Church Christmas Party--more pictures

Church Christmas Party

Saturday night the church group got together for our Christmas party. In years gone by we have always had a potluck dinner of typical Mexican dishes, but this time the ladies wanted to do something different, so we had a hamburger fry. I made potato salad, we had chips and pop, and then coffee and a banana split cake for dessert.

Everyone had fun with the games, and especially the piñata. MinMin really enjoyed the piñata--she took to it like she had done it forever! It was hard to get good pictures with everyone moving about, but I'll post what I do have.

Ladies Christmas Party

A couple of weeks ago Martha and I were talking about some of the ladies who came to our painting class in years gone by. Though we often run into some of them, others we had not seen in awhile. We decided that we would have a Christmas party and invite them to come. We took invitations around to as many as we could find, and left invitations with those who thought they could tell another.

Last night we had 10 ladies here at our home for a time of visiting, an evangelistic devotional and good desserts. Both Martha and I had our cameras, but neither of us remembered to take pictures. All seemed to listen carefully to the devotional, and one lady, Nancy, said afterwards that she would like to talk more.

I made peach crisp, a brownie, banana and pudding cake, and apple pizza, and most of the ladies tried all three! I must say that they tasted pretty good. At the end of the evening a couple of the ladies said that they wanted to get together again next week, and make sure that they got the word out to the other ladies. This time they would organize it so that everyone was assigned to bring something, and that way it is more likely that they will not miss. So, we'll see if that happens.

Please be praying for Nancy, a young mother of a one year old boy, whose husband has just left her.

Two Months Ago Today.....

we met our daughter, Janelle MinMin at the Civil Affairs Office in Guangzhou, China. As most of you know, that was not an easy day for her, nor were the days to follow. It is so amazing to see the difference now, two months later. MinMin is a happy girl, is learning English, loves her brother and sister, and is happy to have big sister, Lancy, visiting right now. Though the beginning was hard, and we wondered how things were going to work out, we never doubted that God had chosen MinMin to be our daughter.

Four years ago this week we were first challenged by God to bring home another child for our family. It was not something that we had planned to do. Maybe there is someone, even one family, reading this post today who God would call to adopt. Watch the video that follows and be OPEN to God's still small voice calling you.....

China

A few pics of our favorite things in China on this trip. We really enjoyed seeing the rice terraces, and of course the Great Wall is an amazing place.

November 17th--God is Good, All the Time

Amazing how fast the year flies by! Only one week until Thanksgiving, and here in Bernal people are beginning to decorate for Christmas already. Since Thanksgiving is an American holiday, they don't have that here, so Christmas is coming and the decorations go up early.

We are thankful to say that we finally have all of the windows in the house as of last week, and six out of eight in the church. It was very cold here about three weeks ago, and people really suffered on Sunday morning with no windows. Giving was up as a result, and the man who does the windows went ahead and put them in although we still owe him another $200 or so. Of course, we have had 75 degree weather most days since then.....

Attendance is up on Sunday morning, which means that it is time to buy more chairs. We have 50 chairs now, and have had people standing for the last couple of weeks. Sunday school is still held in our house, as we don't have the classrooms built yet. We hope that that will be a possibility for next Spring.

Thursday night Bible study attendance is really up, and we have a great time of study and prayer. We are thankful to see more people attending, as it means that they are setting aside other things to be able to be there....making study and prayer a priority. Friday nights there is a teaching/preaching class, and quite a few are attending.

It has been a really busy year with the building program. We personally, as well as Gadiel and Martha, put in a lot of hours and effort in building. I think that we are all thankful to be able to be done for right now. Gadiel and Martha stayed in our home while we were in China in October, and have now moved into their own home. They still lack many finishing touches, but their house turned out really nice. We, too, are thankful to be moved into our new home. Before leaving for China we moved in, but pretty much just put things away as we could and stuffed things into closets. The last couple of weeks we have been trying to get things put away properly and get settled in.

As a family, we are all doing fine. Amanda is in Prague this week, and will be in Vienna next week. She is traveling with the handbell choir from her college, playing bells and her violin as well. I'm sure that she is having a great time. Caleb and Rose and family were able to visit with us for two days when we got home from China. Caleb was in Oklahoma for his work, so they all came, and drove on over to Missouri. Matthew and Crystal are in Branson, working. We are all excited that Lancy will be arriving in Mexico from Argentina on December 5th. She will be spending the month with us before heading up to the States. She hopes to be able to raise about $1200 a month support to be able to go to Thailand early in the year.

Here in Mexico the three youngest are doing fine, as well. Taylor and LiAnne keep each other busy when not doing school work. Taylor is in kindergarten this year, learning all of his letters, and beginning to do blends. He is pretty quick to pick it up. He also attends speech therapy on Fridays. MinMin is doing quite well. She usually has a smile on her face, and is a great help around the house. She seems to really enjoy doing dishes! She is learning many new things every day. We are quite pleased on how well she is fitting into the family. We also are sure that there will be many hard days to come. She is doing school as well, working on English classes, math, geography, cursive, and whatever else Mom can come up with that a person can learn without knowing much English.

We Are Going To China

We received our travel approval from China today. We are waiting to hear about our consulate appointment, but hope to leave next Thursday, October 4th. More soon....check journeytojanelle.blogspot.com for updates and travel journal.

Independance Day Fiesta--September 15th

First Sunday in New Church Building

First Meeting in New Church

Wednesday afternoons at 4:00 the ladies of the church gather for their weekly Bible study. Today was no exception, but there was one difference. Instead of meeting at the home of one of the ladies, we met in the new church for the first time. It was fitting that the ladies were the first to have our meeting there, because many of them have been so very faithful in working in the construction. We have been involved in every aspect of the construction, from hauling block, filling buckets with sand and gravel, mixing cement, providing meals, laying tile, doing grout, cleaning----you name it, the ladies have done it. They are a faithful group!



This weekend we will hold the first Sunday service there. On Tuesday the ladies gathered to load the chairs, tables, and boxes of church supplies in a truck and haul everything over to the new building, up the stairs and into the sanctuary.

Also, our family will be moving into the new house this weekend. We still lack some windows and one door, but we will move in anyway, and trust that they will be ready and installed soon. Sunday after church we will have dinner together, then everyone will chip in and haul boxes and furniture. We are really looking forward to getting installed there. The house is two rooms smaller than the one we have now, so it will be a challenge to get everything put away--or given away if it doesn't fit!



Check back again next week for pictures of our first Sunday in the new building!

Meet Janelle

I think that most of you who are reading this know that we are closing in on completing another China adoption. Jiang MinMin, who will be called Janelle, caught our attention back on February, and we began the paperchase to bring her home to our family. Last week we received the next paper we needed from China to bring her home. That has been returned to China, and now we await our Travel Approval, which should take another 2 or 3 weeks to arrive. We hope to travel the first week of October to meet her and bring her home. Taylor and LiAnne will be staying in Missouri with the family while we travel.

Please be praying for Janelle. Just imagine what it would be like to leave the only home (orphanage) that you have known for 12 1/2 years, your language, culture, food, smells, comforts, friends--and travel half way around the world with two people you had just met. She has no real idea of what is going to happen to her or what to expect. Please pray that she would be comforted in this time of extreme change. Also, that she will have a tender heart, and will come to understand our love for her, and God's love for her.

The more we read and learn about older child adoption, the more of a challenge this seems that it will be. We have corresponded with a number of families who have gone through this, and have learned of many things that we might face in the days ahead. We don't expect that it will be easy....quite the contrary. But, we do know that it will be worth it. There will be days that we wonder what we got ourselves into, and probably wish that we hadn't. But, in the end we know that God had had His hand in this since the day that we first saw Min Min's picture, and felt called to her.

If you would like to read more about Janelle, or to follow us on our journey back to China, please go to: journeytojanelle.blogspot.com.

Lancy--off to Thailand

Our daughter Lancy finished up her Bible school training earlier this year, and stayed in Argentina to work in the Church Planting office there. She has been involved in secretarial work, as well as working with teams that visit, translation, and working in the town of Oro Verde--helping in the church there.

Lancy's desire is to serve the Lord as a missionary. For the past year or so, she has been praying that the Lord would show her where He wants to use her. The answer to her prayer seems to be the country of Thailand!

In June of this year, Lancy was able to attend missionary canditate school in Schroon Lake, NY (a looooong way from Argentina, and a blessing of the Lord as He supplied the cost of her ticket and training week). At the end of this time, she was appointed as a missionary to Thailand. She will be working with Jeff and Jessica Gordon in opening the Word of Life ministry in Thailand.

Please pray for Lancy, as she needs to raise a very modest $1200 a month for her first two years in Thailand. During this time the idea is to live with a Christian family there while she attends language school. Living with a family will greatly help her in language learning, as well as greatly reduce the cost of living there.

If you would be interested in knowing more, please email Lancy at: lancykull@wol.org.

If you would be interested in supporting her financially, the mission address is:

Word of Life International

PO Box 600

Schroon Lake, NY 12870

Volleyball Tournament

On Tuesday, August 21, we were invited to bring a volleyball team to play against the mayor or Bernal, and his team, as well as the mayor of Ezequiel Montes, and his team, and a couple of other teams from nearby. This was the second time that we have been invited by the local mayor to play....the first being when the group from Village Bible Church in Garden Grove, CA were here. That was such a hit with the mayor, that he invited us again.

Well.....you win some, you loose some.....but it was a great time of getting to know people in town, and having a positive testimony with them.

Bernal Construction Continues......

Summer Time in Bernal

Summer is winding down here in Bernal. It has been a busy time of camps, vacations, family visits and building for the people in the church here. Activities have dropped off to the minimal as people are in and out and so busy with other things.

Youth camps are over, and a few of our youth have been able to attend. This morning the kids headed off to camp for the week--very excited, to say the least. A few of the youth from church are also helping as workers this week.

School starts next week for the public school kids, and in a couple of weeks for the Christian schoold kids, so things should slowly get back to normal.

We look forward to continuing with Thursday night Bible study and prayer time, as well as starting back up with Ladies Bible study and youth/kid and adult activities.

Please continue to pray that God would work in the lives of the folks here, and that they would be faithful to their calling. Pray for this as well, for our missionary team: Richard and Starla, Gadiel and Martha, Coleman and Nancy.

Coleman and Nancy are expecting their second baby, another boy, in September. Pray for health and the finances needed for them.

Mission House and Church Going Up

Thanks to the generous gifts of friends in Oregon, we were able to buy property and begin building a mission house/church here in Bernal. The construction began in April. We have had many church work days, as well as the help of the group from Clackamas Bible in Oregon, and Village Bible in California. Richard's folks also came for 3 weeks, and painted most of the inside of the house.

Now in August, we are hoping to be able to move into the house at the end of the month. Richard and Gadiel plan to hook up the water tank and hot water heater on Monday, the doors and windows should be in by next week as well. There is still plenty to do, and we will move into the house with much lacking, but over time it will get done.

Once we move out of our rented house, and into the new one, that also means that the church has to move. The church upstairs has walls and a beautiful roof. I'll get pictures posted of that as soon as possible. The newest pictures are on Richards computer, and it is out of comission right now. We are having to wait for more funds to be able to continue with the Sunday school rooms, doors and windows for the church.

Check out my Slide Show!