Posted in News Article on Oct 31st, 2009 | Discuss This Post
We have reached our favorite season. Well, it has been here for a month now, but that’s beside the point. The point is that we absolutely love Autumn here. This year, we went from 85 degrees on Sept. 29 to 35 degrees and snow on Sept 30. Ever since, we have had moderate temperatures and occasional snow. We missed out on the colorful leaves this year, but we got over it, considering how beautiful everything is under new snow.
This is how the Bridgers looked on Tuesday:
A few days ago, we celebrated Anne’s 3rd birthday — her first in Montana. Kaylee gave her a new stocking cap that she knitted for her, so we took her up into the mountains to try it out in the snow.
Today, we went up to the local ski area to try out our new sled, have a picnic, and take a family photo.
Posted in Family, Ministry, News Article, Prayer Request on Oct 15th, 2009 | Comments Off
So it has been quite a while since we sat down and updated our blog, for good reason. A lot has been on our table the past couple of months and we are glad to finally share our news with you.
First, God has brought a big change in our departure plans. We will no longer be able to leave for Bolivia in January as we hoped. Instead we are awaiting the arrival of baby #3 at the end of April! We are resting in the knowledge that our God is a great God who knows our plans but guides each step for this was not part of our plan. 
We praise Him for being a God of the little things, like a new baby!
“In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9
Secondly, we will no longer be going to Mexico before heading to Bolivia. This is a HUGE answer to prayer. There are some changes in the works with the “National Language Program” (for us, Spanish) around the world and we are taking part in helping with the Bolivian changes. This is exciting and we are happy to be a part as they work out the kinks. Most of all, we are excited to be heading directly to our field of service.
We appreciate your prayers as we continue to speak at churches and share with individuals about our future ministry. We are encouraged to see how God continues to grow our ministry team and uses individuals to show us His faithfulness. Please pray for Kaylee and the baby during this pregnancy, for good health and energy. You can also pray for us as we prepare our hearts for our arrival in Bolivia, that we would be prepared for what God has for us there and that we would continue to be flexible with our arrival time and plans along the way.
Posted in Prayer Request on Oct 1st, 2009 | Comments Off
It’s amazing how real things become when you know someone dealing with tragedy. Nathan and I have several friends who have just arrived in the Philippines sometime in the last four or five months to begin their work with NTM, some church planters and some pilots. This last weekend they were faced with major tragedy when a typhoon hit the island of Luzon. Many Filipino people have lost everything they had to call theirs and many have lost family and friends. Please pray for these families as they deal with the loss and try to rebuild their lives. Please also pray that God would protect them from further loss with a couple more tropical storms headed their direction.
If you would like to read more you can check out the websites of a couple of our friends:
www.ntm.org/joel_davis
www.ntm.org/caleb_kurianski
Posted in News Article on Sep 2nd, 2009 | Comments Off
We now have all four passports in hand! Just one more step towards heading overseas. 
Posted in Ministry, Prayer Request on Sep 1st, 2009 | Comments Off
We’ve been doing a lot of traveling and have more trips planned. Please pray for safety, perseverance, contentment (especially for the girls) and a “healthy” vehicle. Our next trip will be over Labor Day weekend to visit some friends in northern MT and present at their church. You can pray that God would work in the hearts of the people we are presenting to, that our ministry team would increase.
Posted in News Article on Sep 1st, 2009 | Comments Off
On Thursday we headed out of town for the weekend. We had contacted a pastor two hours away and it was going to work into his schedule for us to come visit last minute to introduce ourselves. The bonus part of the weekend is that Nathan’s oldest sister and family live just 20 minutes away from where we were meeting up with the pastor so we were able to spend the weekend with them.
Anne had a blast! She loved being outside ALL DAY LONG without Mom worrying about passing cars. She enjoyed playing with her cousins, especially Grace who is just a year older than her. They were in and out of the house throughout the day. They played dress up and spent a lot of time on the trampoline together. Anne loved the kittens too. There were three of them and she followed them around until she could get a hold of one of them.
We also took a few rides in our nephews’ go-cart. All three of the boys were so excited to have it and give us rides.
Nathan had a great visit with the pastor we went to meet. The girls and I stayed at the Browns while Nathan headed to town. It looks like a very promising relationship and we praise God for the opportunity Nathan had to spend an entire morning getting to know him.
The Browns were finishing up harvest so we spent an afternoon in the field. Anne and Nathan rode in the combine while Addi and I hung out with the rest of the family…taking pictures of the kids in an old truck.
We were planning on heading home Saturday afternoon but the Browns were able to finish up harvest then so we decided to stay an extra night and celebrate the end of harvest by taking their boat out on a near lake. Nathan did great water-skiing. Anne enjoyed a boat ride and playing in the water on the shore. Addi and I stayed on the shore with Nathan’s sister and her kids. Addi loved the rocks on the shore a little too much so she ended up in her car seat so Mommy wasn’t constantly picking rocks out of her mouth…yummy!
We made it home in the evening on Sunday and were thankful for our beds. We were all tired after a whirl-wind weekend but we had a lot of fun! Thank you, Browns, for letting us crash your house for the weekend!
Posted in News Article on Aug 25th, 2009 | Comments Off
We enjoyed a fun weekend with Kaylee’s mom this weekend. She was here for three full days and we made the most of them.
Saturday we went for a hike up to Blackmore Lake. Kaylee was on the hunt for some huckleberries and we all enjoyed the harvest. Huckleberry pancakes and muffins!
Sunday was a busy day with a Ministry Fair at church that Nathan and Kaylee participated in. Grandma helped with the girls and we had opportunities to talk to quite a few people.
The highlight on Monday was a dinner-time hike to Palisade Falls. We took along some fried chicken and other goodies to eat at the base of the waterfall.
Anne loved having Grandma stay in her room while she was here. They cuddled in Grandma’s bed each morning. She also loved the watercolor paints Grandma brought her and asks to paint as often as she can.
We had fun with Grandma! Thank you, Mom, for the visit!
Posted in Family on Aug 21st, 2009 | Comments Off
She’s crawling. . . and has two teeth! Addi, at 8 1/2 months, is growing a lot right now. She’s becoming very interactive and learning some quirky new things like “coughing” to get attention. When sitting in her high chair she bangs the tray to get us to notice her. Anne can make her laugh in a way neither Nathan nor I can get her to. It’s such a cute laugh! Her crawling is still on her tummy, using her arms and toes to push, but it gets her across the room and to the things she should and shouldn’t have!
Posted in News Article on Jul 31st, 2009 | Comments Off
July is definitely the month of family! We were blessed with the opportunity to get together with Nathan’s whole family again this summer. Last year we were sure it would be the last time in a long while but God had different plans. He’s so good to us!
Nathan’s brother, Ben, and his family were home in the US for a family wedding and took time to head to Montana for a few weeks. This gave us an opportunity to get the whole family together at Nathan’s sister’s place in eastern Montana.
We enjoyed being with Nathan’s parents, siblings, their spouses and all of the nieces and nephews (so many little kids running around!).
We were able to take family pictures, enjoy watching the kids in pools, playing games and just catching up. One of the main highlights for the men was an afternoon spent together “on the range.” The highlight for the women and kids ended up being the water balloon surprise we had for the men when they returned!
It was a great weekend!
Posted in News Article on Jul 30th, 2009 | Comments Off
After our afternoon at the zoo we needed to find a camping spot. It took us a few tries but we finally found one…thankfully we are used to living near the train tracks!
We didn’t find out until after we had unloaded, set up our tents and were headed to bed for the night that we were going to be hearing trains throughout the night on the tracks that were just about 50 feet from our tents (with only a tall hedge to mute the noise)! We were thankful there were no road crossings near so they didn’t have to blow their horns but we definitely felt and heard the rumbling of the wheels on the tracks. All-in-all it wasn’t too bad. We were all thankful for a place to sleep!
The next morning we got up and got on the road for our long day’s drive to Kaylee’s mom’s. We were pleasantly surprised when we caught sight of eight bighorn rams along the interstate as we traveled by the Columbia River. We took the opportunity to stop and snap a few pictures. They were beautiful!
For lunch we stopped in a small town along the river that had a nice park on the water. Anne played on the playground and then we dipped our toes in the water to cool off.
We made it to Kaylee’s mom’s around nine that night and after putting the girls to bed, waited for Kaylee’s Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Dan to show up with their kids. We were thankful for the opportunity to see them even though it was very short. We were also able to see Kaylee’s Aunt Janet.
It was a good trip…quick but well worth it!
Nathan and Kaylee Kelm Enroute to Bolivia with NTM 
