Sunday 18th May 2008

We all had the privilege of sharing with the good folks at Unity Freewill Baptist Church. Bro. and sister Carney were gracious enough to have us come and share. We started the introduction with singing, "G'day, g'day". The whole group sang "Open Our Eyes, Lord". Hannah played her clarinet

John Furnivall did a poem about David and Goliath


Steve shared about the work in Hervey Bay. The Carney's and their church were the first to support our work in Austalia. They also came out about 1998 to share with our staff and pick up their son Rusty who had been with us for 6 months.
We had a great quartet sing "It is Well".

Neil and Michelle got special recognition for the wedding anniversary.


All the team ended up joining the choir!

After the morning service, they had a lovely lunch for all to share. The team got to try some real southern dishes and experience some southern hospitality and fellowship.

We also had the opportunity to share in the evening service. We shared the one act play, ensemble, and the quartet sang again.

After church, we congregated at Grans (Bro. Carney's mother) for supper. There is a lot of fun at Grans house.

Aussies are arriving!

On Friday 16th of May, The Aussie team from Hervey Bay Christian Academy were supposed to arrive in St. Louis. But.......somehow they got delayed in New Zealand and did not arrive in time to make their connection in San Francisco. Much to their disappointment, they could not make it to St. Louis until Saturday and would miss the St. Louis Cardinals baseball game!

Well, someone had to make the game so. . . .the Sauvageot family suffered through and watched a very exciting game. We had to rush out of the ball park in the 10th inning to make it to the airport in time. The Cardinals won in the 1oth inning with a walk off home run.

We rushed to the airport to make it in time to pick up our aussie friends. Steve and dad waited by the cars parked on the curbside while the rest of us went in to greet the team. Well. . . .the plane was an hour late. They finally arrived a bit weary and worn. It was really great to see some familiar faces and hear some great talking.

We had about an hour and half to reach Thompsonville, Illinois. We stopped at the church for a quick practice. Here we got a picture of the weary team! They were all excited about finally being in the USA>

Mother's Day Celebrations

On Saturday before Mother's Day, Steve took us all to Joe's Crab Shack. It was quite an experience. Ben has been calling it the Crab Shock. He really comes up with some funny sayings.
Ben really liked this fire hydrant. It reminded him of Australia with the colour! Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi,oi!

On Sunday, we had the privilege of sharing at a church in Hampton, Virginia. There was another Australian missionary there as well. He is from Mackay and it was great to hear the Aussie accent once again!!!! He shared during Sunday School and our family shared during the Morning Worship Service. After church, we all went to a Chinese buffet for lunch. Then we hit the road toward Steve's dad and mum's house. We traveled until about 10pm. The next day, we traveled until evening and finally made it back to Illinois once again. We have a few days to rest up before all the Aussie Gang arrives.

More Washington D.C.

We went to the Lincoln Memorial on Friday. When you look out of the memorial, you see the Washington Memorial, the Capitol Building, and the reflection pool.
Here we are by the Lincoln Memorial.















The kids thought this zebra crossing was interesting in that they tell you how many seconds you have to cross the street!

Arlington Cemetery

Arlington Cemetery was really interesting. It was made out of the front lawn of General Lee's home (pictured left). Because General Lee switched to the South during the Civil War when Virginia joined the South, the north was pretty upset about this. So...they decided to get back at Lee by burying their dead in his front yard! When Mrs. Lee returned after the war, she was so upset she never stepped out of the carriage and never returned to her home.

This picture was a memorial to the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.



We also got to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. On the tomb it says "Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God." The changing of the guard was quite an experience. There was to be no talking of sitting while it was going on. In fact a few school kids were whispering and the guard yelled out that there was to be no talking! Our tour guide said he had never heard the guards have to tell the audience to be quiet!

The White House

We did not get to have a tour of the White House because you have to book it about 6 months in advance. But. . . we got to go to the outside gate and see it from afar.
This picture of the white house is neat because you can see the Washington Memorial in the background.
Jacob was enthralled with the squirrels we found walking back from the White House. He especially liked the black one we saw. We had never seen a black one before!

Washington D.C.

We went to the capitol building on Thursday the 8th May. Dad and Mum had arranged for us to have a personal tour of the capitol with their congressman's office. His name was Jerry Costello and his office person was Katie. She did a really good job helping to point out things we would have missed if we had gone on our own! Below you will see a picture of the kids beside a bust of George Washington, the 1st President of the USA. Also, their is a star on the floor that is the very centre of Washington D.C. We met with Katie across the road from the Capitol building where the tour began. Then we got to walk underground to cross the road and into the building. After the tour finished, we got to ride on a train back across the road (all underground!)