We just spent the week in West Virginia with Amanda’s family. What a special time we had with everyone.
Above: Papaw taking the grandkids on a tractor ride
Below: Mamaw and kiddos at the park
We took all the grandkids fishing on the river. Papaw caught one fish and each kid got to reel it in. Poor fish but the kids had so much fun.
We have had a great time reconnecting with family and friends during our time here in the States. On May 11, we had a family get together for all of Amanda’s dad side of the family. Even though we don’t see each other very often, it is always fun to be with family.
Above: The whole Martin side of the family
Below: Grandma Martin and Ernie
Above: Aunt Brenda and Taran
Below: Bradyn with bubbles
Above: Taylor and Kali
Below: Uncle Frankie and Bradyn
Smores around the outdoor fire
Amanda and her cousin Belinda were the best of friends when they were younger. They grew up together and spent all of their birthdays together since they were only 4 days apart. The good ole days!
In May, Taylor got her 1st loose tooth. It took almost 3 weeks for it to finally come out but Taylor finally has lost her 1st tooth. All of this happened while we were spending the week at the beach with some sweet missionary friends from Botswana-the Davis family.
Above: Taylor’s very loose tooth on the bottom and then it popped right out.
Below: Walking and riding on the dock to the Intercostal Waterway
Below: Pictures with the Davis family. We had popsicles to celebrate Taylor losing her 1st tooth.
I apologize for not being better about blogging over the last few months. Since January we have been traveling around visiting with family and friends and speaking at churches up and down the east coast and blogging has certainly come last. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers during our Stateside. We will be returning to Botswana on July 10, 2013. For those of you we have been able to see and connect with we are so thankful for that time. We would love to hear from you on how we can be in prayer for you…our email is bltast@hotmail.com
A picture of our family from a missions festival at Colonial Heights Baptist Church in Virginia.
Since Taylor is finishing her 1st year of Kindergarten, we decided to take a field trip to the National Zoo in Washington, DC. The kids enjoyed seeing all of the animals. Fun experience, the male lion stood up and roared and then proceeded to roar about 20 more times back and forth with all of the visitors that day.
It’s amazing that this zoo is free. Seeing the African animals makes us a bit homesick for Africa.
Grammy works as in a Kindergarten class, so for “take your child to work day” she took both Taylor and her cousin Noa to school. To say that they both had a blast is an understatement.
Bradyn has changed so much since our arrival in the States. When we arrived he would not let mommy out of his site and now he is this little independent boy who wipes mommy’s kisses off. The kids got 2 games-Fibber and Headbands- for Christmas from Uncle Scott and Aunt Sara ad Bradyn likes to try to play them both at the same time. Silly boy makes our life interesting.
Below: Bradyn and Grandad cruising on the motorcycle
All of that camo…his middle name much be “Hunter”
We had a great week with Amanda’s side of the family. The beach was very cold but the kiddos didn’t seem to mind.
Playing a bit of Putt-Putt at the beach
Sweet Frogs…Awesome!
Trampoline jumping
USS Battleship North Carolina in Wilmington, NC. My family all went when my brother and I were little…brought back a lot of memories.
Feeding the sea gulls on the waterway off of the dock
