What's happening, now?

Good Morning!

This is a special day around our house.  It is our "Welcome to the Family" day for Carla and Matthew.  I have posted a little about my feelings on this special day at my Wordpress blog, The Journey of Waiting, if you are interested in reading more about it.  :-)

At home, my time is pretty much consumed in caring for and teaching the children.  We are getting ready to start week 4 of our school year.  So far things are going well, and it has been a joy to see how much the kid are growing and learning.   Teddy informed us last week, that he needed to learn Arabic, because God might want him to be a missionary someplace that as Americans we weren't able to go, but that he would be able to go because he was also Ecuadorian! (sometimes, I really do have to remind myself that he's only 10!)  

Things in our ministry are going forward.  We had a good attendance yesterday, of 156 in the Worship Service.  Tony continued his message series on 1 Peter.  Last night, we had a business meeting, and it was a blessing as we added 12 new members and there was just a great spirit of unity.  

Our outreach in Jaramijo went very well.  We had over 120 people out to listen and hear the gospel.  Many people asked about having a Bible Studies in their homes.  We are excited to see what God is going to do in this community.   Please make this a matter of prayer.  

You know when things are going well.  When people are getting saved and lives are being changed, Satan doesn't like it.  He will do everything he can to discourage us.  I would ask your prayers especially for a baby Christian, Joanna.  She is part of a large family, and several of them have come to know Christ, but it is our experience that every time, one of the family starts to climb out of the "pit" they have been living in, the rest of the family does everything they can to pull them back in!  

I have had the opportunity to start discipleship classes with another baby christian, Carol.  Please pray for her as she grows in her faith.  Carol has attended church off and on for many years with her husband.  She always had the right answers.  We have been praying along with her husband, Carlos, for a long time, that she would get saved, if she wasn't.  What a blessing it was to sit across from her at her kitchen table last week, and hear her testimony of how God worked in her heart, and how much had changed in her life in just a week since she had surrendered and accepted Christ as her Savior!   

You know God, really is in the business of saving and changing lives!   When we accept Him, we become "new creatures" and there is a change in the way we think, the way we respond.  

Current Prayer Requests:

Pray that we would be able to get Carla and Matthew's visas to travel to the US in a timely manner.

Pray for the Women's Conference, Oct. 26 & 27

Pray for the baby Christians in our church to continue to grow 

Pray for our economic situation and for God to add to our support team

Pray for the people in our church to step up to the plate in giving and serving

Blessings,

Joy

Sunday Update

We had a great day at church this morning!   The morning started with a "fellowship" time in the Ladies class.  35 ladies attended this morning.  This is the first time that ladies from the class took on the responsibility for the refreshments.  It was such a blessing to me to not have to plan it and make sure everything was there!  

We had 151 in church.  One of our missionaries, David Proaño, preached and did an awesome job! The gospel message was presented so simply and so clear.  It was great to have David and Monica along with their family in our services this morning.  2 dear ladies accepted Christ as their Savior this morning.  What a blessing it was to see the Lord melt their hearts.  

This Saturday evening we are planning an outreach again in Jaramijo.  We will be working with the Proaños. Looking forward to what God will do there.  Then next Sunday, David and Monica will be leading our Children's Church time.

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry here.   It is so exciting to see God at work in the hearts and lives of people.

Blessings to you!
Joy

Back to School!

There is always something exciting about new beginnings!  The start of a new school year is no different.  It is a clean slate, a blank book, waiting for the pages to be filled.

I have spent a lot of time making plans, sorting, organizing and purging our school stuff.  The fact is I'm a "pack rat" by nature, and the last couple  years I've come to realize that we definitely needed to clean out and just get rid of stuff.  You know those things that you've saved because you are just sure some day you might need them.  I've decided that if that day ever comes, we will just have to get new ones, or do without!

This year, Teddy Boy will be working through Sonlight's Core F.  We have decided to spread it out over 2 years, so for his 5th and 6th grade years he will be focusing on the Eastern Hemisphere.  I'm really excited about this, as it is an area that I know very little about.  I love Sonlight.  All the way through, from Kindergarten on, they have exposed us to more History and Geography than I ever learned about in school.   At this point, Teddy has spent 2 years studying World History, 2 years on US History, and now we will spend 2 years studying about the other side of the world!

Carla is starting 2nd grade this year and Matthew 1st.  We will be working through Sonlight's Core B, which is the first year of World History.  Carla will be doing more advanced readers and Matthew will be working through the grade one Language Arts.  This is the first year, that I have actually planned to do a whole History Core with them, as I feel that they have finally mastered English well enough to understand the books we will be reading.

Today, we started with just some fun activities.  Tomorrow we will start into a full day.  Here are some pictures of our first day, and our "new" school area.

Blessings to you!  Thank you for your prayers for our family!
Joy

First Day of School at Living Hope Academy, Manta, Ecuador!

Carla at her desk

Carla and her "work folders"

My desk, and our Listening Center and Computer area

Kids working at our "work table in the area right outside Teddy and Carla's rooms

showing off their "Welcome to School" bags.

This is our "Look What We Did this Week!" board.

Matthew at his desk in his room.

We are ready to get this year started!

Teddy Boy at his new desk.

Teddy's room

Our "Work Table".  The map on the wall is for Carla and Matthew to mark places we learn about this year.

This is our new "Writer's Corner" and Center Table

Breakfast!  Tony made us, biscuits, bacon and eggs!! YUM!

5th grade, 1st grade and 2nd grade!  Let's GO!!

Our new white board! You can see into Matthew's room on the left.  That's our "hammock chair" hanging over the white board.  The kids really enjoy it, so I didn't want to take it down, but I pull it up out of the way during school time. :-)

Other side of the "TV Room"  Looking down into Teddy's room.

Summer Vacation!!!

The kids and I are happy to be on "summer vacation"!   I am very proud of how well they did in school this year.  We have some sorting and organizing to do for next year, but for these first 2 weeks, we are just enjoying a change of pace!  

On the 4th of July, we had fun, roasting hot dogs, and then marshmallows for smores.  That evening we had fun with sparklers and light sticks.   Carla said, it was a "Great Holiday!"  

This past week-end we enjoyed having Glenn and Sherri McGhee here along with Randy and Sherry Rhoton.   On Saturday, we had 28 people from church attend a Children's Ministry Seminar that the Rhoton's did for us.  Everyone was very excited and eager to learn new things.  A very special blessing on this day, was that one young lady who has been attending church off and on for a couple months, accepted Christ as her Savior!!  

On Sunday morning Glenn shared a video of the outreach ministry going on around Tena.  It was a blessing to see how God is using the work there, and it was an encouragement to people here to get involved and reach out to the lost around us.  Randy preached in the Worship service and was a great blessing to our church.  We had 153, in church.  Last week we had 181.  Can't really give you any reason why there is such an up and down.  Seems like there are about 30 people that can't make up their mind if they are coming or going! ;-)  

On the 23rd we will be hosting a group from Oxbow Lake Baptist Church, in White Lake, MI.  They will be here until Aug. 1.  Please be praying with us, as we minister with and to this group.  We are excited to see what God does with and through this group.   

I have been having some slight health issues.  I appreciate your prayers as we work with the doctor here to figure out what is going on, and find the best treatment option.  I had several tests last week, and will be having blood test in the morning, to see if there is an infection involved.  We know that God is in control and we have already seen how he has directed our steps.  Thank you for praying.  

Blessings,

Joy