Dress up

Our little princess loves to dress up. Here is one of her "outfits".

Commissioning

On September 23, we were officially commissioned with the IMB. It honestly felt like graduation day as we were done with classes and were now expected to go out and use what we've learned. We were so glad our parents were able to come for the commissioning service. Currently we are spending time with family in WV and MD and are scheduled to fly out October 7 at 10:00pm.

This is Taylor's wonderful teacher-Ms. Janice. She has the patience of Job to deal with ten 2 year olds at the same time. We definitely saw Taylor's independent ways come out while at school as some days she would not take naps or sit in her chair for lunch, but all in all it was a great experience for her.

Botanical Gardens

During our time in Richmond we got to explore some parks and museums. Here are some photos from our day spent at the Botanical Gardens. Taylor enjoyed the butterfly garden and all of the beautiful flowers. If you're ever looking for something to do in Richmond this is a great spot!!

ILC July 28-September 23, 2009

The last 6 weeks we have been in training in Richmond, VA at a place called ILC (International Learning Center). We are here with about 250 other people being trained on things such as church planting, training others to present the gospel through "training for trainers" and "bible storying" and many many other classes to prepare us for our overseas ventures. It's hard to believe that in less than a month we'll be in Africa. We leave here on September 23 and go to visit with family/friends for a couple weeks and leave for Africa on October 7. Below are a few pictures of our time here at ILC.

Here's the "quad" we have been living in for our 8 1/2 weeks here at ILC. We have a common living area with 4 other families and then each family has there own 2 bedroom/1 bath apartment off of the living room.

Us with our friends Mark and Melynda on a trip to the park. Taylor and their daughter Madylanne have become best friends. They live in our quad and Taylor and Madylanne are in the same class at school. We are so thankful for their friendship...they will be living in Zambia which is not too far from us.

Praise the Lord that Taylor has adjusted very well here. She is loving all of the attention she gets. She is enjoying attending school Monday-Friday from 9-3 and is learning a lot.


We found a horse and donkey a short walk from the place we are staying. Taylor has no fear of them and loves to try to feed them. Even if they are across the pasture, if she yells "come here" they all come running to see her.

We will be sending out our prayer/newsletter here shortly and will try to also post it on the website, but if you would like to be added to our prayer/newsletter email us at bltast@hotmail.com