Connecting With Friends

Last Saturday, our family left Plain City, Ohio and traveled to Traverse City, Michigan. As we headed north, it just got more and more beautiful and COLDER! There was beautiful snow piled up. We saw people riding on their snowmobiles and others ice fishing, (something new for Carmelinda).

We headed to visit our friends, Anthony and Sheila Weber, long time friends of ours. I (Gloria) went to school at Shekinah with Anthony. Sheila and I were also roomates at Rosedale Bible College. Anthony was at RBC at the same time too. There was a lot to catch up on after not seeing each other for several years. It was so much fun laughing and sharing together with each other. It was fun to see our children connect as well.





We were able to visit, Church of the Living God, a church that supports our family financially. We were so happy to meet this very friendly church. Anthony is one of the pastors of this church.
Sunday lunch, we were able to go out to eat with Doc! It was a special time. Steve Morgan has been visiting Costa Rica for the past four years and has been giving of his time particularly to the area in La Cuenca. By the way, he's a dentist! This year, Doc is ready to experience something new, so he will be traveling to Talamanca and giving of his services there. Thank You Doc!

Sunday evening we were able to meet with some of the students that have visited Costa Rica. It was great connecting with all of you guys!
On Monday, DeLynn went with Anthony to visit Traverse City Christian School, the high school that has been sending teams to Pura Vida Missions.

Gloria and Carmelinda stayed in the cabin, relaxin', that was given to us during our stay. It was beautiful!

This week, Carmelinda enjoyed a break from school! We've had some beautiful weather, which made it even better! She only has half of March, April and May of school. We are look forward to our summer! But we are all very happy Spring is here!!!

Transition

Transition. I've had to transition many times in my life. Since my parents were church planters, we moved every five years! That meant, new church, new friends, new school, new everything! Transition is hard because one feels kind of out of it at times, trying to discover where one fits. But it can also be exciting, because one can see it as a new start.

In our first five years of marriage, we moved 11 times! We don't recommend that, but that's just how God has moved us around. Since then, we've slowed down a little, thank God! But I still find it challenging and kind of exciting fixing a new space and making it feel like home.

From country to country, house to house, my mom especially tried to make each place feel like home. And that's what we've tried to do with this change in our lives. We're staying with my dad in his basement. Its not the prettiest thing in the world, but after arranging and rearranging, DeLynn has done an excellent job making our basement very comfortable and homey. In fact, it's almost beautiful! We've laughed at the idea of starting a new business for missionaries called "MISSIONARY DESIGN," fixing up ugly spaces with all the junk you left behind!

Being on sabbatical is becoming very relaxing, inspiring, up building, encouraging and restoring for us. As a family, we've finished reading, Bruchco, by Bruce Olson. The next book we want to read is Heavenly Man. DeLynn and I have both read it but want to share it with Carmelinda. During the week, DeLynn and I spend a lot of time reading, journaling, being part of a Healing Formational Prayer Group. Gloria has enjoyed being part of a Beth Moore study at Shiloh Mennonite Church. DeLynn is also studying and participating with VLI (Vineyard Leadership Institute), a program under the Columbus Vineyard Church. So along with these programs, requires lots of homework, so we're constantly studying! I feel like I'm back in school!

It's been so nice to be close to family. Our basement doesn't have a kitchen, so we're sharing the responsiblities of housekeeping. Today, my brother, Louie and his wife Cheryl made us a wonderful Sunday dinner!

Dad graciously, even let us get a little Morkie puppy. If you don't know what that is,

it's a cross between the Yorkshire Terrier and the Maltese. Carmelinda and I, especially, have missed our animals. So "Snickers" has brought a lot of joy, especially when those tears come because we miss Costa Rica so much. We needed to get a LITTLE dog, one that we could take with us as one of our carry on's.

Carmelinda has enjoyed the shopping, right a long with her mother! It's always interesting for me to see what the latest trends are, since they are always changing! Probably, our favorite shopping place is so close to us that we can walk there. It's an little thrift store run by MCC, Mennonite Central Commitee. I like that we can have fun and help support others in this way, plus, its cheap!

We have also thoroughly enjoyed interacting with our supporting churches in the area, Vineyard Church of Northridge, Shiloh Mennonite Church, Vineyard of Licking County. We also like to attend the Columbus Vineyard on Saturday nights. We're used to going to church on Saturday nights, since that's when we would go in Costa Rica.

Our plans, right now, are to return to Costa Rica after the summer. But until then, we're planning on soaking in whatever God has for us here. He's teaching us SO much, it's pretty overwhelming. I just hope we can remember it all!

Oh, and one more thing, since dad lives right behind Der Dutchman, a Mennonite Resturant, where they make the best long johns ever (it's a pastry), I can just go right over there and get me one! Love it! It can't get better than that!