The Adventures of Steve and Alie: May 2008

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy! I just wanted to take this opportunity to honor you. You are a beautiful woman. I love your heart of a servant for our family that reminds me so much of Jesus. I love your love for Dad and us kids and your grandson, Elijah. I love that even though I'm far away, I can still pick up the phone, pour my heart out to you and know you'll understand... or I can just pick up the phone and chat away with you about nothing. You are such a wonderful friend and you are a pillar of strength in my life. Thank you for the example that you have set for me day in and day out for all 26 years of my life. I know that I am the woman I am today because of your influence and your prayers. Thank you for never giving up on me. Thank you for fighting for me even when I didn't know you were. Thank you for "training me up in the way I should go," because I see the benefits of it every single day of my life. I know that you have left a spiritual generational blessing for me and it is something I will be able to pass on to my own children someday. You are one amazing woman and you are my best friend. I love you with my whole heart and I thank God for entrusting my life to you and Daddy. What a blessed young lady I am! I pray that today you are refreshed as only Jesus can refresh. I miss you so much and I love you even more.... SEE YOU IN MALAWI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! XOXOXOXOXO! Your Alie

Sheesh! It's been over a month since I blogged last! I can't believe it... We've been so busy lately that my blogging has fallen to the wayside, but I'm back! Glade already blogged about our hiking trip as a family, but I just have to blog about it too. What a great way to enjoy the extremely rare sunny weather up here in Washington. I LOVED getting out and soaking up the sun and breathing the fresh air. Plus, it was so fun to get the whole family together. Little Winnie was the best hiker in the group! April 24th was my baby brother's 24th birthday! I can't believe my little buddy is 24! I love my brother very much and I'm incredibly grateful that he is in my life. I am really enjoying this new aspect of our relationship as adults, and yet, still brother and sister. April 24th was also Maverick's first birthday. Yes, my puppy is one and yes, I went to a doggie bakery and got him special treats for his birthday and yes, I bought him a party hat, because I think a dog in a party hat is hilarious and I knew my husband would roll his eyes at me when he found out. :) (I was right.)

We leave for Africa dark and early on Monday morning, which is pretty unbelievable. Still a lot to do before we go and I've been super busy at work preparing to leave and training my new Inside Sales Rep who will be helping me manage my business. On top of all that we are two week into our church wide 40 day fast. All of us are giving up something for these 40 days in order to set aside more time to deepen our relationship with Jesus. A big focus for our church this year has been intimacy with Jesus. The church is open every night for prayer services for those who want to come and the Young Adults are hosting Tuesdays. On Wednesday nights, we are going through a video series teaching on Baal by Dutch Sheets. We've seen two out of five so far, but I would highly recommend you check it out if you are able. So far, it's pretty amazing and exposes a lot of what is going on spriritually in America today.

Here are some pics from April:

Here is our adorable niece Winnie enjoying the view (When the whole fam was over at our house today (5/10), she totally said "dog" and made dog noises for us, too. It was so precious!! I just loved it. That is the first word I've heard her say.)