Shauen & Krista Trump

Our boys continue to grow and be super-cute. This month we celebrated Easter and Josiah had much more fun with the Easter Egg hunt than he did last year although he was no more careful with the eggs - of our 18 eggs, only one survived without a crack. We invited a CrossFire team (Lutheran Youth formed into a band for ministry in East Africa) and their hosts from Nuru (Lutheran Hour Ministries) to our home for chili and carrot cake. Krista tried making fondant for the first time to make some carrot toppers for the cake - and they turned out wonderful. We got our first rains of the season which also happens to be ushering in the first "normal" rainy season in years. Apparently our yard floods during a "normal" rainy season. Our newly-installed sidewalk collapsed as the soil compacted from the rain. The floods also effected our ability to visit an eyeglass clinic site but our LandCruiser forded the rivers and flooded roads with little difficulty. At home the leak in our living room roof was finally repaired after several years of dripping, and two golden crested cranes (the national bird of Uganda) spent a little time in the farm behind our house.

March was a month of recovery and adaptation to having our two boys and no extra family around to help. Our big event was a visit to Ghana where we enjoyed a joint retreat with some of the LCMS World Mission Africa personnel and staff from Lutheran Bible Translators. It was wonderfully refreshing but it was also good to be home afterwards.

This month we said goodbye to Shauen's Mom and jetted off to Kisumu in support of the Pastoral Leadership Institute-International's partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya. Then back in Nairobi we welcomed Krista's sister and brother-in-law to Kenya for a visit. The foundation work around the house continues. We hit all the highlights of our part of Nairobi - the Nairobi Game Park, the Giraffe Center, the Elephant Orphanage, the Carnivore Restaurant, and went to the South Coast where everyone visited as a short-term team from St. Andrew's Lutheran Church assisted in a medical clinic in the village. Then we went on safari at the Masai Mara and saw the big 5 plus! It was a full and amazing month.

This month we enjoyed time with Shauen's Mom and got used to having Elijah around. Shauen preached at the Uhuru Highway Archcathedral. We went to the South Coast of Kenya where Shauen did a little work celebrating the local church's work in erecting a permanent structure around their mud-and-stick church building. Meanwhile Krista and Grandma enjoyed their days at a resort. On the way back home we stopped half-way in a safari park and stayed at a lodge on a watering hole. When we got home it was Krista's birthday, a trip to the Giraffe Center, Kazuri Beads, and lunch out before Mom went back home.

December began with a visit Shauen facilitated between the Lutheran Church of East Africa based in Moshi, Tanzania and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya. Shauen took the visiting church officials across Kenya to learn about various work of the church here including a brief stop at Lake Victoria where Pastor Abel held a fish for the first time in his life. Shauen traveled to Kisumu to congratulate the church on the construction of their first hospital facility - he presented a short speech of congratulations in Swahili. Meanwhile, back at home the roses are in bloom and the foundation work continues. Krista made a wonderful lego-themed birthday cake for Josiah complete with white chocolate lego pieces. A few days later, baby Elijah was born! Our GEO missionaries came for Christmas and Megan's birthday - a fruit platter for breakfast and KFC for lunch with frozen yogurt for dessert. Shauen Baptized Elijah on Christmas Day. Grandma loved her time with both of the boys.

In November we visited some of the eyeglass clinics put on by short term teams and saw some wildlife on the way - not even in a park! Krista put together an amazing Thanksgiving dinner with way too much delicious food. Foundation work began to repair our sinking house and we went to a Christmas bazaar.

In September Shauen participated in the ELCK's Partner's Consultation and worked on language learning. In October, the big event was an Advance Trip with Pastor Pete Varvaris and Kim Purcell to visit the Northwest Diocese of the ELCK. We went into the Pokot highlands and lowlands. We preached, we had roads cut through the bush to welcome our trucks, and we learned about the Pokot people. We then continued north into the Turkana lands and reached all the way to Kakuma Refugee Camp near the South Sudan border. After the trip we took a morning to visit the Nairobi Game Park just 2 miles from our house. Finally, October finished up with a little Halloween celebration.

This month we enjoyed a visit from our friends at Give Clean Water Now, taking them to see a few areas where wells can make a huge difference in people's lives. Then we were very, very, very happy to go to Kentucky Fried Chicken with our GEO missionaries! KFC has just opened in Nairobi and is the American restaurant chain to come to Kenya. We continued with our GEO missionaries on to the South Coast of Kenya where we joined a short-term team from St. Andrew's Lutheran Church of Cape Girardeau, Missouri as they ministered to muslim areas through Children's programs.

July was a quieter month. We welcomed our two new volunteer missionaries, Tim and Megan Dooms, under our Globally Engaged in Outreach (GEO) program. Our family went to the coast to prepare for a short-term team visit by St. Andrew's Lutheran Church of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Josiah continues to be cute as ever. He loves putting on Mama and Papa's shoes, helping around the yard, and washing the truck. Finally, be sure to check out the sign Josiah is holding in the very last picture - we announced some big news!

This month our family traveled to Tanzania to spend time with the Mid-South District's short-term team visiting with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania's East of Lake Victoria Diocese (EVLD). The Mid-South District under the guidance of Bob Allen does direct door-to-door evangelism, open-air preaching, and Gospel proclamation with the ELVD among the Sukuma people. Shauen presented the Gospel message to the family of a local witchdoctor, baptized uncountable Sukuma including a woman who said she was 4,000 years old, and preached in open-air settings and church services. Krista and Josiah, meanwhile, enjoyed the hotel in Mwanza where the original African Queen boat is moored and holds hotel rooms. One of the Lutheran Church members helped Krista keep tabs on Josiah who wasn't scared of the crocodile sculpture. The week after the Mid-South District visited Tanzania, Rev. Dr. Scott Rische and other presenters from Pastoral Leadership Institute - International visited the ELVD. Back in Kenya after our two weeks in Tanzania, Josiah helped one of our watchmen with some gardening and our one-day-a-week housekeeper with some vacuuming. We enjoyed a dental team visit facilitated through MOST ministries. The MOST team took Shauen out to a double-header soccer game (that's 6 hours of soccer - more than he's watched his entire life). A few days later their bus got stuck in the mud at one of the sites and Shauen loved pulling that huge bus out with his LandCruiser.

May included a sushi night at home which was delicious. Shauen enjoyed a safari into the Nairobi National Game Park (2 miles from our house) with a couple visiting Principal Gift Officers from the LCMS. Shauen requested a consultation with the leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya (ELCK) - the Archbishop, General Secretary, and Bishops of the Diocese - to discuss how LCMS World Mission can best support the ELCK in their priorities as a church. Then one of our short-term teams arrived for an eyeglass clinic. Shauen led a worship service for the visitors and visited a couple of their eyeglass sites with Krista and Josiah. And, believe it or not, we even have a few pictures of Josiah around home!

Shauen headed to Neema Lutheran Theological College, also known as Matongo Seminary, in Western Kenya with Missionary Glenn Fluegge for a visit and was invited to plant a tree while they were there! April, of course, is also Shauen's birthday month and Krista made him a wonderful Chocolate Raspberry cake and marvelously wrapped some presents. Then it was off to Zambia for a theological conference with fellow LCMS Missionaries Dr. Michael Rodewald (Regional Director for Africa) and Rev. Jacob Gillard (Uganda). Shauen got an afternoon with his new Kindle (birthday gift from his parents). Josiah (16 months) eventually got the hang of Easter-egg hunting but didn't get the hang of being gentle with the eggs. Shauen was then invited to participate in the quarterly training and preparation class for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya's Mission Training Center instructors. And, of course, a few pictures of Shauen and Josiah round out the month.

Josiah enjoyed playing outside a bit more as summer wears on. Krista enjoyed some beautiful roses while Shauen enjoyed the affordability of beautiful roses (many of Europe's cut flowers come from Kenya). Josiah got a haircut from Mama. We returned our satellite internet dish now that we have more affordable internet options. We bought a new, big washing machine it's best feature being that it remembers where it was when the power goes out! But the big event this month was the All-Africa Retreat for LCMS personnel deployed to Africa, hosted by us right here in Kenya at Turtle Bay Resort on the coast.

We bought Josiah a little pool since we're well into summer and he loves it. This month Rev. Claude and Rhoda Houge retired from the mission field so we had a little party with one of Krista's excellent cakes. They were blessed and sent by the Uhuru Lutheran Congregation downtown and, of course, we had to hit as many of their favorite local restaurants as possible before they left. We enjoyed a short visit with students from Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne. Then Shauen set off for the southeast of Kenya on an Advance Trip with Pastor Paul Short and Jeff Fanger of St. Andrew's Lutheran Church, Cape Girardeau, MO. On the way we stumbled upon an abandoned resort overlooking a crater lake that is split by the Kenya-Tanzania border.

Only a few days after returning from home-service, Shauen was off on a trip to Tanzania to be introduced to the Lutheran Church of East Africa, based in Moshi. He accompanied agricultural missionaries Delano and Linda Meyer as they taught in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He brought back two pieces of artwork in a modern style for Krista's birthday. Krista made peanut butter cups for her party among other amazing treats. And finally, no album would be complete without some pictures of Josiah and a chameleon we found in our yard.

We arrived in the States at the end of September and returned to Nairobi the beginning of January. During this time Shauen was ordained and Josiah turned 1! We began our journey in Seattle, drove to Orlando with many stops on the way, then flew to Nebraska to celebrate Christmas with Krista's family. These are just a few of the pictures we took along the way. Consider yourself warned - almost every picture is of Josiah!

After returning from Paraguay at the end of May, we had two weeks in Nairobi to find and buy our new truck, and pack for language school. We attended language school in Morogoro, Tanzania for approximately three months. During this time we took two short vacations. One to Mombasa because we needed to cross the border and one to Zanzibar. Although we enjoyed being in Tanzania, Josiah was having some major sleep issues which prevented us from learning Swahili as well as we would have liked. It's hard to pay attention in class when you wake up every two hours at night! After we finished language school, it was back to Nairobi for a week and then on to the States for home service!

May was a unique month for us. Early in the month, Shauen was able to make a quick trip to Matongo Seminary. Then, we had been invited to attend the Trans-cultural Formation Program, a training program between LCMS WM and our South American church partners. This meant we spent several days in Pretoria, South Africa with our Regional Director, Mike Rodewald, to get our visas for Paraguay. Then, along with Mike, we enjoyed 2 weeks in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. We even took a short jaunt across the border to Brazil to enjoy the magnificent Iguazu Falls - a collection of 275 waterfalls along a 1.7 mile stretch of the Iguazu River. Even more wonderful, Krista's mother, Bernita Krenzke, was able to fly down to Paraguay and provide childcare for the many children present at the event. This meant she got to meet her grandson for the first time! By the end of the month, we were back in Nairobi with limited time to buy our new vehicle before we had to leave for Tanzania to attend Swahili language school.

April was a busy month for us as we prepared for our new assignment in Nairobi, Kenya. Although we won't actually be living in Nairobi until January 2011, we will be moving all our personal belongings there now. We are excited for this new opportunity, but it is sad saying goodbye to the many people we have come to love in Uganda.

As you can see from this month's pictures, Josiah is growing bigger and cuter by the day! We can't believe our little baby is 3 months old already. Although we've been very busy taking pictures of Josiah, March has been a fairly quiet month for us as we prepare for our upcoming move to Kenya. Shauen enjoyed two TEE sessions. The first session involved the students going through the Lutheran Media Ministry's "Equipping the Saints" Workshop. The second session involved celebrating the Passover Sedar meal at our home. We were also blessed by a visit from Beth Drevlow, Josiah's godmother.

After a wonderful visit with Shauen's mom, February has been a time to get back into the swing of things. Josiah was introduced to Shauen's TEE class. We also took a quick trip to Iganga to visit our friend Norbert from the States and LCMU president, Noah Isanga. Josiah was very popular during this trip, everyone wanted to take him out of Mom & Dad's arms and hold him, pass him around to others and walk with him out of our sight. He handled it all fairly well, much better than we did! Shauen continued with his TEE responsibilities and also took a short trip to the West to Mbarara for a Youth Friendship Sunday. He ended the month with a trip to Lira, his second time there and the location of our first upcountry visit. Note the huge "mountain" that was summited!

We couldn't let Mom come all the way to Uganda without going on safari. So, even though Josiah was only 4 weeks old, we packed up the truck and headed to Murchison Falls National Park, the only place where you can see giraffes in Uganda and a place neither of us had been to. We had a wonderful time! We didn't see any lions, they had been very scarce with the recent heat. We did see a leopard in a tree though! They are a very shy animal and not easily found. We also saw several crocodiles descending on a hippo carcass a few feet from our boat! We were in awe seeing the Nile squeezed into a space only 4 meters wide at the top of Murchison Falls. Josiah even had a wonderful time, his favorite part? The bumpy roads which put him right to sleep!

Shauen's mom, Kathryn, arrived the second week of January and spent a wonderful 3 weeks visiting with us. We did lots of fun things like going on safari to Murchison Falls (see photos above) and seeing the Source of the Nile in Jinja. Josiah loved meeting his Grandma and was especially happy that she always seemed to want to hold and cuddle him! Delano and Linda Meyer, agriculture missionaries in West Africa, made a visit. The first TEE of 2010 was spent attending their workshop, Managing the Harvest. We also had a visit from Pastor Mark and Ron from Resurrection Lutheran Church in Cary, NC. They, along with Shauen, visited 3 possible locations (Kayunga-Central, Amudat-North, Busia-East) for future mission trips for Resurrection. Josiah was very excited because they brought over a glider (unassembled) as one of their pieces of checked luggage. He loves being rocked! Thank you very much to those who helped make this possible. Krista celebrated her birthday on January 29th. Thank you to all those who sent birthday wishes!

December was quite the month for us! We worked on finishing the nursery so we would be all ready for our little one. Shauen taught the last TEE session for the 2009 year, looking at the African Roots of Christianity. To give the students a taste of an American tradition, Krista made cookies and frosting and the students had a chance to decorate their own Christmas cookies. We celebrated confirmation, 2 adults and 3 youths were confirmed. We were blessed with visitors from the States, here to do a Luther Academy Seminar and to visit the Ugandan Seminary students home for break. We had fun getting ready for Christmas: enjoying our sticker Advent calendar, buying our fake Christmas tree, making cookies and stringing popcorn for the tree, and finding poinsettias to decorate the house. Most importantly, we welcomed our son, Josiah Michael Trump, into the world on December 19th. He was baptized into the Christian faith on Christmas Day. We also had a wonderful dinner that day with friends we have made this past year. What a joy-filled day! Now our time is filled with figuring out how to take care of Josiah, hopefully we don't mess it up too much!

November has flown by, although without all the hectic activities that October had. The ladies from the Women's Bible Study that Krista attends threw her a shower and all chipped in to get Baby Trump a pack and play. Shauen stayed busy teaching TEE classes and then moving his office into the living room to make room for the nursery, which he also painted. We had a lovely Thanksgiving with a group of Americans, as well as Irish, South Africans, Canadians, Sudanese and Ugandans. The menu included turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, green beans, applesauce, carrot souffle (a yummy substitute for sweet potato casserole), bread, apple crisp, pecan pie and pumpkin pie. It was a wonderful time and we came away appropriately stuffed. The following Sunday we got together with friends of ours and made a gingerbread house! We are in the process of decorating for Christmas. It may not feel like Christmas due to the weather, but we're sure trying our best!

Our retreat began the end of September and finished during the first week of October. Pastor Jim Heining led us in a wonderful discussion of Philippians. The attendees were Shauen & Krista Trump and Jake, Michelle, Amelia & Evangeline Gillard (Uganda), Claude & Rhoda Houge and Walter & Lidia Winterle (Kenya), and Mike, Cindy, Caleb, Jacob & Seth Rodewald (South Africa). Check out the picture drawn by Caleb Rodewald as a thank-you to Rhoda for handling the logistics of our retreat. Our first Sunday after returning home (Oct 11) we celebrated the ordination of our 3 Ugandan vicars! It was a large celebration attended by many special visitors from Ghana, Sudan and Kenya. Krista was asked Thursday to make the cakes for the meal that followed. Although not surprised at how the cake was served (cut into small pieces, piled on a plate and passed around), she was chagrined to see them cutting apart the layers she had worked so hard on! Regardless of this small detail, it was a beautiful celebration and a big day for the Lutheran Church Mission in Uganda. The next weekend for TEE the men did a service project in Lukonda. The church there needed a new church building and had the land and necessary supplies, but since the congregation was made up of primarily women, they lacked the manpower. So Shauen, Jake and the TEE students supplied the necessary manpower and cut down trees and built the frame for the new church. The project isn't finished yet, a roof needs to be put on it and the women will mud the walls. On Sunday a day trip was made to Lugombe for Word & Sacrement ministry. The following week (Oct 22), Shauen and Jake went to visit the Ugandan seminary students in Matongo, Kenya. From there they picked up Pastor Charles and continued up to Amudat, a fairly remote region in Uganda that is close to the Kenyan border. Note the picture of our car with branches on the windshield (a symbol of blessing) and the local gas station (diesel poured from a jerry can, using Shauen's handkerchief to filter it). In contrast to September, October has been a rather busy month! Note: there are two pages of pictures.

September has been a quieter month for us as we settled back into our routine after our trip to the States. We received an amazing package from a friend/supporter, check out that bottle of ranch dressing! Evangeline Gillard turned 3 years old and we were all on hand to help her celebrate! Rev. Dr. Jim Heining and his wife arrived for a 6 week trip out of his 3 month sabbatical. He taught both TEE sessions in September, giving both Shauen and Jake a break. Both Jim and Jolene will be accompanying us to our upcoming East Africa Missionary Retreat in Mombasa, Kenya where Jim will be leading us in Bible study and devotions. We experienced another church wedding and an early morning rainstorm covered the floor of the church with mud, just before the start of TEE! We arrived in Mombasa for a week of personal vacation before the start of our retreat. Shauen not only didn't bring his laptop, he never even checked his email! Our vacation was wonderful, we essentially did nothing and caught up on sleep and time with each other. We also had a wonderful time with the other missionaries during our week of retreat.

Shauen joined Krista in Milwaukee on August 3rd. Time flew by as we kept busy with family and friends, helping out Krista's sister with wedding details, making a trip to St Louis, speaking at congregations, going to the Wisconsin State Fair, enjoying an awesome baby shower for Baby Trump, visiting a friend in Orlando, and even going to Disney World (thanks Billy and Amy for the complimentary tickets!). We had an eleven hour layover in London on our way home, so we hopped on a double decker bus and enjoyed some of the sights! Sadly, we were both a bit tired, although it was Shauen who draped himself over the railing of the bus and fell asleep! His first words when we arrived at St. Paul's Cathedral were "Coffee!! I need coffee!" Since we had a Starbucks' gift card in our wallet and happened to be standing in front of one, we enjoyed some Starbucks as we walked around. Only a few days after arriving home, Shauen headed to Western Uganda for a wedding and visits to several congregations.

Shauen only had one big trip this month, it was a trip to Western Uganda for the distribution of 500 Runyankore Catechisms to 10 congregations. Over 900 kilometers were covered and our Landcruiser was really put to the test! Shauen, Jake, and our short-term missionaries, Liz, Christine and Alec, had a wonderful day of white-water rafting on the Nile. Krista left for the States on July 22nd for her sister's wedding. Before she left, she was asked to make 5 cakes for a church wedding (different than a traditional Ugandan wedding) happening 3 days after she left. Shauen not only attended the wedding, but preached the wedding sermon. He also had the joy of making sure the cakes made it safely from the freezer to the wedding! After arriving in Milwaukee, there were some beautiful flowers waiting for Krista, sent by Shauen!

Shauen and Jake attended the celebration of Martyr's Day, a day that honors both Anglican and Catholic martyrs killed in the late 1800s. The shrine and surrounding areas were teeming with people, and many made the pilgrimage by foot, some from as far away as Tanzania. We were blessed to receive several amazing packages from family and supporters (yeah Dove chocolate and Popular Science!). We celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary with a new gas grill. This makes Krista happy as Shauen now loves to make dinner! We received a copy of the Superbowl from a friend in the States, and had a Superbowl party with several of our Ugandan friends. We did our best to create a true American meal to go along with this American event. At the end of the month we packed up our house and shifted to our new apartment.

This month has been full of trips! Shauen has been on the road three weekends in a row. His first trip was to Kayunga, to visit with a TEE student and visit 4 congregations in the area. His second trip was to Mbarara for the dedication of Grace Lutheran Church-Mbarara. His third trip was to Ikumbya, also for a church dedication. In both Kayunga and Ikumbya there were many baptisms and confirmations, and in Ikumbya Shauen baptized over 20 people! Krista also took a day trip to help with immunizations on a small pennisula accessible only by boat. We also welcomed the arrival of Alec Fisher, a short-term missionary who will be in Uganda for the next three months.

After our trip to Fort Portal, since we were only a 2 hour drive from Queen Elizabeth National Park, we decided to make a quick stop before heading home. What a wonderful experience! The scenery was beautiful and the animals amazing. We took close to 400 pictures during our 24 hours there, but managed to narrow it down to what we think are the best ones. What an amazing experience to see God's creatures in their natural habitat!

Shauen & Jake continue to visit a local school they have made a connection with and Michelle had some girls over for a chocolate party! Shauen preached on Palm Sunday and celebrated his 31st birthday on Good Friday. He was most excited about receiving Kaldi's coffee and his Asterix & Obelix comic books! We tried dyeing Easter eggs (the colors turn out differently with brown eggs) and Krista attempted cream cheese frosting for the first time for Shauen's birthday cake (the taste was right, the texture was all wrong). We had a wonderful Easter service and celebrated later that evening with Easter dinner and birthday cake. He is Risen! The Sunday after Easter we celebrated the baptism of 10 children! That following week we went to Fort Portal, a beautiful town in the west, situated in the shadow of the Rwenzori Mountains (Mountains of the Moon). We were there because Kevin, a Ugandan man seeking baptism, wanted to first burn the fetishes of his deceased father, a witchdoctor. We also had the opportunity to meet Bob & Linda, a wonderful LCMS couple working in Fort Portal as missionaries with an NGO. They are overseeing the building of a Christian school. When we arrived back in Kampala, Shauen got the worst haircut of his life! Luckily, hair grows back.

We bought fish for the first time! Krista was quite relieved when they offered to fillet it on the spot for an extra $0.50 (money well spent!). Shauen has continued with teaching TEE (Theological Education by Extension) every first and third weekend of the month. We also took our first trip out west, attending a church dedication in Ibanda and visiting several other churches. On our way home, we stopped at Lake Mburo National Park (pictures below) and stopped at the equator! We were also blessed by the visit of a friend who works for an NGO in Sudan. Later in the month we received another visitor, Dr. Phil Giessler, who was a guest teacher for a TEE weekend. He was passing through on his way to Sudan where he will be teaching the next 10 weeks. Shauen was commissioned for Word and Sacrament ministry in the LCMU this past Sunday and last night we had our first attempt at Mexican night!

On our way home from the church dedication in Ibanda, we stopped at Lake Mburo National Park. Although you won't find the big animals here, there is an abundance of zebras, impalas, warthogs and hippos. While paying our entrance fee, we were excited to see several zebras grazing on the other side of the gate! We spent one night in the park, enjoyed a game walk with a ranger, a boat ride on the lake, and took more pictures than probably necessary! It was amazing to see these beautiful animals in their natural habitat. God is awesome!

February 6th marked the beginning of TEE (Theological Education by Extension). Twenty-four men, identified as leaders in their congregation, will come to Kampala every other weekend for the next two years to complete what essentially is a pre-seminary course. Shauen also had his first opportunity to preach and although nervous, did a wonderful job!

Well, we finally arrived! Our days so far have been filled with lots of shopping: shopping for a refrigerator, shopping for furniture, shopping for groceries, and currently, shopping for a car. January 18th was the installation of the church leaders of the LCMU, followed by a get-together at the home of Jake & Michelle, our fellow missionaries. The next week we got internet in the form of a satellite dish to be shared by both families. We also were blessed with visitors as the Area Facilitators and Regional Director of Africa gathered in Kampala for a meeting. The month ended with a trip north to visit a new congregation in Gulu and four existing congregations in Lira. During our time in Lira, Jake baptized two babies and confirmed 17 adults!

We spent the holiday season with Shauen's family in Gig Harbor, WA. This included a 5k Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning, a trip to Tacoma Zoo Lights, a trip to the Bavarian mountain town of Leavenworth, a trip to visit Shauen's grandparents in Northern California, and a snowball fight Christmas Eve Day.

Krista's grandma got married in March, we traveled to North Carolina in May & September, visited a friend and celebrated our anniversary in New Orleans, had missionary orientation in St Paul, MN, began sharing about the amazing work God is doing in Uganda with churches all over the place, and drove from St Louis, MO to Gig Harbor, WA.

We were married June 9, 2007, at Light of Christ Lutheran Church in Federal Way, WA.