R&R in J

We just completed a week of rest and relaxation in the beautiful Petra, Jordan. It was a much needed break for our greater team (from 5 different areas we all gathered) and a good time of spiritual, emotional, and physical renewal. We had friends from Lancaster, PA join us to bring the Word, encouragement as well as share their many talents with us, and we also had friends from Sheboygan, WI join us to help do a vbs for our kids and help with child care. The week would have been very different and definitely not as fulfilling if all these folks hadn't come, so thank you to all that came and those that supported them and made it possible!

We had a great time filled with laughter and tears, and many good memories were made. Each morning we would come together for fellowship and a message, then most afternoons were fun in the sun and for the evenings we would have activities like the talent/no talent night, survivor and other fun and games. I've included a picture of Scott dressed as a woman for a challenge in our survivor game! We also had a great time catching up with friends that we only see once a year. Overall it was a huge blessing. The kids all wore themselves out through play with each other and having lots of fun activities during their vbs time.


Last year we went to this same location and Zeke was terrified of the pool. This year we almost couldn't keep him out of it. He was still somewhat hesitant at times, but overall enjoyed splashing around and playing with the other kids in the pool.


Another funny experience was that Zeke was once again very comfortable with the local people. The funny part is that he thought they were the people from our area so he kept speaking our local language to them instead of arabic. They kept asking me what he was saying! Another interesting thing was that we discovered that Zeke has an amazing memory for names! He learned almost all of the kid's names and would use them whenever he saw one! Not bad for being just shy of 22 months! Zeke made friends with the man who ran the bar by the pool and was able to scam juice for not only himself, but for his little friend B as well!

I think a fun thing to do, when possible, is to go from one amazing time to another...and we get to do that be heading to the states! My brother is getting married so we will head back for that as well as some connecting with friends and family. It will be a packed time, but I am so glad that we had this first so that we aren't showing up to our families as completely wiped out people! I will try and blog once or twice while we are there, but I promise nothing! We will be back in action by mid-September, so if you don't check back here often plan on checking back in at that time and I'm sure we'll have lots to share!

loose ends...

We are currently trying to get ourselves organized and tie up all loose ends as we prepare to travel to Jordan for a week of relaxation and recuperation with our larger team before traveling on to the states for some time with family and friends. It was been a good, but long summer and we are definitely ready for some
get-away time. Zeke has been without some of his little buddies these past couple weeks and I think he is ready to have a whole hoard of
playmates as our team is inundated with children!


This summer has been full of busyness and adventure. We have had the pleasure of going on several picnics, we have connected with new friends, hosted events with our short term workers that were here for the summer, prepared our new center location and much much more! Oh,and we've studied some more language!







Our short termers were a great help as they pretty much ran the courses that we offered at our center and freed us up to study and just connect with this class of students. Coffee shop nights were packed out and laid back this summer, which made for fun Thursday nights. Zeke enjoyed running around all evening during them and getting his fill of cake and soda. We hosted our very first girls only event where we played games, ate yummy snacks and learned to make a bracelet. I think it was as much a blessing to us as it was to the women we invited. I have a hunch that there will be more events like this in the future! We also had a group of 3 men come from Oregon specifically to help with some minor construction on our new center. They have been a huge blessing and have prepared the way for our big move to the new building at the end of this week. We will have our first set of classes beginning at the end of Ramadan. We couldn't have done it without helpers like these!

Zeke made the most of the summer by running around as much as he could ( and getting as sweaty as he could in this heat ), playing in the water every chance he got, eating fun summer treats like ice cream and icees, playing on his horsy and getting as much attention as he possibly could from our neighbors and friends! One night at coffee shop when the eletricity went out he showed off his command of the language to everyone as he shouted out "karaba niya," which means "theres no electricy." Everyone got a good laugh out of it. Ah, what a kid!

So its been a full last few months for us, and we continue to be excited about what God is doing here. After we get back from the states we begin our last year of study and look forward to another full year here of building relationships, diving deeper into this crazy language and into 2010 welcoming a new addition to our family! Thats right...baby Wiggins #2 is expected in late February. So we have lots to look forward to as God leads us and shows us each step that He has for us as we do our best to walk in obedience to His will!