Hooray!!! Allens are 100%

Last week, Bethany and Michael finished their time of Ministry Partner Development and are now on campus full time at the University of Arkansas.

While we visited them last month, we were able to go to one of their ministry activities.  It was a free hamburger cook-out for all the new freshman on campus. The first few weeks for a college freshman are very vital in them making choices about how they will spend their free time in college.

Before getting their hamburger, the students were asked to fill out a simple survey answering a few questions like.... if they would be interested in exploring the claims of Jesus Christ with someone or joining in a Bible Study. It is also a great way to promote and inform students of  the weekly meeting.

It is a lot of work, but through these cook-outs they get stacks of names of students that they continue to follow up the first month on campus. Pray for these new students who are still deciding about the party scene or getting involved with Christian groups on their campuses.

We are excited for the Allens in this new phase for their family, working with college students at the UofA. We have experienced God's faithfulness once again in their lives.  Having our 3rd daughter complete their time of "Ministry Partner Development"; we are reminded that God's resources are unlimited.  Now just one more daughter to go... please pray for Jen and Ben who are at 50% in developing their team. They are so eager to get to Oklahoma State University- as soon as they find enough ministry partners to send them!

And every Tuesday night at 8:30 a group of at least 400 students gather at U of A for the weekly Cru meeting.  Tonight is the night!  Praise God for what he is doing in these college students lives through the Cru ministry on that campus! 

Feeling Patriotic

Woa... a whole week without bloggin is long for me.  With no WiFi at the cabin and limited internet-- it just isn't happening!

I have been feeling very patriotic lately.  I guess it takes a girl who has grown up in the heart of America for her first 24 years of life and then moves out of the country for her next 35 years to then really appreciate and feel patriotic about the positive side of America when she comes back to visit.  I know a lot of people are disappointed in our country right now-- but from my perspective- we have MUCH to be thankful for.

It started with our trip to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.  We were in between and lunch and dinner appointments in Dallas, TX and found out that it was just a few blocks from where we were, so decided to check it out.  I am so glad that we did.  It wasn't just about the president, but about America- which reminded me once again of how blessed I am to be born in and a citizen of  this country.

We even got to sit in a full-size reproduction of the Oval Office.  We recommend this visit to anyone wanting a burst of patriotism. It was educational and well worth our time.

And then there's the beautiful country side.  For these two Iowa farm kids living in big cities, we can't get enough of the fresh air, open fields,  shades of green everywhere, and cool weather.

This week, we needed to take two trips from one side of Iowa to the other.  One in a truck and the other on a Harley. Talk about beauty.... it was so gorgeous to us. This is the Mississippi River near Prairie du Chien.

The weather was beautiful and it did this heart so much good to just look at miles and miles of family farms, big red barns, silos, corn being harvested, and farmers in the fields.  Look close here and you'll see a lot of cows grazing in the pasture.

God Bless America-- you are still the land that I love!

Hunting, Shooting, and Visiting Lori in Texas

It was so very good to visit Lori at her new home in Naccadoches, Texas.  Before we drove down from Arkansas, I really did not know that much about the area.  In fact, when she was first assigned to the campus of Stephen F. Austin- I thought the campus had an unusual name and wondered who is this Stephen F. Austin guy anyway.  There are also jokes about her city being called............         "Nac-a-no-where". On our visit, we found our impressions to change so much and we now love the area.

The campus is named after one of the founding fathers  of the state of Texas.  The city of Nacogdoches is considered to be the oldest town in Texas.  The place is beautiful with several national forests in the area .

During our visit, our goal was to just enter into Lori's new world with her.  We went to a church she is considering, ate at local restaurants with her, helped with some things around her home, explored the area with her, and just spent a fun and  long weekend with her.

A new experience for us was to go hunt vermin hogs with some of her team. In Iowa our hogs are a precious resource for some of the countries best pork chops These feral pigs drastically affect wildlife and plant communities as well as domestic crops and livestock.  A Texan farmer asked our friends to help him with them.

Lori and Paige ready to hunt with camo cheeks and all. 

It was a fun new "something to hunt" experience for Mike too. 

Her Cru staff team is a fun team and enjoys doing things together. 

We had to stop when it started getting dark, and that's when we finally saw them running through the field.

Lori and her roommate had their team over for a cookout one night, so that we could meet the rest of her team. There are 8 full time staff on their team (plus 3 kids which Lori enjoys).

Our host that we stayed with also took Mike and Lori target shooting. 

Father/daughter enjoying their time together. 

Lori has been that son that Mike never had in her enjoyment of his hobbies.

Dad throwing clay pigeons to Lori.

On our last night we were able to go to a SFA volleyball game and watch one of Lori's roommates play.  She is one of the senior captains and the starting setter.  She is way good and it was a treat for us to watch her play.

SFA has won the national competition for Cheer-leading for many years.  Their trophy cases are filled with accolades from many years of competitions and they are known for this.

Lori is loving her new life, job and roommates in Texas. Her roommate on the right, Nicole is also on full time staff with Cru and Paige (#1) is a senior at SFA. It was so good and reassuring for us to meet her friends and team and know that she is in a great community and enjoying her ministry and work.  Her first few weeks on campuses she has already seen 3 girls pray to receive Christ with her and want to study the Bible together.  We believe great things are yet to come there at SFA. 

Grateful for Mayo Clinic

This week has been a week of doctor appointments and today we went to Mayo to get a second opinion on Mike's acoustic neuroma.   We want to thank those of you who were praying and report that God answered so many of our prayers beyond what we expected.  God blessed us in several big and little ways. We are so thankful!

1.  We hear that it is a miracle that we even got in so quickly.  We called them when we got to the USA and told them when we were available and they got us right in.
2.  We have both never been to Mayo and were so impressed with everything about that place. This  year it was recognized as the best hospital in the nation. From the time we got there, until we left, we felt so cared for and were so pleased.
3.  After we got checked in and sat down, there were 3 brochures in the waiting area to read specifically about acoustic neuroma and it's treatment.  We knew we were in the the right place.
4.  A team of two specialist doctors and their assistants  met with us promptly making a total of 8 in the room.
5. The ENT doctor was a missionary kid who grew up in China and had been to Thailand on vacations. Who would have thought that of all the doctors there that Mike's doctor would be one of us, who understood us so well.
6. We were concerned about the MRI and test results that we brought from Thailand that they would not be good enough and he would have to redo them, but both doctors told us that they were excellent readings.  In fact they said that they had seen readings from there in Minnesota worse than the Thailand ones. 
7. The neurosurgeon was so thorough in explaining Mike's tumor and what our treatment options were.  That was important to us. They gave us their contact info and asked us to continue to communicate with them and send them MRI results from Thailand.
8. They wanted Mike to get another hearing test to have their own baseline at Mayo of his hearing loss and once again we were able to get right in the same day  and get it done. 
9. When we left, the neurosurgeon thanked us for the work that we do in Thailand.
10. The best report of the whole day is that no surgery or radiation needs to be done yet.  The tumor is still small and sometimes these tumors do not grow.  There are more possible side effects (more hearing loss, facial paralysis, balance/dizzy issues) from doing the surgery than by just letting it be.  The plan is to get regular MRI's to watch that it does not grow more and if it does then we would have to make a decision about the removal through surgery or radiation. We both felt very good with the diagnosis and expertise of the doctors. 

So we drove back home to Iowa tonight rejoicing in all that God did for us today! It was a good day and we are grateful for his faithfulness to us!

Mike @ Mayo

Washington County Fair

We've said good-bye to our kids in Arkansas and Texas and are now enjoying some cool September days in Iowa. With limited internet and a lot of time on the road, I have a lot of pictures and little time to share them.

One of our last days in Arkansas, the family decided the county fair in Fayetteville would be a fun cultural experience- especially since it was free. Jen already shared about her experience- but my take on it brought back a lot of memories of our Black Hawk County Fair as a young girl, and entering my  4-H projects that I had worked hard on.

We started out in the animal barns and saw the little kids showing their cows before the judges.

Some of those Guernsey's were huge!

Poor sheep, they stood so straight and proper with a little help.

The pig barn... it was fun to watch E and RK's reactions to all the animals.  Ellanora LOVES animals. 

I enjoyed the Home Economics hall.

Winners of the canned goods.

The baked goods, which brought back memories of my Purple ribbon for my date-nut quick bread, which made me so proud in 5th grade. 

Such beautiful fresh garden produce. 

A county fair is just not complete without our laughing at all the  greazie food.

Seriously, can you find one healthy thing to eat on this menu?

I decided to try the "deep fried oreos" just because I had never had them and they sounded sort of ridiculous...but shhhhhh, don't tell that they were actually kind of good. 

We ended the night with a classic Ferris wheel ride. 

I spy a cute little family way down below.  It was a fun and cheap evening together with our kids and grand-kids and we felt real American at the county fair. 

Ellanora's Party

Ellanora Faye's mama had a new outfit made for her one year birthday party.

Bethany planned for weeks ahead on the decorations, and I'm pretty sure that the one year party might be more for the parents than the one year old.  Jen was there to help her arrange the table and garland. It all looked so pretty and festive.

The decorating was a family affair with Papa Mike blowing up the balloons. 

Jen and I made the garland the night before. 

The smash cake was set to be one of the main events. 

There were a lot of pretty candies and pretzels dipped in white chocolate. 

Carrot sticks dipped in hummus. 

"How old is Ellanora?"......."One!"- She got that one down real good. 

Bethany printed out 100 Instagram pictures of her first year for us to make a  "1"... but there were so many left over, we made an "E", too.

Family, friends, neighbors, staff team, supporters, and church mates all came to celebrate. 

Watching her open her gifts was fun entertainment. 

In the meantime, Ruby Kay was enjoying her cousin's birthday gift from her daddy and mommy.

The time for the anticipated "smash" cake had arrived. 

Sweet one year old had no idea what was going on.

Daddy and Mommy were anticipating her reaction. 

She started out cautiously.....

then got more serious....

she was really fun to watch.....

It started getting real messy pretty quick.

Grandma Debbie took her  in the yard to get hosed off. As if she wasn't sweet enough already!

Ellie Faye, you are one VERY loved little girl and we are so happy that we got to celebrate at your party with you.