Friday, January 13, 2006

January's Interactive Missionary Letter

A Whole New Ball Of Wax! A new country, new ministry, new relationships, and a new baby all in less than one year can be a little overwhelming. But for us it has turned into an adventure, blessing, honor and exciting responsibility. Why? Because of God's loving kindnesses and compassion which are new every morning according to Lamentations 3:23. We are confident that it is God, not chance, destiny or coincidence that has opened each one of these doors and that He, in His sovereignty has everything under control. A Wedding Anniversary to Remember! Lee and Ellen Barnes = unforgettable. These two faithful servants of our Lord have labored together for many, many years. Regina and I have never doubted their love for us, in fact I cannot remember one time when being in their presence when I wouldn't hear them say - we love you. Long nights during my courtship with Regina, I would spend with Bro. Barnes playing dominoes. Of course, I could never get the upper hand probably because I was always listening to Lee's fascinating stories of life during and after the depression. From minuteman shipbuilding to jumping trains from job to job Grandma and Grandpa Barnes did anything and everything for their family. When their son moved to Costa Rica to be a missionary they mortgaged their home to get that first church started and today this event is still talked about as one of the shining moments in our families history. They love and support all of us with unconditio! nal, unwavering faith even during the difficult times. They are themselves a gift of precious service - a man and woman of God. This weekend we honor them here in Bolivar, MO before moving down the road to visit more faithful supporters and Believe It or Not we are here celebrating their seventy fifth wedding anniversary. The Lord is good. www.DR4Christ.com is loaded with brand new material on the Dominican Republic and includes up to date prayer requests, needs and more. In addition to this you can download videos, photos for your missions conferences and most importantly you can view all our missionary letters now in HTML - http://www.dr4christ.com/letter/jan06/ and PDF - http://www.dr4christ.com/letter/november_05.pdf format. Stork Approaches! Tiffany, our bundle of joy, is "to be delivered" around the second week of February. It has been 8 years since our last son, Jordan, joined the family, and much has changed. On a recent tour of the facilities, the nurse told Tom and I that they had just installed Wi-Fi in all the birthing rooms. Wi-Fi? Can I ask who wants Wi-Fi when you're giving birth? Needless to say I told Tom that my birthing room will be a "no surfing zone" while in labor. SMILE

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Black Eyed Peas?

I sure hope you ate those black-eyed peas this year - I didn't eat any last year (they have no clue what black-eyed peas are in Cuba) and it landed me in jail. LOL Seriously, next week will be one year - a amazingly long time - since being forced to leave our "first love" and our guys there are still blowing and going. Praise the Lord! Regina and I have been blessed with a excellent Doctor here in Lubbock and he has given her the AOK to travel this week - just one more month to go before Tiffany's arrival!! We are looking forward to being with Regina's family this week to celebrate her grandparents - Lee and Ellen Barnes's 75 wedding anniversary. WOW!! Of course on the way we will be preaching for beans - err I mean black-eyed peas and having fun with those who have faithfully supported us over the years. Happy New Year!! We found this immaculately lighted tree in Lubbock last week which reminded us of the vine (tree) and all the branches (lights) that spring forth from Him.