Just a short post to say we hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas

with their family and friends! We are so thankful for those friends

and family God has placed in our lives.

Little Mrs. Claus wishes you a Merry Christmas too!

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland we stayed with the Wilson family- James, Liz, Danny, Annabeth, and Harriet. We felt so blessed to stay with their family. They made us feel very welcome, and we felt that we were at home there. We truly enjoyed our time of getting to build new relationships with people in Ireland, and Stephen getting to share with high school students

about being faithful disciples of Christ and how to look more like him. We trust that God used this trip to glorify Himself and encourage the church across the world.

The first few days in N. Ireland, James took us sightseeing.

This is a view of the beautiful coastline at the Giant's Causeway

Family picture in front of the hexagonal rock columns,

getting their form after a volcanic eruption

Addison and I with Annabeth Wilson

Visiting the beach at Ballycastle, although Addison didn't see a thing,

she slept through all of it!

James took us to visit the Ulster/American folk museum, where it begins walking

you through Northern Ireland in the 1740's and then you can board a ship and go over to the New World.

Here we are on the top of the ship

Enjoying all the paths to walk on at the museum

After the museum, we drove over to Londenderry and walked around

We are standing in front of our street sign- "Kennedy Street"

Hanging out in Ballymoney

Discovering that the water bottle is a great toy

Visiting Portstewart, and a picture of the school that Harriet and Annabeth attend

Robin (Liz's brother) playing peek-a-boo with Addison

Stephen talking at the morning sessions during Spark week, where around 40 kids were encouraged to continue in their discipleship with Chirst, and then went into the community and did different service projects.

On one of the rainy days, some of the team members played music and did face painting at this square in the community

Stephen had a chance to share about IOI at a couple of churches

This is on a Wednesday night at Drumreagh Presbyterian Church, where the Wilson's attend

A fun game that Liz came up with- who wouldn't want to sit in a basket filled with

bright-colored balls?

Think "UH-OH!"



Addison obviously had fun playing at the Wilson's home!

Scotland and its Castles

James was very generous and let us stay in his cottage while we visited Scotland.  It was in a very small town called Bladnoch, just up the road from Wigtown, which is known as Scotland's book town.  Of course Stephen loved that part!

The view looking out the front window of the cottage- a stone wall, sheep, and the 

Bladnoch River!

The 'wee' rental car that Stephen did a great job of driving, after he got accustomed to using

a stick shift with his left hand, and driving on the left side of the road.

We took a nice walk down to this martyr's stake near Wigtown.  The scenery

was amazing!
Such a happy traveler!  

Walking down the street next to the cottage to go get some supper, or tea, as they call it

Walking around the lovely Castle Kennedy and the gardens.

If you can believe it she was actually not feeling well this day and threw up several times:(
Walking around the large gardens, with the new castle called Lochinch Castle, 

in the background.

In front of the Castle Kennedy ruins, which underwent a fire in 1716.  

We then drove up to see this amazing castle, called Culzean Castle, which 

was a Kennedy castle until they gave it to the National Trust of Scotland.

In front of the gate to the 

The Kennedy coat of arms on top of the archway

He's Home!

The castle is right on the cliffs next to the sea.  

At the top of Cardoness Castle, a castle built somewhere around 1220 A.D., 

and you can actually climb the dark, stone staircase to the top of it.

Standing in the parking lot looking at the castle as it stands today.

We drove up to this very small town of Anwoth to see the perish where Samuel 

Rutherford was the minister. 

As you can tell, Addison was very glad to be out of the car!

When we got back from Scotland on a Wednesday evening, the Wilson's invited all of the youth from Spark to come to their house so that we could say goodbye to everyone.

Stephen also was able to share with them about Ethiopia, and some of them have voiced an 

interest in doing a mission trip to Ethiopia

Dublin, Ireland and Final Goodbyes

Enjoying the scenery on the train ride to Dublin

This is Trinity College, where we stayed at while in Dublin

The building that our room was in

Somehow Addison got this clean diaper on her head

We all thought it was funny, including her

A beautiful park next to St. Patrick's Church

Walking over to check out the fountain

Relaxing for a while in front of St. Patrick's Church

"I haven't gotten to do this in a while!"

In front of a beautiful spot overlooking Dublin

Thanks to Mary Ann Steffy for taking time to spend with us this day!

Posing in a place called Glendalough

The round tower of the Glendalough Monestary,

Built almost 1,000 years ago

Having fun in the dorm room at Trinity

After we returned from Dublin, we stayed with the Wilson's for another day before we

flew back to the states. This is Harriet and Robin, who live with the Wilson's.

They are Liz's mom and brother. We had such a great time getting to know both of them!

Addison playing with Liz's necklace.

A Few Teaser Photos Until A Bigger Post

Addison Enjoying the Wilson's dogs and some balloons

Having some good English ice cream

Addison loves all the animals here and is working on saying "cat, dog, and horse"

Crossing the rope bridge

On the legendary walls of Londonderry

Walking with mom, James, and Annabeth at the Giants Causeway

Having a good tea time at a place where Winston Churchill stayed often

Addison signt seeing (or taking a nap) at Carric Furgis castel

Playing on a plane in the airport as we waited on the bigger one to take us to NI

One Year Pictures

Here are some pictures taken at Sears because 

I figured since we haven't done any studio pictures

 up to this point, we could handle at least getting 

one year pictures of our kids.

  So, we'll see how we do with any other kids~

I'd love to know which ones you think are the best!  

Thanks for being willing to look at LOTS of 

pictures of Addison, we think she's pretty great.