Last week Robert flew up to see us and brought along his girlfriend, Rebecca, to meet the family. We had fun floating down the Boise River on inflatable rafts, sharing life stories over meals, Settlers of Cattan board game, watching the Olympic games and then more  laughter and shared experiences. We enjoyed meeting Becca and getting to know her while she was here. Toward the end of the week Robert took her up into the mountains for an evening picnic and photo shoot with Michael and Carolyn. Little did Becca know that they had an entire "princess rescue" to act out which culminated in Robert asking Becca to marry him. It was an elaborate plan that took quite alot of preparation on Robert's part (costumes, sparkling cider, a lovely diamond ring, timed for sunset and a family heirloom sword). She  said "YES!" and so now Robert and Rebecca are officially engaged to be married. The date is not set yet... possibly next summer but perhaps the following summer. Here are some photos taken last week.  Larry found a bib that Robert had as a baby and brought it out during my hair cutting lesson with Becca. Funny. Today Robert and Rebecca start college classes again in Texas.          She said  YES! 

Indonesian SOTO AYAM dinner at our house!!!

 Now they are both back in classes at LeTourneau University. 

Lots of highlights these past couple weeks:

~ Surprise party for my birthday ... really fun and a complete surprise! (Thanks, Michael and Carolyn!!)

~ Lots of flowers, cards, and phone calls from friends and family

~ Sunrise at Swan Falls  and time alone with God on my birthday

~ Larry gave me a beautiful new Bible (NIV & the MESSAGE)

~ Fireworks on the 4th

~ Larry has been working on the Cessna caravan aircraft that will be going to the East Kalimantan program, installing the one-point fuel system, cargo pod and flooring. Yesterday everybody at the MAF headquarters circled around it and dedicated to God's purposes. It will be ferried to Indonesia on Friday and going to Tarakan!

~ Rafted down the Boise River as a family

~ Reached my goal of swimming a mile, 72 pool lengths . My next goal is to keep swimming a mile every M-W-F before I do my walking routine.

~ Biking 25 km. along the Boise River through lovely parks and residential areas

~ our garden: beans, corn, tomatoes and lettece are all growing great!

~ Michael got his braces off last week! Not only does he have a dazzling smile but he's quite handsome with his new mustache and goatee.

~ Carolyn and Michael taught us how to play "Settlers of Chatan"

~ Michael got his driver's license today, passing the driving test with flying colors.

~ Lots of new folks at MAF to help train and prepare for overseas assignments... being a mentor is a joy!

~ Got our IRS stimulous check finally and  promptly used it to pay some medical bills

~ Daisies, Pansies, Sweet William, Marigolds and Roses are blooming at our house!

  Summer has arrived in Idaho. We're enjoying the variety of t hings to do here in the Treasure Valley. Last weekend we took a picnic to a nearby lake and we tried our hand at some sailing. Late afternoon (after the photos were taken) a storm blew in and made it challenging to dock the boat without capsizing or colliding with the line of boats waiting to exit the lake too. Another adventure we live to tell about! 

My flower garden is growing and we even got a small vegetable garden planted before the thriple digit heat that usually comes in July and early August. My new favorites: sweet william, dalias, cyclomen, cosmos  and "Falling in Love" hybrid tea roses.  

Ione, one of our Santa Barbara friends and supporters came to visit recently along with her daughter Debbie. We gave them the grand tour of MAF's facility and chatted a bit. Yesterday another SB friend and supporter, Terry,  came to visit  and treated us to a wonderful lunch. Our FIRST out of town visitors! Hopefully there will be many more to come.

 Last night was Michael's High School Baccalaureate service for all three public High Schools in this district. It was a nice service and what I liked best about it was the speaker credited Christ as the enabler to those who turn their lives over to Him as we try to swim upstream against worldly currents. Today is Michael last day of regular classes, then final exams next week. He's pretty jazzed.

 We went geocaching along the Snake river last weekend and enjoyed a BBQ picnic too. Copper got FULL of burrs and thistles. So Carolyn and I took care of the problem by giving him a new summer hair cut. He was mortified for a couple days but he's back to his perky self again.           

Michael participated in a local Veteran's day parade, walking several hours in the 90 degree heat along side the robot he helped design for First Robotics. In creating the robot, one of the tasks it had to accomplish during competition in Portland was to lift the red ball up over an overhead track. They were successful!

Here's Carolyn at her preschool students' graduation. It was sweet watching them interact. They love their "Miss Carolyn"!

Daniel, it's your golden birthday: 23 on the 23rd!!!! Woowhooo! Sure hope that you're having a pleasant day amidst all your final exam preparations and moving too. Did you receive our birthday package? Hope so!! May your twenty third year reflect your name-sake's prayer in Dan. 2:20-23: "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. he changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king." 

Robert, Happy 21rst Birthday!!!! Selamat Ulang Tahunnya. I feel like breaking out into song "Panjang umurnya (x3 ) serta mulia  (x3)." I also left a comment on your snake story with a birthday wish. Yes, you've officially entered adulthood and we're proud of you. I'm glad to hear from Becca that your birthday package arrived already. Wish we could be there in TX to celebrate together tonight and in CA with Daniel  too. Ah well. Don't forget to read Ps 139 (..."all the stages of my life were spread before you, the days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day.")

Kami memuji Tuhan Yesus oleh karena kamu dua dilahirkan pada hari ini. Puji Tuhan!!

Happy belated Birthday, Mom! You are truly a GREAT MOM  !!I'm glad that you received our roses and kitty card. Wish it could have been more. You are such a wonderful mother and grandmother to our kids. I'm thankful to the Ancient of Days for seeing all and granting me such a blessing in you. May you have a wonderful year, Mom, full of the Almighty's peace and joy in living for Yeshua, the soon and coming King. Here's a photo taken in Brunei after we visited the Sultan a few years ago . We sure love you !!!

  FIRST Robotics season is now over. The robot that Michael helped design was featured on NBC national news! It did everything that the students designed it to do in the regional competition and their NASKCO  team won Most Inspiring Rookie team trophy. There were 55 teams who came to Portland from as far as Hawaii, Missouri, Michigan, and Canada. It was fun to be able to be there and admire all the engineering hard work that these students put out in the past 6 weeks. Larry was one of the mentors for  the NASKCO team which stands for Nampa, Skyview and Columbia High schools. He enjoyed spending the problem solving time with Michael and his teammates. The competition itself was impressive creativity, colorful team mascots, dignitaries (Govenor of Oregon opened the competition), loud but mostly fun music, and giant red or blue balls on the playing field that had to be herded, hurdled or carried over the finish line by the robots. We're proud of you, Michael. Ya done good.

 Last week brought us an abundance of snow (for here). Copper LOVES it which is pretty funny since he's from Thailand. Our kids enjoyed making snowmen and ice forts, sometimes combining sidewalk snow removal for  neighbors and carting the snow back to our yard! The icy stuff is mostly off the roads now and snow is slowly melting away with upper 30s  weather during the day. Michael and Carolyn enjoyed a weekend winter retreat this past weekend with our church youth group in the mountains.

 I love this series of Copper catching a giant snow ball... especially this last one.