Family Pictures 2012

Here is the link to an album, finally, of the family picture day if anyone is interested in taking a look.  Enjoy!

Family Pictures 2012

Some super exciting news!

Hannah and Josh are ENGAGED!!

I am so thrilled for Hannah and Josh and for all that God has in store for this new season of their lives!  Stay tuned for wedding details!

Adventure

September 26, 2011

We are off.  Goodbye Colorado...hello Uganda.


September 28, 2011  
So, we are supposed to be on the airplane, a few hours away from Entebbe, Uganda, but instead we are sitting in a super snazzy hotel room that is connected to the London airport.  Our flight from Denver to London was a piece of cake.  Our layover was long, but uneventful and we handled the time change with no problem.  We found our connecting flight very easily, boarded and took off ahead of schedule... and then about 1ish hour into the flight the plane got called back to London because of technical difficulties with the hydraulics.  Soooo...the airline provided hotel rooms and meal vouchers for all the passengers.  We were supposed to go to a hotel near the airport, but at the last minute they transferred us to the nice business class hotel.  Let's just say we are a little out of our league.  God has been very faithful and has kept our minds from any worry and fear and we have met a couple really neat people through this little adventure.  Other than being tired we are doing great, missing everyone and curious to see what tomorrow brings.  Our flight leaves London at 6:45 pm (London time) tomorrow (well actually today) and we land in Entebbe at 5:45 am (Uganda time) on the 29th.  We are looking forward to a good nights sleep in some really comfortable beds.  = )

September 29, 2011

Well, we made it.  We had a good nights sleep in London and then a good flight to Uganda.  We got to Uganda on time and made it through customs really easily.  Our driver picked us up at about 7:15am, and we got to Amani at about 10:30am.  Since then we have been to the store, walked around the town a little bit, exchanged our cash and had our first boda-boda (motorcycle taxi) ride.  We are unpacked and starting to get a little bit of a feel for life at Amani.  Guess what, we have hot water (nice bonus, huh?).  The babies are precious!  The other volunteers have been friendly and helpful.  We have felt God's provision and grace strongly throughout the trip, He is so good and faithful.  Thank you all for the prayers!  They have been felt and greatly appreciated!

October 2, 2011

The last few days we have been busy.  On Friday, we went to the craft market in Kampala (the capital).  On Saturday we slept in, spent time at Amani and then walked around Jinja for a bit.  Leah is already addicted to passion fruit juice.  I'm not sure what we are going to do when we get home... = ).  This morning we went to church with some of the other volunteers.  We really enjoyed the service.  This afternoon we have our official orientation where we are going to figure out what our schedule will be for the week.  Other than that, we are planning on a relaxed evening.

Thank you all for the prayer support.  It does make a big difference.  Please be praying that:

*We find the best way to serve and bless everyone here.

*We would stay healthy.

*We would get over homesickness.

*There would be families to adopt the kiddos here.  They all really need homes.

Blessings,

Hannah and Leah

Snapshots of the Summer

Well... as you can see from the sad state of the blog, I have not posted like I was hoping to this summer.  In fact, I am still trying to figure out where the summer went.  = ) It seems like each year goes by faster, probably because there is so much going on.  Anyway, without any more delay, here is a walk through the Coens' summer!

April:

 Birthday, birthday, birthday and yes, another birthday!  So basically April is one of our big b-day party months.  James turned 15 (sorry, no pictures = ( ), Miah turned 13, Lydia turned 7 and Joanna turned 7.

Lydia's Birthday

Miah's Birthday

Other than birthdays, I came home from my 9 weeks at Ellerslie and Aunt Monica and her two boys, Matthew and Joshua came for a visit.  We had a fun time with them, and we got to celebrate (yep, you guessed it!) another birthday!  Matthew turned 6 while he was here!  Great job on the cake, Momma and Aunt Monica!

Joanna's Birthday

May:
May began with Momma's Birthday, Mother's Day and Daddy and Momma's anniversary.  Around the end of the month Leah and I took Miah and her friends Abigail, Anna and Kelly up to Windsor for Leslie Ludy's Set-Apart Girl Confrence (it was a delayed birthday present for Miah).  We had a wonderful weekend and it was a neat time of seeing God continue to push each of the girls forward into a deeper relationship with Him.  While we were up in the Windsor area we were able to go up to Fort Collins to see a family that Leah got to know well while she was at Ellerslie and that I got to know some while I was up at Ellerslie.  The family has 4 little girls (a 3 year old and triplet 2 year olds).  We all had a great time loving on the girls!

Abigail and Jaymie

Miah and Jocelyn

Anna and Jennah

Kelly and Jillien

Me, Jillien, Jocelyn and Jennah

April was also the month of finishing school for the summer,

there was great rejoicing!

June:
In June our awesome friend Meghann paid Peyton a visit on her way to Austrailia.  We had a fabulous time catching up, garage saleing, relaxing, pressing each other deeper into Jesus, and lots of laughing.  I have known Meghann my whole life, and one of my favorite things about our friendship is that no matter how long we have been apart, we can jump back into the friendship right where we left off.  Love you, dear!

July:
July started off with a bang--a trip to Omaha for the 4th of July.  It was so much fun to see a lot of the extended family and celebrate with them.  Grandpa Bob, the Uncles and the boy cousins were in charge of purchasing the fireworks, and they did not disappoint!  We had a wonderful selection and a spectacular show!

Grandpa Bob with all the little (and not so little) helpers

Dinner on the green with Leah, Josh, Aaron and Sarah

Sarah, Miah and Momma

Taylor (cousin) and Miah

Nadia with Kennedy and Michaela (cousins)

Leah

Lydia, Ella (cousin) and Joanna 

(I'm not entirely sure what they were up to)

Daddy with Uncle Craig and Uncle Jim

Nathan (cousin) and Miah

I thought you all might enjoy the many party faces of Joanna

throughout the evening.

(Believe it or not it was even more impressive by the end = P, 

and all the red did come out of the shirt)

More Omaha Fun...

Water Fight!

Sarah and Miah

Park Trip!

  Near the end of July I celebrated my 21st birthday with friends and family.  Thank you everyone for the blessings you poured on me!

August:
August was a full month!  Around the middle of the month Daddy, Sarah, James, David, Miah and I, along with our friends Josh, Matthew, Laura, Anna, Peter and Aaron all went on a 4 day camping trip.  We decided to camp in Saquache Park, which is about a 6 hour drive from Peyton.  It was beautiful!  We drove most of the way and only packed in about 30 minutes.  Everyone had a blast relaxing, playing in the stream (and mud), climbing rocks and exploring.  The weather was perfect and our time went quickly.  The week of the camping trip was also the first week of school.  Everyone was excited to get started again.  Even though it took a while to settle into a routine things are moving along well.

Miah

Back Row, L to R: Sarah, Anna, Laura, Aaron, Peter,

David, James and Daddy

Front Row, L to R: Me (Hannah), Matthew, Josh, Miah

Laura and Sarah with their packs.

Laura, Sarah and Matthew

The valley that we hiked into to camp.  Beautiful! 

(More scenic pictures coming to my photography blog sometime. = ) )

The camp

Too much fun in the mud!

Washing off in the COLD stream

Sarah and Miah

Me

Sarah

James

David

Miah

Miah and Anna

Laura and Me

Camp life

Hiking and exploring

About a week later we celebrated Nadia's 9th birthday.  She requested a camping trip with Daddy, Lydia, Joanna and a few of her friends, so after a birthday party with the family, they were off.

September:
This month has been busy as well!  Over Labour Day weekend most of the family went on a quick trip to Missouri for Grandma Janey's 70th birthday and upcoming retirement party.  For those of you that don't know, Leah and I are off next Monday (as in 1 week!), to Uganda for 7 weeks of volunteering at an orphanage (more on that soon...).  Last week was my last week at the nannying job that I have had (Leah finished the week before, but she is probably going back after Uganda).  It was very bittersweet leaving (I'm going to miss the little guy a lot!), but this is definitely the next step that God has for me to take.  David, Caleb (his birthday is actually today) and Joseph all have birthdays coming up this week. Also, for those of you that have not heard... the Coens are adopting again!  Daddy and Momma got to meet the new kiddos last week and the rest of us are going to meet them tomorrow.  There are two girls (11 and 8) and a little boy (6).  We are super excited to have them become a part of our family!  The hope is for them to move in sometime in October; we would appreciate the prayers for a smooth transition and continued healing.

Though life is full, I am so blessed each and every day by the fact that Jesus has purchased me with His own blood and that I am not my own, but His, to use and direct as He desires.  I know that I am where God wants me for this season of my life.  Though there are many challenges that come, my Jesus provides all that I need, and there is joy in obeying His call.  I hope that you all have had a wonderful summer and that you have been blessed.  Here's to a fall of following hard after our Savior and seeing His glory manifest here on the earth.  Blessings!

Sidenote:  If you are interested in learning more about Lesie Ludy's ministry you can check out her website at setapartgirl.com.  The Set-Apart Girl team puts out a very uplifting and challenging magazine every other month.  Plus, there is lots of great reading material on the website itself.  If you are interested in attending one of the confrence, I highly recommend them.  You will not be disappointed.  For more information on that, you can got to http://setapartgirl.com/2012-MayConference.html.