Summer is well on its way and we have been busy traveling back and forth. Here are some quick highlights from the last few weeks:

Back to the US: We left bright and early on June 23^rd for Chicago via Frankfurt. Izaak was a great flier and we found that flying with a baby gets you to the front of every line. Grandma Hieb met us at the airport. For the next 2 weeks, we barely ever had the baby in our own arms. Carrie and Jon wonderful chance to catch up with the extended Hieb/Enstad relatives. The next week we spent a night at the Dells with the Enderle family and enjoy time relaxing at several pools. On the 4^th we celebrated Grandpa Bublitz’s 89^th birthday. During the two weeks we also managed to see several friends as well as squeeze in some doctor visits and a little shopping. It was tough saying goodbye, especially knowing the Izaak won’t remember most of his relatives and that he will be 2 years old the next time he sees them in person. However. all in all it was a great time and it made us realize that our home is now in Portugal.




Wonderful Fellowship: With only a day to recover from jet leg, we had a big weekend in Gaia. WELS members Brian and Ruth Grundmeier drove up from their temporary home in Spain to join us in worship. They arrived Saturday along with several members from the church in Lisbon. We spent the afternoon touring the sites in Porto and eating spaghetti at the Meiers. Church the next day was packed, by our standards, with 29 people! It was great to have so many Christians together. After the service we headed to Pastor Villares’ home for a feast prepared by his wife Isabelle. Not only were we celebrating our fellowship together but also Isabelle’s birthday and the Villares’ wedding anniversary. After the meal we toured one of Gaia’s many wine cellars and returned for supper and fellowship before our visitors headed home.

Back in the swing of things: After being gone for almost three weeks we knew we would have some serious Portuguese reviewing to do. It is amazing how much you can forget in such a short time! On the other hand, it was nice to come back and speak enough to communicate. Unfortunately Jeff had to use his Portuguese with our phone company who had disconnected our phone and internet service while we were gone. It took a while, but we got our phone and internet back working about a week and a half later.

Izaak: Our little baby is growing! I have started putting clothes away that don’t fit him any more. He’s moved from the little to his full size crib in his own room. He’s even outgrown the kitchen sink for bath time. We love “happy baby time” when Izaak is full of smiles and have started reading little Bible stories to him at night as well as singing songs before bed. We both smiled when he started cooing along with our music. Amazing how the smallest of hearts can be soothed by the gospel message!

Prayers: We are comforted in knowing God hears all our prayers and that all of you are praying for us! Please ask that he bless Bill and Pastor Villares as they travel to Mequon for Missionary Conference. Ask that he bless our language training in Portugal and that he keep both our family and the Meiers healthy.