Vacation!

Today was the first day of our family vacation. We drove from Boise to Evanston, WY on th first leg of the journey. OIt was only about 5 hours, but we wanted to stop and let the kids have fun in the pool and pick up some western Wyoming dialect. After a day of travel and fun, the kids are all snoring loudly, and I am spending some quality time... watching the Rockies on TV! OK, I'm also spending lots of time listening and to and talking with Mary -- it's great!

Evanston has been a hit with the kids so far. Solomon noticed some Wyoming wild

life and asked if we could take a closer look. You can see

form the pictures that we got a little too close for

Naomi. She is spending the day before her 10th birthday facing down a T-Rex.

Our short time of rest away from the work in Idaho is good. We appreciate the challenge God has given us to plant a church. We also know that

reconnecting with each other and our family in Colorado will give us the energy we need to keep going. One year has already flown by -- the Kingdom of God has expanded -- and we are looking forward to what will happen next.

For now, we'll be having some fun in the sun... and living life to the fullest on vacation!

Earrings and Motorcycles

Two big dreams came true this past week... Naomi got earrings, and I am riding a motorcycle again! It's hard to tell who is more excited (probably me!). Mary was a little more frightened to watch Naomi get pierced, than she was for me to get on a bike.

Both of these events mark 10 year milestones. Naomi turned ten (or will on June 30th), and we promised her that we'd pierce her ears on that birthday. A decade ago, I sold my first motorcycle to pay some bill that I can't remember... that was a traumatic day for me to watch someone else pull away on my bike!

It's funny, Naomi's 10 year event is sort of a rite of passage. I have a ten year old young lady who is growing up way faster than I want... but we're so proud of her and who she is becoming. As for me, this whole motorcycle thing is a bit of a mid-life crisis... and I'm ok with that!

Summer Time

I had a high school flash back today -- an old DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince song came to mind ( surprised... me too!).  The title of the song is Summertime.   The Hanselmans are officially on summer break -- well, the kids and Mary are at least.  We are so excited!

There are a lot of reasons for the excitement -- we finally got moved into our new house!  It took lots of wrangling with the government funding, but the deal finally went through.  Sorry, I can't list the details... there are too many of them... and they're all painful -- ugh!  We're glad it's over, and that we have a place to call our own.

The other reason for excitement is the addition to our family... we have a dog!  Naomi, Gracie and Solomon are thrilled.  Mary named her (with the permission of the children) Suubi (Suu sounds like "chew", and bi sounds like "bee") Sweet.  Suubi is an African name that means hope.  My HOPE is that we'll survive the puppy stage (only kidding... sort of...).

We have a lot of HOPE at Canyon Ridge too.  Every week we see someone new who is in need of HOPE.  It's rewarding when we hear them say that they feel like our church is a place where they can belong... a place that they can connect with God.

Idaho is great... we are really starting to feel at home.