Beginning of Furlough

Our first trip back to the United States since our move to Singapore began on Monday morning, June 23.

Saying goodbye to church friends at Changi Airport

About 31 hours after we left our flat in Singapore, we arrived at my parents' house in Loveland, Colorado.  The next day we spent a few hours with Dave & Linda Poortinga and their daughters and grandchildren.

During our few days in Colorado, we were also able to make it up into the mountains.  

Snow!!  The kids have missed that! :-)

While in the mountains, we saw a lot of damage done by last September's flood.

After that, our furlough plans changed entirely.  One after another, most of us came down with the flu.  We had planned to fly to Grand Rapids Friday evening and begin a week with my husband's family at a cottage on Saturday, but with three kids too sick to fly, we had to cancel our tickets.  After a long debate about what to do, we decided to hit the road and do some sightseeing while we worked our way to Michigan.  The sick ones could sleep in the car, and we wouldn't be sitting in Colorado indefinitely until we all got better. 

First stop:  Mt. Rushmore.  We had wanted to see this for a long time and had not expected to see it anytime soon!

Second stop:  the famous Wall Drug in South Dakota.

Third stop:  the Badlands--an absolutely amazing part of God's creation!!

We found out as we were driving that Heritage PRC in Sioux Falls did not have pulpit supply for one of their services on Sunday, so we headed there so my husband could preach.  He was the only one well enough to go to church, but Elder Paul DeJong showed a few of us through the church building when we arrived Saturday night.  We thank the congregation in Sioux Falls for your hospitality while we were there!

The next day we crossed the Mississippi River.  The water level was very high.

We stopped for gas and food in Wisconsin Dells and discovered a lumberjack show that was starting 20 minutes later, so we went to that too.

We arrived in Michigan Monday night.  Although our trip has gone far differently than we had expected, we greatly enjoyed seeing some of the beauty of God's creation that we had not planned on seeing.  Now we pray for health so that we are able to worship and visit with many of you in the coming weeks!

Wedding

Last Saturday we celebrated the wedding of Joshua Tan and Beverly Lin.  It was held at Galilee Bible Presbyterian Church in western Singapore.

The groomsmen, bridesmaids, groom, and minister start at the front of church, and the processional includes a page boy (ringbearer), flower girl(s), and bride.

(There were supposed to be two flower girls.  That little blond one 

in her friend's arms on the side of the picture didn't walk down the aisle!)

The wedding text was part of I Peter 3:7, which says that husbands and wives are "heirs together of the grace of life."

The recessional is followed by the bride and groom coming back down the aisle together. The conclusion of the marriage form is read, and the couple says some thank yous.  At this wedding some children from church, and then the youth of CERC, sang special numbers as well.

When the wedding is finished, everyone stays in the sanctuary for picture-taking with the couple.  Photos on Saturday began with the groom's family, then the bride's family, then our congregation, and went on to include wedding guests from other churches, co-workers, etc.

Members and visitors of CERC who attended the wedding

There was a light lunch at church after the wedding, and time for photo booth fun.

Matt and Sarah Kortus from Michigan had arrived in Singapore early that morning.

Later in the day there is a big dinner for many of the wedding guests.  Joshua and Beverly's dinner was held at the beautiful Raffles Marina.

The bridge on the right at the back of the picture connects Singapore and Malaysia.

The couple came in on a boat at sunset--beautiful!  

Theirs is the boat coming toward us by the lighthouse.

Joshua and Beverly at their reception

At the dinner

We as a congregation were happy to celebrate with Joshua and Beverly and pray God's blessing on their marriage.

Sunday School Outing

June is a school break here in Singapore, so on Monday we had a Sunday School outing.  We began with a tour of the Gardenia bread factory.  Too bad no photos were allowed where they were making the bread--it was really amazing to see how the bread is made and packaged for delivery to the thousands of locations that sell Gardenia bread in Singapore.

The Gardenia factory

Waiting for the tour

Some of the girls

After the Gardenia tour we went to beautiful West Coast Park.

We began our time there with devotions.

(I took this picture on my way back from chasing a stray two-year-old. :-) )

After devotions we had a lot of fun flying kites... 

...going on some swings...

...playing on the playground... 

...and flying back and forth on the zip line ("flying fox," they call it here).

The day concluded with supper together.  It was another day of blessed fellowship with the church here!