21 years since we said "I do"!

Today is our 21st wedding anniversary!

To see how {gracefully} we've aged over the years, you can check out these three blogposts to see our annual picture!!

20th Anniversary and 17th Anniversary and 13th Anniversary

Fun with Friends in 2019

This year has sped by, feels like faster than ever! I haven't done a great job snapping pictures of all of our friends and activities, so this just represents the tip of the iceberg! We feel blessed to know and interact with all of these good friends here in Colombia. It is such a privilege to be a small part of God's working in this land.

 Cedric's adopted "grandma" - she's our old landlady and a great friend. She has a large organic garden in her back field, so here they are trying so sell produce on a Saturday morning.

Field trip with friends at a large nearby dairy factory.

Our good buddies spent a couple of days at our place and we enjoyed biking to the end of our road where there's a good view of the reservoir. 

Dogs count as friends!

Some new friends are being made at music and art classes in the pueblo.

Hanging out with friends at a wedding... 

...and fare-welling our friend moving to Canada

Bill enjoys hanging out with various friends  too... but far fewer photos of those encounters! Here he is (probably talking theology) with Julian!

North American Journeys

Just a few highlights... you're not all pictured, but you are all loved and missed!

  

Our favorite beach in California, worth visiting even in winter!

We caught up with uncles, aunts, Colombian friends and missionary co-workers in Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin:

Pittsburgh was our landing place for a thanksgiving rest with old friends from Biola and pre-Colombia teaching days!

Loudon family wedding - all of us together for the first time!

California included visits with special friends in the Bay Area and Orange County, including Ave 54 Bible Chapel and our home church in Westminster. A bonus was to visit the Zoo and Aquarium with dear friends!

Ended with some special days with Angela's sister and her family who were also visiting SoCal from their home in New Zealand!

20th Anniversary

Last month we celebrated 20 years of marriage! I remembered this blog post from three years ago with a picture from each year of us and thought I'd add an update! (Our new photographer: Cedric!)

2016

2017

2018

Summer Homeschool

We're slowly getting into the homeschool mode. Our goal is to making learning fun, real life and effective for who God has made Cedric to be. We didn't realize what an answer to prayer La Calera would be to us. From the first day we started working on farm projects with the Amaia who is also 7 years old and together they've loved basing their learning around doing fun things on the land.

Here is a sample:

Learning how to make cheese. A local man has been super helpful in teaching us not only how to grow food, but how to process it!

 Preparing the land.

 Planting seeds.

 On our friends' farm they raise bunnies for food (they're from Spain and it is a common protein there!). Not pictured are the chickens, rooster, geese and sheep.

 We moved our big dog, Papaya, with us and two little puppies also joined the family. Chocolate is the black one and belongs to Cedric. Cookie is the other and belongs to Amaia, but lives with us!

 Cedric and Amaia. Neighbors, homeschool buddies and fast becoming best friends.

An unfortunate farm experience involved this 2 inch lovely caterpillar. Turns out if it brushes against your skin it causes a huge welt, rash and stings like crazy. Cedric had one crawling on his shirt that managed to touch his skin in 3 different places. Mama freaked out but was relieved to find out it wasn't deadly!

New Chapter in La Calera

Our new little house in La Calera, lots of green area, two bedrooms and an open living/dining/kitchen space. Out the back we're attempting to get a vege garden started.

We are a 15 minute walk from the town which is nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains. La Calera is higher than Bogota (2,718m or 8,917ft) and when the sun is not out the average temperature would be in the 8 - 13C range (50-60 F).

We enjoy the local farmers' market on Saturday morning.

And Saturday fellowship/Bible studies in the evening.

Our Bogota friends have enjoyed the day trip to visit us and escape the pollution and commotion of the city.

And we join our Bogota church on Sundays to fellowship, encourage and learn together. Here are a few snapshots from last Sunday. (Middle woman below is our neighbor and coworker in La Calera.)

And our camp picture from last month.

New school year, New church & New Opportunities!

A picture sampling of our current every-day-life:

First day of Kindergarten!

Fruit foraged from our neighborhood.

Dog school, with their teacher!

Opportunity to minister and visit friends in Tunja.

Goofiness in Tunja.

Garden growing. So many spiritual truths to be learned.

New friends to share life, ministry and study of God's word together.

Picnic and games with our new church.

Family day at friend's birthday party in local amusement park.

Yes, those are real flamingos in background.

Thankful he's not on the road yet!

Love spending time with other MK friends!