While We Wait

As many of you know, due to a storm on Friday we were delayed by 2 1/2 hours from landing in Houston, TX. Our flight to Lima left without us (and 30 other passengers). For 2 days we tried to get on the plane by being on standby but to no avail. We do, now, have tickets for the Thursday flight. We will land in Trujillo at 6:15 AM on Friday, only 7 days later than expected! We are using these days to reach out to those we come in contact with. Many are frustrated and yes, angry that they aren't on the plane but we are trying to be a testimony to them. It has also been a time of growth for our children, they REALLY want to be in Peru, NOW!. They have been disappointed for 3 missed boardings, but do understand that God has this in His perfect plan for us. Does that mean it is easy? No, but it does mean that we are not in this alone, God is here with us, He loves us and wants the best for us, even if that means waiting. So...what do we do while we wait? We are thankful for this Econolodge that has given us a fairly good discount for staying several nights and being in a "distress" situation as they call it. A block away is a Kroger grocery store where we can buy food so we don't have to eat out all the time. Our hotel rooms each have a microwave and fridge! Our home church gave us a gift for travel expenses, God had it all planned out for us. There is a great pool right across the parking lot too! Since we just came from the Stilwell family reunion we even have our swimsuits and play clothes with us. We are thankful for many things, many prayers from others and that we are together and safe. We also have great beds to sleep in! Here are some pictures of our few days here.

Supper by the pool, Church's chicken, Yum!

Fun in the pool

Rebekah and Abigail working on Sudoku

Ben trying to wait patiently

Flying from Chicago to Houston (via San Antonio) We sat in San Antonio for 2 hours while the storm cleared or they fueled the plane, we aren't sure which is true.

Girls on the plane

Pictures from our 3 week adventure - lots of them!!

First, pictures from the Garden of the Gods. We prefer to call it, Garden of God. It is a beautiful place!!

Rebekah and Abigail
Pacey and Jacob

David and Kandie

Blaine being tough!

Ben

Kandie and Terah the sisters in law

My girls

The Johnston kids except for Benjamin

Pacey being a bear - look out!!

All of us at the balanced rock

Abigail and Hope

The kids

Then, some pictures from Rocky Mountain National Park...beautiful place. Many of these Ben took since he has the better camera.

Drive - Set Sail - Drive - Delay...

Hello for HOT Nebraska. David is happy to be in the state of his birth, he's a cornhusker :) It has been a couple of weeks since I have been able to post on my blog, I will attemp to give a brief update. On June 13 we left Lafayette for Des Moines, IA where we presented Peru in Floris, IA (it was a great but brief time) and spent the week with David's brother Jeff and his family. Ben and Rebekah enjoyed taking a module at FBBC. This was a week long course on Personal Evangelism. The credits they received will apply to their freshman year! They lived in the dorms and generally experienced college life. They both enjoyed it. Abigail celebrated her 13th birthday while we were there and I celebrated my ____ birthday :)

From there we headed toward Denver to visit our last supporting church. We were with them for a week helping with their VBS and giving the missionary emphasis each day. It was a blast! The theme was Set Sail Spread the Good News. We did some sightseeing (awesome creation) and immensly enjoyed seeing my brother Blaine and his family for one very short afternoon.

At the end of the week we began our trek back to Indiana. We stopped in Nebraska to visit Phil and Joyce Tilson. Phil and David were roommates all four years of college and each others best man. We are good friends. Phil is the director of Whispering Cedars Baptist Camp here in NE. Sunday morning when David started the van he put his foot on the brake and the pedal went all the way to the floor, uuhh oohh. We took a different vehicle to church! Long story short, the brake line is broken and there are NO parts in Iowa, Nebraska or South Dakota!! The part has been ordered from Detroit and should arrive tomorrow afternoon. The Ford dealer is 30 minutes away so once David gets back with the part, gets it installed and working we will load up and head to Des Moines. We had hoped to spend all day Tuesday with them so we can say good bye to David Uncle Rick and Aunt Phyllis, cousins and Grandma. Now we will have to fly through. We want to get home by Wednesday. I am anxious to get home, we have been gone long enough!

Well, that is the scoop. When I get home I will eventually post some pictures from our trip. Next Monday is our 18th wedding anniversary! We will spend the day driving to Cleveland for the BMM annual conference. How romantic :( We are looking forward to the time with Mom and Dad Stilwell, Jon and Julie and family and MANY of our fellow Peru missionaries!!

Johnston June Birthday Bash

Chris, Kandie, Dad, Abigail

Tonight we celebrated the birthdays for June in the Johnston/Stilwell family. My dad, my brother Chris, Abigail and myself all have birthdays this month. It was a very nice evening together!

She's Done!!

Rebekah has been officially released from having to see Dr. Greenberg her hand surgeon. It was a bitter sweet moment as we said good bye to him and his nurse. He does want to see Rebekah again in 3 years when she comes home for college. He believes she will need further surgery at that time (in about 3 different areas on her hand and arm). We are so thankful to God for the ways He has worked in our lives in the past year and a half. So many tiny details He took care of and the MANY ways we have been blessed. Thank you for praying for us!

Fun at the Indy Zoo

This bear cubs were so cute and playful.

Komodo dragons on display this year, they are huge!

Fun picture, check out Jacob's glasses!

We had fun at the zoo today and the weather was perfect! The dolphin show is always a hit but not good for picture taking :( Too bad Benjamin an Daddy weren't with us.

Friends and Fun

Daddy and Benjamin are gone. My sisters left today too. This morning I went to the dentist to make sure my teeth are okay before I go back to Peru. They are doing great and I don't have any more baby teeth. Mom thought that was sad, another epoca of her mommy life is over. Her children all have adult teeth now! After seeing Dr. Sakel, I picked up my friend Colin and we headed to Chucky Cheeses. I had never been there before and boy was it fun! The pizza was good and I really liked the games. Colin won WAY more tickets than I did but I think I did okay since it was my first time. Colin is going to spend the night tonight. We will be playing some great games of nerf gun and water games. Colin is a lot of fun.

Jacob and Colin

Putting the won tickets into the counting machine.