"For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not harm you"
What does that verse mean to you? As I sat on the airplane this morning preparing to take off with Abby sitting next to me and the 6 other members of the family waiting for their plane and hour later. These were the words resonating in my head. We as humans look at our lives and are excited, scared, afraid, worried, thrilled, giddy...you get the point. We have so many emotions (especially us girls). What an exciting time for our family, but as a Mom, how uncertain things are for us. God knows what is going to be happening in our lives over the next few days, weeks, months and even years! How AWESOME is that? HE has planned out our lives, we are just simply called to follow Him. Whether that means talking with someone at the grocery store that looks like they need someone to talk to. Or packing up a family of 8 and head out of the country to a poor country like Guatemala. Whatever it is the Lord has it planned. He has planned them to prosper us not harm us! This morning, this verse has really spoken to me, it has many times before but right now today, this verse holds a new meaning to me.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and please keep our family in prayer as we settle into our new "normal" whatever that is! As we have said before, please keep us informed on your requests and praises as well. We want to be praying for YOU!

the final weeks...

As I sit here on this first Sunday in December, I am overwhelmed at the thought of what this month holds for our family.
We are now settled into my parents house, still packing and repacking bags. Looking at our "stuff" a little differently now. Realizing that so much of it is just that, stuff! It is exciting to be purging of so many things that bog us down, clutter our lives and keep us from being focused on what the Lord would have us focus on.
We are blessed to have so many friends and family who are so understanding of the confusion and chaos that is going on right now. They are so willing to help and jump right in when needed!
It is also wonderful being able to spend special time with friends and family knowing that it will be a long time before we see them again. Wonderful memories are being made, and for that we are so thankful! It's great to be able to laugh and take time to enjoy a cup of coffee with a friend in the midst of packing the 16 bags!
Right now as I type this Phil and Cabot are in Indiana with his brother and family. He started the trip this weekend by first stopping in PA to visit with his Aunt, Uncle and cousins. He then continued to Ohio for a speaking engagement at a church this morning, then on to IN for another one tonight. Memories are definitely being made!
Abby will be finishing up her senior year in just a few short weeks. She will be done her home school work this week, and the classes that she attends at our local high school will be done in a few weeks. We are very proud of her for working so hard at finishing up her work and doing so well in all of her classes! For those of you who are wondering, she will be going to Guatemala with us. She is very excited about being there, and seeing how God is going to use her down there. She will also be taking some on-line classes to get her gen-ed classes out of the way, then transfer to a school at some point. We are still working on that.
The rest of the kids are all registered for school and they are all looking forward to it. Phil and I are registered at classes as well, and yes! we are looking forward to it as well! School...who would have thought at my age that I would be going to learn a new language, it's so exciting!
Here are a few things we can have you pray for as we wind up our time here in the states:
Safety for Phil and Cabot as they travel home.
Calmness of heart and mind as things are so crazy with so much to do.
The health of our family, there is so much illness going on around us and we are trying to stay healthy.
Safety for the family as we travel on the 30th. There will be 11 of us in total flying into Guatemala. Brian Dennetts parents are flying with us as well as our niece who is helping us move.
Thank you once again for taking the time to read this, and to keep our family in your prayers. As always please let us know what we can be praying about for you, it's a privilege to be able to pray for you as well.

The time has come...

Luke 10:2 He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.

We have a date! December 30, 2010!! We are looking into plane tickets now. Phil is in Guatemala and has found our new home! He is also doing all the paper work signing us all up for our school. We are getting rid of things, packing things, preparing for our new adventure!
How exciting it is for our family as we are approaching this new phase. One that seems to have taken so long to get there, but in God’s time it is never too long is it? We have been learning about trusting in ALL things, we have seen first hand over and over and over how God has provided for us. We have been able to share with so many what God is doing in our lives. We could write a book about what He has done for us!

There have been so many changes that have taken place since we first committed our lives to serve in full time ministry. January 2007 was when we as a family decided that we were going to look into full time mission work. January 2007 Claire was 2 1/2, Anna was 4 1/2, Cabot was 7, Megan was 10, Betsy was almost 12 and Abby was almost 14. Looking back over my blog seeing what changes have taken place brought me to tears today! Moves, illnesses, new friends, deaths, and provisions. I enjoyed reading things here and it was a great reminder of some difficult times we have had. And also, of the joyous times we have had. We have grown closer as a family through things that God has brought us through. January 2011 will be 4 years later, I can’t wait to see what changes are going to take place in our lives when we are living out what we have been learning!

What can you be praying for now?
That things would fall into place smoothly for our move.

That the family unit will work together and grow as a family while we are going through so many changes.

The remainder of our support would come in.

God’s will, will be done in our lives everyday!

Please let us know of things that you would like us to pray for as well. We want to pray effectively for you as well!