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It’s one thing to see God working in miraculous ways all around me over and over again.  It becomes another story when he works in my own heart, humbling me and asking me to do the hard things, to confront hard situations and restore relationships.  I think Satan relishes in broken friendships, and broken families.  He longs for loss of fellowship, he is for anything but the unity of believers before the Lord.  Praise God that he is bigger than Satan and that Christ has already defeated him.  To God be the glory for working in my life, for working in my heart.

I hope and pray that as people spend time with TJ and I that they will see our heart for the Lord, and that that is what we’re after.  We’re not after people’s money, we’re focused on relationships, on simply connecting with the body of Christ no matter what church you attend.  As long as your trusting in Christ for your salvation, we are a team and must work together for the Kingdom of God.  

TJ and I are excited about the opportunity to reach people who don’t have God’s word in their language, nor have they ever had the chance.  There are 2,500 people groups who still don’t have God’s word in their language.  There is 140 churches in America for every 1 tribe that doesn’t have the gospel.

We want people to know that this is an opportunity to be a part of something amazing.  And let me remind you this is not something we instigated.  God has called us to this ministry specifically and has directed us every step of the way.   God will be the one to work in those tribal people’s hearts, not us.

As we continue to build relationships with people, we hope that you can see our heart, and not mistake us for having wrong motives.

We seek to serve God with everything that we are, and follow him wherever he leads us.

It’s been almost 3 weeks since we arrived in Florida yet so much has happened that’s worth telling you about!

On our way down from Missouri to Florida we were asked if we would consider speaking at a church in Georgia on our way back through.  The next day we arrived in Florida and two hours later were speaking to a group of 30 people about what God’s been teaching us and where He’s taking us.  Our goal for the summer is basically just reconnecting with people.  This makes for very busy weeks full of interaction and prayer with those who love and support us. We are loving seeing God work in other’s hearts and in our own hearts as well.

 The first Sunday we were back we attended our home/sending church, Calvary Chapel Space Coast.

We’ve been praying for over a year now for what God would have us do there, whether to stay and see if they grow into a more solid body or to look for a different church to be our sending church. Well God answered that prayer the very first Sunday we were back. The leadership told us they we’re not equipped to be our sending church at this time, they are just starting to develop as a new church and are seeing the need to focus on their own body of believers for now. We agreed with them, and also felt that our directions were no longer the same. WOW! Praise the Lord for clear direction.  God was clearly at work in that situation, and we are so thankful! Our relationship with Calvary Chapel Space Coast has not ended, we desire to keep in contact and continue relationships with the people we know and love there.

Our search is not for a church, but for God’s direction. We truly believe God has a specific place for us. As we have shared with most of you before the theme of our missionary adventures is that we are following God wherever He leads us, one step at a time. We are seeking wise counsel during this time and are thankful for those seasoned people in our lives that we can go to for wisdom.

 Pray that God would continue blessing us with clear direction, and faith to trust Him wherever He leads and however long it takes.

Ava’s 3rd Birthday was June 14th.  We wanted to do something special with her because she’s literally been looking forward to her birthday for months now.  Every time it’s someone else’s birthday she says “When is it going to be my birthday?”  Well the day came and went.  We had family and  a couple friends over to celebrate her day. I made a polka dot cake which was hilarious fun!  We  hit open a toy filled pinata and played in the card board box fort her daddy built for her and her friends, we ate Mac’n cheese and chicken.  We found a good deal on craig’s list for a doll house that many people chipped in to buy for Ava… She’s been playing with it non stop.

Ava has definitely spiced up our lives, and we are so thankful for her.  I think God always has more things to teach us as parents as we raise this little girl… she knows what she wants  😉  Happy Birthday Ava.  We LOVE you!

cake balls

pouring white batter over already made cake balls

done

learning how to use an old machine

quite the antique… it’s all that was available 🙂

Layering

Pink Frosting

The complete product

cousins just chill’n

opening her doll house

what’s inside

Ava’s new doll house

The day Ava was born

not the deer we saw, but u get the idea

Living in Missouri there has been an abundance of deer to excite Ava’s fancy :).  We would be driving home from anywhere really and Ava would say “Daddy, can we go find some deer?!” and we would go circle around the big field looking for deer… usually finding some.

Here in Florida we were driving home the other night and Ava said “daddy, can we find some deer?”  and we both said sadly “no Ava, there isn’t really deer for us to find here in Florida, it’s pretty rare”

Well last night we pulled into the driveway, and there standing in the yard was a big deer, and we said “wow Ava… God really wanted to bless you by sending you a deer like that!”

That’s what we feel like right now, God is so clearly directing us and so clearly blessing us.  

Right now our time is taken up by simply connecting with people, and investing in relationships.  Ministry partnership development is not about getting money out of people.  I have been told that, but now I’m experiencing it.

In the week and a half we’ve been here, God is bringing us people that simply just need to be listened to and loved, he’s brought us people that have a burden for our ministry and want to support us, he’s burdened people to pray for us.  With other people, we are just keeping up relationships.  This thing we’re doing… bringing God’s word to a people that doesn’t have his word in their language, it’s relationship centered, it’s time consuming, it requires God’s work in our own lives to be done.  How could we go about putting together a financial and prayer ministry team who is burdened and has a desire to support this ministry if we do not first have the heart to minister to others?  It can’t be done strictly in a business like way…  it requires time, it requires relationship, it requires the Spirit of God moving.

The end of this semester was like a whirlwind, we were learning such good things in classes, yet were having a hard time focusing because the end of the year was arriving.

As you know we had to say goodbye to some people in Missouri.  Our neighbors…  The Martinez Family are done with training and are en rout to Papua New Guinea, they have two little girls who Ava played with every day.  We will really miss having them right next door.

We have been here for a week and 2 days, and already God is leading us and directing us in ways we didn’t expect.  God is continuing to show himself faithful, and we are so thankful for our relationship with him, and are excited about the ways that he shows his love and care for us.

Our plans for the summer are:

TJ working part time.

And full time TJ and I are starting the process of building a support team to partner with us in reaching the unreached people of West Africa with God’s truth.

Ava’s daycare class, last day

Ava’s friends

Goodbye Martinez family, we will miss you!

Leaving friends 🙁

Leaving Missouri for the summer

long trip in the car

Nashville Tennessee

We got to stay with the Schoolcrafts! We LOVE them! 🙂

Ava’s setting the stage for their relationship ; )

birthday date… thanks mom!

got to hang out with these guys when we got back 🙂

Elise Hundertmark… my gift from God, and very good friend is leaving today, and will not be back to stay. We got to spend a full school year together here at the Missionary Training Center. I don’t know when I will ever get solid time with her again… until Heaven. We “cliqued” and after some long conversations we became life long friends. I love that my girls love her and her “wormies” (dreads 🙂 She’s a rebel in the night… watch out! She loves the Lord, and wants to serve him with everything that she is… her favorite color is Blue(?) and she’s is obsessed with Star Wars, and can’t stand it when people associate spirituality with coffee. She would rather be original than generic… she thinks outside the box. She’s smart, beautiful, and makes effort to change when necessary. I love you Elise, you will be missed!

This part about being a missionary where we have to say goodbye to people… a lot… is seeming hard today. I’m realizing for the next couple years at least it’s going to be a common occurrence… I’m sad.

Count the cost? Sacrifice relationships for those who have never heard God’s message of hope? Yes I suppose it’s worth it. Next semester we have to say goodbye to our church here in Missouri, to all the staff we have gotten so close to, to friends that are moving to the other side of the world. This is Life, and if God has called us to this ministry, he will provide, he will give us what we need, even in relationships I think we’re going to be surprised by God’s greatness.  

hhmmm

girl… you make me laugh! 🙂

trying to jump for the pic :/

I have a hard time making serious faces

Right now we are in (CLA) Culture Language Acquisition methodology.

We are learning how to learn a language.  So this last week our small group had a meal at our house with a Brazilian couple so that we could learn about them and their culture.  This Brazilian couple it our “language helpers”  for a couple weeks.  We took making the coffee, and recorded all that he said in Portuguese about how to make the coffee, so that we could  listen and learn all the words for… say “mug”, “creamer” “Water” “pouring the water in the coffee maker” grinding coffee”  “scooping coffee” so on and so forth.  The point is that whatever language we learn, this is how we will do it.  We will just live life with the people, and at the same time will be having a language helper helping us record phrases, and will help us to learn many new words each day.  There is a lot more that goes into it, but really it’s very simple, it just takes time.

Learning how to Learn a Language! TPR (Total Physical Response) method

CLA meal

learning how to make coffee in Portuguese

eclairs! I tried them with butterscotch filling this time

A couple weeks ago, we had the chance to fly out to Arizona to be a part of my good friend Valerie (and her husband Ryan) Domres’ wedding.  We got there on a Thursday, got picked up by an awesome guy who we got to hang out with for the afternoon, and were encouraged by him.  We then went to the rehearsal, and rehearsal dinner at Valerie’s in-laws house Tom and Karey Domres, who I am growing to truly Love and appreciate after getting to know them more and more.  Friday we did some girly stuff plus decorating at the reception place hanging out at a hotel the night before.  Saturday was the wedding day which was full of getting ready, and pictures, and crying… LOVE :).  It was a beautiful wedding with a beautiful BRIDE.  TJ and I are really excited for Ryan and Valerie as they start their lives together, I think God has some cool plans for them for the future.  Congratulations Ryan and Valerie Domres!

Holding Penny after TJ had a long day with the girls

She got a new dress for the Wedding

Ava pointing to Valerie’s Dress

Love this girl!

Worn out husband

The Happy Couple

Beautiful Cake!

Some cool Decorations!

hang’n out the night before

rehearsal dinner

(root beer in hand)

rehearsal dinner decorations

So Penny turned 1 year old on March first, and I have not forgotten to document this, it has just taken me a while. Penny is such a light in our lives. The whole time I was pregnant with her I thought she was a boy, with a surprise and a relief I was so grateful that it was Penny who joined our family, and she fits perfectly. I have enjoyed every day that she has been with us. I have added a picture for every month of her life… it’s crazy how fast she has grown.

Lately Penny has been so close to walking but hasn’t quite made the plunge, she’ll crawl all over then right in the middle of the floor she’ll just stand up, and does that constantly. She’s cruising the furniture quite quickly, but has not decided to just go on her own… she’s taking her time I suppose. She has become very vocal in expressing her opinions to us and to her sister, through shaking her head no, or yelling excitedly… or angrily, she just talks in her cute baby voice, she hates to get her diaper changed, and must be distracted in order for it to be done :/. Her new defense mechanism against Ava is biting, which seems to work quite well, but of course we are intervening… 🙂 Penny is eating all sorts of food, she is so different from Ava, she eats almost anything with Apple Sauce, and is moving on to other food items as well, things Ava never liked early on like strawberries and blueberries, and apples.

We had a fun birthday party for her. We had dinner with some friends, and then watched Penny eat her cake which she absolutely loved! I made strawberry chocolate chip cookies, because well…. they looked girly and fun!

Happy Birthday Penny! We love you!

2 days before giving birth to Penny

first time meeting my precious girl 🙂

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

4 months old

5 months old just before moving to Missouri

6 months… first month in Missouri

7 months old

8 month crawler

9 months old

10 months old in California

11 months old in our new house

1 year

So thankful for my baby!

Singing happy Birthday

Family

no shame in Chowing down

Love this!

made strawberry chocolate cookies for everyone else

Our friend Elise and Penny

Penny and her friend Riatta

Reading to Ava’s friends @ Penny’s Bday party