We are spending the eve of the New Year at home tonight...a pretty good place for a couple with 2 small kids. We remember the days of staying up late, but for now they are far gone =) Now that the kids are in bed, Travis suggested that we think of the ways that God has been faithful to our family this past year. So here is our list. We hope you will praise the Lord with us!
January - Our church's provision of the finances we needed to visit Romania for the first time on a survey trip and our very first deputation meeting.
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February - The trial of Becky's dad's illness and the grace He gave and continues to give us.
March - Travis' grandpa turned 90! He is very special to us.
April - Experiencing the beauty of the body of Christ. This was a very busy month for us. Becky's dad was being moved into a rehab and LOTS of people helped us take care of Samuel (Jessica Holland, Knickerbockers, Brenda Holder, Trent and Traci (Trav's brother), Janelle Francis, Pam Husler, Marlene Post, Jen McLeod, and of course Trav's parents). We were also getting ready for the birth of our little Kara!
May - Kara was born on May 23 after Becky spent 12 days in the hospital (we continued to benefit from so many friends who love us...meals, cards, phone calls, visits, babysitting!) What a beautiful new baby girl. We thank the Lord for sparing her life and Becky's throughout the pregnancy and emergency c-section.
June - Dad came home on June 8 after 5 months in 5 hospitals. Our nephew Stephen was born on June 10.
July - Travis ended his job at Analytical Labs. It was a great job for him and met our needs very sufficiently for 2 years. Our home church held a baby shower for Kara and gave so many diapers that we bought our first pack for Kara just this last week! We also took a very fun trip to Lake Tobias with Trent and Traci, Grace and Ella, Trav's brother and family.
August - God provided for us to move to Bellefonte to help with Becky's dad and start full-time deputation. Many of our dear church friends helped us move and Becky's parents allowed us to live in their house rent free. Travis began calling pastors, and God filled our fall deputation schedule in just a couple of weeks.
September - An encouraging visit from our missionary friend Eve a Douglas. She's a great companion for Samuel and stayed with the children one evening so we could go on a date. She also helped so much around the house to begin preparations for putting our house on the market.
October - We had a great month of deputation, making lots of new friends and prayer partners. We received a call from Berean Baptist Church in New Castle, DE, saying that they would like to be a part of our support team. This is our first church besides our sending church...very exciting news!!
November - Thanksgiving celebrations with both families (Heckathornes and Gravleys). We are so thankful for TWO families that love us and support us wholeheartedly. As we contemplate our families we realize we have something that is very uncommon...both sets of parents and all of our siblings love the Lord and are serving Him faithfully. That means that Samuel and Kara will never have to pray for any of their grandparents' or aunts' and uncles' salvation!! What an incredible blessing from the Lord!
December - Samuel turned three and was spared from being seriously injured on his birthday when he swallowed two quarters. We are so thankful for our firstborn. He is the light of our lives.We also had our family picture taken. We want to thank our Father for sending His only Son to be our Savior.
8 comments:
Looks like a wonderful year!
I love your family picture! What a great idea to wrap up your year. It is so good to think on how wonderful the Lord is to us when we look back on all that happens over a year. Happy New Year good buddy! I miss you so dearly. I have been thinking about you every morning as I hit the pavement for a long run at 5:30am. Remember the good ol' days?? Love ya!
Happy New Year! Your family picture looked great!
God is so good to all of us. How can we ever list all His benefits? We thank the Lord everyday for our children and grandchildren. These pictures and reminders of the year's blessings were great. We love you. Happy New Year.
Mom and Dad G
Those are great family pictures. Thanks for the comment on our blog. We are definitely enjoying being married. I am working at HSBC this year instead of teaching. I really miss teaching. I have 3 wonderful years at Sweethaven with 3 wonderful classes, but HSBC is going okay. God has been so good in giving me a job with the same hours as Tim. IT is so nice for our first year of marriage. I will try to remember to pray for you as you are on deputation. I will now check you blog frequently as I added it to google reader!!
I got a chance to check out you blog...it will be a cool way to keep up. Let's try to do those root beer floats sooner than your first furlough...
Hey T&B! What an awesome post. We will continue to keep you guys in our prayers. Love the fact that we can follow here in cyberspace too! :-) Many Blessings in 2008!!!
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