Closing Out The Year

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior with your loved ones.  We definitely enjoyed the family time together with my (Jennifer’s) side of the family, and I was able to make another meal for everyone.  It was 84 degrees here in southwest Texas on Christmas Day, so we even went for a quick swim in the river (mainly just to say we’d gone swimming on Christmas!)  The water was definitely not 84 degrees, so we didn’t stay in too long.  Areli and Tyndale have been enjoying their Christmas break, and Galilee has been pacing herself so that she has some times where she can be up and spend time with her siblings.  Mixed in with the joy of celebrating has been a sense of grief as this is the second Christmas in a row that Galilee has been sick.  Last year at this time, in Asia, she hadn’t been sick for quite a month  yet and we would never have dreamed it would last this long.  Please keep praying.

My virtual meetings to give input for an evaluation and to teach a stage 3 kick-off did go well, even though we had to do both things by regular phone call due to internet issues on the other end.  Next week, as the new year begins, I plan to start getting more involved in language coaching/consulting/curriculum development again.  Please pray for wisdom in balancing time between those responsibilities and responsibilities at home.  And for clear communication via email, virtual meetings, etc. as I learn how to work off-site. 

DJ’s school board meetings went well.  He will also be starting his new job off-site next week, learning to be a network administrator and figuring out if it means he’ll need to make some trips to our mission’s training center or home office this year. 

Currently we are tentatively planning a few weeks of travel in May/June to attend our niece’s college graduation and hopefully visit churches and supporters in the Missouri/Oklahoma/Arkansas/Tennessee/North Texas area.  We’d appreciate prayers for wisdom in working out those details and for good opportunities to connect with as many of you as we can.  And of course we would be so overjoyed if Galilee’s health were to improve a lot by then so that she can come too.

Thanks so much for praying.