Long time no hear.....

I know I haven't been very good about keeping you all updated on what is going on but there really isn't much I can tell. We have been struggling with some things having to do with what our purpose is here, but God is always faithful to continue to encourage us and give us glimpses of the possibilities and purposes of His plan for our church family and this area as a whole. The solution to all of that was to keep our focus on the Lord rather than our limited circumstances. John has started a weekly Men's prayer group on Thursdays evenings at the church. This was rather neat to give the men that desire to reach out, an opportunity to have an accountability group, fellowship and encourage each other.

I hear you Tri-Citians got snow........ apart of me is jelous but apart of me is not so much! The kids saw that New Orleans got snow and got all excited that it might make it down where we are but unfortunately we are too far down in the tropics for that possibility? With the weird weather though I am sure anything is possible even if it isn't likely...... It would definately answer one Christmas wish even if it would be catastophic for native Floridians who know nothing about driving in the stuff. That would be a day to stay home and off the roads!

Thanksgiving was a bit hard being so far away from family but it was really no different than every other year in some ways. John spend the day of Thanksgiving working so we celebrated on Friday instead. Sarah was going to come over but was informed by her employer earlier in the week that she was expected to work on Black Friday. We still had people from church join us though and they were a hoot to visit with and share this holiday with!

Some neat things that have happened lately at church. We have had some new couples come and join us. One couple moved recently from NY and were apart of Bill Galitins church when it was very small and watched it grow. Her health was one of the main reasons they moved to a warmer climate but it is exciting to hear them talk about the fact that God moved them here to US! It is nice to have some Vetran Calvary-ites who really seem to have a mature faith along with a heart to serve.
This last week we had a YOUNG (late 20s I would guess) couple visit us at church. They had 3 children and their oldest was a boy and Ben's age. (We have been praying for little boys Ben's age since our church doesn't have any) They live in the Port Charlotte/Englewood area which is about 30-45 minutes North of us. I guess they are California natives who were also called to the area just North of us to begin a Calvary. He was a Youth pastor at his church in Ca but then, like us began to see the Lord leading them elsewhere. They were visiting us since we were the nearest Calvary to them. It was very neat to hear their story and get the fellowship from folks closer to MY age....... Not sure if they are going to keep coming for a while or continue to try and offer a fellowship for those in their area up north. I, selfishly, pray that they get to stay with us and maybe do a homefellowship thing during the week for those in their area!!!!

John is finding his job a little more challenging than he thought it would be. He was really hoping for a housing unit where he could build relationships and get to know the inmates and therefore get opportunities to witness more often. Instead he is at a post where he shares with another officer. They spend half the shift with the mentally insane and half the post with 'normal but high risk' criminals. The high risk criminals is the 'good' part of the day whereas dealing with those that are not all there is not really very easy. Most of them are either yelling at you or screaming at the top of their lungs because of the fact that they are in jail and might not exactly know why. You can't really get them to stop either through means that get normal inmates to stop their antics since it is really a mental health issue. So all you can really do is hope you can tune it out and WISH your time would go by faster. There have been a couple times John has entertained asking to be transferred out of this assignment but apparently God hasn't given him the go-ahead to do so yet. Although there haven't been many witnessing opportunities at his assignment there, God has put other people in our separate paths to witness to and show them Jesus.

The kids have gotten plugged in to a drama club from the homeschool group we joined. I figured a smaller group might more easily allow them to form connections and make them feel more comfortable if or when we attend bigger events. The kids will be singing at some old folks homes for Christmas and spreading some much needed Christmas cheer! To sum up some other stuff......

Things I miss about home:

~Knowing the difference between really cold verses needing to wear pants if the temperature stays in the high 60s. SO SAD how fast your blood thins out here!

~Snow and my first thought at the first sight of snow is to call Kristy Good and ask her if she is watching it sipping moondust tea!

~Watching the kiddos play in the fresh snow!

~SLOW news days where there is no mention of child abuse or homicide. Here it is pretty common to have both in the news daily.

~Gardening according to seasons.

~Spending time with family during the holidays.

~Sending my leftover food to my neighbors or family.

~Being oblivious to the economic devastation going on in the rest of the country while the Tri-cities was insulated from much of it.

~Living around 'real people' rather than abandon/forclosed homes.

~Having a dozen people I could call and get together with for coffee or a playdate or BOTH.

~Having many excuses to get out of doing school and being a bad example for others not wanting to take a day off until I gave them something more fun to do!

~Not having my mom shop for me when I need something somewhat stylish to wear. SAD I KNOW!

~Smelling Christmas in the chill of the air and the weather getting us in the 'feel' of Christmas coming. It is weird putting up a tree when it feels a little more like spring.....


Things I don't miss about home:

~If we had stayed we would not be in the center of God's will and would be reaping the consequences of that. Don't even want to imagine what that spanking would be like. OUCH!

~The stress that came with the on-going saga of Politics at John's old job...... As The County Turns! Sorry for those of you still dealing with this!

~Being used in the lives of people who have hit rock bottom and due to their economic situation are totally open to the gospel. Hard to see but at least we get to offer the only Hope that only God can give regardless of situation.

~Being in shorts & T-shirts right now, spending time at the beach in and the kids getting to play outside ALL in the middle of winter.

~Watching the kids get to know their sister. Watching she and John interact with that same sense of humor and sarcasm. I am out of my league there so all I can do is watch!!

SO, this is what is going on here in our world! Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and PLEASE remember to pray for all those that are hurting this Holiday season.