Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Beauty from Ashes


Greetings friends!

The latest...
The winter quarter of SBS is in full swing and taking us right along with it! After a lovely two week holiday in upstate New York visiting Justin's side of the family, we got home with nothing more than a short nights sleep before jumping right back into the rigorous SBS schedule.

We had an amazing time in New York! We got to catch up with old friends, Justin had an opportunity to share a sermon with his home church, and we spent some great quality time with family.

Traveling to and from New York with a four month old was exhausting! But we got through it, and Ella did well considering the grueling travel schedule of three plane rides and two layovers each way. That is alot for a baby, but she handled it pretty well. We are very proud of our little girl. She is a natural traveler, (definitely cut out for life in missions :-) Thank you everyone for praying for us as we traveled. We needed it and definitely appreciated it.

Since we have been back, Justin is busy with the school. You know, the usuals: planning and worship times for the school, grading, studying to prepare for his Numbers lecture in February, keeping track of students and helping them with work, leading his small group and so on....

Annie has been busy taking care of little miss Ella, who has begun the joyous experience of teething. Pray for mercy :-) She has been very busy with the little one, and in her spare time, has been working to get our family and home back in working order after the holidays. She has also begun studying to teach the book of Ruth in March. She is excited to teach again, but managing a child, a home and preparing for a book is ALOT of work, so please keep her in your prayers.

Ella will be five months old on January 17th. It is hard to believe that she is growing so fast. She is a healthy, happy, rapidly growing baby. She loves to laugh and play with mom and dad, while experimenting with all kinds of new words in baby talk language. She has also learned how to grab hold of things...which she is very proud of herself for. She still has not mastered the art of rolling over, but is working on it; she can make it onto one side. Ella is such a joyful baby and brings a breath of fresh air to our family! We love her so much and praise God for her every day! I (Annie) am inspired by the wonder with which she looks upon the world. She has been such a sign of hope in our lives, and a beautiful reminder every day that God is with us, and has great purpose for our lives. What a great privilege to watch her grow and to have the opportunity to teach her about Jesus. Please pray for us as we do our best to raise her to be a godly women, and a warrior against the evil in this world.

Reflections... Beauty from Ashes...
As we reflect on this year past, a flood of different emotions overtake us. Great joy as 2010 marked the birth of our daughter. Great thankfulness as we praise God for his miraculous provision. Great sadness as we think of the hard times we have had to walk through; and great hope in the faithfulness of God who is bringing us through them and has taught us so much about healing, perseverance and faith. As we look to the the new year ahead, we anticipate growth and fullness of the beauty that God has begun to bring forth out of the ashes of 2010. May his healing spirit bring forth great strength and a greater recognition of his power and faithfulness as we look forward with hope. My prayer is that we look more like Jesus in 2011 because of both the great blessings and great hardships of the year past.

We love you all and are grateful for the interest that you have taken in our lives and ministry.

God bless you all in the New Year!

Pray Request:

Please pray for our upcoming lectures

Justin: Number 16th and 18th
Annie: Ruth March 16th

for other pray requests, see the prayer requests/needs tab on our home page.

WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Justin, Annie & Ella