An answered prayer.

In our December newsletter that went out about a week and a half ago or so, I had mentioned a prayer request for our passports (Ken & I have ours, but we applied for Heather, Kyle and Jordan's). We were just asking for prayer that they would be processed in a timely fashion and that we would receive the kids original birth certificates back without a problem since if there was one, two of the kids birth certificates are out of New York State! On Christmas Eve we received their passports in the mail and their birth certificates were enclosed. We did not pay extra to have the "expedited" service, but we received them exactly three weeks from when we applied for them! We were told they would return in six weeks, about the middle of January, which would have been absolutely fine, we just hoped that we wouldn't have any long, extended delays in processing. Thank you to all of you who did pray for that need! We greatly appreciate it and we are so thankful to have the passports earlier than expected!

The day after...

We had a simple Christmas, but we always do. We celebrate our children's birthdays in a big way. We even bring out a special "Birthday Flag" which is hung late at night the night before their birthday after they have gone to bed. On Christmas, it is not their birthday, and we celebrate with only a few presents and spend the day reflecting on Jesus' birth. We spoke with family on the telephone; my brother, a missionary Pastor in Scotland, my parents in New York State, Ken's sister in New York State and his sister in Georgia. We went to his parents home for a quiet Christmas dinner and took pictures in the afternoon outside with them since this will be our last Christmas together for a while and then of our four kids together, since we do not know when Danielle will be with us in Costa Rica at Christmas. We came home at a reasonable hour and relaxed. Today, we were up bright and early helping the kids make decisions in their bedrooms about clothes, keepsakes, etc. We have accomplished a lot today!

The Phone Call!

We got a phone call on Thursday, 12/20 and the voice on the other line said, "get your house sold we'd like you there on February 1st". The exact numbers have not been crunched, but we believe that we are at about 95% of our monthly support now since people have been communicating to us that they have sent in pledge cards. Global believes, and we do too, that the rest will come. Please continue to pray for our family as we prepare to go. I will do my best to keep this better updated on exact dates and travel as the time gets closer.

He is faithful!

Rain

Taking a break from sorting, to sit here at my desk and "hear" the rain as it taps the window pane. It seems like it has been so very long since we have had a good rain like the one we are experiencing now. I have not posted recently because I didn't want to bore you to death! Not a lot has changed since the last post. Oh! By the way, to the five or six people who regularly read this blog and to the two that actually ever post comments, "your checks are in the mail". Well, back to going through some things, throwing things, but I had to pause for just a few short minutes and enjoy the sound of the rain, and to thank God for allowing us to have some!
Edited to say: I am not throwing things...I am throwing things out, though. Just thought I might clarify that :)