Christmas, Kids Coming and Going, A New Year Begins

Waaaaayyyyy past due for an update. I have no excuse. So let's move on.

David and Lauren were here for a month over Christmas and I soaked up every minute I had with them. It wasn't enough but I'm grateful they are both doing well and following God as they head back for another semester. Our home is more quiet now, much more orderly, and ever busy and full of people, but their presence is missed daily if not hourly. I am so thankful, however, that God has filled my heart with peace in their departure. I am looking forward to seeing what He has in store for them in the year to come.

Slowly but surely we are crawling into 2012. January always seems to go by in slow motion after the hustle and bustle of Christmas and New Years. We started the birthdays off with a bang as David--our baby David--turned 21. We watched home movies and watched him grow up again. He's come a long way since crawling up on my hospital bed when Jessica was born and asking, "does she have eyes?" I mean, he still has his moments, but for the most part he's witty, intelligent and handsome. :)

I'm next in the birthday line-up. And that's all I have to say about that.

Our lives are full right now with all that God has brought into our lives. Andrew is playing basketball and loving it. He's also playing the djembe for chapel at school. Jess is helping to lead worship at chapel and her youth group through singing, piano and guitar. She is also very busy practicing for the school's drama production "Bye Bye Birdie."

Preston is loving his job as Theological Education Consultant for Europe. He has visited some great schools throughout the continent over the past semester. He is advising, helping to place faculty and teaching. He is also working on writing some curriculum. I continue to write for our European Media team and have done some other free lance writing for bible studies and devotionals.

Locally, our English class is still meeting every Tuesday. We have just begun to plan our camp for this summer. The best news is that we started doing a Bible discussion every other Tuesday and although most don't come, a few do and they are definitely searching. I'm excited to see that God is continuing to draw these people. Please pray for us as we work with this group. They have become good friends. We are expecting a group of about 60 for camp this summer. Pray for God to prepare their hearts.

I have resumed teaching the high school girls from our International Youth Group. They are a great group of ladies. I have 7 Americans, I Ukrainian, 2 Czechs, and 1 Serbian. Please pray for them as they navigate the difficult waters of being TCK's, being believers in a very secular place, being teenagers!

I will try to update you more regularly this year. Thank you so much for your prayers and support.