The wheels are moving as we fully begin our itineration. Corey and I spend most days calling pastors, drugstore setting up appointments, patient meeting with pastors and preparing for sermons and presentations. For our prayer partners, right now our most specific prayer is that doors will be opened to speak in churches and hearts will be moved to support us. We are reminded daily that God is in control and that he will supply our needs.
Apart from the “business” side of things, it’s definitely been an interesting time being with family and living in Michigan. As predicted, after a few weeks of winter the kids are getting a little tired of being cold all the time! However, we had a beautiful white Christmas and that was wonderful!
I’ve posted a few pictures to show you some of what’s going on in our daily lives. Alex and Maggie both decided to jump all in and get involved in school activities. In the pictures above you will see that Alex is in the 7th grade band, following his cousin’s footsteps into percussion. It worked out that his cousin, David, who is in a specialized high school band, played together with the middle schoolers in a special winter concert. We got a 2-for-1 special watching both boys play!
Alex and Maggie both took part in school plays. Maggie’s was a fun musical about pirates. It was very silly and cute. Alex’s took another direction and did a scene from The Diary of Anne Frank. To be honest, we all kind of left depressed, but Alex did an excellent job and had me near tears. He had a lot of emotion in his role. It’s always incredible to see them step out of “normal” and show sides we don’t always see at home! Alex is also in student council this year.
We were blessed with some pretty amazing Christmas presents this year. Corey’s mom took me, Maggie, Corey’s sister and her two girls to Chicago for a weekend to visit American Girl Place. We took the train from Flint to Chicago and spent the weekend in the city. Winter hit in full force, but we had an amazing time both at the store and just getting to know the city.
Dear friends of ours took us to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert which was incredible. We had great seats and it was Alex and Maggie’s first time to a real stadium concert. We had so much fun! If you look way back in this blog, one of the last things we did before going to Costa Rica was go to the TSO concert and we were so excited to have another opportunity to experience a powerful Christmas show!
We are definitely very blessed. We’ve been able to have cookie nights with both grandmas, special dinners with everyone, time to sit by the fire and just have relaxing time together. It’s a real treat to be around family for the holidays!
So there’s a glimpse into what’s new for you. Soon I’ll begin to post our progress as we raise funds. Again, please add this to your prayer list. We need as many intercessors as possible to pray for all the pieces to come together in this process of fundraising. We are anxious to get back to Colombia!
God bless you.
~Tona