family wedding

This weekend Hillary's dad got remarried and we were up in NY for a 4.5 days. In many ways this was a good time, but there was some sadness as it ties into the loss of Hillary's mom. Outside of the wedding some highlights included:

6 days of vacation - Wow!

Time with Hillary's sister and her family (3 cute kids).

Me going kayaking with Hillary's cousin and his girlfriend.

Swimming in the Battenkill, a river running alongside the family farm.

Reading under the apple tree in the afternoon shade.

Hillary's highschool reunion.

Seeing Hillary's cousins, one of who has a six month old we met for the first time.

Coming home and Wesley returning to a normal sleep schedule.

White Mountains

This past Thursday through Saturday I took 6 teens and one other adult hinking in the White Mountains of NH and it was a great time. We had awesome weather, which is super rare up there, and all made it back safely from our hike. I read this book about mountaineering and the author was saying that the trip is always a success if everyone makes it back safe and sound. This has become my motto and though some of us made it to the summit, the best part was all strolling into the parking lot together. It was a neat time to strengthen relationships among the teens, expose some of the teens to aspects of God's creation they had never seen, and for all of us to experience a serious challenge. My favorite part of the hike was emerging from the forest to hike above the tree line. There were stunning views, sunny skies, and a refreshing breeze as made our way along ridges, across boulder fileds, and finally across the saddle between a minor summit and Mt. Washington. Another highlight of the weekend was seeing the personalities of the different teens emerge, some more than I had seen before.

pictures and a week at home

Here are a few pictures of my time in Seattle and a recent photo of Wesley.

The city from a Water Taxi heading to West Seattle.

In the center of the picture you'll see a guy behind the counter catching a silvery blur. That is a huge salmon filet that another worker at this fish shop threw to him. This fish market is located in Pike's Place Market.

This is a shot of a neat exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. Cars flipping through the air with fiber-optic cables shooting out light.

This is me atop Granite Mt. which is east of Seattle and is an amazing hike. At the base it was almost a temperate rain forest, while at the top there is still a lot of snow. It was an exciting hike.


And finally, this is Wesley about two weeks ago at nine weeks old. He continues to grow and change and it is hard to keep the pictures up to date with the baby. He is smiling more and sleeping in his crib which is pretty awesome. This past week we've just been around home and that has been great.

a breather

This is the first somewhat normal Monday in three weeks, except for the electrician restoring power to half of our home. Between traveling to Seattle, ImpaCT 09 at our church, the Hartford Project with our teens, and visiting family for 4th of July we have been somewhat scattered. What I'll do is give you a quick summary of each and then I'll put some pictures up later.


Seattle: a great city with a totally different feel than cities on the East Coast. Lots of water, trees, and modern architecture. There aren't older buildings like there are here and there is this spread out feel to it all. I stayed at a great Hostel, walked around down town, explored via public transport, visited a neat museum, and spent time reading at a neat tea and crumpet shop. It was great to spend time with friends at the rehersal dinner and wedding and I was excited to hear about God working through his church in Seattle. In many ways the spiritual needs reminded me of the New England area, but it was interesting to see how the same issues of sin and brokenness played out in different ways. The same root issues lead people in New England to work themselves to death, while in Seattle people take vacation and rest very seriously. Here people tend to be blunt and cold while in Seattle they are warmer but very passive aggressive. Anyway, you get the idea - same underlying disease with different manifestatoins.


ImpaCT 09 - This was a time of focused gospel ministry where we had teams from AL, and MA, as well as individuals coming in from various other places. The two teams primarily focused on a children's program which we ran in an impoverished area of the city. The other individuals went through West Hartford and Waterbury (a city about 30min away) and sought to have conversatoins with people about God. God blessed these endeavors by providing opportunities to speak with a variety of people about the gospel. We are currently following up with the many people who either expressed interest in further conversation or committed themselves to Christ.


The Hartford Project - About 200 teenagers and youth leaders from fourteen area churches came into Hartford for a four day missions trip. We partnered with churches and orginizations in the city to show the love of God to Hartford. This was an amazing time of service as we God powerfully at work in all sorts of ways. We saw him controlling the weather so we could continue with our plans for outdoor festivals at two churches. We saw his life changing power as we heard about his work in saving people that come from places of influence and power, and people who have been brought to nothing by addiction. We also had wonderful times of worship as we praised God for all that we saw him doing that week. This was my second year participating and both times it has been an incredible experience.

Visiting Family - Right after the Hartford Project ended I hopped on the road to meet family in the Pocono Mountains of PA for a few days rest. Hillary had been staying with my parents for a few days and came up with my dad to meet us there. The unsung heroes of all that I have been telling you about are Hillary, my family, and some friends who have helped Hillary care for Wesley as I have been generally out of the picture the past few weeks.