VACATION!

At the advice of some of our friends we have decided to go on vacation. I did not take any time off last year so it is probably a good idea to take a break. There never seems to be a good time to take a break in the ministry. A good friend and retired elder in our Hobart congregation told me, "You need to discipline yourself to take a break." I had never really thought of it that way, but it does make sense. I have known too many ministers who burned out before they knew it. Since we are still on summer break from Catechism and the Tuesday night Bible study, and we hope to begin services in George Town in February, now is the best time overall.

We hope to go camping, but if it does not work out we have a couple back up plans.

We will be gone from December 29th to January 14th.

Talk to you after the 14th and have a blessed New Year.

Love through Christ,

terreth, Martha, and Julia

The first of many pictures!

My apologies for such a long absence from the blogosphere, especially since there is so much to be written and seen. Julia and I are indeed home again from our great overseas journey to family and friends in North America. And while we greatly enjoyed our time there, it is so good to be home! As you might imagine, the last week has been a combination of second honeymoon and recovery time. Thankfully, the Bible studies I attend are all currently not in session since Christmas and summer break are upon us. And the news gets better and better. For the first time since coming to Tassie, our family is going to take a proper holiday in January for two weeks. The plan is to head down the East Coast to the Freycinet Peninsula and go camping there. Pictures from the area are beautiful!

Part of the delay is because of the fact that most of my pictures were downloaded onto my mother-in-law's computer and the CD is in the mail with a few other things that didn't fit in the suitcases. Julia got about a complete new wardrobe from her grandma and aunt in Michigan, and I managed to pick up a few things at shops and at my former home, so a few boxes were necessary.

While I'm thinking of it, a big THANK YOU to everyone who was praying for Terry, Julia and me during the stresses of separation and travel. Thanks are also due to our dear friends and family who took special effort in taking care of and spending time with us travelers while we were in BC, AR, NJ, and MI. Sometimes we were tired and crabby, but we certainly do appreciate your kindness! Above all, we thank God for providing safety in travel, blessing in fellowship, comfort in loneliness, and joy in reuniting as a family.

There are a lot of pictures, but just a few tonight. The one at the beginning of the post is of the Grandma, Aunt, and Mother of the Little Celebrity. That's Mary, Tristan, and me with Julia. But seriously, I do believe I have been hired as Julia's Personal Assistant as I wave away the people in shops and on planes who clamor for pictures and autographs from the World's Cutest Baby. Okay, so I exaggerate slightly... only slightly....

The others are of the seasoned travelers on the second-to-last leg of the journey home. Incredible journey, it might well be called - it was 4 flights to Vancouver, BC; 2 flights to Little Rock, AR; a 20-something hour drive through Powderly, KY to Pompton Plains, NJ, 2 flights to Grand Rapids, MI; and another 5 flights home. A grand total of 13 flights, ladies and gentlemen. And Julia took it all quite well. Only bawled maybe twice during travel, and neither time during the 13.5 hr international flight. That one is so long that every time I do it, I think I'm getting close to the end and find out it's only half over. It's weird, but time sort of gets fuzzy. Something to do with crossing the International Date Line, probably.

Well, we'll catch ya later when the rest of the pictures arrive. Until then!

They Are Home!