Lot's of pictures......each filled with a thousand words!

This past week has been filled with Christmas traditions, fellowships, and fun!  Here's a look at some of our memories from this Christmas week 2010!

(Sunday night we enjoyed our home church's Christmas dinner/fellowship.  We had a great turn out and everyone had a great time!)

(Callie got to try out her new car seat that we got her for Christmas....actually, the one we bought at a yard sale fit Silas better, so we gave Callie his old one.)

(One of our Christmas traditions is for Kami and the kids to bake cookies to hand out to families.  This might be their best batch yet (Chocolate Mint Cookies, Snickerdoodles, and Sugar Cookies with melted chocolate frosting!)

(This is Beth working on our newest Tradition!  She is making a stocking for Jesus.....we actually got this tradition from our friends in Plattsburg, NY.  When we wake up on Christmas morning, we each will place a gift for Christ in His stocking.  It could be note with a promise to do/not do something this coming year.  It could be to give Him something in our lives that doesn't need to be there.  Then next year, we will open the stocking at Christmas and see the gift that we gave Him and see how we did!)

(Last night we went to Kami's parents house to open Christmas gifts.  We had such a wonderful time and had a dinner of BBQ from Sonny's!)

(Callie helped Grandpa open his gifts, she probably ate about 2 yards of wrapping paper!)

(Joshua and his gift for Grandma!)

(Every year, Great Grandma June has given us some Christmas money for our family.  She has been such a huge blessing!  Over the past 10 years, we have divided the money among our family and the kids get to buy a small gift for each member of our family.  This year, since we were in town, they also bought a small present for each of their grand parents.  Each of our kids think that buying gifts for others and seeing them open them is truly the best part of Christmas....they have truly learned that it is better to give than to receive!...but don't get me wrong, they still love opening gifts!)

(Beth bought Grandma "fat squares" for quilting)

(The girls with a couple of their gifts.)

(Kami's parents bought her some fabric for quilting.)

(Silas loved his rocking horse...he also stole Grandpa's hat that Joshua gave Grandpa!)

(I love to hunt and fish and since I can't do any hunting in the West Indies, Mom and Dad bought me a hunting/fishing game for the Wii.....Josh and I will have a lot of fun playing together!  Remember, there is a place for all of God's creatures...next to potatoes and gravy!)

Thank you mom and dad for the wonderful Christmas memories.  We are so glad to be here with you this Christmas!!!!

Things are slowing down......

     This is the time of year that missionaries see a slow-down in their calendar because most churches do not schedule missionaries in December due to Christmas dinners, cantata's, etc.  

     This "slow-down" in our schedule is a big blessing for us for a couple of reasons:  1) Our children are catching up with their school work (it is tough keeping school going while traveling from place to place). 
2) We are getting to do some Christmas shopping instead of waiting until the week of Christmas!  (Every year, our children use their Christmas money from Great Grandma to buy gifts for other people.  They love buying and wrapping gifts for others.  Joshua and I were out shopping and he said, "Dad, the best part of Christmas is not getting the gifts, its buying them for other people.  I love the excitement of seeing other people open gifts you bought for them!")  3) We are getting to spend time with family and do the family "get-togethers" (although I think that sometimes we end up traveling more going to "get-togethers" than we do when we travel for meetings!)

     Last Sunday morning we had a great time at Grace Baptist Church in La Belle, Florida and then in the afternoon we were able to be a part of our home church's Christmas Cantata program.  Our kids are also looking forward to being a part our home church's youth programs tonight (Wednesday) because there will be Christmas parties and gift exchanges.  Needless to say, we are enjoying the Christmas season!

Our next meeting is on December 26th at Beacon Baptist Church in Jupiter, FL.  Please pray with us about this meeting.  This is a wonderful church and the people are such a blessing. 

We hope every one of you have a great Christmas season and make sure that you tell someone else about the real meaning of Christmas!!!  Jesus is the reason for the season!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

A Little of This-n-That.....

Busy, Busy, Busy......

Last week we attended the Mission's Conference at our home church and what a great time we had.  Kami and the kids did a great job with the children's mission program each night! (you can read about it in the previous post)

On Saturday, we celebrated Grandma June's (Kami's Grandmother) 90th birthday.  We set up the fellowship hall at church and had supper with friends and family.  Elisabeth and Brenna did a great job on their cake that they made for Grandma June for the party....

The Saturday before, we also celebrated the 40th anniversary of Kami's parents.  It was a great party and the girls also made a cake for Grandpa as well.  They tried to re-create the car that mom and dad had after they eloped 40 years ago!

After Grandma June's party on Saturday night, we packed up to leave for our meeting on Sunday.  We had a great meeting on Sunday at Bible Baptist Church in Crystal River, FL with Pastor Tom Reaves.  We also want to thank Bible Baptist Church for added our family as one of their missionaries!  We are now a step closer in getting to our mission field!

We are also excited to have Madame Estelle that has been visiting us here in Florida for the past week as well.  She has been a true friend and was one of the main people who helped us make it through language school.   We are glad she is here and was able to spend Thanksgiving with our family.

Please pray for Brenna, she has had a virus for almost a week.  She has had a fever and now has a bad cough that keeps her up through the night.  Although Kami, Callie, and I had a touch of the virus as well, ours came and went but Brenna seems to be hanging on to hers. 

Thank you for all of your continued prayers for our family.  We hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving!

Mission's Conference at "Home"

This week's Mission's Conference is extra special for us because it is being hosted by our "home" church.  I love mission's conference's at Winkler Road Baptist Church!

Pastor Strange asked Kami to create a Kid's program for each night of the conference during the preaching time.  Since we have several missionaries here, she decided it would be nice to have the children visit a different country each night. 

Each night, Kami and our family have decorated with a different theme that matches the country being visited.  The first night, the kids visited Bolivia. (There were 30 children the first night) They had their "passports" in hand and learned about the country of Bolivia.  They even got to meet "Jorge" who is a coffee bean planter!

Each night, Kami teaches the kids how to win someone to the Lord using the Romans Road and they actually get to witness to the "national" (Joshua in disquise) that they meet in each country.   Last night in Morocco, the kids witnessed to Ahmed!   The "national" usually has a snack for the kids to try as well.  For Bolivia, they got to try banana chips!  Then the evening ends with a craft that emphasizes that country.

The kids are having fun and so is Kami.   Tonight's voyage will be to the island of St. Barthelemy!

Please remember to pray for our conference and also for me tonight as I will be preaching in the main service.

No kids allowed!!!

After a very hectic week and another mission's conference coming up this week, Kami and I decided it was time for us to have a date!

We have not had some time for just us since we left Canada.  As we have traveled to meetings over the past several weeks, we keep passing a little restaurant on the river about 2 hours north of Ft. Myers just off of the interstate.  Across the street, there is an outlet mall as well.  Each time that we pass it, Kami has mentioned that she would like to go to both places. 

So, yesterday, we left the kids (except for Callie) with my mom and headed out for our date!  We spent the afternoon walking, walking, and walking through all the stores at the outlet mall.  Then we went to the little restaurant on the river.  However, when we got there, we found that it was a pub/bar so we left and went some where else.  Then we went back to the hotel room with cheesecake to enjoy the Eagles game! (P.S....if you have never tried the Priceline "name your own price" website, you need to.  We got our hotel room at half price!) 

I love my wife and I enjoy every moment that I share with her.  She is so much fun to be around and we just laugh and laugh when we are together.  She is truly my best friend!!!  I love you Kami!!! I can't wait until our next date!

By the way, we found a great big used book shop at exit 217 on I-75!  We loaded up on some used books for our kids.  If you are ever in the area, it is worth the stop.  Just look for the Goodwill used book store behind the Country Inn and Suites.

"News From the Road"...

We have traveled quite a bit over the past several weeks and a lot has happened.  So, I'll give you an update on some of our "News From the Road!"......

1)  I first want to thank my father-in-law.  The tires on our van were about to blow out and he helped us get some new tires for our van.   We also had the biggest vibration in our van while traveling (I thought the van was going to explode out from under us!).  We found that the universal joint was broken and about to give out.  He volunteered to replace it for us and we had a great time working under the van and telling stories.  Thanks Dad! (Praise the Lord that the new joint was only $12!)

2)Elisabeth is needing a "palatal expansion" to open up her nasal passages 4 millimeters.  This will help her to breathe and help her sinuses to drain which is what is keeping her from healing when she gets a cold or flu.  We saw an orthodontist and her work starts this Friday.  She will have an appliance installed in the roof of her mouth that we will "crank" every night and this will expand the roof of her mouth.  Then she will have braces to move her lower jaw forward.  Our insurance company said that since she is seeing an orthodontist, they will not cover any of the cost yet this whole procedure is not cosmetic but medically necessary.  We sure could use your prayers about this matter as we try to convince our insurance company to cover this!

3)We want to thank Southshore Baptist Church in Riverview, FL and also Heritage Baptist Church in Ocala, FL for taking us on for support!!!  We are another step forward and anxious to get to St. Barthelemy.  We have had several other verbal committments for support but the pastors of these churches were not sure of when in the future they could take us on.  It depended on the financial situations of their mission's budget.

4)We have been enjoying this week's mission conference here at Southshore Baptist Church. They have provided us with a wonderful hotel room! The conference has been great and the preaching right on target! It has been a wonderful week. We will be heading back to Ft. Myers on Thursday and then we will be involved in our home church's mission conference next week. Thank you for all of your prayers!

Callie Grace loves to "smooch" with her daddy!

Do your kids always love doing school???

Starting the day off right!!!  Silas can't yet read his Bible but he is

doing his best to copy is big brother and sister!!!

Off We Go.....Into the wild blue yonder.....

Okay, my Air Force days kicked in for just a second.....(in case you don't know, the title to this post is the Air Force Song)

Today, we are packing up and heading north to Homosassa to be with Pastor Eric Justice and New Hope Baptist Church.  Our family will be singing, I'll be preaching, and we will present our ministry on their special visitor's Sunday and dinner on the grounds tomorrow.  We are looking forward to the meeting and also the fellowship!

One side note:  Joshua's last football game was last night.  He has enjoyed playing with the Emmanuel Baptist School team and has done a great job.  I want to commend Pastor Matt Booher for coaching the team.  I could not have asked for a better role model and mentor for my son.  Pastor Booher is a man who has a talent and love for working with teenagers and he never compromises standards in the process.   He always encourages the boys no matter how they play and makes sure that every boy has a chance to play in each game.  He coached always wearing a tie and the dress code for the boys was always long sports pants.   Praise God for men of God who still believe in standards.  Thank you Pastor Booher for your time and energy you put forth in our future generation!

I will post some pics of Josh from his final games at a later time......

Great Wednesday Service!!!

 Wednesday, we loaded up the van and headed north on a 4-hour drive to Ocala, FL.  We had a great meeting at Heritage Baptist Church with Pastor Walter Smith.  We were the last missionaries that attended their Mission's Conference which ended Wednesday.

They allowed us to stay in their prophet's chamber and fed us some of the best home-made lasagna I have ever eaten! We presented our ministry, the family sang, and Kami was able to play the piano for the services.  It was a great meeting preached by Bro. Jim Fellure.   At the end of the evening, Pastor Smith recommended that the church take us on for support as one of their missionaries!!!  Praise the Lord! 

We are very excited about getting one step closer to leaving for the field! Please continue to pray that other churches will take us on for support as well.  Thank you Heritage Baptist Church!!!

Sunday's Meetings........

We had two wonderful meetings yesterday.

We traveled to Clearwater, FL to New Shiloh Baptist Church with Pastor Mike Austin.  We had a great time in the morning service and wonderful fellowship with Pastor Austin and his family during the afternoon. 

Then we traveled to Riverview, FL to Bethel Baptist Church to be with Pastor Tom Shavers.  We were able to present our ministry at both churches and our family sang.  We thank both churches for having us in and for being so hospitable!

This Wednesday, we will be traveling to be part of a mission's conference in Ocala, FL at Heritage Baptist Church with Pastor Walter Smith.  We are looking forward to the upcoming meeting.

I'm doing a lot better....

Thank you so much for all of your prayers for me.  I felt great today, probably the best day that I have had in over 2 months!  When I woke up, I had no chest pains and no tenderness when pressing my sternum.   I went to my scheduled doctor's appointment this afternoon to receive the results of my CT scan and also my blood tests.  The doctor checked everything out and I am very healthly.  All the tests came back "negative" and even my cholestrol numbers looked good. 

So What's The Problem???
The doctor said that my diagnosis for all of the problems and chest pains that I have had is too much acid.  He explained that the little pumps in our stomachs that produce acid, normally trickles out the acid.  However, mine have been turned on like a faucet and pour out the acid non-stop.  So much acid just pouring into my stomach causes my esophagus to spasm uncontrollably as the acid irritates it constantly.  The cure is to continue taking the prescription anti-acids that he presribed me.  I must take them for 6 months which is the time it should take to re-program my stomach to produce less acid and for my esophagus to heal up.  Just after two weeks of taking the meds, I am feeling a difference already.  I still have to wait for the biopsy results from my stomach and esophagus, but I feel pretty sure that we are on the right road to recovery.  Thank you for your prayers!

Update from today's procedure....

Thank you for all of you who have prayed and continue to pray for us.

I went in to have the endoscopy this morning.....(I am currently writing this post at 8:45 PM and I still feel woozy from the meds!)  The procedure went well, at least that's what they tell me.  I don't remember a thing!

They had to put me out and all I remember is counting until I reached 7, then I woke up with Kami by my side.  I don't remember embarrassing Kami with all of the things I was babbling to the doctor's and nurses nor do I remember speaking and talking with the doctor about the results.  But here are the brief details:

My esophagus looks good and that is not the problem.  So I did not need the "airbag" to stretch out my esophagus after all.  The doctor did take a biopsy of my stomach and esophagus to check on a couple things including H-Pylori which could be my problem.  I did begin to have pain again after the procedure so they gave my some pain meds that made me loopy again along with prescribing some pain meds and a glycerin tablet that I need to take when the pain starts.  He said that there is still a possibility that my esophagus spasms uncontrollably throughout the day and the glycerin will stop the spasms (if that is the problem). The doctor wants me to have  a CAT Scan on Wednesday to further find out where my pain is coming from, hopefully we will get some answers after this next procedure.

Thanks again for all your prayers and concern.  We have had so many calls and emails and it is always great to know that my family is loved by so many!!!  Thank you to all of you!!!

New "Family Tip for the Taking".....

If you haven't noticed yet, I posted a new "Family Tip for the Taking".  You can find this update along with an updated "Praises and Prayer Request" section in the column to the right on this website. 

This latest update helps us parents answer the question, "Why does our younger generation struggle with Biblical standards and righteousness today?....Why is it that our younger generation is so unstable today?"

Pictures of Josh playing football!!!

Josh is having so much fun playing football with Emmanuel Baptist School.  Pastor Booher is the football coach and we just love Pastor Booher's approach to sports.  The team plays in conservative attire, must show respect at all times, and Pastor Booher constantly encourages the players and has fun with them.  I thought you might like to see some pics of Josh at his games....

(Josh getting cheered on by his sister!)

(Pastor Booher and Joshua #26)

(Joshua plays the blitzing rusher on defense)

(Joshua sacks the opposing quarterback!...notice the flag is pulled!)

(Joshua stopping a running play!)

Josh is having so much fun.  He loves playing and loves being around other teenagers of like faith.  Thank you Pastor Booher for allowing Josh to be a part of the team!

(P.S....It sure is fun shouting and rooting for your son...GO  JOSH!!!)

Quick Update.........

     Many of you have asked how I am doing.   Thank you so much for your prayers and concern.  I am still having pain everyday and this past Sunday was one of the worst.  I met with a specialist yesterday and I am scheduled to have an endoscopy done on Monday, October 18th.   He mentioned several possibilities to my chest pains: esophagus stricture, pancreatitis, or hernia.  If I do have an esophagus stricture, they will stretch out my esophagus with the scope at the time of the procedure.  We'll see how things go.


     Things went great as we went house to house passing out "door hangers" (plastic bags with information about our home church, a gospel tract, and a copy of John & Romans) this past Saturday.  Our family was able to hang somewhere around 275 packets on homes in my mom's neighborhood.  Our church as a whole was able to give out several thousand hangers with the Gospel to homes here in Ft. Myers. 

     Thank you all again for your prayers for our family......

Warning...Long "post" with pictures...read at your own risk!

I originally thought that when we arrived in Florida that we would be able to stop, catch our breath, and slow down just a bit.  However, we have been on the go every day.  So here's a quick glimpse at the past two weeks for each member of our family:

Patrick - Ever since we left Quebec, I have been having chest pains.  So, I finally gave in to the pain (and Kami) and went to the doctor.  He said that I have burnt my esophagus to the point where it is spasmed closed.  This is where the pain comes from.  He gave me what seems to be a lifetime supply of anti-acid pills and sent me to have bloodwork done.  I am scheduled to have a scope done to "stretch" my esophagus back out and see what damage has been done.  This past Sunday I had the opportunity to preach and this Saturday we will be involved in our churches canvassing day.  The goal is to pass out 9,000 door hangers in South Ft. Myers.  I have also been able to help my mom with a few little repairs here and there to her new home as well.  I am glad to be able to take care of these things for her.

Kami - Ever since we arrived, Kami has been on the go.  She has taken me and several children to doctor's appointments, practiced with the children and the pianist at church for singing specials, attended a bridal shower for one of our teens from our youth group, finished our end-of-quarter reports, kept up with the children's schooling, and managed to catch a cold as well.  Thanksfully she is on the mend because I do not want to take over her duties!!!

Joshua - He has been loving the youth department and being with other teenagers.  He has been working hard at school, started working for his grandpa once a week at the carlot (temporary job while we are here in Florida between meetings) and just enrolled onto the Emmanual Baptist School's flag football team.  He has always wanted to play football and God has given him the desires of his heart.  The football schedule works perfect for our schedule of traveling on weekends and Wednesdays. 

Elisabeth -  Beth has been fighting a cold that started when we left Canada.  We finally took her to the Doctor and he said that her adnoids are enlarged and giving her problems.  One of the problems is it takes longer for her to recover from colds.  He gave her some medicine and if things don't improve for her, there is a possibility of having surgery to remove her adnoids.  She and Brenna also made a special cake for their Aunt Keela's birthday this past week as well.  They have also been loving their cake decorating class for homeschoolers as well.

(Beth and Brenna with their all-edible "Kindle" cake)

Brenna - She has started having her nose-bleeds again and we probably need to take her to the doctor to have her nose cauterized.  She as well has been loving making and decorating cakes and spending time with all of the family here.  She loves going to the Wednesday night program at our church called King's Kids.

Silas - Loves touching all of the antiques around my mom's house.  He also received 4 shots from the doctor yesterday at his check-up appointment.  We were told that he is not only healthy but very tall for his age.  Everyone loves it when he counts or speaks French!  He is also loving the nursery at church.

Callie - She is rolling and crawling all over the place.  She received 3 shots at her check-up appointment yesterday as well.  At church, she is passed around from lady to lady and loves all of the attention!  She just turned 5 months on October 6th!

It's good to be "home"......

We have been having a great time in Florida.  It was wonderful to be back in our home church last Sunday and last night for the Wednesday service.  Our Pastor was commenting on the different ministries that take place on Wednesday evenings at our church (nursery, King's Kids, Teens).  It occurred to me that we have a child in each of these ministries!.....does this mean we are getting old?

We had the opportunity to sing Sunday and last night I gave a testimony of our language school experience.  This coming Sunday, I will be preaching in place for our Pastor as he will be at Golden State Baptist College in California, preaching in their chapel service.  I am looking forward to preaching, however, it will be strange to preach all in English for the first time in over a year!

We have enjoyed being with family and the kids have enjoyed the attention of all the grandparents and even one of their great-grandmothers!  One of the benefits of having Kami's family and my family live in the same city and attend the same church, is that we don't have to travel to different places to see our family.

(Callie and two cousins competing for Grandpa's attention!)

(Joshua and I competing for Grandma's attention!)

(Grandma June meeting her youngest great-grand daughter...)

Elisabeth and Brenna have been learning to decorate and make cakes.  They have made several cakes already...(.if you haven't seen them, you can look through my older posts and see the pics)  One of the ladies at our church, Mrs. Lopez, started a cake decorating class for the young ladies that are home-schooled.  They meet at the church on Tuesday afternoons and our two girls are able to be a part of this class.  They are so excited!

(Mrs. Lopez and her class of girls)

(Brenna's work of art!)

(Beth's flower creation!)

It has also been very special seeing Miss Stephanie Horton.   She was part of our teen youth-department when I was the youth director before we surrendered to the mission field.  She just graduated from Golden State Baptist College as is home here awaiting her upcoming marriage to the young man she met in college.  It is always a treat to see one of the young people that you prayed for and worked with, still serving the Lord!  Miss Stephanie has always had a heart that sought after God and we always knew that she would make a wonderful "preacher's" wife.  The young man she is marrying is indeed a preacher and he is seeking the Lord's will of where to serve God after their marriage in January.   If any of you preachers are reading this and need a young, Godly, couple to work with your young people at your church, you will not go wrong considering this young couple. 

Until next time................