Today, we took Ethan to the birthday party of one of his cousins, 8-year-old Hannah. The party took place at Slinky Action Zone (Duncansville, PA), a place where kids can play all kinds of games. It’s a popular party spot for kids. It was Ethan’s first time there. He jumped right in and had a… Continue Reading »
We’re going to visit family and friends in Tennessee for the week of Thanksgiving. Due to a pretty crazy year (in a good way), it’s a long overdo trip! It’s been just over a year since we’ve been to Tennessee. The last time we were there, we received the first photos of our baby boy… Continue Reading »
Today, we started something new, holding a time of “hanging out with the pastors.” We invited people from both West Side and Centre Grove to join us at Old Town Road Dairy from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm. We had a great response our first time out. Today’s meeting was scheduled on pretty short notice… Continue Reading »
Tonight was trick-or-treat night in Clearfield and it was a busy night on Nichols Street! We had an estimated 132 trick-or-treaters come to our door between 6:00 and 8:00 pm. Our family night began with carving a jack-o-lantern, then we distributed candy to trick-or-treaters for the next couple of hours. Ethan helped hand out most… Continue Reading »
As we wrote about last year, we enjoy participating in Operation Christmas Child each year around this time. In our new ministry settings, the youth groups from Centre Grove (who has been active participants in the outreach for several years) and West Side are both leading efforts in the two churches to assemble gift-filled shoe… Continue Reading »
We have gotten to do some different recreational activities in recent days, including mini-golfing with the West Side and Centre Grove youth groups, biking with Skip and Nancy Koerber on the local rails-to-trails, and feeding the ducks with Dick and Joann McCrum where the river runs through Clearfield. As we head into the colder months,… Continue Reading »
On Sunday, Joleen, Ethan, and I attended our district’s first (of what may become an annual event) “local pastor sabbath.” It was intended to be an opportunity for Local Pastors (and Student Pastors and Appointed Lay Speakers) to share a day off together. We gathered at Gethsemane United Methodist Church in Allport (located across the… Continue Reading »
Today was a special day in the Willis household. We traveled to the Cumberland County Courthouse in Carlisle and Ethan’s adoption was finalized. It was kind of a last minute thing. The lawyer’s office called Monday and said they could squeeze us in at the end of several other adoption finalization hearings if we could… Continue Reading »
Ethan is now over 15 months old, and he’s growing. Here are a few photos from the past month …… Continue Reading »
For the first couple of months in our new home, we used boxes to block the staircases, to keep Ethan from climbing them. It was a bit of a hassle, but it worked, usually. We now have gates installed that work well — at least until Ethan figures out how to open them!… Continue Reading »