HOME!

For all of you who were thinking of us during our trip home to see family, thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.  The girls were amazing all through the travels and it was good to connect with those we don’t get to see very often. Now that we’re home, reality is sinking in a bit more as we look at the things we need to accomplish in the next 6 months.  Our goal is to get to Brussels by the end of July.  Currently, we are at around 27% monthly support and we need to be at 100% by the summer.  In order to accomplish this, we need 100 more people who would support us at $50 a month.  We believe that what we find impossible God finds easy and because He owns the cattle on a thousand hills this sum of 5,000 a month is nothing to Him.  We’re excited about seeing how God will come through for us. Another thing on our hearts is trying to prepare little talks to give to small groups who are interested in hearing about Brussels and Christian Associates.  We’d appreciate your prayer as we begin to formulate the best way to express our passion for what we will be doing. Last night we met with the core leaders who will run our advocacy group when we are gone.  We see this group meeting supporting us so that we can get to Brussels and to keep us there once we’ve arrived through praise, encouragement and petition.  It is a wonderful group of people who have a heart for missions and especially for Europe.  It was so much fun thinking big dreams together about church planting and even about how we can stay connected across the ocean. So we are home and we hit the road with a running start.  Thanks for taking the time to pray for us! 

Happy New Year!

Happy new year everyone!  We were able to bring it in last night with some of our close friends.  What fun it was.  I tried to duplicate my mom’s asian food tradition for new years and all turned out great except for the pad thai.  Like one friend said, it tastes great and it’s noodles but I wouldn’t call it pad thai!  Oh well, it’s my second try and I’m bound to at least try it one more time!  We leave on Sat. morning to drive to OH to visit family there for 2 weeks.  It should be crazy because the drive is at least 10 hours without stopping.  So, if you think of it, pray for us as I’m hoping for some miracle that the kids will actually be ok sitting in their seats between stops.  We’ll keep you posted.

Christmas Greetings!

Here’s a little summary of 2007.  Enjoy and Happy New Year!

This year, for us, has held a continuing theme of gifts.  Gifts given and gifts received in a new way.  It was evident at David’s farewell ceremony with the Navy in Aug. that the past 5 years have been a special gift from God to us.  It was bittersweet saying goodbye because we enjoyed our time in the military.  We also, at the same time, realized the incredible gift ahead of us: being mission interns at our church while we raise support to launch to Brussels, Belgium within the next year to plant churches.

            We have now been interning at Tabernacle Church of Norfolk for 3 months and have continued to watch God give us the gift of the body of Christ coming alongside us in our journey to another land.  People have given gifts of time such as babysitting our girls, gifts of prayer for us as we have struggled to find our way in this big transition, and gifts of money by supporting us financially not only for our internship, but also towards our final goal of being funded 100% for Brussels by July of 2008.  We’ve been surprised over and over as God has used people to meet our practical needs for fundraising events.  We could tell you many stories about how God laid on someone’s heart to give the exact thing, and amount we were lacking.  These gifts have built our faith and caused us to be humbled and acknowledge that it is only through us working in community that we will accomplish the task ahead of us.

            We have been given the gift to grow in areas of our lives that we are sure we will use in Brussels.  David has been doing a lot of teaching at the church and both of us are mentoring others while being mentored as well, along with helping plan strategic outreaches and being involved in the international ministry at Tab.  It has grown us to learn how to communicate our needs to others and to allow people to come alongside us in our endeavors.  David is also trying to finish his seminary work while Joanna stays busy as a mom and a supporter in the ministry.  The most difficult challenge for us this past year has been learning how to work together in a new way.  Discovering who can do what best has helped us lighten the load we both were carrying.

            Our family of four has been a constant gift from the Lord.  We’ve been learning in a new way what family looks like in the middle of full time ministry.  The girls have a way of reminding us of our priorities, and it’s amazing the joy and perspective they bring to both of us.  Eleri is 3 and Adley is approaching 2 this coming May.  They both are the best of friends…most days, and are growing not only physically but also spiritually as we see them respond to God working in their hearts.  Eleri especially is recognizing the truths that God wants to help her make right choices and she often says to us “God keeps her safe”.  It’s a blessing to watch Adley, who is not far behind, follow in her sister’s footsteps.

            As we wrap up 2007 we see the gift of friends, family, and ministry.  Just by getting this card we want you to know that we consider you a special gift in our lives from God.  Our prayer for you this season is that you will not miss the most perfect gift of all, the arrival of our King and Savior!  His presence is gift enough for us all.

 

Christmas 2007!

I had hoped to do a better job of keeping everyone up to date on our holiday adventures.  However,  because I got sick, everything kind of got tossed aside.  I did get to bake at least one batch of cookies even if it was done on Christmas Eve.  My mom was the most amazing cookie baker ever.  I remember most Christmas seasons making at least 15 different kinds of cookies!  It was so much fun.  Someday I’ll be there but we’re taking tiny steps:)  Some of the highlights of the past 2 weeks was  visiting the live manger scene at a church up the rode from us.  It had to of been the most frigid night of the year and even the camel was complaining!  It was a special way to explain to the girls the meaning of Christmas though (even if we suffered frost bite afterwards).  I think Eleri was more into the camel then anything else.  She wanted to know where they live and why they can go long times without water.  It was pretty cool giving my child her first geography/zoology lesson.   
Eleri performed in her first choir concert ever.  It was so exciting for us since we are both musicians by degree and also because we have directed children choirs before.  Eleri had a hard time in front of all the people so she did what kids do best…sit down and suck your fingers!  Of course we were only slightly embarrassed seeing all the other kids were able to sing, but God sweetly reminded us that he loves Eleri just as she is even when she’s timid about trying something new.  (I never thought I struggled with pride until I became a mom and then I’m constantly being humbled by my kids!) This was our second Christmas ever being away from our extended families in OH.  The other time was when we visited Brussels in 2005 to see if God was calling us to  Europe.  We missed family this year but we also felt a peace that God is forming our little family here in Norfolk.  The celebrations were simple, but also very significant for us.  Eleri and Adley came to the Christmas Eve concert and were able to participate with us.  It was so beautiful at the end when they turned out all the lights and we held our candles singing Silent Night to signify that Christ coming into the world has become our light in the darkness.  We were able to take communion and it was touching to watch Eleri and David as he explained to her the meaning of the bread and juice.  It’s our prayer that this is just a foreshadowing of the relationship our girls will have someday with Jesus.  We pray that all of you had a very special holiday as well.  Our thoughts and prayers have been directed to many of you during this special season.  If you sent us a card we so appreciate it and have it on our mantel in the living room.  Thank you for traveling 2007 with us and we look forward with anticipation and joy to 2008! 

We’re Back…even if we’re sick again!

I’m sitting in bed tonight for the third evening in a row VERY sick. I can’t remember feeling this awful accept when I was sick 3 weeks ago over thanksgiving. I ended up going to the Dr. today though and she suspects an infection that has lingered over the past few weeks. Sooo, I’m on antibiotics now and hoping that this will be the end of it. Our instructions from the Dr. are to clorox wipe our whole house down and try to stay healthy! Hopefully all will be well for Christmas.

Tonight was our Neighborhood Noel. For those of you who aren’t aware of that title it’s something that a group of us thought about from Tab and we felt it would be good to get to know our neighbors better this holiday and to develop meaningful relationships with them. We asked each of them to bring a toy for the local Union Mission to a party hosted by one of the ladies on the street. I’m so bumbed that I’m not there. David was able to take the girls and go and I’m so excited to find out how it went. We love our neighbors and there’s nothing more special when you can share intimate relationships with those you live around and watch how God is working in their lives.

Well back to making Christmas cards. Being sick is good for that!

Change of plans

Well tonight was supposed to be our family christmas photo shoot. We had friends coming over who have a nice camera to have dinner and then capture the special moment. Just when you think you have it all planned things surprise you….ever feel like that? Adley started to have a runny nose this afternoon, and by the time our friends showed up she had a full blown fever and looked about the most miserable I’ve seen her. I feel so bad for her! I must admit that I struggled being ok with the situation. After all we had to forego the shoot—-she was in no mood for a picture, and it feels like we’ve been struggling with SO MUCH SICKNESSS! I reminded myself that 18 months is the time for lots of immunity building, but it was only until I exchanged my will for God’s that I began to have some peace tonight. We’ll keep you posted. God is using sickness to really grow us this year. Can’t wait to see the outcome….

Favorite time of year!

Wow! We love this season. It becomes even more special when you have little children to share it with. Eleri is in her heaven with the advent house that has doors you open each morning. We’ve been filling the calendar with activities or special events to do around the house. Today’s activity was making a gingerbread house. It seems easy in theory especially when you have the kit to do it, but when your 1 1/2 year old tosses the gingerbread cookie shapes on the ground and they break, well then the challenge to build begins! Dad and a friend managed to put one together out of the rest of the gingerbread and graham crackers. It actually held together for about…5 minutes! Lesson learned, don’t try to build a house out of crackers and icing:)
The first day of advent we have begun a tradition of having a meal of fondue with our friends. It is a special night to welcome in the season. We wanted you to feel like you celebrated with us by posting some pictures. We’re looking forward to sharing with you our family’s journey through the holidays. We’ll try to keep you involved with lots of stories and pictures. Keep coming back!