For those who are praying for us and curious how our fundraising is going…

here is the latest breakdown, as of 10/28/2011:

One-time needs $31,000   = 100%

Monthly Support $5,400/month  = 77%Praise the Lord!

We will buy our plane tickets soon —keep praying for the final $1,027/month to come in! Thank you!

(Okay, I know the photography is terrible.)Lame photographer aside, What is that?

We’ve spent a lot of time lately speaking to groups of people about Niger, and we really wanted to get our kids involved. We asked them to be ready to share what is going on in their hearts regarding this huge life change! To help them prepare, we made “prompt cards” so they could remember what they wanted to say.

Both Ruth and Jonathan drew pictures — (and I’d post Jon’s card but I can’t locate it…his picture is really cool!) — while Nathaniel wrote out his main points.

Take a guess at what Ruth is communicating on her “prompt card”….

Oh — that was close! Did you say something about a lobster? I know. Me too, but that is not what she was aiming for! Just in case we don’t get to share our presentation with you face-to-face, I’ve listed here THEIR recent thoughts about our trip:

Ruth: “I am not looking forward to the creatures like scorpions that will get in my shoe and sting me! I am looking forward to going to my new school and making new friends!”

Jonathan: “I am excited to pounce on lizards and catch them to make them my pet. But I am not excited to be so so so so so hot. And the snakes, I do not want to meet a black cobra!”

Nathaniel: “I am excited to see lots of wild animals that I don’t get to see here, like giraffes, and hippos and different insects too. I am also excited to be hot…like about 100 degrees is good, but not 130 degrees. I am not looking forward to being in a different country where there will be misunderstandings because they do things differently than we do and the language is different.”  

It is wonderful to watch our kids embrace this calling along with us. It was never meant for just mom & dad — we ALL will grow and change through this journey!

 

 

 

 

 

I woke up before my alarm and you know something is up when that happens!

Andy and I celebrated our 15 years of marriage yesterday! Woohoo! That is not what woke me up…it was the movie we saw last night — “Courageous”. Wow! There is so much I could say about it but I really just want everyone to see it! This film stirred our hearts so much. Our passion for family, children, the Truth of God’s love and grace, and ultimately the courage it takes to live a life of integrity before God and man! Just go see the movie!

And bring kleenex.