Please Pray......

I am in the process of packing my bag and preparing to leave for St. Barths on Monday.  My focus and goal is to find a place for our family to live that is not only big enough, but inexpensive as well.  Kami and the kids will be staying here in Ft. Myers while my mom and I will be flying/boating to St. Barths.  (My mom is very nervous.....she gets sea-sick very easy!....the ferry is equipped with buckets for those who need to "lose their lunch!)

We will actually start our journey tomorrow (Sunday) with a meeting at Estero Bay Baptist Church in the morning.  Then my mom and I will load up and head to Tampa and spend the night there.  Our flight actually leaves at 7 AM but we will need to be there at 5AM.  So we decided to drive the 2 hours on Sunday and spend the night in Tampa to be able to leave that early on Monday.

I am glad that my mom is able to come along.  Since my French is still in the "growing" process, her French will come in very handy in trying to negotiate and find a place to rent. (Knowing my french, I would probably tell the owners that I want to pay double what they are asking!)

We will be gone for 9 days.  Please pray along with us for our safety and for us to find a place relatively quickly and very inexpensive.

Kami's Quick Trip.....

This past weekend, Kami and Callie were able to take a trip to Michigan to see her grandmother, aunt, uncle, and many other family members.  Her Aunt Robin graciously provided Kami an airplane ticket for her and Callie to fly up.

(The temperatures were below 0!)

She and Callie left on Friday and just returned yesterday (Monday evening).  This was probably Kami's last time to see many of these family members for several years as we are about to head to the mission field.  They had a wonderful time and enjoyed seeing everyone that stopped by.  It was also a special occasion because Kami was able to be with her grandmother on her grandmother's birthday which was Saturday. 

As for me, I am officially done being the "momma".  I am exhausted with the changing of diapers, dishes, making meals (ordering chinese and pizza!), ironing, and the other various chores that I definitely was not made for!  Give me the old fashioned construction work, I get less tired doing that than taking care of the house and kids!

I am so glad to have my wife back home and we praise the Lord for her and Callie safety while traveling!

Filling in....

I always count it an honor to fill in for a Pastor and preach God's Word when I am needed.  During our language school, I was able to fill in for an entire month for a wonderful Pastor in Quebec City and for a couple of others as they needed me.

 Today, I have had the opportunity to fill in for Pastor Horton of Labelle Bapist Temple for both the AM & PM services.  The folks at Labelle Baptist Temple are wonderful folks who love the Lord and they love preaching.  It was great to fellowship with them and even enjoyed lunch with the bus kids of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese! (I told the church that hotdogs and mac-n-cheese are not "bus kids" food but rather Bible college food!)

Please pray for Pastor Horton as his hip has gone out on him and he is not able to get on his feet.  I know personally that this is very painful as I am sure that many of you know as well. 

Housing is very EXPENSIVE.......

I will be leaving for St. Barths on January 31st to try to find a place for our family to live.  Our hope is to have a 3-bedroom house with a porch but we have prepared ourselves for the possibility of living in a 2-bedroom house with very little square footage. 

Rent on St. Barths is very expensive and very hard to find.  Just this month, we have learned of two 3-bedroom homes that have become available.  The first one just got rented for $4,000 per month and the second is still for rent at $3,600 per month (this house is located on a cliff with a big drop-off and a very steep driveway that needs a 4-wheel drive....probably why there is a $400 discount!).

Please pray about our housing situation.  As many of you know, we are still needing a few more churches to partner with us as we are trying to raise enough money to offset the exchange rate that we are facing as we will be using the EURO.  As of today, we will lose 30 cents of every dollar that we exchang into a EURO.  Thank you for your prayers for our family and we are excited to see what and how God provides for our family!

Silas Boone is 2 years old!

                                                        Happy Birthday Silas Boone!!!

(Silas with his Pastor, Don Strange and his dollar to get an ice cream at McDonalds)

Silas has been a wonderful delight to our family....(well, at least once he quit waking up at 5 AM every morning!)  Today, he turns 2 and every day for the past 2 years, he has brought us smiles and laughter.

I cannot say for sure if he truly understands what presents are, but he has figured out that if he tears them open, there is a great prize inside.

He absolutely loves horses, cowboy hats, and guns.  He will run around the house with his cowboy hat on and will use just about anything as a horse to sit on...(even his little sister Callie)  His eyes lit up this morning when he opened up this horse and cowboy.  

Our older three kids love to buy presents for others, especially Silas and Callie.  This year they put their money together and bought him this tool/work bench for him to play with.  He has spent the morning hammering and sawing pieces of "wood". 

My greatest wish for my Silas, is that he will trust Christ as his Saviour very early in life and spend the rest of his life serving Christ.  I love you Silas with all of my heart, I am so thankful to be your Daddy!

Raising a Heathen !!!!

This morning during our family devotions, we were discussing the events around Noah and the ark.  (It is our goal to read through our Bibles this year, chronologically.  If you have never done this, I can email you a reading schedule that takes you through the Bible this way.  It organizes your Bible into a time line and you get a great picture of when things took place and which people were alive at the same time.)

As we sang some songs like "Jesus Loves Me" and "What Can Wash Away My Sin", Silas beamed with smiles and tried to sing along.  Then we asked some simple questions about salvation to plant some seeds of faith in Silas' heart.  (like: Who died for our sins? and Jesus died on a what?)  He was so excited to participate although he doesn't even turn 2 until this Thursday!

I then leaned over and looked at Silas.  With all seriousness, I said to him, "Silas, one day you need to ask Jesus into your heart..."   With his eyes deep in concentration, he looked up into my eyes.....stared at me for a second.....opened his mouth and burped....then gave me a big smile. 

For now, he's a little heathen!  But I trust that one day, he will truly understand and accept Jesus Christ as his Saviour!  I look forward to the day when I can call my son, "my brother"!