Nov
26
Dear Friends and Family,
We’ve been in the states for nearly a month. It’s crazy how quickly the time races by. Some of our first impressions upon hitting the American shore were the variety of restaurants in the Chicago airport but no place to lay our weary heads for the five hour layover. On the drive home we had to admire the donkey/goat free highways! We still talk about that nearly every time we get in the car. Also we have appreciated the toilet seats, toilet paper and toilets that actually flush! And finally we have enjoyed blending into our American culture instead of standing out in a crowd.
- Our conference in Tupelo, Mississippi was great. We met up with some old friends and made some new ones.
- After leaving the conference we drove to Lubbock, TX where we spent a few days with our daughter Anna-Maria. On the way we spent the night in Shawnee, Oklahoma and experienced our first earthquake! In Lubbock, Alice attended two of Anna-Maria’s ESL classes, picked up some great teaching material and we enjoying meeting many of Anna’s students and friends from around the world. We also spent time with our niece Amy and her family.
- From Lubbock we drove to Waco and Mark met our grandson Jack David for the first time. Jack is now 8 months old. David and his wife Betsy took a break from moving into their new home to spend some quality days with us. It was in Waco that we experienced our first cultural overload after going to Ikea and Whole Foods in the same day. We wandered through the Whole Food’s Store in Austin, TX shaking our heads and feeling just a bit lost as we tried to make a decision what to purchase for our lunch.
- We flew back home to Michigan on Tuesday the 15th and Miriam arrived from South Africa the next day. Unfortunately Mark threw out his back the same day and was having intense back spasms for about five days. However, we still have had fun getting to know our grandchildren, Faith, almost four and Mark 19 months. Of course raking leaves was part of the fun and we had some magical moments with the kids along with Sara and Miriam.
- Thanksgiving was extra special as we gathered together with Alice’s family in Frankenmuth. We also had Jenni, our former exchange student from Germany with us. Friday night we took the kids to see all the Christmas lights in Frankenmuth and oohed and aahed at this spectacular display of Christmas.
- Details: This Sunday we will be at Kainay Church in Cloverville for all three of their services. The times are 9, 10:30 and noon. We will do a short interview at each service and there will be a brief slide show of our work during the offering. We will also have a table set up in the foyer to meet and greet. On Dec. 4 we will be at Olivet Evangelical Free Church. Their services begin at 10:40. We will speak briefly there and have a table in the foyer. If you would like to meet with us during this time that we are home please give us a call. Our stateside phone number is 231-725-5811 and you can always reach us by our emails: mtkarnes@gmail.com and akarnes@gmail.com.
sending...