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Category: Family

What’s Next?

What’s Next?

April 3, 2023

In a favorite TV show of ours, there’s a deeply significant but very simple question asked at key junctures of the story.  The question is “What’s next?” It’s a statement about the character’s readiness to move forward, to tackle something new, despite the current circumstances, despite the need that makes anything “next” look insurmountable. And […]
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You Are Here

You Are Here

January 23, 2023

In between two years… It doesn’t matter how intuitive you think your sense of direction may be, at some point in time, you’re going to find your way to a helpful map standing in the middle of the space you’re in and look for the ⬇️ or the📍on the map with the words “You are […]
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Behold…

Behold…

December 23, 2020

As we walked through this year, it oftentimes felt like we were traipsing through a wilderness, hopelessly lost. Sort of like we could see evidence of life the way it used to be, but we had a sense that it wouldn’t be the same again. But, there were also SO MANY REMINDERS that our God […]
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Quick Update

Quick Update

December 4, 2020

How are our kids doing? At this moment, the kids are doing well. We’ve kept just enough semblance of sanity with Jack being at in-person student at his school (he only physically goes to class two days a week and does the rest of his classwork from home) and Owen and Kate both being virtual at the charter […]
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After 4,000 miles what could possibly be next?

After 4,000 miles what could possibly be next?

July 18, 2018

The great western road trip was AWESOME! Between the privilege of seeing, from the ground, the incredible country we’re privileged to live in and all of the people we were able to connect with we were really encouraged. After the trip west, in which we drove from central Florida to central California and back, we settled […]
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Rejoice with the Menya and pray for us!

Rejoice with the Menya and pray for us!

May 23, 2018

//If you’re interested in watching a video version of this update click here// News about our family, what we’ve been up to and what we’re praying about doing this summer. Let’s start somewhere else though… On the other side of the world in Papua New Guinea, the Menya people live. They’ve had a team of […]
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How is Jack? An update after Monday’s Appointment

How is Jack? An update after Monday’s Appointment

April 20, 2018

First of all, THANK YOU SO MUCH! Your prayer support and encouraging emails were a huge boost to us and a sweet thing to be able to show Jack as he grows through this experience. It was awesome to see so many of you write back as well as encourage us on Facebook. If you missed […]
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Update on Jack’s Health

Update on Jack’s Health

April 16, 2018

Jack was born with a deficiency in his immune system. Think of it like he is missing part of it. He was born with the inability to produce ‘Immunoglobulin-a’, part of the immune system that affects his respiratory and GI systems. We’ve known this for the last few years and been able to manage this […]
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The Speed of Life

The Speed of Life

October 27, 2017

Earlier this year, the Ethnos360 Home Office team all moved from the office spaces we’d all occupied since 1978 into new space, a mile deeper into downtown Sanford. To move a huge team of 200+ support personnel into new offices is huge, but we one-upped that!  Our Communications and Marketing team led our organization through […]
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The Most Tenacious Missionary

The Most Tenacious Missionary

May 13, 2017

My mom isn’t the first missionary I met. But she is one of the most tenacious missionaries I know.
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The Potters…

are missionaries helping every people group around the world have the chance to understand the gospel and have access to a thriving church. We are serving with the International Ministries Office as it assists Ethnos360 and its Global Partners.

joeldpotter

Late last week, we shared a "Can we be candid..." Late last week, we shared a "Can we be candid..." update, this time about a BIG ministry change. Many of you read that and wrote your sweet prayers back to us. For some of you, email is not your thing and so we don't want you to miss out. So, there's a link to the full post on our blog in my profile link or you can read the brief overview of update if you just want the basics.

Shortly after we returned from our trip to Missouri in June we had some realizations that led us to conclude, with the counsel of others, that our time serving with the Equip Asia team was coming to an end. The Lord had already been putting desires on my (Joel’s) heart to pursue a role that would allow me to serve our wider global missions community in the area of media and communications and we knew that with Kate starting to hybrid homeschool, she was going to need much more support as a homeschooled student. We also realized that Bethany needed to pursue some side-jobs and employment to supplement our very tight financial state.

So, for now, I’ve had my new ministry role approved and am making strides at getting an audio and video studio setup here in Sanford as well as beginning to make many plans for upcoming projects both here and abroad. I’ll be able to use both the experience I gained working with the Communications team for 8 years as well as the newfound skills in videography and media production to serve many different teams in what we call the “Global Partners” family (all related to Ethnos360).

Bethany is also off to the races, so to speak, helping to homeschool Owen and Kate, working several small jobs on the side, all while keeping our incredibly busy household sane and well organized. It’s a different scene for sure after the last three years, but there are some blessings that come from it.

Again, there’s more detail at the post you can get to in my profile link. 
______
#thepottermission @ethnos360
After learning of this book, I had to read it. Not After learning of this book, I had to read it. Not reading a lot of books, I used every renewal cycle that the local library allowed (it is due tomorrow) to finish this one and boy am I glad I finished it. 

@andrewpetersonmusic wrote a book about trees (and SO much more) and moved me at a time when I needed moving and reminding of how the God who created me and knows me intimately, is carefully tending the garden of my own being. 

There were moments when I gasped as I read his words and his realizations which I found paralleled some of my own. 

Having been transplanted from Pennsylvania and it’s temperate woods to Central Florida and it’s weird mix of prairies and swamps at 11 years old, I identified with his interpretation of his childhood. 

Two huge realizations will remain with me. The first is that the God who admonishes me to “be slow to speak…” is entitled to the same right to be “slow to speak.” The second is these imagined words from Jesus to me: “I love you. Let me love you.”

I’ve always loved trees and only love them more now. In fact a week ago I took the chance to go visit some of trees that AP mentioned in the book; the somber remains of our truly ancient Bald Cypress, “the Senator”, that tree’s younger (but still 2,000 years old) sibling, “Lady Liberty”, and the youngest of the family, a clone of the original, the relative sapling, “Phoenix”. (Big Tree Park, near the Spring Hammock Preserve)

I commend this book highly and again, pass my thanks to Andrew Peterson for it. 
______
#andrewpeterson #thegodofthegarden
#plantmoretrees 
@bhpub 
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The tree in this photo is the pride and joy of our backyard, a Chinese or lacebark Elm (Ulmus parvifolia)and was planted by us not long after we moved to this house and provides lush shade to the eastern side of our backyard and filters the early morning sunrise light beautifully!
After running for a long time, like since 2002, I After running for a long time, like since 2002, I finally found a partner to train with, someone who although they live states away, knows the value of partnership and how to push another person to do better. I’m pretty excited about what’s to come as he and I work towards a goal that will be a lifetime highlight when we achieve it. Until then, here’s some highlight runs of the last month. 
______
#runwithstrava #floridarunner @strava @altrarunning
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