What's been happening the last two weeks!

Early Saturday morning (Jan. 22), we left for Ripplemead, Virginia, where Buddy did a Wild Game Supper on Saturday night and spoke twice Sunday morning. It was cold when we left home, (minus 6, which is chilly for Ohio), so we asked one of our friends to take Cricket, our English Setter, to his house. Cricket has short hair, so we don't like her to be in the kennel when it is so cold.

Ripplemead is only about five and a half hours from our house, so we made it there by early afternoon which gave us time to rest and set up before the Wild Game Supper. We stayed in a very nice guest house that was beautiful and had a good view. We were surprised to see that they didn't have as much snow as we did back home.

The Wild Game Supper was very big, with over 900 people. There were many different kinds of meat to choose from, including moose, raccoon, bear, duck, deer, and muskrat. We had never had muskrat before, so we decided to try some as we like to experience new things.

Sunday morning, Buddy spoke twice, doing his talk "Dinosaurs, Separating Fact from Fiction'; and also singing three songs, "Here Kitty, Kitty", "Soar", and "Billions of Dead Things". About 800 people go to the church.

We've gotten to spend some time at home these past few weeks, catching up on an assortment of things. It's always good to be home.

On Thursday, the 27th, we headed to the Creation Museum to do a video shoot. We're currently filming a new children's show on dinosaurs. After the museum closed, we spent about four hours filming in various parts of the museum, including the Main Hall and the Dino Den. We're very excited about this new movie and think that boys and girls will really enjoy it. I am including some photos of "behind the scenes". We also did some filming for this show when we were in Montana in September at a dinosaur dig.

We did two Dinosaur digs last year, and they worked out so well we decided to offer them again. We have two of them scheduled for 2011, the first one is July 11-15, and the other one is July 25-29. The Dino Digs are great for people who like adventure. Last year we found some neat fossils such as dinosaur bones, turtle bones, fish scales, and a fossilized fig. If you want to find out more about the digs, you can go to www.creationmuseum.org/go/dinodig. The dino digs are filling up, so make sure you check it out!

Our Africa Missions Trip in November 2010

Greetings! We have been very busy since our African missions trip but I wanted to share some highlights with you. We were so blessed to be able to go on this trip and want to thank Marsha McCarty for inviting us to join their church for this missions trip to Kenya. We arrived at our hotel at midnight and we were up and out the door by 8:30 am the next day.

We first visited a small school out in the bush and also did ministry with the Masai people. Buddy worked with the children at a church in Nairobi for two days singing and doing some illusions as well as teaching them about dinosaurs. We then traveled to Kijabe to do ministry there. We worked with two orphanages with over 600 children. We did crafts, singing, and teaching as well as presenting the gospel.

(Just click on this banner to see photo albums from our Africa trip.)
We have a couple of photo albums that we want to share with you. One is on the missions side of our trip and the other is the safari trip that we got to go on just before we left Kenya.

Buddy also did 12 class sessions with Rift Valley Academy. This is where the missionaries send their children to board for their schooling. It is an awesome school and we enjoyed meeting the students and teachers. He also did a music concert for them on Sunday morning with the children and some of their parents. The other team members went out into the community and ministered to them by bringing food to different homes.

One day we climbed Mt. Longonot near Kijabe. It was hard because of the altitude. We had to stop and catch our breath. That gave us time to look around and see giraffes and cape buffalo as well as some hartebeest. At the top you could see down in the volcanic crater. It was about 600 feet down and there were trees and grasses growing there. We could also see a puff of smoke now and then.

We got to go to prayer meetings in the homes of some of the Kenyan people. What a blessing to be able to share with other Christian brothers and sisters. The Kenyan people are so friendly and happy. We loved everyone we met!

A couple of days before flying back, we were able to go on a photo safari at Masai Mara. We love animals and this was a dream come true for us to see them in the wild. We were able to see the BIG FIVE which includes Cape Buffalo, Elephant, Black Rhino, Lion, and Leopard. The hardest to see was the leopard. He is a very shy creature. We saw lots of zebras, wildebeests, impalas, baboons, warthogs, topis, giraffes, hippos, and lots more creatures!

All too soon it was time to board the plane and return home. We thank everyone who was a part of our journey to Kenya. We appreciated your support both financially and your prayer support. It means so much to us. Once you have met the Kenyan people and held the children on your lap, you are never the same.