Friday Night Bible Study

Each Friday night Mark conducts a Bible study here at the house. Ethel brings her three children and Chloe and Josh are excellent at entertaining themselves during the study. Rachel, however, excells at entertaining we adults during the study! Not many can fight a 7 month old's charm!

Reception

While we were in the States for our three week visit, my parents had a reception so that my friends and family would have a chance to meet my new husband. I wish that I had thought to take my guest book along so that I could have had a record of who attended our second reception. It was a wonderful day with friends and family coming from near and far. The only close family member absent was my niece, Mandy, and her family, who live in Georgia. My brother and his family made the journey from Kansas. All of my uncles and aunts as well as four of my cousins and three of their children were present. Two of my mom's cousins even came all the way from Kentucky! Pastor and Mrs. Morgan, whom I worked with in Berlin, made the journey from their home in southern Pennsylvania. It was a truly special day. Please forgive my over-indulgence on the number of photographs that I am about to share from such a wonderful day.


Sam, Mark, and Monica

Mark, Ralph, and Dad Their was a program at the reception, and 'Ralph' did an excellent job. I think that he may be the most talked-about part of the day!

Gram playing my childhood favourite, the Assurance March

M and M

Dad, Uncle Donald, we four, and cousin Jessie

Dad, Mom, Uncle Donald, Aunt Judy

the four Roger Hain kid's with their spouses

Jack, Cindy, Monica, Nina

Mrs. Morgan, Pastor Morgan, Mark, and Monica

Levi in front of Grandpa and Grandma Hain's house

family basketball game

family basketball game

family relaxing on porch after reception

all of the Gingrich's (mom's side) in attendance



Sister Nina sings 'No Less Than Me'
One of my favourite songs.

North Carolina

Doug, Ginny and Monica


Ginny and Monica


The Fox girls


Allen, Chyrl, Monica and Mark


Mark and Lydia

While in the States, we were able to go to North Carolina for fours days. My best friend from college picked us up at Charlotte airport, and we were able to spend several hours while she and her husband showed us their 'home' territory. Doug and Ginny were in Northern Ireland for our wedding, but needless to say, we were not really able to spend much time together. It was wonderful to catch up. Ginny has been a great support in the 25 years that we have been friends. They then drove us to Taylorsville to spend several days with Allen and Chyrl Fox and their family.They were at Bethel when Mark first started attending and have been a tremendous help to him in his Christian growth. It was wonderful to spend time with them and to get to know them better, after having heard so much about them through the years. Lydia asked Mark to preach at her homeschool graduation. Mark did an excellent job preaching at the first HIGHSCHOOL graduation that he had ever attended!

Time With Nephews

Being an aunt has always been one of my favorite roles! I have always taken great pleasure in spending time with my nephews and niece, and this trip home was no exception! I really enjoyed seeing Mark and my beloved nephews get to know each other! (My only niece lives in Georgia, and was not able to get to Pennsylvania for our visit. We made up for that with phone calls!)




Oldest nephew Jason with wife Heather and son Levi
We love having Heather as part of our family, and all of us dote on Levi!



Brother Jack with sons Darren and Jonathan



Uncle Mark and Levi



Mark and I babysat Levi while Heather and Jason were moving.
We were very impressed with his intelligence! We had a great time.



My youngest nephew, Sam, was able to visit quite often.



This is all of the Hains minus Mandy and her family.
Front row: Sam, Darren, Jake, Jonathan, and Taylor
Middle: Jack and Kris, Paul and Nina, Dad and Mom, Dave and Cindy, Mark and Monica
Back row: Heather, Levi's head, and Jason



Sam and Mona (me) have always been close, and have a great time together.



Jake in his baseball uniform.



Taylor, who lives near to my parents and is able to visit quite often, which they love!



Darren - 3rd oldest nephew. Where do the years go?!

Mother-Daughter Banquet

While we were in the States, my home church had their mother-daughter banquet. It was wonderful to be there and to get to spend time with the family. Dad was in charge of the waiter staff, and drafted all three of his sons-in-law. It is so wonderful to spend time with family - both 'blood' and church. It was great to see everyone.




Dave (brother-in-law) and Mark



The waiters from our family (Sam changed before the picture was taken.)



The three brothers-in law really do get along!



The three Hain girls and their spouses.



Heather, Cindy, Mom, Nina, and me

Family Cookout

Another beautiful picture of me, but too good of Sam and Heather to leave out!



Sam came along home, and he and Mark built a model.








We are finally unpacked and into the routine of things. I thought that the easiest way to share about our three week trip would be to do so over several different posts. The main purpose of our trip was to spend time with family so that they could get to know Mark. It was a very successful trip! He fit into our family so well.

On the Friday following our arrival, my sister Nina and her husband, Paul, hosted a family bbq. We had a great time.