Swimming!

We signed Joel up for swimming lessons this Spring, but it isn't much of a lesson, with no teacher or instruction! It's basically open pool time that you can take your toddler and get them used to being in the water. He seems to like it and talks about it for a couple of days after going. He LOVES gymnastics, which he is also doing this Spring, but I don't have any pictures of that yet. He does summersaults and jumps all over the house now! :) Here is a picture of Joel and Greg in the pool...

Easter

We went to our friend Katie's parents house in Gary (near Wheaton, IL) for Easter dinner. Joel was the only kid, but they hid some eggs in the yard for him to find and he LOVED it! We did this first thing, and it was good that we did, because during dinner there was a huge hail storm. Joel had never seen hail before and not knowing what it was, pointed outside and said "buttons!" It was very cute.

Jen and Joel's Spring Break

Joel and I went to Portland while Greg was in Chile - I think Greg got the better deal, though we had a really fun time with my family! I don't have any pictures to show for it because Greg had our camera, but we went swimming, to the Children's Museum, and did a lot of playing (Joel has three (now four) cousins in Portland). My sister and I worked on our scrapbooks when we could but mostly we just hung out with the kids. And the most exciting thing is that my sister had her baby boy (her other three are girls), William Geoffrey. He was born the day we left, so I still haven't seen him in person but here is a picture of when he was first born.

Greg's Chile Trip

Greg led a mission trip over spring break (in March) as part of his internship with the University Missions department. The five-person team went to Chile for 12 days to help encourage the Covenant church down there and to start to build bridges for future relationships and teaching opportunities. They also did some work in a camp and saw a lot of great sights. Here are just a few of the 350+ pictures that Greg took on his trip!

Here's the team...two undergrad girls and three seminarians, one of which is from Chile originally.

An amazing view of the Chilean coast, taken from the plane.

Greg and the other two guys had the opportunity to preach at least once during the week. This is the day after they got there (after an overnight delay), and Greg's first preaching experience in Spanish (he had an interpreter, of course). This is the pastor of the church he preached in.

Greg and Brian, surfers at heart, are right at home on the beach! They scoped out the surf spots, though it seems that surfing is not a big sport down there...hmmm.