Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I am happy to say that while we were resigned and happy with Thanksgiving Day looking to include just the four of us here, God has given us an extra blessing. Kris's cousin, Rick, who lives only 45 mins. away in the high desert, is coming down with his family and having Thanksgiving dinner at our house. We are very excited! They have a new baby girl that we haven't met yet. They also have a daughter that's around Emma's age and two little boys. The kids will have so much fun playing together. The sad thing is that Aunt Carol and Uncle Dave will not be able to join us. While we are thrilled that Aunt Carol came home Friday, for the first time in months due to all that has happened with her physically, she is not doing so well with eating or being up out of bed. Rick and Kim are going to take food over to them though after we eat. They will spend a little time with them before heading to Kim's parents' house for the evening. We are just thrilled to be able to host Thanksgiving at our home and get to know this part of Kris's family better.

Some of you asked about our door hangers that we had done for the church. Here is a picture of the front and back:

You can see there is an address for our church web page. Kris is still working on the site, and a man from our church is putting Kris's messages on it for people to be able to listen to. Not all of them are up yet. The whole thing is a work in progress. Please pray that as we "get our name out there" now, that it would be Christ that is seen and exalted. This is His ministry, and we are excited to see what He will do in the surrounding community here in Riverside.

Works of God Monday

God knows just what we need and in the time we need it. This weekend we received some wonderful things in the mail--some expected and some unexpected. I'll tell you more about that in a moment, but let me share what I was struggling with first.

Last week was hard for me emotionally. I am missing friends and family quite a bit lately. I was able to talk by phone to three different friends from Midland in the last two weeks. That was so nice! It made me miss our times together though--family nights at each others houses, Bible study, coffee, teaching their kids lessons and talking "forever" afterward, etc. :-) It's slow-going in making friends here, and Emma also started really struggling openly last week. In addition to the friends thing, my sister had her sweet baby girl. I wanted so badly to be there with them to celebrate, but that is not possible right now. I've been a bit sad too with the holidays coming up and knowing that we will not be with family. Our first Thanksgiving in MI, my parents and my sister and brother-in-law all came up to visit. The other Thanksgivings we had in MI were spent with my extended family that are in the Detroit area, where I grew up. For Christmas the last several years, we have been traveling to SC to be with my family. Kris and I would then go up to NC and attend the WILDS Music Conference the first week of Jan., while the girls would stay with my family and have a blast. :-) That will not be happening this year. No one from either side of our family can travel to CA right now, and it's not possible for us to go anywhere to see them either.

So, I can have a pity party and stay "down in the dumps," or I can praise my sovereign, loving Lord for the amazing blessings in my life. He has called us to minister here in Southern CA--how humbling and exciting to be part of His work in this area! I may not have family and close friends living nearby or within a day's drive anymore, but I am grateful I HAVE a family and wonderful friends and that we have the technology in this day and age to communicate by webcams, cell phones, facebook, etc. :-) More than anything or anyone, I have my Savior. He has promised never to leave me or forsake me, to be a friend unlike any other, to teach me more of Himself through difficult times, and has given me so many other promises that I can cling to from His Word. I have His Word!!! He has blessed me with an amazing husband who put his work on hold to let me "spill" at the beginning of last week and cry on his shoulder. Kris just loved me and took me to Scripture, pointing me to the One I need most. Praise God!

By God's grace the rest of last week was refocused on His being enough for me and sharing these things with Emma too. Then we received our special blessings in the mail. One surprise was from a teenager that Kris and I both had opportunity to work with at our church and school in MI. She framed two pictures together, each one having her standing next to one of us, and put two quotes about people touching your life next to the pictures. It was so thoughtfully and beautifully put together, and let me tell you, we were touched! We are thankful for the people God has allowed us to minister alongside in ministry over the years. Another thing that was so touching was our dear friends, the Muths, sending us a large envelope filled with beautiful MI fall leaves, a card, and a picture from Aaron. :-) The most unexpected thing that came in the mail was from a man that we've met only once. He sent us a note that shared with us that he and his family have been praying for us and the church here in CA, and they included some financial support! We were stunned, emotional, and VERY grateful for this unexpected blessing.

The one thing that we did receive in the mail this weekend that was expected was a welcomed package for sure! We finally have some materials printed for our church. We had hit some roadblocks along the way and have been quite a bit behind schedule on our initial plan to get something in people's hands to tell them about our church, but God's timing is always best. Now we can blitz some neighborhoods and put our new door hangers out there. They look fabulous, thanks to our designer, Holley VanDenBerg, who helped us get a new church logo and designed the door hanger. Please pray that we will reach this area for Christ and that God will bring some strong, Christian families to our ministry as well to help us better serve at Heritage.

God is good, and I praise Him for these things that I could share with you today.

Praises and Prayers

I know that I haven't gotten back to my blog since my dad's surgery. Sorry! I believe most of you know what is going on through our talking on the phone, updates on facebook, hearing things "through the grapevine", etc. :-) We are all praising the Lord for my dad's successful surgery. The doctor came out afterward and told us that he only had to do 4 bypasses, instead of 5. That was good. He did say though that my dad had severe heart disease and definitely needed the surgery. God's hand in all this has been so clear. Thankfully the heart muscle was not damaged. The problem was major blockage in the arteries. What a blessing that this was found out and that my dad never did have a major heart attack, causing permanent damage to his heart, or even death! Thank you for your prayers. We appreciate them still as the recovery takes quite some time and the lung issue is still a problem.

I am so glad that I had a week in SC. It was a special time with my family as we went through emotions and trials together. Here are some pictures of my trip that Sarah posted on facebook.

As for another prayer request. . .my sister is STILL pregnant, poor thing! She was due on Oct. 31. Her first baby came 6 wks. early. Who would've thought that she would go overdue with her 2nd. We thought maybe today was the day, and that would have been cool because it's my grandma's birthday. Well, it wasn't meant to be. I'm still on the 8th on the West coast, but Sarah is already into tomorrow on the East coast. :-) There have been many signs over the last couple of weeks that labor is close, but it never really gets going consistently. Maybe tomorrow. . . .My mom's b-day is Wed., but I know Sarah doesn't want to wait ANY longer!