Isaac's 6th Birthday

We had such a blast celebrating Isaac's 6th birthday today! After blueberry coffee cake with candles in it at breakfast, we went to a great place called Saluda Shoals. We took the boys' bikes along since there are tons of beautiful trails through the woods and along the river. Since it was a hot day, we had to rotate - bike/hike for a while, then play in the water at the splash pad, then bike again. We also packed a picnic and found a nice quiet place to enjoy it.

Around 3 p.m. we packed up and headed to the theater to watch "Despicable Me" one of the new kids movies out. We got popcorn and Icees and had a great time. Even Josh sat through the whole movie!

Since we were out having so much fun all day, I didn't get a chance to bake him a cake but he was perfectly happy to have a candle in his ice cream cone after supper! Oh Isaac, I am so totally thankful that God brought you into our family 6 years ago! What a joy that we get to spend these years watching you grow up into such a sweet young guy.

Joshua's 2nd birthday

Chocolate cupcakes for Joshua's birthday

The day before his birthday we asked Josh how old he was going to be and without hesitating he yelled, "Twenty!" Then here at his birthday celebration we asked him how old he was and he forgot and said "One!"

Blueberry picking

Blueberry picking was so much fun last weekend. We went with our friend Jess Carr and picked 5 gallons between all of us! Yes, we've got TONS of berries!

It was fun to taste them along the way.

Evan was having a great time until the fire ants found him. Then he decided to hide out on the roof of our car for the rest of the berry excursion!

We are so so thankful for our lifetime friend, Jessica Carr! What a HUGE blessing to live in the same city as Jess for these 8 months.

Our schedule (for those interested)

Some of you have asked for our itinerary to see what our next few weeks of traveling will entail. I hope these details might help you to pray for us while we're on the road and also please pray that our passion for God and Sudan would be evident in everything we share.
July 18 - give our Sudan presentation at our home church in SC - evening service
July 23-25 - Franklin, VA - share at River of Life Baptist Church that Sunday.
July 26-27 - Hollidaysburg, PA - visit supporters and missions committee at supporting church.
July 28-30 - Pittsburgh, PA - visit both of Eli's grandmothers
July 30-Aug. 1 - stay with friends from Moody Bible Institute in Ohio and share at Ekklesia.
Aug. 2 - Drive home to Columbia, SC
Aug. 5 & 6 - Eli will be the speaker at our church's youth guys retreat.

Isaac's creative way of helping

I just had to post this! Today I asked Isaac to take the recycling out and when I looked out the kitchen window, I saw that he had rigged a contraption to help carry it out. He is so funny but also so very helpful!

Myrtle Beach

We had an AMAZING time at Myrtle Beach this week. We spent two days with Jeff, Alyssa, and their three wonderful boys. (Alyssa is Eli's sister if you can't tell in the pictures) Short but sweet.

The Atlantic ocean is definitely colder than the Indian ocean, but we all still enjoyed the waves.

Our nephew Jordan couldn't keep his hands off his Uncle Eli. Absence indeed makes the heart grow fonder!

There was so much fun to be had - a complete paradise/wonderland for children AND adults!

Isaac and Evan were both very brave to try the tallest waterslide. By the 2nd day, they both went about 15 times!

Uncle Jeff helped catch the boys at the end of the slide since the pool was deep.

Here we are as a group: Jeff, Isaac, Keegan, Alyssa, Bryson, Bethany, Joshua, Jordan, Evan, and Eli! What a bunch! Thank you Lord for the gift of being with family again!

Summer fun

With Eli deeply immersed in his seminary class the past two weeks, the kids and I have been keeping busy. When Eli's home and needs some quiet to read and study, the boys and I go on adventures. We looked through every book the library had on trucks, motorcycles, and airplanes, played on the train set at Barnes and Nobles, played at the playground, rode around the neighborhood on bikes, and their favorite thing so far - our pool.

An afternoon in the library

To keep life even more exciting, Joshua started potty training this week.

Highlight of the Week

Evan is happy as a clam in Lake Murray

The Fun continues...

The ultimate highlight of our week was going out on a pontoon boat all afternoon on Monday! We went with our long lifetime friend Jessica Carr and some new friends. We took food to grill and ate out on the boat and jumped off the boat, swimming in the lake to cool off. It was so perfect. We all had a great time and definitely wore ourselves out.

I attended my first homeschooling conference!

I spent all Friday and Saturday at a wonderful Christian homeschooling convention. The main speaker was Paul Tripp who was phenomal and spoke on parenting a child's heart. His brother, Ted Tripp wrote the great book called "Shepherding a Child's Heart". Each day we had several sessions with the main speaker, several workshops to pick from and a vendor hall full of different curriculums and books with their representatives.
I attended workshops like:
1. Seven steps to picking the right curriculum for your children.
2. Help! I'm a new homeschooler!
3. How to plan your whole school year in advance.
4. Have fun homeschooling
I made a few new friends and got to listen to different styles of teaching. It was helpful for me to realize what kind of a teacher I am and what teaching styles I feel comfortable with and I'm in the process of figuring out what Isaac and Evan's learning styles are.
I'm really excited about the Sonlight Curriculum. As I talked to Sonlight's representative, she explained that Sonlight was designed with missionaries in mind. So you can buy "packages" that contain all the needed books and supplies and the fun thing is that I can do most subjects with both boys together and then just do math and language arts separately.
I'm definitely learning a lot. The conference was a good boost to my confidence and very encouraging for me to find something that fits our family and situation well. I'm also very encouraged and freshly inspired in my parenting. The Lord convicted me in several areas so I'm praying I can begin to put into practice what Paul Tripp taught us.
If any of you would like to hear more about this conference or how you can possibly attend one in your state, email me, or google "Christian Homeschooling Conference" and your state. That's how I found this one!

More fun...

We are really enjoying our time here! We are definitely getting rest but we have at least one fun thing every day. The best part has been seeing friends again and spending time together and giving the kids opportunities to get reacquainted with their friends.
The South Carolinian summer is here so the weather is in the 90's every day. It feels comfortable to us (we're not even using our air conditioning in the house) while everyone else is complaining about how hot it is. We've found fun ways to keep cool: the sprinkler, a new pool, and the slip'n'slide. We also live close to a community playground so we cut through the woods on a fun trail to get there. I'm telling you, our neighborhood is perfect and we're loving it!
We are heading to Tennessee this weekend to visit friends. This will be our first road trip so we'll see how it goes!

A picnic we had today in our backyard!

Settling in

Welcome to our new home: 1325 Noble Avenue, Columbia, SC 29203
Spacious house, great yard, and in a neighborhood full of other families with young children
One of our first major purchases: bikes and helmets for Isaac and Evan. Joshua's borrowing his bike from a friend.
The back yard has a perfect slope for a slip'and'slide so that is a regular afternoon activity. We are all enjoying the perks of life back in America.

Internet is coming to our home soon!

We just want to ask you to be patient for a few more days. We'll be getting internet in our home this Friday and then we can show you new pictures and update you more regularly. For now, I just want to report that we're all happy and having a great time in the States. Evan, joshua, and Bethany all came down with colds over the weekend. I guess we have to adjust to the American germs. But otherwise we're really enjoying reconnecting with friends and catching up on three years away!

At home in Columbia

Yesterday we arrived in Columbia, SC and we love our new house. There is a huge yard with woods on two sides of the property. Our church family filled our kitchen cabinets and a good friend drove his car down all the way from Wisconsin to give the car to us to drive these nine months! We feel loved and flooded with gifts. We will very soon send an email out with our new address and phone number. Thank you for praying for us. It feels so good to be back!

Safely in Charlotte

Tuesday evening around 5:30 p.m. we landed in Charlotte, NC. All three boys slept the entire flight - almost 3 hours since it took an hour just to taxi and get our turn to take off. When we got to Charlotte it was almost impossible to wake the boys up since it was nighttime for them. So Joshua slept on in the baby carrier and the boys were good sports as we trekked to baggage claim - the final leg of our journey!!!
Unfortunately two of our bags didn't make it but they should arrive sometime today and be delivered to us here at SIM. It was a fun trip down the freeway to get to SIM headquarters. I wish I had a notebook to jot down all the cute things Isaac and Evan remarked about. Anyone listening would have guessed America is a new place for them!
We are very comfortably adjusting to life back in the States. SIM is just like family and we feel so welcomed and at home.
The boys ate some cinnamon toast then went to bed promptly at 7. So did I because I knew Joshua would probably wake up at some obscene hour (he didn't wake once from the time he fell asleep on the airplane at 4 p.m. to when I put him in the crib here at the guesthouse around 7 pm.) He slept straight through until about 4:30 this morning. I can definitely handle that!
So here it is 5:30 a.m. The boys are happily cozied on the couch watching cartoons and I've already done a large load of laundry. We have meetings today and are excited to see old friends here at the office.
Sorry if this was too detailed. I'm just amazed at how wonderfully God brought us all the way here and I can't even begin to express how GOOD it feels to be "home"!!!

We're in New York!

Well, to say that the flights went smoothly would be untrue. Mom and Dad Sorensen took us to the airport where we checked in with a couple heavy bags. We quickly repacked into a box and got the four bags checked in. We then boarded our plane and enjoyed a smooth flight to London. We landed at about 6 in the morning and soon found out that our flight was cancelled due to the ash cloud from mount eljfajldkjeoigaf in Iceland. We got a flight later in the early afternoon so we spent the day wondering around in the airport. This is where we began to see God's provision for us. 1. BA gave us 45 pounds (money not weight) to spend for the day. We enjoyed a delicious meal and several starbucks coffees. 2. The BA agent was able to change our connecting flight with Delta. We boarded the plane and there was an empty seat next to the guy next to Bethany. 3. He scooted over so that Josh could have a seat and Josh slept almost the whole flight to the States. As we were pulling out of London airport, the little car thing that pushes the airplane locked onto the wheels of the plane and promptly broke down. We waited two hours on the plane as they got the truck "unlocked" from the plane. It was ok though since Bethany had this extra seat for Josh. Because of the delay, we arrived at 6pm in NY and our connecting flight to Charlotte with Delta was at 6:30pm. We easily missed that one. As we were waiting for our bags, we heard our names over the intercom. Apparently we are the "Fatters". BA informed us that none of our bags made the flight but 4. that they had gone ahead and booked us on the next Delta flight since we missed our connection. Unfortunately, the flight was the next day at 2:45pm. I talked with the BA gentleman about arranging a hotel for us since it was BA that was delayed and had us miss our flight. He was not helpful. We went upstairs to try and find someone else from BA to talk to. I was standing in line and there was a BA lady behind the counter who listened patiently and then very kindly 5. arranged a hotel room with dinner and breakfast for us! The only problem was that since our ticket had been changed a couple times, BA informed us that we would probably pay a fine to Delta. We needed to go to the Delta terminal to talk with them. We made our way to Delta and waited in line. By this time, it was 3 in the morning (Kenya time) and the boys were crashing fast. The line was painfully slow but when I got up to the counter, the man was very helpful. He looked up our information and said, "hey, are you named Isaac?" No, I said, that is my son. "Oh, that is my name!" said the man behind the desk. 6. "There won't be any fine for you guys. Here are your tickets for tomorrow. Have a safe flight". So, here I am, writing an e-mail in a very fancy hotel in NYC as we wait for our afternoon flight. It hasn't been smooth but it has been fun to see how God provides. This morning we went downstairs and had a coupon for breakfast but it was only worth 7 dollars per person and the breakfast was 18.95. The lady graciously said 7. we could enjoy the buffet breakfast for no extra cost.
7 things God has provided for our trip. I guess it's been a perfect trip since 7 is the perfect number!

Enjoying family

Who is this crazy fan? It's our wonderful niece, Anna! Even the kids lasted all five hours of the Black Rock rugby tournament today.

The Sorensen family is here! In the picture: Bethany's Dad, Mom, and brother Stan. For team psyche, the whole team shaved their heads!

What a big happy family! Today was a perfect way to end our time in Afirca. With our flight to the States on Sunday night, it's been so wonderful to spend our last days here with family

Rift Valley Academy's varsity rugby team. Stan, my brother is the 3rd guy from the left in the back row.

Stan and his girlfriend, Shauntha.

Mother's Day

This morning we enjoyed a special service at church honoring Mothers and then this evening we went to a fun Ethiopian restaurant with our friends, the Martyns, for a great finishing touch to our Mother's Day.

Travel Plans

We still have a lot up in the air, but we want to inform you all of our travel plans.
On May 16 at 11:10 p.m. we'll fly out of Nairobi, to London, and arrive in Charlotte on May 17th. We'll be in Charlotte for 3 days to debrief at the SIM headquarters and make sure we're clear medically. On the 20th, a good friend is coming to pick us up and drive our family and luggage the 2 hours to Columbia.
We'll spend the next month or so settling in and hope to see relatives during the summer. It looks like November through January will be our busiest travel months. In November we'll cover the midwest: Chicago, Grand Rapids area, first, then to Laguna Beach, CA in December for Audrey's wedding, then up the west coast through OR and WA and hopefully even ID. So if you're in any of those areas and you want to get together, please email us so we can make those plans.
So, 10 more days and we'll be back in our home country, culture, and language. That will be nice!

Fantastic Week at the beach

This was the kind of family vacation every family would dream of. We got to spend a whole week in a villa on the Indian ocean with most of Eli's family (we were missing 2 nephews and a brother-in-law). As you will see from the pictures we spent most of our time in the water, either in the pool or on the beach. Some of the week's highlights were:
1. A ride to the coral gardens and a sand bar on a glass bottom boat
2. Body surfing the waves at high tide
3. All the good food that was cooked for us by a chef.
4. Games and times of sharing every night when the kids were in bed.
5. A heated tennis game
6. Inventing all kinds of tricks to do in the pool.
7. Camel rides on the beach.
8. Drinking coconut milk and eating fresh coconut right out of the palm tree above us!
7-year-old cousin Keegan and Josh on the boat

Caleb, Eli, and Jason entertained us by diving into the little rings.

Keegan and Isaac had fun diving for coins at the bottom of the pool.

Keegan on top of Jason, on top of Caleb!

Baby Abi happy in a ring of her own

Joshua loved this raft!

Nana with all her grandkids and Bethany

Our family on the boat ride

Joshua got to hold a live starfish. Don't worry, we put him right back in the ocean where he belongs!

Uncle Caleb buried Josh in the sand and gave hims some nice legs while he was at it!

Eli is showing Joshua something at the sandbar.

Yes, all five of us got to ride the camels up and down the beach. Joshua cried and cried until it was finally his turn to get on.