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Well, Don't just stare et ME--might as well see
the rest of the pictures now that yer here! |
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| Merry Christmas from Louisiana Swamp People, Heaux, Heaux, Heaux |
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| Swamp Younguns! |
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| Swamp People Calendar Boys! |
Frank
& Lydia: 2011 has been a year of traveling for us! During Spring Break, Annalise went with
us as we accompanied one of our church’s “B” Groups (Sunday School classes) on
a mission trip to Paris to work with the a new ministry there called The Bridge. We partnered with the Slaughter family,
missionaries from Shreveport. This
is our second trip to work with the Slaughters—the first trip was to support
their work in Belgium. This is the
family that Frank lived with for a few months after high school on his
“culinary” tour of Europe! After a
great week of supporting The Bridge in a wide variety of ministries, we enjoyed
sightseeing in London—amazing!!!
2011 also marked our 25th wedding anniversary! We celebrated with a trip to Hawaii in
June, dividing our time between Honolulu on Oahu and Kona on The Big
Island. The Big Island
was our favorite—I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that our son was
there and we hadn’t seen him in seven months! Some of the highlights were zip-lining over gorgeous
waterfalls, seeing Volcanoes National Park, dining outside with the waves
rolling in and the sea breeze blowing, and watching Frank spearfish! We had fun spending time with family in
Nashville at our nephew Hunter’s wedding, and then we rounded out our travels
with a trip to Walt Disney World!
We were hosted by our friends, the Goudeaus, at their home in
Celebration, Disney, and had a blast at Night of Joy, hearing Christian bands
like Newsboys, MercyMe, TobyMac, and Matthew West! Frank has been busy kicking-off eight new “B” Groups at
church in August, enjoying trail riding on his bike, hunting (killed an eight
point this month), and working out.
Lydia is enjoying her job as a petroleum landman, taking yoga classes,
and spending time with the family.
Mary
Lindsay & Slater: This has been a year of “firsts” for
Mary Lindsay and Slater. . . first business to start, first camping trip
together, first anniversary, just to name a few! Our entrepreneurial son-in-law left his job with Dixie Paper
Company and opened his own business—Clearview Window Cleaning! Mary
Lindsay continued in her job with Baylor University as admissions coordinator
for the master of social work program.
Their summer was filled with trips to Austin and Shreveport to visit
family, attending the weddings of special friends and family, and celebrating
their first anniversary in Tyler, TX, at the cabin where they spent the first
night of their honeymoon! This
year marked transitions in their involvement at their church, Antioch Community Church. It was bitter-sweet as they said good-bye to the college
ministry where they had served as section leaders, had a few months to enjoy
more time together, then transitioned into Elevate, Antioch’s discipleship
training school. The training school is a year long school that meets two
nights a week where they study the Bible, hear teachings, and are
discipled. In the future, Mary Lindsay and Slater would love to do a stint overseas and serve one of Antioch's international church plants!
Their schedules are pretty tight with full-time jobs, Elevate, extra weekend
jobs with a wedding venue and catering company--they really didn’t need
injuries to slow them down. . . Mary Lindsay broke her wrist and toe this year,
and Slater recently sprained his ankle pretty badly playing basketball. Their goal to run a 5K together will
just have to be postponed until 2012! They are so in love and so happy to be sharing the
journey together! You can check
out their new blog at
www.thejacksonsdaily.blogspot.com and their Clearview Window Cleaning website at
www.txclearviewwindowcleaning.com.
Frank: Frank
continued in his job as salesman for HammerHead Spearguns in Honolulu. His free time was spent in the ocean,
his second home, enjoying free diving and spearfishing! In May, he hopped islands and moved to
The Big Island to rejoin Youth With A Mission (YWAM) as a Mission Builder. Frank volunteered as a cook for Kona’s
University of the Nations, helping prepare meals daily for up to 800 students
and staff members. In July, he
joined YWAM’s School of the Circuit Rider. The purpose of this five-week school was to cultivate leaders who
have the courage, dedication, and initiative to awaken their generation to the
freedom and power of the Gospel, much like the “circuit riders” who took the
gospel across the wilderness of America some 250 years ago. Students were then sent on specialized
outreaches throughout the world.
Frank’s outreach was in Orange County, CA, where the Jesus Movement
started 40 years ago. You can view
a video about their outreach at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT0T3gUxpiY
. Following his outreach, we
convinced him to come home for a few months, so we are loving having him on the
Mainland! He has visited the
Sacramento area twice, and he is making plans to move there in January and
continue his college education.
Annalise: Inspired
by a young boy she heard about on the radio, Annalise had a goal to donate
pillow pets (pillows that convert to stuffed animals) to children in hospitals
and orphanages to comfort them.
Many people donated to this project, and she took 45 pillow pets on our
mission trip to Paris (talk about a baggage challenge—I’ve never seen duffle
bags as big as the ones we packed!!) They were sent to orphanages in
Bulgaria—complete with scripture verses in the Bulgarian language tied around
their necks. She also donated more
to a children’s hospital here in Shreveport and got to visit with each
child! Annalise’s junior year
finished out with Jr./Sr. Prom in a dress she picked out in London! (Doesn’t every girl want to say that?!)
Her summer was full with church camp to Florida, choir mission trip to
Washington D.C., and participation in Louisiana’s Distinguished Young Women
program (formerly Louisiana’s Junior Miss). She spent a week in Alexandria, LA, participating in this
incredible scholarship program.
Her piano piece was amazing, and her on-stage question brought down the
house! We were sooooo proud of
her! She is halfway through with her senior year and deep in the process of
choosing a college! She continues
to work as a tutor at Kumon Tutoring Center, to be a Student Leader in our
church’s student ministry, to perform with STOMP percussion group, and to be
involved in Student Council and many other clubs/organizations too numerous to
mention!
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Embarrassing Annalise during school lunch on her
birthday--doesn't her face just say it all! |
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| February snow in Waco! |
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| Spring Break mission trip to Paris & London |
i love my family!!
ReplyDeleteLOVED the swamp pics! So glad to hear about all that is going on with you! Love you, Gunn family!
ReplyDelete