Wonderful Heritage

A few weeks back, Richelle and her mom were chatting on Yahoo Messenger, and Mom mentioned that she had been working on Nana & Pop-pop's photo albums. She had also scanned several photos, which she has since passed along to us through Yahoo's photo sharing. It has been so much fun sharing these photos with our children and with our African friends. Honoring your parents and grandparents is an important part of the culture here; the fact that our parents and grandparents support us wholeheartedly in this ministry helps in building bridges.

We can't wait until we are home later this year- Everyone is looking forward to a trip to S. Illinois to visit Nana and Pop-pop... Unfortunately, it will probably be too cold to sit on the porch swing, drink coffee and visit, but we treasure each opportunity we have to see them and to let our children meet and/or get to know them better.

Enjoy the photos-

Nana with her sisters.

Nana as a young teen.

"Mama, she's beautiful!" was Rebekah's response.

Pop in uniform. Brendan found this photo very impressive.

Their wedding picture. Victoria says that Nana's hair looks long

just like hers, " 'cept not white."

Home after their honeymoon. This is Anna's and Richelle's favorite picture because they look so happy.

Jonathan liked this one of their growing family with

Mom and Aunt Donna.

It was the baby that caught his attention.

After several opportunities to go "bird huntin'" with Pop-pop,

this was Tim's perferred photo.

Any guesses who the baby is in this picture?

Nadia knew right away - it is Richelle.

Nana and Pop-pop are on either side;

Grandma Stewart is holding her.

Their 50th wedding anniversary.

What an example for the rest of us!

And Brendan was there - so was Rebekah, although she hadn't made her offical appearance yet.

This is Richelle's other favorite, taken Mother's Day, May 2004.

Pop-pop is so handsome and Nana is still beautiful as ever!

This is the most recent picture we have of them, taken with Nana's sister, Aunt Marge just this past April. We could never thank them enough for their faithful prayers and support. Even though we are so far away and can't get back to see them often, they are often in our thoughts and prayers, too.