Wow it's been along time since i updated this thing, but now we're back in the USA i have an internet connection that can cope with doing this. It has been an amazing adventure into expriencing Jesus kindnes that past months in South Africa and now the past 3 weeks that we have been home.We enjoyed a week together with my family over easter again and just saw God's amazing grace at work as more of the old barries to relationship were broken down. I've arrived back here to the other side of the world feeling for the first time in my life that i have left my family behind. I have come to discover that the word repentance really means to have a changed mind. Re means to go back and Pent is the same word that begins penthouse, the top floor of a building, so repentance simply means "go back to the top." In other words, go pack to God's perspective on reality! Having a renewed mind is the most freeing thing in the world and i am become more and more addicted to God's perspective!

We hopped on the airplane in Durban on March 31st and began one of the most harrowing flights i have ever experienced. By the time we fell into the loving arms of my dear friend Neil in Seattle and were placed into the comfort of his lovely home, i was dry as dust and felt like death warmed up. As this did not get any better and i began to turn more yellow each day i decided it was time to get a blood test and figure out wether i had hepatitis which is what we had begun to expect. A few days later it was confirmed that not only did i have Hep A, but tested positive for Hep B antigens as well. By this time i was feeling better each day. After very uncomfortable week and then feeling better each day i was amazed to find that in the midst of it all i could lie in bed and find nothing but peace inside of me, not worry or fear or even mild concern. The peace that truy passes all understanding had been guarding my heart and mind "in Christ Jesus"

We spent a few days camping out in our old, empty moved out of home in Anacortes and then left for Plain on a journey of discovery, to see if this was where the next chapter of our lives was to be lived out. We had been suspecting for some time that we were to spend a season here and each day spent at Stonewater Ranch it became clear that this was where Jesus wants us to be. So the long and short of it all is that On thursday last week i drove over here with a 5th wheel trailer kindly lent to us by a friend, towed with another friends truck. I parked the trailer and headed home to return the truck and then on Friday 18th April we officially moved to Plain Washington, now having a mailing address here! We drove most of the 3 hours in an unseasonably late snowstorm/blizzard and shivered the night away in the trailer. On Saturday i got all the necessary connections wired and plumbed and now our 35 foot by7foot home is warm, lighted and has running water. The tempratures have been well below freezing each night, meaning i have to drain the water lines before going to bed, but both mornings we have woken up to sunshine and a light dusting of snow. This morning we sat out in the sunshine by the campfire and made breakfast on our skottel ( cast iron ploughshare)before we left for church.

April 21st: Today i did the first day's paid work in 5 months. I started working for a local cabinet maker here in Plain named Pete Lambeth. I felt very rusty getting back into cabinetmaking mode, but thoroughly enjoyed the day and enjoyed working with Pete. It is a part time job while we work the rest of the time on the house and help out at Youth Dynamics off and on also. When our house sells in Anacortes, we'll have the finances to go full steam ahead on the house at Gateway. For those that don't know Gateway is the name of the 3.8 acre property we own in Plain and are building a house on to use for retreats, prayer ministry, mens retreats and for guests to come and be quiet for a while. Isiah 25 v 6 - 9 is the theme verse that has been pinned up over the door since before we bought the place.

Tim helping Dad build the well house last summer.

I took some pics of us just moved into the trailer, but the cord for my camera is somewhere between here and our old house and misplaced in the move so they will have to wait, instead some old pics, but to show where we are living at the moment.