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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Our Official Blog Announcment

Did I bore you to death with my strand of catch up posts? Taking a break on the blog from December to July can leave for a bunch of gaps that need to be filled in. We have actually had some pretty big changes headed down the pipeline and I did not feel completely ready to share those here until a few important steps had been taken. That made it hard to write here at all.


So what is going on? We will be pulling out of our driveway on August 30th and moving to South Texas. We will be joining To Every Tribe Ministries to receive training through the Center for Pioneer Church Planting. The training will take two "school" years to complete. We will spend 40% of our time on the "field" training in Mexico and Papua New Guinea and the remaining 60% of the time is classroom training. Upon the completion of training it is our desire to work with an unreached people group, likely somewhere in Mexico or in PNG, but possibly in a newly identified region.


Over the past 3 years we have been lead by the Lord to have a desire to plant churches in regions where no churches exist. The Lord has taken our desire to know Him and follow the path He has for us and has knit our hearts closely with His desire that all the Nations know Him. He has done this through many instruments, but in particular He has used the church we attend (Grace Community Church ), His Word, and through a class called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement that was hosted by our church along with 2 other local churches. We have come to see and believe that not only are people lost apart from the gospel (though we believe this to be true), but also that Jesus Christ is worthy of worship from every tongue and tribe.

We met the founder of To Every Tribe when he came to speak at Perspectives in the Fall of 2008. After that night we made plans to visit Los Fresnos the following summer to learn more about the ministry and spend time with staff members and other missionaries. We were amazed at the way our hearts seemed to be knit together.

The vision of To Every Tribe is to bring about the worship of Jesus among people who have no access to the gospel. This is achieved by earning the right to be heard and presenting the gospel in ways that make sense within the native culture. Everything To Every Tribe does is intentionally committed to identifying, engaging, and reaching the remaining people groups who have never heard the Gospel. Currently, To Every Tribe is engaged with unreached people groups in Mexico and Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Trace has given his notice at work and his last day will be August 5th. This is one of the things that has kept me from feeling I was able to share on here what we will be doing. We have been raising support for the past several months and at our last update (at the end of June) we had raised approximately 60% of our monthly support. We continue to be awed and amazed by the faithfulness of the Lord to answer our prayers and provide for us. He is involved in the small and the large details. He is Good. We have a wonderful body of believers that are rallying around us and supporting us financially, emotionally, and spiritually.

If you are interested in supporting us through prayer or financially you can contact me an I can let you how to do that. We will be mailing out monthly updates complete with prayer requests so please leave me your email address if you would like to be added to that group. Your prayers are invaluable to us. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.


And they sang a new song saying
"worthy are You to take the book and break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation." Revelations 5:9

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Pirate Potty

For months now we have talked about potty training. Trying desperately to get Andrew excited about using the potty. One day Rebecca got him to do this.

I was excited...hoping she was going to handle the whole thing for me. But I was wrong. That was the only day he sat on the potty for months. Then about a week ago I decided to pick up some Toy Story underwear and start trying to get him excited again. I cleared a couple days off to be at home and focus on this only, but Andrew was finally excited about big boy underwear. He didn't want to wait and I didn't want to spoil the excitement. In two days he was pretty much potty trained. We have had a few accidents, but he got it and got it fast. The trick for us was 4 things:
1. Waiting until he was 3
2. Bribing him with candy (I was shocked what a strong motivator this was for him)
3. Bribing him with a toy after so many successful #2's (that was a little scarier and no, I am not above bribing my kids)
4. The Pirate Potty book that I read to him on the potty and gave him stickers on his hat when he went. Meet Pirate Andrew who successfully is using the potty!!!! YAY! So proud of my big boy! Really not a baby! So Bittersweet.





July 4th

Fourth of July was a lot of fun this year. We attended Father Hearts Fourth of July Celebration at the advice of several friends and we were not disappointed. We spent the afternoon eating, swimming, and with the kids playing on all the blow up slides and bouncy houses. Then we ended the night with a great fireworks show. Best part of the whole night might just have been how easy it was to leave once it was time. The traffic was not bad at all!



Daddy and his earrings

Thanks for the glow necklaces Uncle Bobby and Stacy

Daddy and Becca

Me and the olders

After we were done with the fireworks, we stopped for sparklers to do at home.





New Mexico Trip


We spent a week this summer visiting Trace's family in New Mexico. We had a great time swimming in Aunt Suzan's pool, going to the zoo, going bowling, seeing Toy Story 3, and just hanging out together.

Swim time in Aunt Suzan's pool






Trip to Albuquerque Zoo




Rebecca Feeding the Giraffe

Aidan Getting a Turn (Andrew let Rebecca do it for him)


Gran with Aidan and Becca
Suzan with the 3 kids (not sure who took this picture, but please tell me how you got all 3 to look and smile...very impressive)

Gran and kids at the bowling alley
Grandpa Bob and Becca

Aidan and Grandpa Bob

Trace and His Dad
Trace and His Brother
Bobby, Stacy, and Becc
Thanks for a great time with you all! Looking forward to next time.



We Love Gymnastics

Rebecca started gymnastics in January. She has learned a bunch and seems to really enjoy it. Here she is showing some of her skills.




Finishing a front roll


All smiles

Hand Stands


Doing a Bridge


On the Balance beam


First Time Skating

Our first trip to the roller skating rink included some fun, laughter, a few tears, and frustration. Learning to skate is hard and trying to help two kids who don't know what they are doing is full of challenges.
Aidan actually standing on his own

Resting with his buddy Davis (these two have been friends since they were one)

The Three of us, all with smiles on

A Relay - and a break from skates...Aidan looks pretty serious doesn't he?

Limbo time


In the end I would say we will try again, but we might drag dad along with us next time.

Feild Day

The Tyler home school community hosts a field day every year for the kids to be a part of. We had a great time joining in on the fun this year. It was so organized and well planned and a great excuse to get a bunch of sweet kids together for a good time. All ages got to join in on the fun.

I think she is supposed to have a potato between her knees. Not sure where it went?

Sack races

Soccer Relay (at any pace this age wants to go)
Hula hoop relay
Fill up the bucket relay