Happy Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a day at home together today and wanted to share some recent pictures with you....we find ourselves thankful today for all of you. Please leave a comment below to let us know how we can pray for you.

Block Party

Mark and Josh went to Lacrosse, WI to help with a block party for one of our newer churches over the past weekend. Three Rivers Community Church was excited to see over 200 people come to their block party on Saturday. What is a block party, you ask? It's just a huge party w/ cotton candy and popcorn and lots of other food and a moon walk and games for the kids...all with the hopes of meeting people in the community and letting them know that God loves them. Many filled out registration cards so lead pastor Chad Cummings could follow up with them later this week.

Ken and Deb stayed behind to be involved w/ things going on at our church, Praire Springs. We also caught a couple of movies as well and Kenny totally reorganized his room (with a little help).

Here are some pics from the block party. As you can see, all the party supplies are kept in the "block party trailer", which was a gift from some of our ministry partners for our churches to use as they reach out to their communities.

The Sunshine State

Twins Jacob and Jaiden turn 1! (born to Deb's sister Kathy and

her husband, Gilbert last June.)

Kenny and Dominic caught a few waves in Daytona.

Josh in the surf

Debbie's sister, Tammy and neices Elanna and Katelynn

Debbie, Josh, and Kenny spent a few days in Florida last week visiting her family. The boys enjoyed connecting with their long lost Florida cousins and, of course, soaked in some of the sea, salt air, and sun. We hope these pictures give you even a glimpse of the great memories we made!

Summer Fun Continues

The summer fun continues for the Millman family. After we returned from Texas, we had a week to catch our breath and catch some fireflies and grill some hot dogs. Then Deb and the boys were off to Florida to visit Debbie's sister and play with all the Florida cousins (look for Florida pictures soon!). Mark is missing the family, but likely enjoying the peace back in Wisconsin. With a few different missions groups in at a time, he has plenty to do.

Deb's friend, Deitra, was here to do a retreat for women in ministry and pastor's wives last weekend and took a few family photos for us. In addition to being a good speaker and teacher about connecting with God, Deitra also happens to be a great photographer!

More San Antonio...

Some friends we made on the River boat ride.... Leland and his beautiful bride were attending the SBC from NC.
Josh and Ken on the River Walk....
Mark in deep thought on the River Boat....
Our former pastor (Tallahassee), Doyle Bell with our current state director, Leo Endel...
Mark and boys with Pastor Bell after a fine lunch on the River Walk....

We returned last night, a bit bleary-eyed, but glad to be home after a great trip!

San Antonio

On Friday, we began the long trek down to San Antonio to attend the Southern Baptist Convention. We had to get here a couple of days early for Mark to attend the Director of Missions conference, so Debbie and the boys played hard while he attended meeting after meeting. It took us about 23 hours total to get here...we stopped in Joplin, MO on the way down and had a great stay there. In fact, we liked our hotel so much, we booked another room for the way home.

We have been riding the river boats, swimming in the pool, and enjoying the time together after a long, busy year. Here are a couple of pictures of us entering the Lone Star State....more to come!

Spring Update

Josh, Kenny and cousin Matthew on the Milwaukee River at Aunt Mel and Uncle Jeff's

Mark and Bob (Papaw Millman) in LaCroosse in April.

After a long, cold winter, we are really enjoying the Spring in Wisconsin. It is breathtaking! Here's the latest with us:

• As of today, Josh, Kenny, and Debbie have 16 days of school left.
• Josh will complete Kindergarten and Kenny will complete 4th grade.
• Mark is staying busy with his job and ministry and still LOVES it.
• Josh and Kenny are taking music lessons (Josh - drums and Kenny - electric guitar) in preparation for the CD they will cut one day.
• We're off to San Antonio for the Southern Baptist Convention June 8-15.
• Deb's counseling practice is so busy she HAD to quit the teaching job to keep up! Yahoo!

Here are a few of our latest pictures.....thanks for keeping up with us!

10 BELOW

Brrr....we woke up to 10 below zero weather this morning. It amazes me how the pipes don't freeze up and everything keeps working. We're thankful for our garage that keeps our van and our car safe from the elements.

Kenny has a few words for you today: "this morning it was -11! P.S. I made a band."

Yes, he's a young man of few words when it comes to writing, but don't let him fool you. He has A LOT to say. He is indeed putting a "band" together with some neighborhood boys. Kenny is about to start lessons for his electric guitar, so it'll probably be awhile before they sign a contract with Columbia Records, but they're working on it.

Josh and Ken just spent the weekend at Aunt Mel and Uncle Jeff's in Milwaukee. Mark and Deb were at Green Lake, WI for a pastor's/wives retreat. All the pastors and their wives from our Minnesota and Wisconsin churches were there. The Texas baptists fund this event every year to help us recharge and renew for the year ahead. It's something we'll look forward to each year.

Josh just started in a youth wrestling league that meets at Deforest High School (where Deb teaches). He is pretty excited about it and is learning new moves every week. Both boys have decided to take a break from karate for awhile and try new things. Kenny will likely return in the summer or Fall...not so sure about Josh. He seems to have lost interest all together.

Signing off for now...
-Deb

Christmas 2006

Here are a few pictures from our visit with Deb's parents. Mom and Harold drove up from Florida and spent a week with us. We had a blast. No snow, but lots of board games and watching movies by the fireplace....and eating. Mom was on the floor for 3 hours one morning playing SpongeBob Monopoly with Ken and needed a little help getting up! As you can see, Josh has turned into a big Packers fan, so Mom got him a Brett Favre jersey and cap and Santa came through with a football and a Packers trash can for his room....not to mention a Packers teddy bear and Christmas ornament. It was a great visit and we were reminded how much we miss living near family. It seems like God knows just what we need and when we need it!