A time of blessings...and reflections.

The blessings are family and friends who you get to spend time with over the holiday season. Whether it is sitting around a table for a big holiday feast or playing a board game that makes you laugh so hard your ribs hurt! Or just sitting down with friends for a night of eating and laughing over Christmases past. The reflecting comes in the story that started over 2000 years ago in the town of Bethlehem were a teenage girl gave birth to a child in a manger who she and her betrothed would name Jesus. The amazing thing about this story is over the last few weeks this same story was reflected on by thousands if not millions of people! I was on of them and I count that as a blessing. Merry Christmas!

Let it snow...let it snow...(you know the rest).

...We are guaranteed a "White Christmas" this year due to the shellacking we took last week! With 17 inches on the ground and more predicted for this coming Monday I don't think we'll have anything to worry about. We are thankful for Gods timing (and humor) because with the cold and snow it just makes it all the more urgent on our part to want to go! We are in the throws of getting Christmas letters and prayer letters sent out, and praying that those who receive them will hear our heart and know how much we long to be working with our Italian friends and co-workers at the Il Faro church outside of Naples. We roughly need about thirty more people who are willing to sacrifice just $30 to $50 a month so we can go. Any takers... ; )

Thanksgiving...to God be the glory!

...We are so very thankful for all the things that God is doing and has done over this past year! We are so thankful to all those who are praying and giving toward our goal of doing missions in Italy! We give thanks to God that we are healthy and are able to gather together with family and friends as this may be our last Thanksgiving here in the States before we leave for Italy! Its kind of funny to say that because it seems we have been doing this for so long! But, the reality is that as of now we are close to 50% with a firm pledge that by January will put us at 80%! So as of now we are working to get our final 20% so we can be gone by spring! Yea God! So to God be the glory and Happy Thanksgiving!

New Beginnings!

Well, as Peter Pan once said, "Here we go!" The "new beginning" being our first foray into the world of "blogging" (if that is still a relevant term). We felt it was high time we dragged ourselves into the twenty-first century and begin to place our thoughts and feelings of what not only missionary life is like but also to let others know how we're doing spiritually, emotionally and of course being missionaries, financially ; ). So, we hope everyone can sit back relax and enjoy what God is doing not only in our lives but in the lives of others that we are fortunate enough to encounter as we make our way to the mission field of Naples, Italy.