel.com/ will give you current information and prayer requests for Rachel. Ryan has faithfully stayed by her. He's going to make a great husband.

Two Brother's Engaged!

This weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting Rachel Garrison. YEAH! I enjoyed her company so much. She's alot of fun. Ryan and Rachel G. have been dating for about two months!

Ryan and Rachel G. next to the plants we were putting in tubs. A classic moment.

Our cousin Heidi Baltensperger was married to Ben the first weekend of June. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding in the grooms parent's backyard.
Mom was a powerhouse. She came back from cooking a full week of CYIA to serve the food for Heidi's wedding. Together there were 7 of us that served food. We watched the ceremony from the patio with pepsi's in hand (!) Marrianne came back from Chicago for the wedding. It was a wonderful evening. We're excited for Ben and Heidi!

Summer

Hope your having a great summer!
Here are some pictures from our summer.


The end of May:

The Hayden's came to visit. We had a fun 2 days. Even though the pool was still too cold to swim in - we did anyhow!


Here is the TCE group from CEF of KS. I co-taught this week long course in Newton, KS with Mr. Brown (far left) and Tammy Sellin (front of me). We had a great time.


There were several storms that kept the guys really busy this year. Here is a picture of the large branch that skimmed the side of my folk's house.

Family Reunion: Allyn and I enjoyed a road trip to NE for his side's family reunion. The Frantz family gathered in Nebraska City for 3 days(!) We stayed with our friends, Alan and Melissa just down the road from the lodge. It was great to see everyone. Eric and Liz were even able to make it back from Chicago!

Alpha: Both Allyn and I are serving with Alpha this course on Sunday evenings. Allyn does sound and I do hospitality. It's a great group of people.

Cleaning Party 'n Pizza

This past semester, I've enjoyed being involved with a young ladies Bible study. We used the Inductive Bible Study method - focused on the book of Jonah.

Our service project for the final night was cleaning the house of a family with three small children ages 3, 1, and 6 weeks. The mother's Birthday was Saturday - we sent them out on a

date. Between the 7 girls we watched the kids and cleaned for 2 hours.

Adam (3 yrs old) enjoyed vaccuming himself. Erin enjoyed holding baby Issac.

We found a large spider while cleaning that we killed with a video case (JFYI - that picture was NOT posed of Bethany freaking out!)

Pictured to the right is the Bible study leader of the group....Ok, let me explain! Her job was to knock down the cobwebs (!) and she took it seriously.

Below: We had a Pizza party after wards! Yum!!! The girls are incredible and it was tons of fun to get to know them and study together.

Just the girls

Yesterday morning, my sister Anna drove down from NE. Most of the day we babysat 4 little girls (Condra family). We had a blast. As seen in the picture, they tested out my brand NEW sidewalk chalk on our patio. We read books, had a picnic, braided hair, etc.

He is RISEN!

Happy Easter!
We spent the day in Lindsborg, KS with extended family and friends. After lunch and the Easter Egg Candy hunt (a tradition that Aunt Shirley ensures will happen each year) for the kids we attended the Messiah put on by Bethany College. We had plenty of time for fun and games and visiting.

Also, pictured below are the snow covered tulips at Grma Frantz' house. The storm that came through just prior to Easter left 5 inches of snow atop the flowers.

Allyn playing Skittles with Noah and Lanie.

Emily helping Riley pick up her candy after the Candy Hunt.

Scrapbook'n

Last week, while on the final leg of recovering from a bad cold (that was the kind that lasted 4 weeks!) I enjoyed scrapbooking NCHEA 06. It was a ton of fun. A couple weeks ago, I had met with a Creative Memory Consultant and asked her a bunch of questions - how to's. etc. Anna Weddle got me onto power layouts (shown in the picture - LOL - it covered our living room for 2 days!!!). After picking up stuff at Hobby Lobby during the 1/2 price Scrapbooking sale - I was anxious to start. Next, I'd like to do our dating/engagement album and then our wedding. I enjoy not only the memories, but also it really has makes me stop in awe at God's faithfulness through every season of life.

March Visit to NE

We had an eventful visit to NE.
Jacob was home from TN - so the guys kicked into gear. They took down a ton of cedars in the pasture and hauled off 5 huges loads of scrap metal.

While this was going on, Mom, Anna and I gave the first floor a scrub down. We were preping for hosting the Baltensperger side in a get-to-gather. The evening was a delight. Below you will see a picture of Aunt Connie with our cousin's child - Brayden - having fun with the farm animal set.

The Hungary Summit - March 07

Pictured (l to r) Allyn and Emily, Emily K, Janos, Whittney Mullet, Brad Mullet, Eric Weddle, Liz Weddle


Thursday we awoke to snow (see pic). It was quite a contrast to Wed's high of 67!

We packed our bags Thursday morning and headed out for Peoria, IL to visit the other Emily Weddle. She is taking classes at a community college while living with some close family friends who have 4 young boys ranging from 8-0. It was great to see the Hoffman family and visit Emily in an envirment that she is thoroughly enjoying. We really enjoyed our visit.

Emily then car pooled with us to Saint Louis for the 2 day Hungary Summit. There are some really special folks involved in this ministry!!! It was a great time of hearing what God has done and what they desire to see happen. After the Summit on Saturday - we all crashed Janos' home and enjoyed a couple hours catching up on each others lives.

Late Febuary Update

We're doing well! Allyn and I both celebrated our birthday's this month and our 1 year engagement anniv. on Feb 12th. YEAH!

1 week of Feb. we house sat for an older couple we know. They had 1 dog, 4 cats, and 28 chickens. All survived. :P

pictured is an angel food cake I made last week. I hadn't made one since I was married. Grandma B always made GREAT angel food cakes. So with her recipe in hand...I took a deep breath and started. While it wasn't as high as Grandma's would have been - it tasted good and brought back memories of Grma's Angel Food Birthday Cakes.


Allyn has really enjoyed the warmer temps. The guys did 2 roofs last week and have been out at Fort Riley working on 50 work orders for repairs.




Today...I babysat for a ladies Bible study, went to Life Choice as a receptionist for a couple hours, worked on my Precepts homework, babysat Allyn's second cousin (Brooklyn in picture) in the later afternoon and made a peach pie for company tonight.





Even though it was a little cool - Brooklyn and I invited our Ah-yong and Samuel (our neighbors) to the park. We packed some granola bars along with some grapes and apples. Yum!

The Weddles are keeping Brooklyn for a couple days while her mom has surgery for some skin cancer.

Peggy had heard good news this evening from the hospital that the surgery went well and the report was VERY upbeat. Such a praise!

Friends...

Allyn and I thoroughly enjoy hosting others in our apartment. 2 recent families we've had over have been....



The Khang Family live in our apartment complex. Ahyong and I get together ever Monday to study in preparation for the Wednesday Bible Study. She's a true delight to have in my life and challenges me spiritually. CK (husband) was raised in a Christian home, but Ahyong converted from Buddhism to Christianity 5 years ago. They are passionate about their faith. Both of us couples are praying about begining a Small Group Bible study together in the near future.


The Joyce family
After a supper of lasagna, some of us played Chinese Checkers, Jinga or worked on a puzzle.
Allyn and I both love their kids. They are a neat family.


Clayson and I are buddies.
He often comes up to me on Sunday morning for his weekly hug.

Riding Bulls

A fun activity in January has been following Ben Mullet to area rodeos. Ben Mullet works full time for Allyn and is in the PBR.

The 19th of January, we all headed to Topeka to see Ben preparing to ride.

The 26th we were in Lincoln for dinner with the Wissmans, Viox's, and my siblings. A group of us went to the Persing Center to cheer Ben on. He broke a 'down' streak and rode the 8 seconds with a score of 77.




The next day, we went with Ben to visit his sister and brother-in-law in MO (also a newly married couple). That was a lot of fun as well.

Park Shelter Fun and More

Allyn, Tim, Ben, and Josh enjoyed roofing the Park Shelter at Keats, KS. The monier tile was something new and exciting (for roofers!).



When Eric came home over Christmas, the guys made sure to set aside time for target practice

Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas! The highlights of Christmas 2007...

Giving Rebeckah and Kristin a puppy - named Lars! Surprise!

Melanie and the Balt family joining us in our apartment on Christmas afternoon....and the lingering memories of a great game of Apples to Apples!

Attending Bethlehem Revisited at a local farm west of Manhattan (live nativity scene) ...as we reflected on Christ's birth.

Spending time with family and friends!

Honeymoon in Victoria Canada

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Victoria Canada. The first 2 photos are taken in Butchart gardens. We spent over 5 hours in the various gardens. Absolutely beautiful!













The 3rd photo is the sunset taken off the board walk. Since our Bed and Breakfast was a 40 minute walk from downtown, we opted to take the boardwalk more than the taxi. (and you can see why)