{"id":529,"date":"2015-12-08T11:07:46","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T16:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/?p=529"},"modified":"2017-05-01T12:09:14","modified_gmt":"2017-05-01T17:09:14","slug":"529","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/2015\/12\/08\/529\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #339966;\">\u201cOh, give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his mercy endures forever.\u201d Psalms 136:1<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">God is good all the time and His blessings are abundant! Rejoice with us as we reflect back on 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">January <\/span>began with Melanie\u2019s foot starting to improve after some days of very intense pain from the pressure sore acquired from the boot after her foot surgery.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Charity, having just graduated from Moody Bible Institute in December \u201914, began her new nanny job in Chicago, for which we are all grateful, and that she is thoroughly enjoying.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">BJ &amp; Carissa, having been accepted as student missionaries with Chosen People Ministries, were settling into their new off-campus apartment (with greatly reduced rent!) and began their 2nd semester in Jewish Studies at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_552\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-552\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-552 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/files\/2015\/12\/winter-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/files\/2015\/12\/winter-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/files\/2015\/12\/winter-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/files\/2015\/12\/winter-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/files\/2015\/12\/winter-147x110.jpg 147w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/files\/2015\/12\/winter-250x188.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/files\/2015\/12\/winter.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-552\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cold winter day in Waukesha, WI<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Zach, Bethany &amp; Mason were settling into their new campus housing at New Tribes Bible Institute in Waukesha, WI, and started another semester serving on staff at the school.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Josh resumed his bus driving job (after having time off to let his broken collarbone heal) and started his 2nd semester at New Tribes Bible Institute in Waukesha, WI, which he is really enjoying.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">In <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">February<\/span>, Charity and Chelsea, her friend who also graduated in Children\u2019s Ministry, moved into their new apartment in Chicago.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">We helped host a mini marriage seminar at our church over Valentine\u2019s weekend.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">In <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">March<\/span> we enjoyed a week-long visit from BJ &amp; Carissa during their spring break.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Josh had plans with friends for his spring break, so he came home for a quick weekend visit.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">In <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">April<\/span> we enjoyed having Zach, Bethany &amp; Mason with us for a week of their spring break.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">We hosted some friends\/former coworkers from the MK school in Brazil for a weekend and together we attended the wedding of one of our MKs that we taught in Brazil.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">The first weekend of <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">May<\/span>, John\u2019s brother, David, became critically ill from his chemo treatments and John, along with his dad and sister, flew to Las Vegas to spend 5 days with David. Praise God for his miraculous recovery!<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">We hosted in our home several people passing through our area, including a former student from the MK school in Brazil, and some longtime friends\/fellow missionaries who work in Mexico.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">In <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">June<\/span> the Lord provided for us to make a quick trip to Chicago to visit Charity, whom we hadn\u2019t seen since Christmas. We were thankful also to be able to visit the rest of our children in Chicago and Waukesha.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">In <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">July<\/span> Josh, with continued summer employment at the bus company in Waukesha, came home with Sarah Elroy, his girlfriend, for a week-long visit.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">We made a 3-week trip to Ontario (with a few stops along the way) to visit Melanie\u2019s side of the family whom we hadn\u2019t seen for 3 years. All of our kids also made it to Ontario for a few days to visit the relatives, some of which had not seen a couple of them for seven years!<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">August<\/span> 6th our grandson, Mason, turned 1 year old! We celebrated with him, his parents and other grandparents a few days early.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">A new semester began for us at MTC, BJ &amp; Carissa at Moody, and Zach &amp; Bethany and Josh at NTBI.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">In our home we provided a meal and meeting place for one of our Brazil MKs who came from Chicago so he could meet up with his grandparents who came up from Oklahoma to trade cars as his grandfather had been fixing his car.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">In <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">September<\/span> we found out that Mason will be a big brother soon! Grandbaby #2 is due in April 2016!<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">We hosted some more MKs and friends\/former coworkers from Brazil. We are SO thankful for the large, spacious house God has blessed us with, enabling us to host various people, and having room for all our kids and grandkid(s) when they come!<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">In <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">October<\/span> John attended a security seminar in Kansas City along with two other men as representatives from our church.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">In anticipation of not being together with all of our kids during the holidays this year, and not knowing when we would next be all together as a family, we planned a family weekend in Chicago. We were blessed with a wonderful, memorable time with all 10 of us together!<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">In <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">November<\/span> Josh came home for Thanksgiving break, bringing his girlfriend, Sarah, her parents and her brother. The day after they arrived, Josh and Sarah got engaged at their favorite location here at the Lake. We look forward to their wedding in July!<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">December<\/span> finds us making a quick trip to Waukesha to attend Josh\u2019s baptism.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">We look forward to celebrating the holidays with Zach, Bethany &amp; Mason, coming the week between Christmas and New Year\u2019s.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Our nephew, Jared, and his wife, Sara, will celebrate their 2nd anniversary with a Christian wedding in his parents\u2019 church in Missouri.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #339966;\">We are so grateful for God\u2019s goodness and many blessings in our lives! Our connection with you is one of those blessings!<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cOh, give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his mercy endures forever.\u201d Psalms 136:1 God is good all the time and His blessings are abundant! Rejoice with us as we reflect back on 2015. January began with Melanie\u2019s foot starting to improve after some days of very intense pain from the pressure [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"full-width-content","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[448,20041,637],"class_list":{"0":"post-529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-family","7":"tag-ethnos360","8":"tag-family-2","9":"tag-new-tribes-mission","10":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}