Family
Weekend fellowship
As missionaries, we have several churches that we stay in touch with. These churches are like a part of our family – we think about them often, visit when we can, pray for them. We’re excited when we hear good news, and pray when we know the church is going through a difficult time.
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But every once in a while we go to visit a church and wonder – will anyone really remember us? Are they praying? Do they ever look at that letter on their bulletin board?
That’s why it’s such an encouragement to go to a church like Innisfail Baptist Church. We had such a warm welcome, and great conversation with people who were really interested in Mexico and really concerned for us and the Mexican people. We had a wonderful visit, even though it was short, renewed some acquaintances, and fellowshiped with some friends at lunch.
We got home in time to eat a sandwich or two (barely!) and then we went to our own church for the Christmas program. Hannah was a Christmas angel this year. Then we had some more time to fellowship over some home made goodies that people had brought.
It was a great day, looking back, although as you may imagine by the end of the day we were really ready for a long winter’s nap!
There are some more pictures of Hannah in the Christmas program in our photo album.
Early December update
It’s been a while since I gave you a general overview of what we’ve been up to lately. So, here goes!
Nathanael:
Nathanael is excited about all the Christmas decorations he’s seeing everywhere. He’s enjoying things like colouring, reading (or at least looking at the pictures!), and playing with his toys. He’s learning lots of new words, and even working on some phrases (yesterday he was asking Hannah for a paper – "Hannah paper have-it!") Nathanael’s here now, so here’s what he has to say: uuy i uiuu
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Hannah:
Hannah is also VERY excited about Christmas. She’s been helping with the decorating and gift buying or making and so on. Hannah loooooves to colour, and go places and be with people. In the evenings, we’ve been learning about the Christmas story through Christmas Carols, with this cool book Christmas Carols for a Kids Heart (click the graphic to learn more). The book was an early Christmas present for her. Hannah is also looking forward to furthering her acting career by being an angel in our church Christmas program.
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Jim:
Variety is the name of the game! There’s been paperwork to do as always, and the regular work around the house and errands to do. I’ve been working on my final course before Mexico. For this part of the course I’m reading Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship (click the graphic to learn more), a book I’ve been wanted to read anyway. I’m a little behind where I want to be on the course, so I’m trying to catch up. I’m getting ready to speak this coming Sunday in Innisfail, and I’m working on engagements for the new year. And, of course, we’re all getting ready for Christmas! And the list goes on…
Shari:
As with all of us, there’s lots of variety! Again there has been a lot of paperwork, housework and errands of various flavours. Shari was speaking at our church’s ladies’ Christmas party last week (she talked about Christmas traditions in Mexico, inspiring the last blog entry). She’s getting ready for a wedding she’ll be going to later this month in Oregon. And the list goes on and on…
Well, I’m brushing very broad strokes here. It really is very very busy right now! But we are making progress.
By the way, I’ve updated our donations page to show where our support is at, so that should be accurate at least for a few hours. As you can see, the numbers are all still rising. It looks like some supporters will need to cut back in the new year, so please pray that there will be others to take their place.
On another website note, I’m continuing to repair the categories of the blogs. Now there’s a whole year that you can view by category, so you can check that out using the menu to the right. I was reminded that a year ago we were in the USA, beginning our whirlwind tour across the northern States. About a year ago I was writing these Christmas thoughts about the shepherds.
Speaking of how busy we are, I have some errands to do – the doctor’s, preparing for Sunday, this and that – I’d better run! Thanks for stopping by.
Family prayer request…
I’m stopping by this afternoon to ask for your prayers for Shari’s grandparents, Clifford and Ada Winger. Grandpa’s health has not been great, and Grandma has recently been in and out of the hospital. Everyone’s home now, as far as I know. In order to get better care, Grandpa is going to be moving to another place. Unfortunately, there’s "no room in the inn" for one of them, and so after over 67 years of marriage (yes, you read that right – over 67 years of marriage), they’re going to be separate for the time being.
As you can imagine, this time has already been pretty hard, and all the transitions coming up are going to be difficult too. Please pray too for their daughter Luella who is trying to help them through all these challenges. Thanks!
Below is a photo of Clifford and Ada and one side of the family, including us. The picture was taken about 8 months ago.
The hospital (and what we found there)
It’s been rare over the past few weeks for our whole family to go out together. Yesterday was an exception. We loaded everyone into the Aerostar and moved with the rush hour traffic across town. Hannah was very excited – well, we all were. It was around suppertime and more or less dark by the time we got to the hospital.
Through the long corridors, lined with framed pictures for sale. No one was at the information desk, there was just a note with some complex instructions about dialing numbers and finding a certain grey phone in order to locate the room you needed. A nice lady who happened to be nearby pointed us in the right direction – to the right floor of the hospital, that is, not to the phone. And so finally we made it all the way to the right room, and there she was. Our beautiful new niece, only a few hours old.
Ashlyn Jade Winger was born at 11:45pm on the 13th of November, weighing in at 6lbs, 13oz (that’s almost 1/2 a UK stone), at a towering height of 19″ (if she were swimming she’d be about 1/4 of a fathom deep). Everyone is, as far as I know, home and doing fine. Jevon (her brother) is very proud. Here’s Hannah with Ashlyn:
I’ll post a few photos in our photo gallery soon, Lord willing.
Quick family update
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I had heard it rumbling on the tracks for several days, but on Sunday morning WHAM! It his me like a freight train. Yes, I was pretty sick. I still have whatever-it-is, so I’m working on getting over that. Hannah is starting to get better, though she still has a cough. Nathanael had a bit of a fever tonight, so we’re just not sure about him. We shall see what tomorrow holds.
But in spite of it all, we’ve had some fun. Last night Hannah and I made some big round crayons. Today I got thinking, we need a BIG piece of paper to match the BIG crayons. So, we covered the kitchen floor and had a major colouring session (for you Americans, that’s kind of like a coloring session, except more…well, Canadian!).
I realized there weren’t too many recent photos of the kids online, so I pulled out the camera and tried to get a few. Go and visit our album to see some recent shots.
The young ones of the family have some big activities coming up, so hopefully they’ll be feeling better soon. But other than being a little sick, they’re doing well. Nathanael is learning new words and songs, and exploring the world as always. Hannah is learning to read and write, and is quite excited about that.
Shari enjoyed a bit of time off yesterday and today, working on some scrapbooking. And me? Well, I’m caught under an avalanche of paperwork right now, so I’d better get on it.
Anyway, there’s a little overdue family update. Nathanael seems to be doing a little better at the moment. He’s playing in the living room and he’s – hey! Nathanael – GET OUT OF THERE! Gotta run…