ECHO Meetings

The first or second Tuesday of each month, we have the privilege of attending ECHO (Elder Council Handling Outreach) meetings at Grace. Once a month there is a meeting about all of the outreach going on in Grace. It is really exciting to hear about the various ministries that fall under this category. Various missionaries that are home on furlough often report. Short term trips give reports. Local outreach talks about what they do too. It's such a blessing to attend these meetings and see how and what the Lord is doing all over the world-starting in our own backyard!!

Now that we live over an hour away from Grace, ECHO Tuesdays has become an outing! We drive up in the morning and return late at night. All strategically planned to avoid traffic!! This past week we drove up and I thought it would be fun to document our trip...

Here we are around 10 am, ready to head out!

We try and have lunch with our friends whom we haven't seen in a while. This trip was no exception. We went to the Americana with Audra, Darius & baby Lucien. Here are the boys in the lobby...

We ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. YUM! Coen very much enjoyed his food :)

So did Cael!

Somehow we took a bunch of pics with Darius and the boys but none with Audra!

Here is baby Lucien. He's so precious!!

Cael took quite a liking to Darius and insisted on holding his hand while walking!

After lunch we headed to the famous Crumbs bake shop. They are famous for their cupcakes and I've heard SO much about them. So I was super excited to try them out!!

They had so many choices. I had such a hard time deciding. They all looked amazing!

Here's Cael eagerly waiting for some sugar!!

My final choice after over 10 minutes of deliberation was a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting and sprinkles. It was AMAZING. Worth every calorie :) And totally lived up to everything everyone says about this bake shop!!! They don't have a Crumbs down here so the next time we're in the valley I hope to stop by again!!

To burn off all the sugar, we walked around the lovely Americana. Here's baby Lucien, looking cute!!

And Coen, just chilling in the stroller

Cael was very happy to burn off some energy!!

And Coen was very fascinated by the Fong's stroller!

Then we headed over to Mimi & Abue's. They babysit both boys for us every month. We're so thankful for their service to us in this way. And the boys love their grandparents! Cael talks about his time for days afterwards!!

Then we head over to Grace. Here's Cael, who was with us briefly before returning to Mimi's house, in front of the Seminary. It was such a photogenic moment :)

And here is the ECHO meeting in progress. There is quite a turnout. If you go to Grace, I highly recommend attending one of these meetings. They're so encouraging!!

Here is a presentation for a Short Term Trip to India. What a great presentation.

Then after the meeting, we head back to Mimi & Abue's, pick the boys up, and return home. It's quite a trek and over a 12 hour day. But well worth it. And so much fun!! Next month is Shepherds' Conference and we will actually be up there for the week. We're very excited!! I'll post more details about our trip later :)