Open House

Invitations had already been sent out for a shower for us back in September when my doctor told me I was not going to be able to travel to KS (little did we know he was right). So Melissa had an open house for everyone to come meet Jonah and Silas before we left this past weekend.

Pretty Food!

There were many people who came that have been so supportive of us and our ministry in Guatemala. We are so thankful for them!

Leslie came down with the Newspring team to Guatemala. She found out that her and her husband were pregnant soon after we did... and with a boy!! She has a brilliantly creative mind, I love keeping in touch with her and seeing all of her creations.

She and her mom tie-dyed t-shirts for the boys all the way up through 12 months in wonderfully vivid colors. They even made a shirt for me!

I loved this photo because we were all enjoying the boys!

Thank you to everyone who came!

Special Time of Dedication

Newspring has one special service each year when they do baby dedications. Since we will be in Guatemala, pastor Hoover had a special prayer of dedication for them Wednesday night. It was a beautiful moment. He spent some time explaining the Biblical basis behind this and then asked for us and our family to come up on stage. Even Jimmy's Grandparents were there to pray with us. It was not a dedication of the boys as much as it was a dedication of us as parents to raise our boys to be Christ followers.

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY: Jimmy picked up some baby wipe refills from the store, only thing is he left them in the van over night. They were frozen solid the next morning. We thawed them out on the floor vents. Thankfully we will not have this problem in Petén!

Ministry Micro

You all are aware that we have been “kicked out” of New Horizon, one of the ex-guerrilla communities in which we have been working for the last 2 years. The process to get back in will take anywhere from 6-10 months and is not a definite one, so in the meantime we want to continue working with the people in this community.

Our solution is to buy a used Micro-bus. With this we would be able to pick the people of New Horizon up on the highway, outside of the community, and nobody in the community would have any authority. We would bring the group to our house to have services. Doing this would also allow us to baptize and form a church, rather than just the Bible Study as it has been.

This “Micro” would also serve our teams, thus reducing the cost and eliminating the need to hire a driver. After selling our unreliable SUV, a used one will cost us around $15,000.

We mentioned this need in our latest update. Since then our home church in KS has already sent us half of the amount needed and other individuals have given as well. We are so thankful! I posted a thermometer on the side of the blog to keep track of funds we have received. Please be in prayer with us for this need so that we can soon find and purchase this ministry vehicle.

Baby Showers

My Aunt Grace and her daughters threw me a family baby shower when we first got here. It was beautiful and so much fun to talk about babies with all my aunts and cousins. I learned about all kinds of family traits! I wish I had taken more photos!

Our friend Rebecca who has been to Guatemala tons of times to visit us threw us a wonderful shower at Trinity. As missionaries we do not get to be here to celebrate all the special moments in our family and friends' lives, so the fact that they would celebrate ours while we are here really means a lot to us.

It was so great seeing old friends! My roommate from my sophomore year in college came and I hadn't seen her in 7+ years!

Here are some of the cute decorations Becca made! One for Silas and one for Jonah!

Thank you to everyone who came to our shower and celebrated our little boys' lives with us!

Jimmy At His Home Church

In between weekend meetings Jimmy got to spend time with his family in Wichita! On the way there he stopped to visit his cousin who just got back from Iraq.

He got to visit his grandparents and enjoy a Lemon Marange Pie!

Jimmy even sent me a photo of his family going out for Chinese (one of my pregnancy cravings that is not in Petén)... he likes to rub some things in!

Wednesday he got to spend time with Pastor Hoover and then was interviewed during the service Wednesday night. It is nice to be able to share what God has been doing in Guatemala with our home church! There are so many great, supportive people there. I cannot wait to see them in January!

I got to watch it live and Jimmy waved at me!

Jimmy has another meeting in KS on Sunday at a new church and then will start the drive back to FL on Monday. Please pray that he has a great meeting and a safe trip. I cannot wait for him to get back. Thanks!

Last Sunday In the States

This morning we got the opportunity to share our burden for Guatemala at Jim’s grandparent’s church. The people there were very welcoming to us. It was nice to go through our presentation one last time!

Jimmy got to preach at Messiah tonight. I was so proud of him! I love hearing him speak. Our church family there has been so wonderful to us. We love them! They are so faithful to encourage and pray for us. There prayers have made the difference in our deputation.

We are also very thankful for our pastor. He has made time whenever we needed him. We are thankful that his wisdom and experience is only a phone call away.

Send Off Party

Yesterday evening Jimmy’s parents had a send off party for us at Messiah. About 70 people from our church came to celebrate. That was such an encouragement to us. These are the people we know have been praying for us. This has made such a difference in our deputation. We are so thankful for them. Each one of them has played a part in what God is going to do in Guatemala. We love our church family!

Both sets of Jimmy's GrandparentsOur friends the Atkinsons
My dear friend from work, Barb

The Humbles, Todd put together our awesome video for deputation, Ginger is the Boggs' daughter.
Thank you to everyone who came!

Last Service At Trinity

Tonight was our last service at Trinity. They had a time of prayer for us and our ministry and also gave us some money for moving expenses. We really appreciate those who came by afterwards and told us they would be praying for us. That means a lot to us. We are almost there!