Mum-to-be (among other things)

Robynn wearing a shirt given by her sister-in-law, which reads "Coming This Winter..." This winter has been a time of preparation for the arrival of our little baby girl as we've been getting ready for parenthood--we've taken the classes, read the books, and stocked up on diapers (which are called "nappies" here in England). Robynn has been setting up the nursery and has even started a few projects, including repainting and reupholstering an old rocking chair.



The chair has an interesting history having travelled around the world. Here's Robynn at work painting:


Here's the "before" picture, and we'll post the "after" picture when it is finished.


We continue to enjoy the friendships we've made at our church here, and one couple invited us to visit with them and their family in a beautiful part of England called the Yorkshire Dales. We had a great time of fellowship and were so thankful for their generosity and hospitality. Our friends have a baby boy and you can tell he had a great time by the look on his face. Ha!


The beautiful countryside in the Dales:


We even rode a steam engine train through the hills:


We're learning a lot from our new classes which include: Medical Practice, Culture and Language Acquisition, Linguistics, Cultural Anthropology. We are also meeting regularly with our professors now to talk about how we are doing in classes, how we are growing, how we are serving, and even how our marriage is going. These are all issues that are discussed in deciding about the future of our work and serving in another country. Here's a group of us with our professors and their family--the other students are from all over the world.


Soon we will be experiencing the biggest change of our lives...and our biggest happiness, too! We are looking forward to introducing you to our daughter in our next web update! The due date is December 10, but only the Father knows when she will come. Please keep us in your prayers.


All our love,
Jonathan and Robynn (& Baby)

We Survived!

Imagine living in the wilderness with no electricity, no running water, and no tent for 4 days! How would you survive? We went with our class on a survival course to see if we had what it takes to do just that. Not that we plan to live in those conditions in the future, but it's always good to know necessary survival skills just in case they might be needed. We learned how to start a fire without matches, build rope out of plants, find food in nature, as well as basic orienteering using a compass and the sun and stars. We also learned how to build our own shelter and I've provided step-by-step instructions so you can learn how do it yourself!

Find two large forked branches or trees and one long one to use as a pole and set up as shown. (It helps to have a cute wife help you, too)


Next line some smaller sticks along the middle pole and weave twigs through them so that you can add foliage for protection from the elements.


Finally, weave foliage into the twigs and make sure the leaves are pointing down to carry the water away from the shelter in case it rains. We used local ferns called bracken to cover our shelter, and amazingly, it kept us completely dry when it rained one of the nights. It was time-consuming to build the shelter, but it was so much fun and next time we go camping, we want to build another one!


Robynn and baby were well taken care of with great food over the fire (we hiked in with some food supplies), plenty of drinking water (provided), and a team to serve them and make sure they were okay.


Here's our team in front of some more shelters we made (Robynn carved the flowers out of wood).


We had a great time and we wish we could do it again. He has provided everything we need in His creation, and we experienced a simpler, more thoughtful way of life far from distractions and (in)conveniences. Robynn was sad to leave the first home her husband had made for her!

We're back in normal classes again and really enjoying them as we continue to learn about His work in the world. Thank you for thinking of us!

All our love,
Jonathan & Robynn (and Baby) only 8 weeks to go!

Back 2 Britain

We've made it back to Britain safely after having a wonderful time with family, friends in the States. This will be our second year of training and starting the Cross-Cultural Communications Course. It will be challenging, but we are looking forward to the practical lessons we will be learning and growing in our faith. Also, we love the English culture and our little British home. Today we picked blackberries in the countryside and found this sign on one of the roads.

It was great to see Jonathan's brother and his wife again earlier in the summer, and they're having a little girl, too! His parents, of course, were so excited to be grandparents and had already filled the house with pink girly gifts. Little sister Christi is excited to be an Aunt, too!



Robynn's brothers are shocked to see their sister is having a baby and that they are going to be uncles. Can you guess which one is more crazy than the other?



On our way back to England, we stopped in New York before flying out of JFK to see some friends and experience the city.



Classes started up right when we got there, but it wasn't all sitting behind a desk and taking notes. We went on a long hike through the English countryside to get to know the new students as well as test our stamina.



Here's a beautiful old building we passed along the way.



Another aspect of our classes is maintaining the grounds and facilities in order to keep the costs down for the students as well as practice having a joyful attitude. Here, Jonathan works hard on the hedges whereas other days you can find him happy singing and tune and scrubbing toilets.



We are so happy to be here again growing in our walks and living with such a wonderful community who desire to please our Father. We especially look forward to the next coming months as He continues to amaze us with His love.



All our love,
Jonathan and his Girls

It's a GIRL!

We are pleased to announce that we are having a baby girl! This past month was amazing. At the end of July we graduated from our first year of training, received our diplomas and even won a swing dance competition at our school. The next day we went to Diana Princess of Wales Hospital to see our baby at 20 weeks. The sonogram was so clear we could even see when she waved to us--really! The doctors are happy with her growth and gave us a good health report as we prepared to go home for 6 weeks.

The past few weeks we have been in Atlanta enjoying time spent with family, friends and Jonathan's church. Robynn's belly continues to grow and she feels great, only a little tired now and then and ALWAYS hungry! We are looking forward to spending most of August in Florida with her family, friends and our home fellowship.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and the ways you encourage us. Our experience this year in England has been so wonderful and enriching, we can't wait to share it with all of you. Please write and let us know how your summer has been.

All our love,
Robynn & Jonathan (and Baby Bachman)

Baby in Britain!

We are so excited to share with all of you how we are very thankul--we're having a baby! We have been desiring and waiting for nearly 2 years, and now in His perfect timing, He has answered us with this wonderful gift. The baby is due in December, and he or she will be born here in England while we are finishing our training, so it will be a "British Baby" and Robynn is a "mum" :-) We recently got this scan, and the doctors said the baby is healthy as well as the mother.


We were also happy to have Jonathan's family fly "across the pond" and visit us. We took them out to eat for a Mother's Day celebration and surprised our mom (and our dad and sister) with the great news. She opened a Mother's Day card written from the baby, thanking her for her love for us and for being such a great mother...and grandmother. Of course, everyone was thrilled and crying with joy. My younger brother and his wife are having a baby around the same time we are, so it is especially exciting that our family is about to have two new members!


Here we are in Scotland where William Wallace (from Braveheart) used to live and fight the English in epic battles.



We also led music during one of the evening sessions of a local conference, singing and playing.

Thank you for your committment to make an impact and for supporting us. We would appreciate your continued thoughts for us to finish strong in our studies as we graduate next month, as well as good health for the baby and Robynn during this time of pregnancy. Please let us know how we can encourage you, too!

All our love,
Jonathan and Robynn

Holiday in Holland

We just got back a couple weeks ago from our Easter break in Holland. We were invited by our Dutch neighbors down the hall to go home with them and spend our break in the Netherlands with their family. We had the most wonderful time with them, and their family was so gracious to us, serving us for nearly two weeks.


Our Dutch friends and their loving family in their beautiful garden.

Our friends took us all over their beautiful country, and it was the perfect time as the sun was shining and the tulips were blooming and the windmills were...winding (?)


The tulips under the trees.


The variety of colors was amazing.


A typical Dutch landscape with sheep, flowers, and a windmill.


View of the tulip fields from the top of a windmill. The colors were even more brilliant in person.

After our break, we had some friends, who had been serving in Northern Asia, come and visit the training center here. They were the couple we met with on a regular basis when we were first dating and were interested in what they were doing. They came to the training to teach several classes as well as share the needs of Asia. We had a great time with them and, perhaps, we may work with them in the future.


A traditional Dutch reformed building


"Hey Jonathan, you think we should work somewhere cold?"

We are amazed at the wonder of our creator and how He reveals His love to us: through His creation, through His Son, and through His children, which includes you! Thank you so much for your continued thoughts and love and support.

All our love,
Jonathan and Robynn

Spring Fever!

The cherry blossoms are blooming and daffodils line the paths along the road (spring pics coming soon). Spring is on the way, though we may get one more good snow before its all over. He sends the rain and sun in season to the land, and is faithful to His people.
Robynn and Jonathan dancing to the music in the antique market. (picture above)


We were blessed to spend some time during our February break with dear friends Heather and Jeff. They are living in Europe right now and are only a short plane ride away. Our time with them was refreshing and restful as we took a break from another 2 months of intense study. They were gracious enough to take us around their new city, and spend the evenings together talking about theology, our future plans and enjoying each other's company.



Inside one of the ancient gothic style structures.



Jonathan found a lovely statue that he seemed to really enjoy!



In England, we are truly at home with our fellowship. Recently, they sent us along with several other youth workers to a children's work training day. We learned about puppets and how effective they are in communicating a message especially to kids. Also we are now officially trained in the British version of First Aid, and ready to use our new skills and knowledge to enhance the children's program.



In March, Robynn had her birthday, the "Big Birthday Bash", and many students and staff came with us to celebrate at a local Italian restaurant with an inexpensive all-u-can eat buffet. It was probably the largest gathering of all our classmates in a place outside of our training center ever, we basically took over the entire town! However, we had a great time and Robynn was blessed by the kindness of her new friends and family. Also, many of you who remembered that she turned 21 (again), thank you so much for the cards and gifts!



Our British home is made up of two rooms, one that is our kitchen and dining room combined, and the other our bedroom. It's amazing how cozy and content you can be once you are settled, even with limited space. Here are some recent pictures of our bedroom (notice the shadow), and our kitchen/dining room with flowers (for Robynn's birtday).




We love you and thank you once again for standing with us and remembering us always. Our time here is going quickly and we have to remind ourselves to make each day count. We would love to hear from you anytime.


All our love,
Robynn and Jonathan

Snow Days

Sometimes it does snow even here on the coast of England. We were amazed to see snow flurries outside of our classroom window. At coffee break all the crazy Americans ran outside and tried to catch snow flakes. The Europeans laughed and called it "icy rain" but we were not dissuaded. The very same day we were able to go the nearby ice skating facilities for a birthday party. We had so much fun!







During January we were pleased to welcome a couple who has served overseas for many years to our home for lunch. They gave us first hand stories of their experience and the opportunities in the country and surrounding area where they have lived and worked. They are an amazing couple, who encouraged us to keep our eyes focused on our father and that he would direct us in his timing. It was a great encouragement to meet them and share about life.

This is the month for birthday parties, and so far we have been invited personally to several celebrations where the guests of honor are under 5 years of age. Our many family friends here have welcomed us into the lives of their children and so we are quite busy playing and entertaining our young friends at these social events. Jonathan, of course, is always able to capture the attention of many with his artistic abilities and creative ideas. We love our little friends (and their parents too!)



We love the letters, emails and phone calls from all of you! It's amazing how we feel so connected to you, though we are far away. Thank you for remembering us in your thoughts and we can't stop being thankful for you and your influence in our lives.

All our love,
Robynn and Jonathan