Brothers/SIsters, to Parents, to Grandparents

Jay and his family
One of our first 20 something...
now all grown up!

About 15 years ago, we began doing life with 20 & 30 somethings.  We served our church by hosting a small group where we enjoyed dinner together, a time of bible study and then hang out time over dessert.  When we began we fit the role of an older brother & sister to the folks we loved.  It was fun to come alongside them as they started their "adult lives", dealing with "adult issues".  We walked through various joys and sorrows, explored what it meant to be a Christ-follower, discussed budget ideas, gave advise on dealing with difficult bosses, enjoyed hearing about first stages of romance -- this is doing life with one another.  

Celebrating seminary
graduation with Andrew Hess....
one of our favorite "goofballs"

Our philosophy hasn't changed, whether it is serving our church, working at Northrop Grumman, or serving with Cadence, we have learned that when you share a meal, you can begin to share your lives with one another.  We absolutely LOVE this age group!! We have continued to knit our hearts together with 20 & 30 somethings, but they stay 20 & 30 and we continue to get older.  We moved into the surrogate parent role a few years ago.  We have gone to more weddings, baby showers, college graduations in our 40's & 50's than when we were in our 20's & 30's.  

Greta  (on left)
Her first ballet recital

Meadow & Lou

Now as the years have progressed, many of the people that we love, now have children.  Their kiddos look to us as surrogate grandparents.  Since we have joined Cadence, we have been invited to piano recitals & ballet recitals, baseball & soccer games, spelling bees, softball tournaments and so much more.  

Our military kids want their grandparents to participate and it is too expensive and far away for most to be able to come.  So, we go, we attend, we cheer, we wave from the crowd, we hug them, we toss a ball to them, we love them.  We understand the sacrifices that our military personnel make for our country; so, it is an honor to be family to them.  No matter what role we play:  brother or sister, mom or dad, or grandpa or grandma, it is a pleasure to do life & ministry with them all!

Emily Rei Howie -- our
first Japanese "granddaughter"

Cadence has a core verse that illustrates our vision for doing life & ministry.  I Thessalonians 2:8, "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us."  Thanks for allowing us to share our lives with you.  

Saying Good-bye to Yukie Ida!!

Our last night with Yukie

For those of you who are in the military, you know how hard it is to say good-bye.  It is a reality in our job....people leave our ministry regularly. We don't have to like it, but it is something we have to deal with.

This week we said good-bye to someone very dear to us, to the Lighthouse community and to the local Japanese community.  

Yukie Ida has been a part of the Yokosuka community for several years.  She came to the Lighthouse and met Jesus here.  As she grew in her faith, she was asked to join the Lighthouse team.  Yukie has served here for 6 years.  On Monday, she said good-bye to her "family".  The Lord is leading her to another ministry focus.  

Yukie and her Navy Christian Sisters

Yukie has served with four different house directors:  Paul & Stacy Cassidy, Jim & Martha Bowden, Matthew & Jill Bachali and now us. She has been a faithful servant to Jesus, Cadence and the Lighthouse.  

Yukie and her Japanese Christian Sisters

We were fortunate to have 4 weeks with sweet Yukie.  In those four weeks, we grew to love her & appreciate her deeply.  It became obvious to us that Yukie served in a sacrifical way to the Navy and to the Japanese.  She had a Japanese ladies study, where she was instrumental introducing them to Christ, where she discipled them, and helped these ladies deepen their walk with Jesus.  One sweet gal told me she will miss Yukie because "She taught me about God, she is my sister." Yukie was a blessing to her Navy family as well.  She taught them about Jesus' deep love for them and helped them navigate the Japanese culture. She has been a good friend and a great teammate!

We will miss Yukie!!  But, we know that God has a tremendous plan for her.  We are excited to watch her in this next chapter of life.  Thanks Yukie!  

Scary Dragons & Military love

We walked off the plane a little dazed & confused, but a familiar face greeted us...Matthew Bachali!  We were so glad to see him as we arrived in Tokyo on Wednesday, 12 June.  After juggling our suitcases and getting through customs, we drove to our new home.  When we arrived at the Lighthouse (the name of our ministry), we were greeted by 40+ folks to a "Welcome to Yokosuka" party.  We enjoyed a fabulous dinner and met several people that we will be doing life with here in Yokosuka. 

Our first few days with Matthew & Yukie have been fabulous!  We are so grateful for the ministry that Matthew & Jill, Carolyn & Yukie have done in this past year.  We are inheriting a very healthy ministry, a fabulous leadership team and a beautiful home.  We have been very busy with transition items:  getting alien registration cards, learning nuances with the house, transfering bank accounts, utilities, cell phones, etc.  Matthew & Yuke have pulled together a wonderful transition plan that we are marching through day-by-day.

In the midst of that, we have become settled into our apartment.  The Lighthouse is unique to Cadence. It is a ministry center, that includes 2 apartments for the Cadence team.  Yukie lives in the 4th floor apartment - a nice 2-bedroom place.  We have the the 3rd floor apartment - a lovely 3-bedroom home.  We have unpacked all of our boxes and put our pictures on the wall.  We have some final touches to truly call it home -- but we are quite settled now.  

Beth & Jennessa with the "work of art"

As we unpacked, we experienced some "love" from our Ktown family.  We would open drawers and find a picture of scary dragons and on the flip side was a note from someone in our ministry in Ktown.  It's a very long story, but these sweet ladies pulled a prank on us in Ktown with this picture.  They tried to convince us that this was a gift from an Air Force man that was part of the Ktown ministry several years ago.  The hospitality house was integral in his adjustment to Germany and he wanted to thank us by giving the house an original work of art.  The young man even showed up to our home one night to see where we had hung his masterpiece.  Beth had us going for a while...Jennessa played innocent; but the truth finally came out.  They found this "work of art" in a dumpster and as good youth workers decided to prank us.  

How fun it was to find these pictures throughout the house and receive words of love, encouragement, prayers & support from our Germany family!  Saying good-bye to to our Ktown family was so hard and we miss them very much.  God is good!  He has used our new Navy family in these first few days to make us feel welcome and He has used our Ktown family to feel loved and to remind us why we serve the military!  

One week from today......

One week from today, we are flying to Tokyo!  We cannot believe how fast our time has flown.  We have enjoyed seeing many of you and catching up on life.  

But, we are ready to go!  When we received our work VISAs a few weeks ago, we were excited.  It was the final step for our move to Japan.  We truly miss loving on our military!  We are excited to have the opportunity to learn a new military culture as we do life with the Navy.  We cannot wait to begin life and ministry with these fine folks.

As we enter this last week, we have mixed emotions as our time with our family is coming to an end.  Please keep us in your prayers as we say our good-byes and get our final hugs before we leave.  Please pray for our transition as we begin our life and our ministry in Japan.  We are so thankful for Matthew & Jill Bachali who have, along with their four kids, sacrificed this year to serve at the Yokosuka Hospitality House.  They have done an amazing job loving our sailors!  We will have big shoes to fill.  We will be in touch again soon!  Thanks again for your love, friendship & prayers.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Dad & Mom....53 years together and going strong!

Today is my father's 75th birthday:  April 18, 1938.  We spent the weekend celebrating this milestone day.  We started on Saturday evening with a family dinner out.  I feel so fortunate that my family and I get along and enjoy each other's company so much.   I am grateful that my parent's foster that over the years.  Whenever we have had conflicts, they encouraged us to forgive and move one.  We have walked through many joys and sorrows together, but our family is united.  I love being able to call my parents and my siblings friends!!

Chuckie as a baby!  So cute!

We spent Sunday enjoying some cake & ice cream with extended family and friends.  It was a small affair -- Dad is not one for the lime light.  But, it was fun to share stories from his youth and his life.  

We won't be together today for his 75th birthday.  But, I hope my father knows how much I love & respect him.  I enjoy spending time with him, ribbing him, hanging out and loving him.  He has been instrumental in my life as a mentor for my spiritual convictions, my success in the work place and molding me as a wife and a mother.  I am forever grateful for him.  Happy Birthday Dad!!

Easter 2013

Andrew and Amanda
Boulder, Colorado

"What is the hardest thing about living overseas?" is one of the most frequent questions we receive.  Without question,  it is being away from family and friends.  We loved our Germany community and they were like family to us!  But, we do miss the folks that we have done life with for so long.  It has been fun to reconnect with so many dear people and hear what has been going on in their lives.

Jack & Melissa Bruckner
Broomfield, CO

We enjoyed a beautiful, sunny Easter weekend in Colorado.  This will be our last formal holiday at home before we move to Yokosuka.  We had the opportunity to visit some friends from our Boulder community.  We went to Easter service at our old church, Flatirons Community Church.  

Chris & Nathan playing dominoes
on Easter morning

We miss celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter with family.  We love providing that home away from home to our servicemen and women; but we must admit it was a special time this year!  

It is good to be home!

We made it back to Colorado on Sunday afternoon.  We were on a 2 month road trip visiting friends, extended family, existing supporters and raising some additional support.  God was so faithful to us!  We had so much fun reconnecting with people.  We left for Germany almost 4 years ago.  In most cases, we hadn't seen these folks since we left.  We had precious times of fellowship with everyone!  We also saw some friends from Germany along the way.  We enjoyed catching up on life and hearing how their time back in the States is going.  

Alan & Robin Brunton --
friends from Fortville, Indiana

God blessed us with safe travels and great weather on drive days, except for one:  OUR VERY LAST DAY.  As we returned to Denver, we got stuck in Limon for a few hours.  [Limon is a Colorado town on the Kansas border.] A major snow storm had hit the Denver and the eastern plains of Colorado on Saturday.  The roads were in good shape as we drove on Sunday.  But, there was an accident that closed I-70 for almost 2 hours.  We enjoyed a break in a little cowboy bar in Limon.  We made it home just fine!

Aunt Cathy with her
sweet niece, Avery Palmer

We will be sending out a formal newsletter soon.  You will hear more stories from our time away from Colorado.  We are glad to be back and will be spending time with our Colorado friends & family over the next few months.  

Please continue to pray for our transition to Japan.  We are waiting for our VISAs to be approved.  We are getting more & more excited about our next assignment with Cadence.  Thank you for your faithfulness to us and our ministry.