Pray for Sudan

Though we're here in the States for 6 months more, our hearts are still very much with our dear friends and colleagues in Sudan. Eli and I keep up with the news in Sudan and we're still in touch with our team and friends there. I'd like to share a website with you that gives great headlines of news in Sudan every day: www.sudantribune.com
As the referendum approaches (January 9, 2011) please pray for peace in Sudan and pray that God's name will be preached from one end of Sudan to the other.

What's up in the Fader household?

Life has been a bit different the past few weeks. With Isaac and Evan in school from 8-3 every day, it's been a big change to have only one little guy at home. Josh plays happily by himself but also enjoys running errands with me and going over to visit friends in our free time. Isaac and Evan LOVE school and can hardly wait to tell me all about their day when I pick them up from school in the afternoons!
Eli plans to take two classes during the fall. One is a class on Islam Theology that he has started reading for. He's also been more faithful in playing rugby with the men's club downtown two nights a week.
With a busier schedule, our Saturdays have become a special time to relax as a family. Below are a few pictures from last Saturday.

Father and son On Saturday we drove to Lake Monticello, about a half hour away, to ride bikes, swim, and have a nice picnic. It was perfect weather and the boys were thrilled to discover that there was also a BIKE show going on that afternoon. Bikes meaning, motorbikes of all kinds, including bikes with four wheels and other fancy cars.

Eli and I are thrilled to have several wonderful babysitters. Taking the motorcycle on our dates makes it all so much more fun. This last weekend, we double dated and our friends rode their motorcycle too!

First Week of School

Evan's all ready for preschool!

Isaac starts Kindergarten this week

Josh wanted his backpack on too but when we got to the school Josh made it clear that he was staying with me!

The boys did so well their first day of school. When I picked them up at 3, they were both full of stories. Neither of them had any trouble staying all day, or separating from me when I dropped them off. It made it a lot easier for me!

This is Isaac's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Taylor. She is so much fun and we're thrilled Isaac gets to learn from her this fall!

Isaac proudly showed me where he signs in every morning. He has a little bird with his name on it and puts it in his nest to show he's there that day.

Benjamin is in Isaac's class which is so neat because they used to play together when they were babies and here they are in school together!

Here is Evan at his desk. When he first arrives in the morning, they have playdough to play with until all the kids get there and class is officially ready to start at 8:20 (I usually drop them off around 8.)

A little update

Since we got back from our trip last week, we've spent our time getting the boys ready for school and squeezing in as much as we could before school started this week. So tomorrow Isaac and Evan go to their first day of school. I'm still not sure how I'm going to handle it. Will I be thrilled to come home to a quiet house or sad and teary because my babies are growing up? I'm still not sure...we'll have to wait and see.
Tomorrow the boys only go for one hour and Eli and I will accompany them. Their teachers ask a parent to come that first day. The boys will get their desks, bring their school supplies, and get a feel of the classroom before their first full day on Tuesday. So we have a sweet friend coming to stay home with Joshua and Eli will go with one boy and I'll go with the other. There will be plenty of pictures tomorrow - don't worry!
One funny side note: this morning we woke up to find that we had NO WATER in the house! For some reason everyone on our street has no water. We're not sure what to do. In Sudan we know where to go for water - the nearby well or river - no problem. But here, I have no clue. And we emptied our pool this weekend to clean it so we don't even have that to draw from! HELP!
OK, don't forget to check in tomorrow for school updates for Isaac and Evan!

We're home!

After 12 days on the road, we are safely home in South Carolina. Thank you for all your prayers as God protected us on all 1,704 miles of driving through Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, and all the way home!
We had a very fun trip and the Lord so encouraged us as we reconnected with friends and supporters and got to see how He's been working in our friends' lives. We're praising the Lord for thriving churches in each of those states.
Read through the next few posts to see highlights of our trip...

A farm in Mocksville, NC

Our last stop on our trip was to visit our new friends, the Whittaker family in NC. They live on a beautiful farm so we got the full tour of the animals, machinery, special barns, the lake, and even got to stop to feed some horses and help out with some barn chores!

Isaac loved shoveling the sawdust into the horses' stalls. What a hard worker!

Isaac wasn't afraid to feed Hershey a few treats from his hand.

Evan liked how soft Hershey's nose was!

Lots of tractors to climb on!

The Hot Air Balloon Festival in Ohio

In Canton, Ohio, while we visited our friends, James and Tiffanie Ferguson, we got to go to a fun Hot Air Balloon Festival. We got to watch two groups of sky divers jump out of planes above us and land on targets on the field. Then more than 20 hot air balloons filled and took off right there as we watched! It was so exciting for all of us since we hadn't seen anything like this before! The kids were enamored. Notice a few special shapes? There was a balloon in the shape of a giant ladybug and one was a huge birthday cake.

The Train Museum, PA

In Hollidaysburg, we also got to visit the train museum. It was an old train yard where they used to first build trains. The boys had a great time exploring old engines and train cars.

All Aboard!

The Candy Store in Hollidaysburg

We had a wonderful visit in Hollidaysburg, PA. We stayed with Philip and Deb Miller, family friends, and enjoyed a fabulous dinner with special supporters from First Presbyterian Church. That evening Eli and I shared about our three years in Sudan and were so encouraged by everyone's interest and good questions.
The next day we went to visit McIntyre's Candy Store where Deb Miller works. She gave us a fabulous tour of the factory where the chocolates and candy are made. She even let the boys make their own chocolate covered pretzels to take with us!

The chocolate and candy machines are fascinating. The boys' engineering minds were working double time!

Visiting the Omas

In Pittsburgh, we spent 3 days with both of Eli's grandmas. One day Oma Fader took all of us to Shannepin, her club. We swam and then had a lovely lunch outside while we watched the golfers play.
The boys enjoyed the swing at Oma Fader's house
One night we had a delicious dinner at Oma Fader's house with Oma Pinkerton. Eli's Aunt Linda cooked some amazing food - pork tenderloin, eggplant casserole, tomato/feta salad, and a vidalian onion casserole!