Our Life in Naples

We praise God that we're feeling settled in our new home city of Naples, Florida. We arrived last last October with our big U-Haul and now, over seven months later, I finally find the time to give our readers a quick update. I (Jennifer) have thought of our blog many times over the past months as blogging was such a highlight for me during our time on the Logos Hope. Many times, I've thought that I'd like to continue blogging on a regular basis again, but I haven't quite found a new topic on which I feel readers would be interested in. So for now, this site will be dedicated to our two-year adventure overseas on the Logos Hope. I will leave up all of our postings and gadgets on the side of the blog for any readers to view. I pray that God will continue to use our time on the ship for His glory.

To give you a quick update on our lives, John and I are settling well into our new lives in Naples. We both have wonderful jobs in which we're making a difference for God's kingdom. We live in a beautiful condo, attend a fantastic church and are making great friends. Plus, we live just a short 10-minute drive from the beach, so you really can't complain. We live just a few minutes from Jennifer's family now, so we couldn't be happier. Moving back to the USA after two years abroad has definitely been a huge adjustment, but overall, we are thankful to be back on dry ground and living again in the USA. Blessings.

First Week in California

We've had a GREAT first week back in California. We're amazed it's only been one week. We've had a wonderful time catching up with friends and family. One of the major hightlights of the week was meeting our new baby neice, Daisy Anne. She was born on September 1, while we were in Hawaii. We actually had FOUR neices born during our two years on board the Logos Hope. My (Jennifer) brother and his wife had their second, a baby girl Lauren. And John's sister and brother-in-law had twin daughters June 2009 and then their third on September 1. Below are a few adorable pictures of our neices.


John with baby Daisy. She was just eight days old in this picture.


I'm in love with my new baby neice! I love being an aunt to four beautiful neices and a nephew.


The twins are just over 15 months old now. They are identical, so John and I were having trouble telling them apart!


True love.

Back in California!

We arrived in California last night after our wonderful week in Hawaii. We were so surprised when our closest friends were all at the airport to welcome us! We are so thankful for an awesome welcome back to California. We'll be in California for about six weeks before relocating to Florida. We're so excited to spend these six weeks resting and recouping, and also connecting with John's family, our friends and our home church.

More Hawaii Pictures

A few more Hawaii pictures for you to enjoy.


My baby neice Lauren! She is such a doll baby!


Pink ladies! Posing in front of Diamond Head -- me, sister-in-law Jen, mother Carol and Grandmother Mary.


John really enjoyed surfing several times along Waikiki as Hawaii is the home of surfing! Here he poses with a wooden surf board from long ago.


Happy 1st Birthday Lauren!

HAWAII

We had a WONDERFUL week in Hawaii celebrating my Grandparent's 65th anniversary. What a momentous occasion! We loved having the whole family together -- we had a 4-bedroom condo, so we all got to stay together! We really DID Hawaii.... we visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial, went to a luau, took hula and ukulele lessons, and went parasailing, kayaking, snorkeling, surfing, paddle board surfing, and even swam with huge sea turtles! We had a fabulous time! We also had the wonderful privilege of celebrating my niece Lauren's 1st birthday with her on Saturday. This was our first time meeting Lauren as she was born while we were on board the ship. We absolutely loved getting to play with her and her big brother Gavin all week! We are so thankful to God for this great celebration. What a wonderful week!


Ready for the luau with all our leis on!


Beautiful palm leaf crowns.


I love this picture of my brother Scott playing with his baby Lauren at the luau.


Beautiful family!

Re-Entry at OM USA

We've had a wonderful week here in Tyrone, Georgia debriefing at OM USA. We've had lots of great meetings with OM USA staff, but have also had time to relax, rest and recoup. Highlights were connecting with OM USA missionaries that are also from our home church PCC and spending time with a friend that lives locally that we worked alongside on board. We praise God for this wonderful transition week -- transitioning from ship life back into life in the USA. Tomorrow (Sunday) we fly to Honolulu to meet up with Jennifer's family to celebrate her Grandparent's 65th wedding anniversary. We can't hardly wait!


In our cute little apartment.... still wearing our African clothes! :)

Farewells!

We had a wonderful last week on board, so wanted to share a few pictures from our various farewells.

Our last ship family night!


Jennifer's training services team had a nice farewell dinner for her.


Jennifer's STEP (short-term exposure program) also threw a fun farewell party for her.

John's boss Randy and his wife Kim took us out for a wonderful farewell lunch.