And now they are 14

 Hello, dear ones!

I am celebrating the preemies who came into our lives 14+ years ago a few days late on this blog. We have celebrated heartily in person, though, and we have thanked God over and over again for all His goodness in the midst of the scary days and nights [months!] of their babyhood, and all the delightful years since then. We're so grateful He holds the future and equips us for each stage. 

So far, teenagers are the best! They are sweet and hilarious and fun to be around and super helpful. Isaac was a really great teenager, too, so we're not dreading these years. The best part is seeing their friendships with each other develop! I love watching them each draw on their own strengths and each other's, and am thankful to see them increasingly learning to bear with others -- I pray that's true of me, too! -- while growing in and through their own weaknesses. He who began a good work in each of them will be faithful to complete it. 💗

Here's a smattering of photos from a fun summer of family reunions, my parents' 55th anniversary, serving with JAARS at the annual Oshkosh air show and fly-in, and just being together. I really love our crew!

Gracie, David, and Seth went backpacking with Dad for three days. I kept Will and Marcie, the less outdoorsy kiddos, with me. 😁

Beginning of the trail:

And the end 😆

Picnic on the road 

David and Seth accompanied Gavin as he represented JAARS at Oshkosh in his recruitment role.

David's new hobby is photography. He inherited his Grandpadad's big camera with zoom lens and has been putting it to very good use this summer! Here, he's getting cool shots of planes, of course.

A friend from PNG days that Gavin happened to see while at Oshkosh!
It's always fun to "run into" people from our other lives. 

We also got to "run into" my former Clinic boss/our close friends from PNG! So special!

Fun with cousins!! They NEVER want to leave their closest-in-age cousins, but at least we get to see them once or twice a year.

More cousin love. That's Seth with his arm around David and his cousin Levi.

We were so sad Isaac and Meagan and the "biggest" cousin, Ethan, couldn't be with us! Gavin's family is so very fun and loving and outdoorsy! And boy, did we eat well when we were together! Everything tastes better when running around in the wild, ha ha.

Grabbing a walk alone at sunset

My side of the family!

55 years of marriage!

Isaac and Meagan drove to see us! Hooray!

Isn't she the most beautiful daughter-in-love?!

Swimming with friends

No dog in our kids' vicinity is safe from displays of affection. (They always ask first.)

Just hanging around

I was extremely blessed to escort my parents during their 55th anniversary trip to Alaska, where my dad has relatives he's been wanting to visit for decades. What an incredible state with incredible people!

Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado part II)

After we left our missionary "debrief and renewal" week in Colorado Springs, we swung up to Denver and through Rocky Mountain National Park, which we'd never seen before! It was beautiful and huge, such a treat to enjoy before heading back down to Texas. 

Marcie is actually in the background, but you can barely see her way down below. napping on a rock.

Marcie before her brief nap 😄

Bear Lake - by Seth the photographer

At Bear Lake with Seth.

The sun was beginning to set, so we headed up over the mountains to our lodging for the night.

A sunset snowball fight! That's me (Carrie) to the far left, then Marcie, Seth, Will, Gracie, and David.

Goodnight, Rocky Mountain National Park!

The next morning on our way out via Estes Park

Just a fun climbing spot on the Continental Divide

A quick but delicious stop at a chocolate shop in Estes Park. I caught Marcie's look of amazement perfectly! David, meanwhile, was giving me a hard time for taking photos.
He's like his brother Isaac before him. 😄

Speaking of Isaac, he started a new job this week at a hospital, working in patient care (basically as a medical assistant). He's excited to work full-time with people in need, in a busy setting offering plenty of variety. He's the "float," which means he'll be used wherever the hospital most needs him. He has run the printer at Memoria Press well, but it's time to move on. That job has been a gift to both him and Meagan. He's applying to a nursing school, hoping to have that in place for when he finishes his Biblical Counseling degree, and he would definitely appreciate prayer for God's help and leading. Meanwhile, our sweet Meagan has been slated to do student teaching at two Christian schools this coming semester! They are so happily married, and we continue to thank God and rejoice with them. 💕

Hugs to the couple of you who check this blog every day -- and apologies that I rarely update it! Thank you EVERYONE for your love and prayers! 

Carrie



 

Colorado!

 At the end of May we headed for a week near Colorado Springs, attending a "Debrief and Renewal" program for people returning from the foreign mission field. It more than lived up to its name, and none of us wanted to leave when it was over. All the facilitators and the attendees became increasingly dearer to us as co-laborers and brothers and sisters in Christ. We had so much in common with just about everyone, both on the "hard" and the "good" side! (I have "hard" and "good" in quotation marks because the hard is often turned into our best good, ultimately. Romans 8:28.) 

The kids absolutely thrived, bonded, and enjoyed sharing stories and perspectives from their various overseas homes. David kept saying how much he loved just getting to talk to kids who cared about hearing his experiences in PNG. Seth kept saying it was the best week of his WHOLE LIFE. Will kept saying how sad he was to leave. Marcie hated to say goodbye to the whole comforting place, and insisted she wanted to LIVE there. Gracie made it a point to call the new friend she had made when we got home, and they showed each other around their respective houses and introduced each other to their respective pets via FaceTime. 

It was, in a profoundly powerful way, a sizeable slice out of regular bustling life to just . . . breathe . . . and process . . .  and grieve the losses . . . and rejoice in the blessings! What a kind gift from our God via two dear churches, prompted by the strong recommendation of a fellow missionary couple, Gavin's good friend from high school who is pastoring one of those churches and his SWEET wife, who had attended it when they returned from Africa.

A large proportion of the attendees were transitioning away from missions altogether, so in many ways we had less of a shock to the system. We're still serving in mission aviation and Bible translation, and have been for the past three years, since we returned from PNG for what we initially thought might just be a temporary "home assignment." Gavin continues to recruit and mentor pilots, plus help out where needed at the International Linguistics Center across the road from us. He was gone an average of one week a month thus far in 2026, flying both helicopters and airplanes for part of that time. His next away assignment he'll actually get to have the boys with him since it's during summer break. They are so excited! The girls would rather hang with their mom. 😁

Lots of photos today. What an amazing place to be! 

We got a date away one lovely evening!

The view alone was renewing and refreshing! The boys are sitting on the rocky play structure.

A few evenings, powerful winds and rains would sweep down from the Rockies.
This was golfball-sized hail that Gavin and Marcie gathered!

Marcie's visual of the good dog gifts God has given her on both sides of the world! Captain, our USA dog, on the left; Cooper, her PNG dog, on the right. 💕

Two different mornings Gavin climbed the mountain with our kids! I slept -- 5:30 is far too early.

One of the mornings it was too foggy to see anything down the mountain!

Oh David. Gracie took this as a joke, but he's letting me post it.

We had a beautiful sunset overlooking Pike's Peak one evening when we drove up to the top of the mountain. What an incredible place! I sat on the rock and just listened to the wind in the pines and the birds singing their evening songs. Such PEACE. Gavin caught me in that moment, and I'm glad it's recorded as a memory now.

You can see Pike's Peak far in the distance!

Lunches and some suppers outside with their buddies. Gracie's friend is barely visible beyond Seth.

These amazing rocky formations were right behind our lodge. We played games outside almost every evening. Gracie's favorite is always Frisbee. We even had a few group games of Ultimate!

The kids with their facilitator and friend

The Adventures of a Lovebird

“Why did the lovebird cross the neighborhood?” 

Answer:  For 25 hours of regret. No cuddles, no food to be found. Plenty of rain, lightning, wind, cold, darkness, aggressive other birds, then the hot sun in a sky with more lightning and rain approaching. 

I would say “poor girl!,” except she freely chose to fly away when one of the boys was trying to rescue her from proximity to the loud noise of the lawnmower; then she refused her owner’s sweet hand a few minutes later! She was consequently out in a big storm in which she was drenched and cold and no doubt frightened by significant lightning. 

Potato in the “potato hold” — hence her odd name — after a bath. She loves to bathe herself once or twice a week in a cup of water. This is what she would have looked like during that crazy downpour, but with no warm hand around her or towel awaiting her. 

We searched for HOURS. I made up flyers yesterday morning, ones Gracie designed (so cute!). 

We were all praying continually, which was convicting to me when I thought about all the things I DON’T pray about as continually, but which are much more important, eternally! 

Gracie was amazingly calm and of good courage. I think she really did entrust her “baby” into God’s hands. She even chose to go to the MK youth group hangout instead of searching more just then. And Seth, being bored, was out on his ripstick after the hangout when Potato flew right over! He saw which tree she landed in and came running home to get us. David was able to scale the tree she was in, as she eagerly hopped from twig to twig to get as close as she could to Gracie, who was on the ladder. Gracie was so happy and praying so hard that she was sobbing through her smiles. The bird hopped right onto David’s hand, and he passed her to Gracie, who immediately closed her hands around the tiny body and rushed her home. 

We were all thanking God in stereo, repeatedly. David photobombed a nice picture I was trying to get of Gracie, but I suppose he was one of the rescue heroes!

The bird was sooooooo hungry! She ate until her little crop was absolutely bulging, then took a cozy nap. 🥰

Love how she’s standing in her bowl! Sometimes I feel that way about my food, too. 😉

I can’t help thinking of spiritual parallels and Bible verses: the ones about the sparrows being valuable to God; the ones about searching diligently and desperately for a lost coin and rejoicing with neighbors when found (It’s been such a sweet blessing to have family members and neighbors who cared and looked and and prayed!); and perhaps most of all, this: 

Freedom from our loving owner and caretaker is not, in fact, freeing. 

Our needs remain, and we can’t get them met apart from Him. She may have been eating something out there, but it caused bloody droppings and obviously didn’t satisfy. She was exhausted and hungry and is now much more dependent and cuddly. She’s asleep in the curve of my left shoulder and neck, under my hair, as I write this. She insists on being inside my hand, her little feet clinging onto my thumb, with my palm and fingers covering her. It’s like she can’t crawl deeply enough into the comfort she went without for more than a day.

O Lord, forgive my decisions that take me away from your merciful, restraining, providing care. It seems so natural sometimes, even acceptable (“I’ll stay nearby . . . ”), but then the storms come, and I suffer because I’m not in the place of safety and warmth for which You so lovingly designed me. Carry me close to your heart, inside your strong and loving hands. Save me from my own deceptive desires to wander. Work in me through your Spirit and Word to trust You and remain. ❤️

What joy to know God’s devoted, active love for His people infinitely exceeds Gracie’s passionate care for her birdie.