Outside and downstairs

  This is the front of the house.  The siding is now done!

 

All the shutters are on but the ones on the upstairs on this side.

 

This is the kitchen and dining room.  Kitchen cabinets are still not done but we will get to it eventually.

We have a bathroom with a tub and hot water shower!

Now we have stairs to the upstairs!!!

Upstairs

This is the girls room.  Their beds are now together.

The boys are still sleeping in their tents until their beds get put together!

Some small things are just as important as the big things.  Towel bars!!!

   

A shower and toilet upstairs!!!

This will become my linen closet!

Rain = running water = hot showers!!!

Last weekend our good missionary friend Bob came in to finish the plumbing in our house.  We had sewage pipes already but no water pipes.

In the process of getting things ready for Bob, an important fitting for our water holding tank was cracked.  Thus the tank had to be emptied in order to fix it.

Over the weekend all the plumbing was finished and the fitting was fixed but we had no water to test the system.  The night before Bob left we decided it would be best to pray for the rain to wait till Bob left.  No one likes a muddy hike.  The Lord answered our prayers and it didn’t rain.  Bob made it out with no trouble and little mud.

That Monday afternoon we added “RAIN” to our to-do list.  A few hours later we had a light rain.  We joked with Christina that we need to be more specific in what we need to do.  So we added “HEAVY” to our “rain” to do.  Within a couple more hours it started to pour!!!

In just 55 minutes this barrel was full and over flowing!!!

That made one more thing to stroke off the to do list.

That night I had my first hot shower in our house!!!  It was so nice.

Wee little girl

We have introduced this family to you before but we want to ask you to pray especially for little Josilyn.  She is turning one this month and is so very tiny.  She weighs just 6 kg.

A week ago we asked the family if we could give the baby some formula and baby cereal to help her as we are concerned for her.  They agreed with no problem.  So twice a day she comes to our porch with either her mom or her sister.  We have tried formula, baby cereal mixed with formula, a special malnutrition drink, and now peanut butter but she is just not wanting to eat or drink.  We get very little into her.  It doesn’t seem to matter if it is her mom or sister feeding her either.  Please pray for her and us as we try some different things to increase her weight and health.

This is after 5 days of feeding her while in her mom or sisters lap.  She finally came to me and sat in my lap for about 10 min!!!

   Please continue to pray for this family.

Moving In!!!

Dear Friends and Family,

This is just a short update to let you know that the time has finally come to move into our house with the Ga'dang people!!! This is very exciting and very scary all at the same time. There is still a lot to do on the house but we feel that we can live in it while Chuck works on it.

Please pray for us tomorrow as we hike into the village. It has been very rainy here and this makes the trail very slippery and muddy. It will not be an easy hike. It looks like the kids will have to walk some if not all the way too. This means Chuck is carrying Sophia, now weighing in at 30 lbs and I will carry Jenna, now over 15 lbs. This will not be an easy task for us. Pray pray for us.

I would normally send out an email to everyone about what we are doing but my mailing list in on my computer in Manila, at the repair shop. So please share this information with everyone that knows us!!!

Thanks so much for your prayers.

Shannon for us all

Born again

I’d like to announce the birth of another child into our family, our spiritual family that is.  For some time now, we’ve had a pretty good idea that Charlotte was saved.  More recently, both Shannon and I have seen evidence of that in her actions and what she says, particularly when we study the Bible together as a family.  The other evening Shannon took the time to sit with Charlotte and ask her some questions about what she believes.  It was obvious where Charlotte stands as she shared with Shannon and later with me about how she believes that Jesus died on the the cross to pay the price for her sins.  She told us that she knows she can’t get to heaven because of her own good works, only by believing that what Jesus did is good enough.  This is exciting for us as parents, as now 3 of our children have expressed their faith in Him.  If as a missionary and a dad I never get to see any others come to know Christ as their Saviour, that’s ok.  He has allowed us the opportunity to bring the ones closest to us to Him.  That’s enough for me.

by Dad

We worked all day…

As you know, we recently had a work team come from the U.K. to help us work on our house.  The goal for the 2 weeks they were here was to get the house ready for us to move into it in August.  We were able to accomplish that and then some.  I have to admit that at first I was a little sceptical about the proposed skill level of most of this crew.  The Lord quickly reminded me though that He more often than not chooses to use those who are not ‘skilled’ at what they do.  This way He can be readily glorified as He should be for the things He accomplishes through us.  Within the context of this work team, there were 12 of them, 6 guys and 6 girls.  1 was an experienced carpenter, 3 had a little knowledge of it, and the rest were simply willing to try and learn.  That’s really all we needed.  Everyone worked hard, learning how to swing hammers, read tape measures, and use power tools (without major injuries even!) to get the job done.  I couldn’t have asked for more, so thank you to everyone on the U.K. Summit Team of 2010 who came to help us.