| Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! What a sweet time it was remembering that our Savior became like us when He was born on Christmas Day. In humility He met us in our mess. He was perfection itself and yet the Father gave Him up to redeem His undeserving children. Praise God! We are thankful to have had the privilege of celebrating with family this year and we hope you had a delightful season as well. Well, ‘Health Leave’ has been just what we’ve needed so far. Our parents have been incredible and dedicated to helping us in every way. They deserved about 1,000 Christmas presents this year :). I have recently started to see some improvement and the doctor is seeing the virus diminish. We praise God for this encouragement and trust the worst is behind us. With that said, at this point the doctor recommends extending our health leave through March. We hope that I will be back to full strength by then. |
Now for some more exciting news! We’ve been hoping and praying to add to our little family for quite some time now and God has decided to answer that prayer right now. Allegra is pregnant and expecting our third child in July! We are very thankful for this news even though Allegra had a rough first couple of months. That meant we were both invalids and even more grateful for my mom’s gracious care.
The news does complicate this next year, however. If, come March, I’m feeling back to full strength and we go back to the field, we would have to turn around less than 2 months later to come back and have the baby. (With pregnancy you have to fly before the 7-month cutoff and Allegra has had quite complicated pregnancies/births, so we need to be close to the doctor). So, although we desire to get back to help our team, everyone agrees that this is the Lord’s timing for us to heal up, then take a home assignment, and last-but-not-least: have a baby!
John 1:14 -
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."
After 5 years of missing each other, we finally had a complete Sanford family gathering for Thanksgiving! The cousins played like old friends and the brothers never ran out of things to catch up on.
PRAYER:
· For healing for Tyler and strength to be regained
· For a healthy, stable pregnancy
· For energy and a smooth transition up to Pennsylvania
· For wisdom in parenting our two girls through many changes
· For our team back on the other side of the world, as they carry on without us this upcoming year
PRAISE:
· For God’s gift of a new life/pregnancy!
· For Grandpa & Grandma serving and helping us so graciously over these past couple months
· For such a sweet time with Tyler’s whole family over Thanksgiving
· For 2 helpful visits to Tyler’s doctor in Wisconsin
· For a place to stay in Pennsylvania this year
Bonus Pictures…
1.What a delight to be the first grandson and be surrounded by 5 adoring cousins… a little overwhelming for new baby Clay! 2. Mo & Mae were overjoyed to see snow flurries during our doctor visit to Wisconsin. 3. Christmas church outfits. 4. Maela collecting pine cones.