Andrew's Train Trip

 

Andrew will be 7 next month so it is time for his special train trip to Kansas City with Grandma.  He's all ready to go at the Galesburg Amtrak station and his mom and siblings are seeing him off.

 

Maria and her children took us to the KC zoo.

 

Feeding the birds is a special part of the zoo adventure.

 

 

Alice loved the ride!

 

Next summer will be Timon and Ellie's turn.  Then there are 5 more (at least?) after that.  We were gone two nights and one full day with Maria, Brandon and the cousins.  After the zoo, was swimming in Emch's pool followed by a special place to eat out.  This time it was the T-Rex because Andrew really likes dinosaurs.  We had a great time!  ---Carol

More Pics...Same Theme

Here are a couple more pictures. Enjoy!

Ada, Gloria, Cleve

I have to ask...what's with the swim caps?

Can you identify the kids in this picture?

A Few Pics

I did get Gloria to bring over a couple of picture albums and I scanned in a few you might enjoy. I see many of these are in my files already, so they have probably been posted before...but I still enjoy looking at them again, and hope you will too. We finished the two books, but she has many more, and I will be twisting her arm to get them here. I know there are pictures of interest in them that haven't been posted before.

These first ones are of Ada and Gloria as little girls:

FUN FAMILY DAY

We had an "end-of-summer" family day at Drake and Michelle's house yesterday - delicious food, good conversation, watching the kids play in the backyard. What could be better? 

Can you believe we actually got everyone to sit still and pose for a picture?

 This made the grandparents a little nervous . . .

Boys Shooting Hoops

Grace and Owen



Blackwood Quartet, featuring Andrew Bailes

You might want to check out the previous post.  As Ada wrote in that post, we all thoroughly enjoyed the legendary Blackwood Quartet (and especially our very own family member, tenor Andrew Bailes) in Lincoln, Illinois along with approximately 300 others in attendance.    Andrew also sang several impressive solos which were true crowd-pleasers and received extended applause from the audience!  It was an uplifting evening.
Ann and Mike can surely be proud of their talented son who is an integral part of this nationally-known gospel quartet. 
I've attempted to include 3 videos here along with a group family photo taken after the concert.   I was hoping you could just click on the website to bring it up, but maybe not.  You may have to copy and paste onto your browser or type in the sites below or search Youtube.  It will be worth your efforts!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OM0tBkmZDU&feature=youtu.be   Be sure to watch this one. WOW!!!  (It can also be found by searching www.youtube.com with: Andrew Bailes Oh What a Savior)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyla99jrGFs    "He Touched Me" ... beautiful acapella (try searching with:   Andrew He Touched Me)                                                                   
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doRGlJp5Y9A  "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"
      (try searching with: Andrew Will Circle Be Unbroken)

Blackwood Quartet Concert

We went to the Blackwood Quartet concert in Lincoln tonight - star of the show was Andrew Bailes! Dave and Judy went with us. Cleve and Kathleen were there as well as some of the Hemmer relatives.

 I have some great video of a couple songs that I might try to post later. They start out really good, but turn to static about halfway through. Cleve should have some also, and I might just see how his turned out. We also had a nice, though brief, visit with Andrew after the concert. Great evening.

Guatemala Update

Hey Klopfentstein clan, hope all are doing well. I had a wonderful dinner last night in Madison Alabama with Joey, Mary and Haley. Joey sent me a text just as I was passing the Athens exit on I65. We couldn't have planned it if we tried.

Anyway, Christian and I have returned from Guatemala (on July 28th) and it was a blessing for us to be able to go and be the  hands and feet of Jesus. I'll tell the story through pictures if that is okay.

Our team of 17 from Mt. Gilead Church in St. Louis before our first flight. 

Morning Glory Christian Academy
Our home for the week in San Raymundo Guatemala.

Day 1 - Digging, Shoveling and hauling some heavy dirt.

Adrian's fiance George (not used to that yet) & his mother
the wall divider between the bedrooms.

Christian cutting out an opening in
the siding to go around a window.

Maddie and Christian on the roof setting trusses.

The family we built the home for. Three generations all living together.
This is Sunday night and they are standing where we built.
The grandparents home is located behind them
(it is a kitchen and bedroom).

Second home on the property where a mother/father and 3 kids lived.

Inside the home. Dirt floor, two beds (one for parents, one for the 3 kids),
all belongings in the boxes.

Kitchen where all the cooking was done over an open flame.
The stove was not functional.

Family receiving crosses as a house warming gift.
The crosses were made by a member of our church
who passed away last December.
These hung in his house for 30+ years
and his daughter's sent them to Guatemala as a gift.

Christian and Dylan presenting a bible to the family.

Benedo driving in the last nail in his new home.

Giving thanks for the blessing they were given.
Benedo said it would be the first time in 71 years
he slept over a concrete floor with a roof that
would not leak when it rained.

Our team in front of the house.

Some of the family in front of the house.

Traveling in San Raymundo in a truck. Tight fit.

Our bus broke down on Friday coming back from Antigua.
Should have been 4 belts. We only had two
when we started the day and one of them broke.
We moved the good one over to run the brakes
because they were more important than the lights at the time.

The purpose of our trip was to build a house for a family that they would never be able to afford it on their own. This was to demonstrate the free gift of God's Grace through Jesus Christ, something we can never earn or pay for, but we can freely accept from God through Christ Jesus. This family are cultural Christians and did not have a personal relationship with Christ. As Pastor Israel said, "They don't know Jesus personally yet, but very soon, very soon." The house has also opened the door for the local church to work in the neighborhood, follow-up with families and share the gospel. The whole week we were building, Pastor Israel was making connections with all the people who came to see what the "gringos" were doing.

We're already planning our trip to Guatemala for next summer. Hope to be able to share more with you in the future. EDK

FUTURE OLYMPIAN???

I had a fun day with Nathan yesterday. We played board games and Wii games. We both spent a lot of time laughing at ME on the Wii!! (I could say he was roflol!!) He beat me everytime no matter what game we played!! Guess it's an age thing.

We went to the College Avenue park where I discovered that we may have a future Olympian in our family. Actually he has come a long way since the last time I took him to a park. His arms must be quite strong to hang on to these apparatusus!!

After this we had lunch at the "grossest place in B/N" - Chucky Cheese!! But from his point of view, it is a great place to spend a couple hours. And is was nice and cool with no fear of sunburn for me.

As many of you know, there is nothing like spending time with grandchildren.

My Boy

I think some of you already know that Andrew is going to be singing in Lincoln, IL, on Thursday night.  If any of you do get to go I will be jealous because we have not had opportunity to hear or meet this group he is with.  But don't let that stand in your way.  :-)

He has been quite sick the past few weeks with early Lyme disease and mono, but when he did (finally) call me last week he said he is doing better - "two good days for every one average day."  Which is much better than when he was miserable most of the time.  And he must be doing a lot better because he just texted me to say he's back at his apartment and singing with some old friends tonight.

p.s. Details at www.blackwoodquartetonline.com.

Also - As you can see I changed the backgrounds.  The aqua was too hard for me to read, therefore probably for others as well.

Two Pics

Since this is the week to celebrate Perry and Carol's 40th - here are two pictures I found on my computer from past downloads:

Our family outside the Flamingo.  Looks like it may be the morning of the wedding, and I assume my mom is behind the camera. . . and the sun must have been really bright!

I am pretty sure that this is outside the Millers' home.  Carol can correct me if wrong about that.  Good looking family!!

40th continued

Jerry & Ada

I am embarrassed that this picture was not posted earlier.  I had uploaded it and tried to put it on the first post but it would only let me do 3 at a time.  After that, it somehow got overlooked.  I feel bad that my poor computer skills and lack of careful editing caused me to unintentionally leave them out.  Actually they were a huge part of our special night!!  They hosted Lynn and Mim overnight and picked up Catherine so she could come.  Some times I wonder how I would ever get by without Ada to rescue me when I get in a "fix."  Please accept my apology ---- Carol

40th continued

Milan Perry Emch

Last, but not least!

40th continued

Jesse

Caleb, Sarah, Ashton

Anna, Laura

40th continued

Perry & Joan

Maria, Alice & Brandon

Matthew, Andrew, Carter & Timon

40th continued

Cleve & Kathleen

Julia, Preston, Bruce, Heidi & Elizabeth

Glenn, Charity & Ellie