Pray Daily for the Haleys

2011-12-15T15:36:00.002-05:00

Here are some recent pictures of the kids. Enjoy!

recent pics

2011-09-26T21:27:00.004-05:00

Sorry there are no descriptions/captions with the pictures. They never seem to work or go with the corresponding picture. I hope you enjoy them anyway.

a couple of pics of Lydia

2011-07-29T14:11:00.002-05:00

Here's a couple of pictures that I took of Lydia today. The first one was taken after Evan painted her head a bit. He said it was an accident. I responded by telling him that when you do something on purpose, it is not an accident.

The second one shows Lydia with her baby doll.

summer in Missouri

2011-07-24T21:47:00.003-05:00

Following are some recent family pictures. You might have to turn your head sideways on a couple of these.
Here's Miss Lydia.
Here are a couple of Miss Lydia in her hat. These were taken of Lydia on her 4th month birthday.

Here's Christine with the kids.
Here's Evan in daddy's boots.

recent pictures

2011-07-16T13:03:00.003-05:00

Following are some recent family pictures. Most are self-explanatory. There is one from Evan's first Royals baseball game. There is also another of him on his first horse ride and another of him in front of an old firetruck at the Fire Museum. Hope you all enjoy these.

pictures of family

2011-06-11T12:10:00.002-05:00

Here are some pictures that I took a couple of months ago.
Great Grandpa with Lydia

Evan dressed up as Goliath. This is something he came up with by himself after we told the David and Goliath story to him.

Mother's Day Pictures

2011-05-09T10:37:00.002-05:00

us with Christine's parents, William and Jane.
Us at Lydia's dedication at Frederick Boulevard Baptist
Lydia in Christine's dress.

Isn't she cute?

more Israel pictures and Easter pictures.

2011-04-30T22:29:00.005-05:00

Following are some recent pictures of the family and I have some more pictures from Israel. Enjoy! There are more where these came from.
Lydia at one month old.
Lydia in her Easter outfit that Aunt Kathy gave her.
The family at the church's Easter egg hunt.
This is us on the way to church on Easter Sunday...He is Risen, he is risen, indeed. Lydia is wearing a dress that Christine wore her first Easter.
Christine, Lydia and Evan on a walk the other day.
This was taken at the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall. I had thought it was a part of the wall that was left over from the temple but it is actually a retaining wall left over from the temple.
This was taken at a tea shop we walked by.
The Dome of the Rock which is at the Temple Mount, where the original temples were.
This was taken at the Dead Sea. That was a real highlight of the trip. I was able to float in it effortlessly.
This is me at Qumran, which is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.
Speaking of Easter, following are some pictures from the Garden Tomb. This is believed to be Golgotha, which meant the place of the skull. If you use your imagination a bit, you can see the skull in the rock there but this picture doesn't do it much justice. This was right by where Jesus was buried and rose again.
This is inside the tomb.
This one shows the entrance to the tomb.
The sign on the door, obviously added later. This is from Matthew 28:6.

More Israel and more Lydia

2011-04-08T22:50:00.003-05:00

Following are more pictures from Israel and more pictures of Lydia and the family. I hope you enjoy these.
Here is a guy that was selling and making falafels on the street in Jerusalem. We ate so many felafels in our time in Israel but never got any on the street like this. We really did enjoy the food there, especially all the different breads, cheeses, olives and the hummus.
This is an Orthodox Jewish couple walking down the street in the Old City in Jerusalem. They have a Russian background. The Russian Orthodox Jews usually wear these big fuzzy hats.
Here is a street sign for the Via Dolorosa, which is the route where Jesus carried the cross. This sign in written in Hebrew, Arabic and English.
This is Evan being a cowboy and using a string as his rope. The rest of these are pretty self-explanatory. These were mostly taken about 2 weeks ago. I hope you enjoy them all and I hope to get some more recent ones on.

Israel, part 2

2011-03-26T21:10:00.003-05:00

Some more pictures from Israel...
At the Pool of Bethesda. This is where a lame man was healed by Jesus (see John 5:1-14).
At the Garden of Gethsemane. These are olive trees. There was originally a olive oil press in this area. This remindes us that Jesus was crushed for our sins (Isaiah 53:5).
Me with the Old City of Jerusalem in the background.
The Old City in the background with the Domoe of the Rock in the center. This is where the Jewish temple was and also where Abraham offered to sacrifice Isaac.
The ruins at Bet' Shean. This was a Roman/Byzantine city that we were able to tour.

more pictures of Lydia and family

2011-03-26T20:23:00.004-05:00

These are kind of out of order. They show the last few days since we came home from the hospital. Enjoy!

Lydia looking at herself in the mirror. There is a picture of Evan like this when he was recently born.
Lydia with her purple hyacinth. Remember that the Lydia of the Bible sold purple cloth. We will be able to plant this one and see it come back every year.

Lydia, part 2

2011-03-22T20:30:00.009-05:00

Here are some more pictures of Lydia. These were all taken today. Most are pretty self-explanatory. Enjoy!
In the background there you can see some artwork that was brought courtesy of Audrey and Evan.

Dr. Brennaman, Christine's doctor and the one that delivered Lydia.

with Pastor Shawn, aka Man vs Wild. He is my new hunting and fishing buddy.

Israel pictures, part 1

2011-03-22T20:03:00.006-05:00

Following are some pictures from my recent trip to Israel.
Here is me at Gideon's spring, which is where he picked his 300 men.
A sunrise at the Sea of Galilee. My favorite part of the trip was in the Galilee area.“
Matthew 4:15-16- Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, along the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.”
Olives at market in Tiberias. I really enjoyed the food on this trip. Olives, hummus, bread and cheese were a big part of that.
Jordan River
The synagogue at Capernaum where Jesus would have taught and done miracles. These are the ruins from a 4th century synagogue that was built on the one from Jesus' time.
John 6:59- 'He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.'
Caeserea Phillipi, which is where Peter said that Jesus was the Son of the Living God and Jesus replied that he was Peter and upon this rock he would build his church. See Matthew 16:13-19
mountains surrounding galilee
Me on the boat ride on the Seas of Galilee.
Sea of Galilee from hotel
Israeli flag

Lydia Reva Haley

2011-03-22T16:39:00.006-05:00

These first 3 were taken over the weekend before Lydia was born.

Here is Audrey and Evan meeting little Lydia. Evan did real well meeting her, especially at first. He was singing to her and waving to her. Then she started crying and he told her to stop. He jumped down off the bed and said 'I don't like this, I'm going for a walk!' He came around a bit later before he left but it was pretty funny to see.
Here is mommy, Lydia and nurse Sharon, who helped us so much.
Here she is with Pipa.
Here she is with Ginga.
Here she is with us.

Fresh out of the oven.
She was born at 4:52 pm on March 21, 2011. She weighed 7 pounds and 4 ounces and was 20 and a half inches long. She is named after Lydia in the Bible (Acts 16:11-15), who was a woman of faith and service. We pray that she is able to follow the example of the Lydia of the Bible. Reva is a family name from Christine's family. The story goes that it was the name of the French nurse who was there at the time of Christine's grandmother's birth. We thank you for remembering us and praying for us. Please continue to do so. Also, please keep posted as I hope to put more pictures.

recent videos and pictures

2010-10-07T19:24:00.007-05:00

Here's Evan with a soapy beard.
Here's Evan at his great-grandpa's on 'his way to church.' This is what he says when he gets on this getup and that is something he came up by himself.
Evan and cousin Audrey checking out some lawn mowers in front of a hardware store, when we went to go check out Uncle Paul's and Aunt Laura's farmer's market.
Some cool-looking clouds but I'm not sure where I saw this but it was pretty impressive.
Following are some videos that have been taken over the last couple of months.
Here is Evan with his 'guitar.'
Evan saying the strategy statement of our church and our sponsor church.
Evan on a tractor at a farm for kids.
It's a long and interesting story but here is Evan saying goodbye to the 'Hoopty.'

recent videos with new video camera

2010-08-12T23:19:00.005-05:00

Here are some videos from earlier this summer. I still have some more to put on. Mostly, these were taken on our way home from Wisc. in June.
Here is some video we took before leaving our Ugandan friends in Wisconsin.
This and the next one were taken in Dubuque, Iowa on this cable car that took you to the top of the bluff to see the town and surrounding area.

Here is the state capitol of Iowa, in Des Moines. We passed by it on the way home.
This last one was taken in the car on the way home and has Evan talking about our trip. The Shabala thing is the name of a South African soccer player and we had a lot of fun with that name.
Well, I guess this is all for now.

Wisconsin trip

2010-06-27T05:32:00.006-05:00

The following pictures were taken this last week on our trip to Wisconsin to see some Ugandan friends there. We really had a great time and it was a great reunion. I'm going to put a summary of the pictures up here because the program is not working right and will not allow me to put captions w/ the pictures.
1. & 2.- The first couple of pictures show Evan with some metal cows in Iowa at the beginning of the trip.
3. We should put this guy in the circus.
4. At a roadside park in Wisconsin.
5. Evan dancing with his new friend, Lizzie.
6. The kids (Evan, Zion and Lizzie) in the stroller on a stroll on the nature trail on the way to the lake.
7. Solomon, Cissy, Zion and Lizzie. It was so great to see these guys. It had been almost 8 years since I had seen Solomon and Cissy and obviously, the first time to see their kids. It was also nice for Christine and Evan to meet some new friends.
8. Cynthia with Evan and Christine.
9. The boys.
10. Lake Nabugabo 2.0. Back in Uganda we had retreats at Lake Nabugabo and this was a brief replay of that. I'm not sure of the name of this lake but Madison is full of them.
11. Walking and holding hands.
12. At the Madison zoo.
13. Me and Solomon at a Brewers game in Milwaukee. This was our third country and continent. I met him in Uganda, spent some time with him and his family in England on the way home and met him again in Wisconsin. God is a faithful God.
14. Us again, me in a Uganda soccer shirt and Solomon in a USA one.
15. The whole gang.

recent pics and a video

2010-06-15T23:19:00.005-05:00

Here are some recent pics and a video. I'm just going to write the description for everything here at the beginning because it tends to jumble everything up anyway. The first couple of pictures were taken during a visit from Uncle Paul, Aunt Laura and cousin Audrey. There is one of Evan listening to Uncle Paul reading and there is another one of Audrey and Evan watching Sesame Street together. The next one show Evan at a park last Saturday during Ginga's Art Event in the park. The last 3 pictures or so were taken at Evan's first baseball game last Friday at the St. Joseph Mustangs (a local college wood bat team). A great time was had by all and the Mustangs won!
The video shows Evan doing the 'Elmo dance'. You'd have to be a regular viewer of Sesame Street to know what I am talking about.

recent videos/pics and Happy Summer!

2010-06-05T23:51:00.003-05:00

Here's a couple of recent pictures that we took. The first one shows me and Evan in his little turtle pool. This is something that he really likes. The 2nd picture shows me with a 3 pound catfish that I caught last week. While this isn't the biggest fish I have ever caught, I am quite sure it is the biggest catfish I have ever caught.

Lastly, are some videos. The first one shows him sliding during his 2nd bday celebration. The 2nd one shows him at his bday celebration saying that he is 2 and trying to hold his fingers up to show that he is two as well. The third one shows him baaing like a sheep and hopping. I hope you have enjoyed these all.

Happy birthday Evan!

2010-05-25T20:21:00.004-05:00

These first two pictures were taken today when we went to McDonald's for Evan's birthday. He is two now and that is really hard to believe. We didn't have much of a celebration but it was a special day. We will celebrate his birthday on Memorial Day with the family up here. Evan has on a crown from Aunt Karen. He was making funny faces so I took his picture. It was kind of funny every time we would say 'happy birthday, Evan', he would say 'Happy birthday cake.' Evan on the lawn mower at Uncle Paul's. This was taken of Evan and mommy at the park on mommy's birthday last week. I saw this one day when I needed a reminder of God's grace. Thanks to Jesus and what he did on the cross, we have God's grace available to us.
Following are some videos that were taken over the last couple of months. These videos show different things but are mostly of Evan but there are a couple I took at the Andrew Peterson concert and one that I took of the Missouri River.

April of 2010

2010-05-02T23:24:00.008-05:00

Following are some pictures that have been taken over the last few weeks. They are out of order with the more recent ones being first and the older ones being last. There is a problem with the captions. They are all in order but are not by the pictures they are describing. I'm not sure what happened but I think you all can figure them out. I am sorry it has been a while since the last post as things have been quite busy here recently.
The first couple show a beautiful sunset I saw the other day as I was fishing. The fishing wasn't real great (only one nice crappie) but I had a great time in God's creation.

This one shows Evan in the 'fields.' It is kind of a long story of why he calls our gardens fields but that is what he says. We have planted peppers, tomatoes and some herbs in our 'fields.'
Here is Evan in a tractor at a kid's day out.
This one and the next one show Evan and some folks from the church during a nature walk that we went on a couple of weeks ago after church.

This was taken on a pedestrian bridge in Omaha. The bridge goes from Nebraska to Iowa crossing the Missouri River. Christine and I took a short trip there a couple of weeks ago to see Andrew Peterson (one of my favorites) in concert and to do a bit of sightseeing. Omaha is a interesting town and we are really wanting to go back. I don't have a picture but we did stop by Rosenblatt. Didn't catch a game but hope to do that in June if they Horns make it there.
Here is Christine on the same bridge in Omaha.
Here is Evan in by our tulips.
This one shows Evan asleep in his carseat.
Well, I guess this is all for now. I have some videos to post from the last month as well. I will try to do that some time this week.

Happy Spring!

2010-04-08T08:24:00.005-05:00

Here's Evan holding a baseball. He has begun to play and can throw and catch pretty well.
Here he is at the mall on a fire truck.
Here we are on a carousel at the mall.
Evan has recently begun to sleep in a toddler bed. Here he is in his big boy bed. That is what we call it with him.
Here is Evan when he turned 22 months old. It is hard to believe but he will be two at the end of May.
He has big shoes to fill.
Here he is in his Easter outfit that Gigi sent him.
Here he is hunting Easter eggs.
Here is Evan and Audrey looking at books.
Here is Daddy and Evan. This is us on the front porch. We have spent quite a bit of time on the front porch and in the front yard here recently because the weather has been so nice.
The following are videos showing pretty much the same things as the pictures. In the first one you can hear him say 'all right.' The last one shows him running around church on Easter. I can say that was before church, thank God but he has done a bit of that with people there.

Happy Spring!

2010-03-22T21:22:00.003-05:00

Here's Audrey and Evan with Uncle Paul Here's Evan with Great-Grandpa. We were celebrating Great-Granpa's birthday. He is a really great guy and I wish you all knew him. Here is Evan at Dad's day out learning how to play golf. The 2nd video shows him playing golf. Look out Phil Mickelson! Here is Evan looking at his Longhorn football book. Thanks Aunt Libby (this was the white elephant gift I received last Christmas.) It now belongs to Evan. At least he let me finish reading it. The first video here shows him looking at the book. By the way, he can say Texas and Longhorn. Longhorn doesn't come out to clearly but he can say it.

I took this video today. It shows whas it left of the four inches of snow that fell on Saturday, the first day of spring.
This last one shows him playing golf in our yard with a baseball bat.
I hope you all enjoyed these. As I close, I have a prayer request. It is for a guy by the name of Freddy. Freddy comes from a Christian family and knows the Lord. The problem is that his wife is not a Christian and he is away from God in his relationship now. Pray that God would bring him back and help him lead his family to God as well. Freddy's mom and younger brother come to our church but he hasn't, mainly because his wife doesn't want him to go. Again, just pray for him and his family.

pics and videos

2010-03-11T22:33:00.002-05:00

Following are a couple of recent pictures of Evan. The first one is of him in his shopping cart car at the grocery store. I also have a video of him in the car as well. He had a blast in there. The 2nd picture shows him looking at some chicks at the local hardware store. The videos are pretty self-explanatory. A couple of them show some new tricks that he has started recently. One shows him climbing up into his high chair. Another one shows him catching which is something he has learned to do recently.

recent pictures and videos

2010-02-26T16:31:00.006-05:00

Here is Evan with his tractor book. He really loves tractors.
Here we are sledding. He also loves to go sledding. He calls the sled his 'barco' which means boat in spanish. I'm not sure if this winter is ever going to end. We got over a foot of snow this last weekend.
Here is Miguel and Griselda. They are leaving town and we are sorry to that they are leaving. They have been with us this last year and have been one of the families that have been more involved. They were also baptized in our church last summer. They are moving to Minnesota and they will be with some of his brothers there. They are Christians there and have a good church there as well. Pray that God will continue to bless and use this beautiful family.
Here is Evan at Ginga and Pipa's (Evan's names for Christine's parents) with a tractor that they won at the farm show.
Here is a picture of Evan and Audrey sledding together. They really had a lot of fun.
Following are some videos I took the other day. I'm having to put the explanations of the videos before the videos because it won't let me put them with them for some reason.
These first two were taken of him looking at his tractor book. In the 2nd one, I ask him who drives a tractor and he says- 'Paul.'
The third one is 'Pants on the ground.' Evan often likes to pull his pants down. I hope this is not a sign of things to come.
The fourth one shows him trying to feed our fish, Colt. This is something he started doing on his own.
The last one shows him laughing and saying 'All gross.' I don't even know what we were talking about but we said that and he started copying us and he thought it was the funniest thing. Well, I guess this is all for now.

new videos and pictures

2010-02-15T12:06:00.003-05:00

Here are a couple of pictures that I took yesterday of Evan and Christine. Evan is wearing a hat that is from Nicaragua that a Nicaraguan family in our church gave him. He also has his drawing board that he loves so much. One of these pictures is a action shot of him drawing. He will tell us different things that he likes to draw, things like balls and cars.

These are videos of Evan dancing. I had put one of these on before but for some reason it didn't work for everyone.
Well, I guess this is all for now. Hope you enjoy these all.

recent pics

2010-02-08T22:19:00.006-05:00

Here's a recent picture of Audrey, also known as Evan's partner in crime. Here is Evan wearing Audrey's cowboy hat. This and the next picture show a trip I took ice fishing a bit north of here. This was a program put on by the conservation department and was quite interesting. It was my first time to go ice fishing. We really don't have a whole lot of that in Texas! I didn't end up getting anything but not many people did. I'm glad for the experience and hope to go out again some time. The first picture shows the hole and my tackle on my sled. The second picture shows the lake that is frozen over and some of the other people that went. Here's Evan. This is a picture of Evan that was taken at the farm show last weekend. He really enjoyed seeing the tractors and the different displays. As for an update on the church- We celebrated our one year anniversary last weekend and that went quite well. We had a good turnout and it was a special time to celebrate. Keep praying for our church as we continue to seek the Lord and serve Him.
Here's a video of Evan dancing to close with. He is dancing to his new 'Slugs, Bugs and Lullabies' cd by Andrew Peterson and Randall Goodgame. This is the best kid's music album that I have heard. One review of it said it is an album that you can listen to hundreds of times without wanting to stick a fork in your ear. It comes highly recommended.

Recent pictures and Colt McCoy

2010-01-13T22:08:00.006-05:00

Here's a cute picture I took of Evan and Christine when we were down in Texas. Here's Evan's new favorite activity, basketball. He learned this from Aunt Becca when we were down in Texas. Here's Evan chewing on a rib during my birthday dinner at Rib Crib. These next three pictures show Evan playing in the snow. It was finally warm enough we could get outside. The last few weeks have been all below freezing and most of that has been below 15 or 20 and some below 0. Here is a picture of our house in the snow. If you look at the sidewalk, you can see the perspective of how deep the snow is. It finally started melting today as it got above freezing.
Here's a video of Evan playing in the snow.

To close, I just wanted to write something about Colt McCoy. He is someone that I've enjoyed watching football but more important than that he is a great person and someone that has encouraged me in my faith. Recently, he taught me something about dealing with disappointment and giving a great testimony in the face of disappointment. I will post a clip of the video and his words as well. We all know the situation. His dream had been to win a national championship and two minutes into the game he was knocked out of the game. We all know Texas would have won if he had played but he had to miss his last game in the burnt orange. At the end of the game, the reporter asked him how he felt watching his last game from the sidelines. Most of us would have probably hit the reporter in the mouth or said, what, are you crazy, what do you think? Not Colt, this is what he said- "I always give God the glory. I never questioned why things happen the way they do. God is in control of my life. And I know that if nothing else, I'm standing on the Rock." What a great answer! Colt, we'll miss watching you play for Texas and we know that God has great things for your life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVsSvx3UQOY -Here's a link to the video of his testimony.

It's Christmas time!

2009-12-19T22:23:00.003-05:00

I know it's been too long since my last post but things have been pretty crazy. I hope you all enjoy these anyway. This will be a little something to whet my family's appetite before we head down there.
All I want for Christmas is you! This was taken at today's Christmas celebration.
Evan loves hats. Here he is with Daddy's hunting hat.
Evan and Audrey up at the Crown Center last night. This is another fun Evans' Christmas tradition (not riding in wagons, but going up to the Crown Center).
Here's Evan in a Santa hat at my work Christmas party.
Here's a video of Evan and Audrey with Christine at the piano. I got this one at today's Christmas celebration at the in-laws.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-28T11:36:00.005-05:00

Following are some recent pictures. They are mostly from our Thanksgiving celebration but there are some others from earlier this fall. Sorry it has been a while since my last posting.
Here is Evan and I at King Hill Baptist's Fall Festival. We got to ride this horse, go on a hay ride and have other fun.
Here's a picture of a sunset that I took on the hay ride.
Here's a picture of me with the couple that I married a few weeks ago. I normally don't wear this suit but here it is for your enjoyment. I ask you to pray for this couple, Juan and Antonia as they have begun their lives together. Juan also made a decision to follow Christ, so I ask you to pray for him as he grows in his faith.
Here's a recent picture of Evan and Audrey kissing. I'm really glad that they are so close in age and live pretty close as well. They really get along well and have a lot of fun together as long as they aren't stealing toys from one another.
Here is Evan in his Thanksgiving bib.
Here's all the gang together, minus me, who was taking the picture and Evan who was cut out.
Messy Evan, part 1.
Messy Evan, part 2
Messy Evan, part 3. He ate quite a bit but he also threw quite a bit of his food as well.
Evan in his Ecuador hat. Evan and Audrey on the car together.
evan and audrey on car w/ cowboys on in the background. I'm glad the Cowboys and Longhorns won that day.
Evan and Audrey on the couch looking at books.
Well, I guess this is all for now. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and I hope you will continue to pray for our ministry and our family. We are planning for another baptism on Dec. 6.

recent videos

2009-11-09T23:59:00.003-05:00

Here's some recent videos of Evan. They mostly show him walking or playing in the leaves, but there is one that shows him showing off his dancing skills. I hope you enjoy them all.

pics, videos, testimonies and prayer request

2009-10-23T21:01:00.005-05:00

Here's Evan holding his pumpkin or ball as he calls it. Here's Evan and cousin Audrey looking at a book with Uncle Paul. We were able to see them and Laura tonight. Here's Evan in his Diego explorer hat. Evan can say hat now and has begun to play with hats quite a bit. The last picture shows that as well. Here's Evan and I in our Texas gear last Saturday for the Texas-OU game. I'm glad Texas won even if it was a bit ugly. Speaking of football and Texas-OU, there's a website I recommend that you check out. It is called www.iamsecond.com , it has video testimonies from Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford. hat & pumkin

This and the next video show Evan saying 'Amen' which is one of his new words.

Here is Evan walking and doing calisthenics. Here's Evan giving Mommy a kiss.
The last thing to mention is a prayer request. It is for a couple that is getting married in our church on Sunday. It's kind of a long story but I ask that you pray for Antonia and Juan as they begin their lives together. This will be the first wedding for me to perform. Pray especially for Juan who made a decision for Christ earlier this week. Pray that he grows in his new faith.

pics, a video and a prayer request

2009-10-12T21:19:00.004-05:00

Here are some recent photos that were taken on my cell phone, along with a video that I took today. These first three pictures were taken out at the pumkin patch. Evan had fun walking around the pumkins but he kept calling them balls. These next two signs were taken on the best street in St. Joseph, Texas Street. Here on the Southside they have streets named after states and here is the best one. Here's Evan with his hammer. Here's Evan's protective headgear. Well, we are doing well. We appreciate your prayers and ask you to continue to pray for our family and our ministry here. I want you to pray especially for Lesbia. I know that's a strange name but I was able to share with her some tonight. Pray that she will be ready to trust Christ for salvation. She says she's not quite ready but pray that God will work in her life to bring her to faith in Him. Her husband's family believes but she has not yet. She is also keeping her husband and child from church. Continue to pray for Sunday services (2:30 pm) and our midweek home Bible study (5:30) as well. It would be good if we could have people dedicated to praying at those times. Thank you all and God bless.
Here's a video of Evan with his new crash gear.

Videos of Evan walking

2009-10-09T09:01:00.002-05:00

Here are a couple of videos of Evan walking. This is his latest trick. As you can see, he is getting around pretty well. I know these are kind of short and not the best quality but they were taken on my cell phone. Hope you enjoy them any way.

2009-10-03T10:03:00.005-05:00

Here are some pictures that we have taken over the last month. We hope you enjoy them all. Evan likes to comb his hair, as you can see here. Here's Evan feeding the ducks and geese at the park. This was Labor day when we went to Jan and William's for a cookout. Here's a nice one of cousin Audrey. Here's Evan and Audrey in the car together. Here's Evan at his new Sesame Street workbench. Here's Evan with his Longhorn shirt that Grammie sent him. As you can see, Evan likes exploring a bit. Here's Evan with a nice harvest of our tomatoes. As you can see, our tomatoes did really well this year. Here's us with Pastor Paul Sheppard. He came to preach in Kansas City and we went to see him. Pastor Paul has been a big blessing in our lives. We have listened to him for years via radio but mostly internet, especially when we were in Ecuador. I encourage you to check him out at www.enduringtruth.org . We also had the blessing of meeting him there. The last few pictures were taken at our church's annual car show-Pathway to Victory. Here we are with a '48 Ford. This was my favorite one and the Plymouth Barracuda was Christine's favorite. Evan really liked seeing all the 'cahs.' That is one of the words that he knows really well and kept saying it that day.
Here's a video of Evan swinging at Grandma and Grandpa's on Labor day. I'm not sure why but there's no sound on it. I know this is a different camera than the one we have used before. It's kind of a shame because the sound can be the best part.

pics of Evan w/ a prayer request

2009-09-21T23:06:00.002-05:00

Here are some recent pics of Evan. I took the first three of him today and the last one was taken last week. I also have a prayer request to share.
This one was taken at a park that is near our house.
This next two show him sitting in a chair that he had climbed up onto. He is starting to climb onto the couch and onto chairs quite a bit. He has also climbed stairs as well.

This last one was taken at a bouncy house we had at the community resource fair last week. The event well but didn't have as many people as I had hoped. As I close, I ask you to pray for a Bible study we will be starting on Wednesday, Sept 23. It is based on the book- 'The Purpose Driven Life' by Rick Warren. Pray that many will be blessed because of what God will do in our group through this study.

St. Louis trip

2009-09-06T18:18:00.005-05:00

The following pics were taken during our trip to St. Louis last weekend.
One of the highlights was going to catch a Cardinals game there. Here is one of the main entrances to the stadium. The next one was taken before the game as we were walking in close to the field. It was quite an exciting game as I got to see John Smoltz pitch and Albert Pujols hit a walk off home run to win the game 3-2. I'm not a Cardinals fan but they have one of the best stadiums that I have been to.

Here's me with my friend Sean Boone. He is planting a church in St. Louis. We met him and his family at a church planting training a few months ago and were able to stay with his family. Please pray for Sean's family and their church.
Here is us with a camel that we saw at Grant's Farm while we were in St. Louis. Evan really enjoyed seeing the animals there.
Here is the head of a Ankole Longhorn cow. They have these in Uganda where I lived and they had some there at the farm that were hanging out with some Texas Longhorns. I wasn't able to get a picture of the live ones as they were too far away but I did get this picture.
These last few pictures were taken in an area of St. Louis known as The Hill. It is a predominantly Italian-American area. It was quite interesting to see. We were able to eat there at an Italian sub place and the food was really great. I think there is a picture of the place there, Amighetti's.

This last one was taken at Forest Park and is a nice one of Evan. Well, I guess this is all for now.

Recent pics.

2009-09-05T13:30:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to post a few recent pics as I know it has been a while. I have some from our St. Louis trip that I want to post later today or tomorrow. I hope you enjoy them.
Here's Evan wearing his food.
This was taken of me, Evan with a couple of Guatemalan friends from our church. In the background is the Missouri River. This is a place that we've gone walking a few times recently and it is quite nice. I ask you to pray for these folks and for the rest of the Guatemalan community here in St. Joseph. Pray that God would work in their lives, drawing them to himself.
Another cute one of Evan eating.
This last one was taken at City Market in Kansas City. We were able to hear this lady play the harp and Evan just loved it. Guess this is all for now. Keep posted for the other pictures.

2009-08-24T00:45:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to put a few pics and video from my cell phone. Sorry it's been a while since the last post. Things have been quite hectic but have been going well overall. Thank God that he's still God and we're not Him.
Here is Evan after he fell into the clothes basket that he was leaning into. Here is Miguel after going fishing w/ me yesterday. He went for the first time yesterday and caught the two big bass there. I caught the smaller one and some other smaller ones that I threw back. Miguel goes to our church w/ his family. He was baptized w/ his wife a few weeks back. Pray that he'll be a fisher of men, as well as a fisher of fish. The next couple of pics and the one video show one of Evan's favorite pasttimes of riding his lawn mower.

recent cell phone pics and videos

2009-08-09T23:47:00.005-05:00

Here's some recent cell phone pics and a couple of videos from my cell phone as well. This is the family of Reinaldo and Beatriz. They are a family that has been a part of our church. They come from El Salvador and are moving to Iowa. As they move, I ask for you all to pray for them. Pray that they'll find a great church where they are moving to. They are a great family and we are going to miss them. This was taken of Evan yesterday. Here's some of our wonderful harvest of homegrown tomatoes. Like the song says, there's only two things that money can't buy and that's true love and homegrown tomatoes. We've had quite a good crop this year and others have given us some as well. I don't think I've ever eaten so many tomatoes in all my life. I'm not complaining, though. Here's Evan reading with mommy. Reading is one of his favorite activities, along with dancing, playing ball, eating and being cute.
Following are three recent videos taken on my cell phone. There is one of him reading with mommy and the other two show his new trick of feeding me.

Guatemala, part 4 and recent pics

2009-08-07T23:29:00.008-05:00

Here are some recent pictures and the last of the Guatemala pictures.
These first couple of pics were taken at our church's baptism a few weeks ago. This first one shows the baptism of Miguel and Griselda. They have an amazing testimony and it's fun to see what things God is doing in their lives as well.
This picture is of Luis getting baptized. Luis has a great testimony as the Lord has saved Him and delivered him from alcoholism. The Lord has also healed him of diabetes These next ones are of Evan.

http://stjoechannel.com/content/video/?watch=1&cid=73262&shr=addthis
As I put this link, I want to let you know about it. It is a link to see a clip about our trip to Guatemala on the local St. Joe news. They ended up interviewing me and showing some footage and pictures from our trip. Just cut and paste this link in your browser and it should work.
An interesting bridge in Chichicastenango. Say that a few times fast. We just drove through this town but they are famous for their market.
This bus tried to run us over and then passed us on a curve.
This was overlooking two volcanoes and Lake Atitlan.
This was taken in Antigua and shows a volcano in the background. We stopped in Antigua to do a bit of shopping and sightseeing.
This lady was weaving some tapestries and different types of cloth. I ended up buying something from her and visiting with her a little bit.
These last three pictures were taken in Guatemala City. We were able to spend one night there and had a bit of time in the morning to spend before flying out. We were close to the main plaza and that was pretty interesting. That is where these photos were taken. This first one is what is considered their capitol building.
The next two show the National Cathedral, one with me and the other without.

As I close I continue to ask you to pray for our ministry and church here in St. Joe and for the partnership in Guatemala. We know that God will use your prayers in mighty ways to expand His Kingdom. We have definitely seen that in the past and will continue to see it in the future. Pray for continued direction, guidance and leadership in both projects. We have started a home Bible study (in Miguel and Griselda's house) and that is starting well. Pray for that and for a community resource fair that we are planning for Sept. 13. Guess this is all for now.

Guatemala, part 3 and Evan

2009-08-01T22:10:00.009-05:00

Here are some more pics from Guatemala (will have one more round after this), some pics of Evan, and a couple of short videos. This and the following pictures are from the ruins at Gumarcaaj. This was basically the capitol of the Kingdom of Quiche (which was a major Mayan group) before and as the Spanish came. It was mostly destroyed by the Spanish as they came, hence the term 'ruins.' That was kind of a joke on our trip, these ruins are ruined. The site is still sacred to some of the locals and as one of the pictures indicate, they still offer sacrifices here. Gumarcaaj is on top of hill surrounded by ravines. One of the pics shows the view looking out. These pictures really don't do too much justice to the site as it was quite interesting, more interesting than the photos might indicate. Here's the picture of some guys offering sacrifices. They do these for a variety of reasons. Thank God that in Christ his sacrifice was the complete and final sacrifice for us. These ladies were making tortillas. This was something really neat to see. This was in a tortilleria, where they make tortillas. Sometimes, you could see the ladies clapping in rhythm and singing as they made them. By the way, no tortilla press here, as they make them by hand. This was a family from church that we worked with quite a bit. Please be praying for Aron, his mom Bilda and his sister. Aron and his mom accompanied us on visits and the services and Aron and his sister were at the youth training. They all desire to serve God and grow in their relationship with Him. This is Pastor David and his family. They were a pleasure to work with and get to know. They are a great family and are really advancing the Kingdom there in Santa Cruz. Please pray for this precious family as well. Pray as they continue the work there and continually pray for our church's partnership. This was El Campero, which is Guatemala's version of KFC. I actually had heard that they ran KFC out of Guatemala. It's basically kind of a fast food place w/ fried chicken but they have a lot of other stuff there as well. We had breakfast and supper there all week. It was good but we were a bit tired of it by the end. The church set us up w/ lunch and I think I showed a couple of pics of that. Here's some pics of Evan that I have taken today and yesterday. This was taken at the local soda fountain at the local drug store. We went in for the first time yesterday and it was quite interesting. I didn't even know it was there until recently. Everything is original in there and it's not just a tourist trap. Not too many tourists make it to the Southside of St. Joe. These next two show Evan getting his first haircut. His curls were just getting a little too long, so we decided to trim them up a bit. This was Evan's first ride on a merry-go-round. He didn't like riding the horse too much but he liked it all right when I held him. This is Evan's new trick. I'll lay my head down and say sleep time and he'll do it as well. The video I'm putting on here shows this a bit but not as much as this picture does. These are some videos that I took with my cell phone. They may not have as much quality as the other ones I was putting on here but I wanted to get some on here and finally figured out how to make videos w/ my cell and put them on here. I'm not sure which one is which, but he kind of does his lying down trick in one of them and he does a sign for 'more' in another one toward the end of it. That is when he points his finger at his palm. He is actually doing it wrong but that is his sign for 'more' and he was responding to us speaking in Spanish. You might also be able to hear him say mas or something that sounds like it and that means more. He says that some and pan, which means bread. He is learning a few words in English mostly, words like ball, book, mama, baba (which can mean baby and or puppy) and dada/papa.

Guatemala, part 2

2009-07-29T22:07:00.003-05:00

Here's another installment of the Guatemala pictures. I'll have at least two more.
Here's a couple of the guys in this mototaxi. I rode this a couple of times. They are a lot of fun. I rode something similar when I went to Peru.
Another plate of Guatemalan joy. This is seafood. We were far from the coast but this was really great.
Here is a couple I saw selling these woven clothes and materials in the market. I ended up buying some things from them. They were what they call napkins to wrap their tortillas in but they can be used as tablecloths or placemats. They have some really beautiful things there.
Here's me with my friend's family. They are family of a Guatemalan friend that I know here in St. Joe. It's a small world. I had their contact info and was able to visit them a few times and that was nice.
Here is a Tortilleria, or a place where they make tortillas.

This first picture is me with Pastor David to my left and Rony (our guide and driver) to my right. Both of these guys were great.
Here is our team, from left to right, James, Bradshaw, me, Brandon, Jordan, Rony and Adam.
These next couple of pictures are of some buildings in downtown Santa Cruz.
This is one of my favorite pics from the trip and it shows part of the City Hall and the main Catholic Church there.
Bananas, these were very sweet like the ones we had in Ecuador.

recent pics and Guatemala pics, part 1

2009-07-26T21:08:00.005-05:00

Here are some recent pictures and some pictures from the Guatemala trip. Sorry it has taken a while to get these Guatemala ones on.
These first two pics were taken at the Rangers-Royals game the other night, a game that my Rangers won 2-0. The 2nd picture here is of Josh Hamilton.

I had this little visitor come to the church office earlier this week.
Well, it's been a month since I left for Guatemala. We had a great trip. We mostly did evangelism but a few other projects as well. We worked with kids, did some touring and I did a Sunday school training. We mainly worked with a local church there that was a ton of help.
This picture was taken of the city from the top of our hotel. We went to Santa Cruz del Quiche.
This is a street scene in Santa Cruz.
Another one taken from the top of the hotel of a foggy morning. Things like this and many other things reminded me of Ecuador.
Here's some ladies walking down the street, carrying things on their heads. We saw a lot of this and that was quite interesting.
This and the rest of the pictures were taken in a area on the edge of town called El Ensueno. This is an area that the church we are working with are hoping to start a church. There used to be a church that met there but then closed. The church we worked with has been going out there for a kid's project and we helped with that, did some visitation and had a couple of evangelistic meetings out there. I ask you to pray for the church we worked with as they continue in their work and pray especially for Barrio El Ensueno.
Here is a picture of some kids taken during our project w/ the kids.
This is a plate of pure Guatemalan joy. Guatemalan food is fairly similar to Mexican food and I'm talking real Mexican food, not Tex-Mex. It is still unique from Mexican, though. It is different from Ecuadorian. We ate very well on this trip. What is shown here is grilled meat, tortillas, black beans, guacamole, and a baked potato w/ cheese. We ended up making tacos w/ the various ingredients. I think this is the best meal I had while there.
Here's a guy going off to work in the fields or returning from there.
Now, if you ladies think you have it rough cooking- just look at this. This lady was cooking on a comal over coals. She was cooking some handmade tortillas and frying fish.
Here is a cornfield. Corn is the main staple in Guatemala and we saw cornfields everywhere and we ate a ton of delicious corn tortillas.
Well, I guess this is all for now. I still have quite a few Guatemala pics to put on, so stay posted for those and keep praying for the ministry here and in Guatemala.

recent cell phone pics-May- July

2009-07-19T23:00:00.005-05:00

Following are some random pictures taken on my cell phone over the last couple of months. I hope you enjoy them. As I post these, I wanted to let you all know that we had the baptism service today and it went really well. We had a lot of visitors and it was a very special time. Thanks for your prayers. Just pray that God will continue to bless us.
This was taken at Evan's bday celebration at our church.
Here was Evan's first fishing trip. Too bad we didn't catch anything that day.
Didn't catch anything that day but was able to see this beautiful sunset.
This was taken at Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City. It is the best KC bbq that I have had yet. If you are in the KC area, it is well worth your time to go there. There's also a local place here in St. Joe, called Spanky & Buckwheat's that is well worth a visit as well.
Evan is beginning to use his spoon.
Evan got in a fight with some food and the food won.
This was taken of the San Diego Chicken, who came to a local game of the St. Joe Mustangs- a local college wood bat team. This was the first year for the Mustangs and they had a good year. I ended up going to three games.
I took this one of Evan and it came out kind of distorted and interesting-looking.
Here's Evan and Christine.
This was taken on Evan's first camping trip. We went a few weeks ago w/ my in-laws and had a great time. I got to go fishing as well and did all right.
Here is Evan getting out of the space under the sink. He was crawling up in there one day and I got this picture. As you can imagine, he likes to get into everything.
Here's the little guy. He is such a happy boy.
Here he is with a couple of other kids at church.
I got this picture the other day of a storm that was moving in. It was really beautiful to see.
I took this one of Evan on the swing the other day when we went to the park.
Well, I guess this is all for now. I hope to start getting some Guatemala pics on in the next couple of days.

back from Guatemala

2009-07-09T22:43:00.009-05:00

This is just a short note to let you all know that I've made it back from Guatemala. I've actually been back a few days. We had a great trip and I really want to thank you all for praying for our time there. I will have to post some pics and let you all know more about it later on. For now, I just had some videos that I wanted to post. These were all taken before my trip. I hope you enjoy them.

As I close I want to ask you to pray for the church that we worked with in Guatemala. Pray that they will continue to reach out to their community. The name of their church is Pueblo de Dios. Pray for Pastor David DeJesus and his family as well. They are wanting to start a new church in an area called El Ensueno on the edge of town and I ask you to pray for them in that as well. Pray for the 6 folks that made decisions to follow Christ during our time there. We also ask you to pray for others that are still considering decisions to follow Christ. I guess this is all for now but I will share pics and more details from the trip later on.

We are in country

2009-06-28T10:19:00.002-05:00

Just a quick note to let you all know that we have arrived in Guatemala. It was quite a long trip but we are here. This is such a beautiful place and I know the Lord is going to bless our time here. Just continue to pray that God will use us and guide our steps.

videos & Guatemala trip prayer requests

2009-06-26T23:56:00.005-05:00

This is a video of Evan with his daddy on Father's Day.
Here's Evan's new trick. You can see that he is sticking his tongue out on part of this one.
Well, I guess this is all for now. I have more to put on later and I know I'll have some pictures from Guatemala as well. I'm actually leaving in just a few hours after a really crazy week. I know God carried me all the way through and now I ask you to pray that He'll carry us through our time in Guatemala. To update you, I started my other part time job (at a call center), will explain more later when I'm not leaving for Guatemala in a few hours. As we go to Guatemala, I want to mention these few requests here that you can lift up for us during our trip...
1. Pray that God will use this trip to change the way that we will see the world. Pray this especially for the guys who are going on a mission trip for the first time.
2. Pray for protection and safety throughout the trip.
3. Pray for the people that we will come into contact with- for believers that we'll be able to encourage and strengthen. Also pray for non-believers that we'll come into contact with. Ask that the Lord will open hearts to receive his message and pray that the Lord will show us what to say.
4. Pray for team unity and flexibility.
5. Pray for Christine and Evan as they stay here. Also continue to pray for the Hispanic ministry here as well. There are some exciting things happening, the main one being that we are planning our first baptism for July 19. Will have to fill you all in on the details later on.
I don't have too much else to say. I hope you have enjoyed these pictures and I hope you will be praying for us as well. Take care and God bless.

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T11:23:00.003-05:00

The following videos are from the last couple of weeks. I'm sorry I haven't put much on here recently. My camera is having problems and it seems that it doesn't work when there is too much light. The first video is of Evan eating in his high chair, mostly banging his spoon. The 2nd video was taken last week during our camping trip, which was Evan's first camping trip.

Now, I just want to wish a happy Father's Day to all the dads, especially to mine. I was able to get a few videos this morning and will try to put those on later on. I was able to get those videos in low light and it seemed to work. I may also have some pics from my cell phone to put on as well. I won't put any prayer requests on now but I hope to have a prayer newsletter put out this week. I do have a answer to one prayer request about finding a 2nd part time job. I found that and will be starting that tomorrow. Guess this is all for now. Take care, God bless and Happy Father's Day!

2009-05-31T11:03:00.006-05:00

Following are some recent pictures and videos. Most are from Evan's 1st birthday party, which was last Monday. I'm sorry there's not many pictures/videos and that I'm putting them on late. Our camera has been having some issues, so I haven't been able to take many pictures or videos. I may try to put some on here from my mother-in-law later on. Well, I hope you all enjoy these. This picture was taken a few weeks ago before Evan's bday. The rest of them are from his bday on May 25.
Evan with Grandma, Aunt Laura and Audrey on his bday.
Evan with daddy, looking at his panda bday cake that was made by mommy and Grandma.
Here's Evan with his Uncle Paul.
Evan with his first balloons. He really enjoyed these.
Evan eating his birthday lunch.
Evan with one of many gifts. This is his bathtub penguin from his Grammie.
Evan on his new truck from Daddy and Mommy. Audrey is also there. She came to the party as well. She will be turning one in about three weeks. These kids grow up too fast.
As I close, I want to mention some prayer requests.
1. First, I ask you to pray for the music minister of our sponsoring church (Frederick Boulevard Bapt) Chad Crooks and family. He just lost his brother the other night in a car accident. Please pray for God's comfort, peace and presence in this difficult time.
2. I also ask you to pray for some Guatemalan neighbors that we have met this last week. They seem pretty open and friendly. We pray that we'll have a good chance to minister to them. Pray in particular for Santos, who is looking for a job. There are four brothers living in one house, with one of the brother's wife and their family.
3. Speaking of Guatemala, I am preparing for a mission trip at the end of June with Frederick Boulevard Baptist. We are beginning the preparation and orientation. Pray for this time as we prepare and get ready. Also, pray for the trip and for the people that we will come in contact with.
4. I also ask you to pray for my Ugandan friend, Jackson and his wife Esther. Jackson was just accepted into a Masters program in Cleveland. Pray that God will provide the way for him to go. (Jackson is the friend I knew in Uganda and went recently to see him in Cincinnati.)
5. Please pray for a summer volunteer (Robin) that is coming to work in the St. Joe area this summer. She is bilingual and has a heart for missions and Hispanic ministry. We'll be meeting her today. Pray that she will have a good ministry here this summer and that God will show us how we'll be able to work together.
6. Lastly, I'm asking you to pray for a new part time job. I'm working with the church part time and had a job with HeadStart as well. The HeadStart job is ending for the summer, so I need something else. There are a few options, just pray that the right one will open up. If I have a good enough opportunity then I may not go back to HeadStart, so we'll just see what happens. We know that the Lord will provide.
Now, I want to close with some videos. These were all taken on Evan's birthday. Sorry there's only one that's long at all. As I mentioned, we have been having problems with our camera.

Recent cell phone pics

2009-05-19T20:50:00.000-05:00

The following are recent pics that I had taken on my cell phone. I hope you enjoy them. We have been doing well and are glad to be back home now. We went on the Cincinatti trip and were here for about 4 days before going to Texas last week. We had a great time there and it was great to see the family.
These were taken on the Cincinnati trip. He's so cute, he was wanting to kiss himself.

Here's Evan at home between trips in his Liga (favorite Ecuadorian soccer team) shirt.
She didn't have to take the whole trip this way! She was just in there for a bit to pack the trunk. In case you don't know, Christine is an expert packer.
Here's a picture of Evan with Papa and the cows. Evan liked being on the farm and he liked the cows, as long as they weren't too close to him.
Evan sleeping on the way back home. It was a long trip and he was a real trooper.
This picture was taken at the Rangers game in Arlington. I was able to go to go to the game last Friday night with a couple of Ft. Worth friends and it was nice, especially so that the Rangers won!
Evan sitting on the floor before our church service.
I took this one today.

cincinnati, part 2

2009-05-08T22:40:00.008-05:00

The following are some pics and videos from our recent trip to Cincinnati. We went there to catch up with some friends and we really had a great time. We went there to see some of Christine's friends from college that recently had a baby- Amelia, Andreas and Andrian. We also saw Jackson and met his wife Esther. We were also able to do a bit of sightseeing. I'll go ahead and apologize that the captions don'g quite go with the pictures, but I think you'll be able to figure them all out. I hope to be able to fix them but not now because it is quite late.
Here's Evan sitting in the grass at a rest stop. Welcome to Indiana! We drove through Indiana on the way to Cincinnati and it was really quite beautiful there- a lot of farms, old barns, rivers and forests. Here's Jackson and I. He is the first Ugandan student I've seen since leaving Uganda in September of '02. I knew him in Uganda, particularly at our Guy's Bible study there. Here's all the crew in Newport, Kentucky. Here's Jackson and Esther. Travelling wore Evan out a bit. Here's a nice picture of downtown Cincinnati with a the ballpark included. You knew that me the baseball nut had to take this picture. Too bad the Reds weren't in town and I didn't get to a game but I made it to this park last time and also gave Jackson a short lesson on baseball. These next three were taken at a couple of parks in Cincinnati. That was one thing we noticed about Cincinnati, is that there are a lot of beautiful parks and green areas. It is really a beautiful city and we enjoyed our time there. Here's a couple of pictures of Jackson, me and Evan. This picture was taken in Indianapolis on our way back to Missouri. We stopped there in the downtown canal area and got this picture there at a fountain. Think you could do this? I tell you that our kid has some talent and some flexibility. This last one was taken here at home on our porch and i just liked the pensive expression on Evan's face. As I close I just want to ask you all to pray for our friends that we saw in Cincinnati and I also ask you all to pray about a situation that happened here in the Hispanic community in St. Joseph. While we were away, there was a young Hispanic man that was killed. There was someone that paid to have him killed. As you can imagine, this is quite a shock to the community and has been quite a blow. I just ask that you can pray for the young man's family and for the hispanic community in general here.
Here's a video of Evan on the swing. I hope this one doesn't make you sick.
Here's Evan waving at some ducks. Sorry this one is kind of short.

trip to cincinnati, part 1

2009-05-08T11:36:00.002-05:00

Here's a video of Evan eating ice cream for the first time. You can see that he's a big fan. Too bad this video isn't any longer. I hope to put some more pictures and a couple of videos on later this evening.

2009-04-30T20:28:00.004-05:00

The following are pics that I have taken on my cell phone. The first couple are from a Royals-Yankees game I went to a few weeks ago. Too bad the Yankees won. It was kind of cool that night, as you can see. I'm there with a couple of friends from the Church. You can see Barbaro there. He is a Cuban guy I've mentioned before and he is wearing the tan coat. The other guy is Jose.

. This third picture is of the state Capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri. I went there this last weekend for a conference and drove around the Capitol
Here's Evan and Audrey with Grandma at the piano.
This last picture shows Evan with Angela. She is Miguel and Griselda's youngest daughter. They are one of our main families in the church. Miguel has done some visits with me and we are starting to disciple them as a couple. I ask you to pray for Miguel and his family. They have three young daughters. They also really want to serve the Lord and grow in their faith. I hope to put a picture of this family on at another time.
The following pics were taken by Jan of Evan's first Easter Egg Hunt.

The following pics were taken by Jan. The ones of Evan at the piano were taken on his 11 month birthday. It's hard to believe he's already 11 months old.

Well, I guess this is all for now. We'll be travelling over the next few days. We'll be headed to Cincinnati to see some friends there. Please pray for our trip and continue to pray for the church.

Spring is finally here

2009-04-19T21:10:00.006-05:00

Hello again. Spring is finally here. Well, at least I think so. It had started warming up in March and even a bit in February but it would still get cold and we even got snow at the end of March and beginning of April. I was wondering if it was ever going to stay warm. Well, it finally has been warm for a bit. I guess it could still get cold but it's been nice the last week or so. The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming and everything is finally turning green. I always enjoyed Spring in Texas but it feels a lot more powerful here. Of course, we didn't have seasons (besides rainy and dry) in Ecuador, so I guess that pronounces it a bit more as well. Well, we've had a good week and a good weekend. Evan's a bit sick now but is doing well overall. Following are a couple of pictures of him taken in our yard with the tulips. I'm glad the owner of the house planted these because we sure didn't.
The videos show Evan babbling some more. He has a new word and that is 'boogey'. He has started saying that quite a bit. He started saying it after I started saying boogityboogityboogityboo.

I want to close with a devotional thought. It's another excerpt from the book- 'The Indwelling Life of Christ' by Major Ian Thomas. I am yet to read the whole book but I am really wanting to get it now. I just found these excerpts on a website- www.rabbitroom.com . Well, I suppose this is all for now.

_________________________
You may have harnessed the energy of the flesh in an otherwise quite genuine desire to honor the Lord Jesus in your life. The flesh, which has its origin in Satan, will go along with you; to survive, it is quite prepared to engage in every form of Christian activity, even though this may seem to honor Christ.
The flesh will sing in the choir, teach Sunday school, preside at a deacons’ meeting, preach from the pulpit, organize an evangelistic crusade, go to Bible college, volunteer for the mission field, and a thousand other things, all of which may in themselves be otherwise legitimate, if only it can keep its neck out of the noose. The flesh will threaten, shout, strut, domineer, sulk, plot, creep, beg, pleased, or sob, whatever the situation may demand in the interests of its own survival. By any and all means it will seek to cause every Christian to live by his own strength instead of by the power and grace of the Lord Jesus, and to conclude that doing so is actually a good thing!
The characteristic of the spiritually immature is that they are unable to discern between good and evil (Hebrews 5:13-14), and the baby Christian, like the foolish Galatians, “having begun in the Spirit” still tries to be “made perfect by the flesh” (Galatians 3:3).
We must be particularly patient with those whose lack of understanding allows a genuine love for the Lord Jesus to be satisfied with, and sometimes to be quite enthusiastic about, Christian activities involving means and methods which are heavily contaminated by the flesh. These are more deserving of instruction than rebuke, for they are still in their spiritual babyhood.
True spiritual conviction is an activity of the Holy Spirit within the human spirit, and when the Holy Spirit begins to convict you of your immaturity, bearing witness to your conscience that the Lord Jesus Christ is being denied His rightful place in your life, the old Adam-nature within you becomes irritable and edgy. At the same time it will seek to produce the most plausible arguments in justification of its own illegitimate activities, even though these activities are only what the Bible calls “dead works” (Hebrews 6:1; 9:14) and not the “good works” which are truly the work of God.
“Good works” are those that have their origin in Jesus Christ, as Christ’s activity is released through your body because you present it to Him as a living sacrifice. You do this only by faith that expresses total dependence, as opposed to Adamic independence.
God does not honor men and women and their deeds or their books or their organizations. The Father in heaven delights to honor His Son. It is only the Life of the Lord Jesus - His activity, clothed with you and displayed through you - that ultimately will find the approval of God.

recent pics and videos

2009-04-13T20:23:00.009-05:00

Here are some recent pics and videos. Our Easter service went pretty well and we thank you for praying for it. These first two pics are from a recent daytrip to Atchison, Kansas. Atchison is about 30 miles south of here and is a neat little town. We rode a trolley there, went to a museum, and a little ice cream/sandwich shop. These two pics are from the trolley ride. Evan enjoyed it so much, as you can see in the 2nd pic. They had Blue Bell ice cream at the place we went to and that was really nice. Here's Evan with his Easter bunny doll that Grandma Evans gave him.
This one shows Evan looking at his Bible story book with me. Sorry that you'll have to turn your head sideways to see this one.
This one shows Evan with his bunny and also spinning around.
Here is Evan eating some cottage cheese. He has begun to feed himself and does quite well but it is also quite messy.
This last one shows Evan speaking his own little language. Here recently he has begun to babble this a lot- gogi, gogi...etc. It is quite cute.
Following is a blog post from rabbitroom.com that talks about what I wrote in the last prayer newsletter (about fully trusting in God and allowing Him to do His work). This is a lesson that I'm still learning but this following post was a good reminder in the lesson. I hope you enjoy it. I'm now intrigued to read the book where he got it.
Major Ian Thomas: When Doing Right is Wrong
POSTED BY Ron Block | 2 Comments »
(Note: This is from The Indwelling Life of Christ: All of Him in All of Me)

So long as Christians are busy doing for God what is best in their own eyes, they will never enter into His rest and the true inheritance that is theirs to enjoy now. They will only be sweating it out, and end up weary, discouraged, depressed. They will likely become deeply cynical.

They will finally want to quit, and quit they must. They must quit depending on self-effort, and instead recognize the Truth: ‘I cannot - God never said I could; but God can, and always said He would.’

True repentance says, ‘I cannot,’ and true faith adds, ‘But God, You can!’ Then you can reign in life as you let God be God, and you allow Him to show you that He is big enough for the job.

Reflect again on this truth: Righteousness is doing right in God’s eyes, and God alone is the author of righteousness. For any activity of yours or mine to produce righteousness, God Himself must be the source of it. Are you allowing Him to do this in your life?

prayer requests, videos and pics

2009-04-02T15:12:00.004-05:00

This 2nd picture shows Christine and Evan with our Ecuadorian friend, Teresa. This was Evan's only compatriot here in St. Joe but now she has moved back to Chicago. We had asked you to pray for her before and now want to ask you to pray for her again as she reestablishes her life in Chicago. She has family there, so that will be good for her but pray that God continues to work in her life.
Following are some recent prayer requests related to the ministry. I know I haven't been real good about updating you on that and putting up prayer requests. Things are going well overall and we're quite excited now. I'll also be putting some more videos of Evan on later this evening. Guess this is all for now.
1. Continue to pray for our special Easter service. Pray that many new people would come and that all would have an encounter with the crucified and Risen Saviour.
2. Pray especially for a couple that has come to our church, Carlos and Adela. They were bringing food to the church and visiting quite regularly for a while but haven't come too much the last few weeks. I have been able to visit them and have some contact with them. They are not Christians yet but are very open to accepting Christ. They are thinking about it and trying to make the decision. I pray that God will open their hearts to receive Him and serve Him.
3. Continue to pray for Nancy and Fidel. She has had health problems of her own but now her parents are dealing with some health issues. They both had recent operations and Nancy and Fidel went there to be with them for a while.
4. Pray for Reinaldo and Beatriz who recently lost their jobs. Beatriz also recently lost her mother back in El Salvador that she hadn't seen in over 13 years.
5. Pray for Ruth's relative who is having some health problems. She is waiting on some results for a test. Ruth is also a praise because she has begun to help me with music, so we praise and thank God for her.
6. Pray for Miguel, Griselda and their family. They are beginning some premarital counseling and they have also begun helping some in the church.
7. Also, pray for Brigida. I found out this afternoon that she has a tumor in her uterus. They don't know if it is cancerous yet or not. Please pray for a good result or God's healing on her.

You can see Evan pulling himself up in this one. It won't be too long before he'll be walking.
You can see Evan's love for music here. He didn't 'dance' in this one as much as he normally does. A lot of times when we have a camera on him, he won't do as much of as what he normally does. You can hear a part of an Andrew Peterson song (Far Country) in the background.

recent pics and videos

2009-04-01T23:04:00.005-05:00

Here's some recent pictures from my cell phone. This first one is of Evan and Barbaro. Barbaro is a Cuban friend that has been going to our church. I ask you to pray for Barbaro. Here's Evan standing up in his crib. He can pull himself up now, quite easily and he also can sit up by himself as well. Here's me and Andrew Peterson. I finally got to see him in concert and got to meet him as well. If you haven't heard his music before, I strongly recommend that you check him out. I have put lyrics from his songs on here before. You can see that Evan has begun to stick his tongue out here recently. He is also babbling quite a bit. This last picture was taken a few weeks ago during a snowfall when I went sledding. I ended up completely covered in snow and it began to melt on my pants. It was quite a lot of fun but also cold.
Here's a couple of videos of Evan for your enjoyment. I hope to put on a couple more in the next day or two.

pics from (grand) parent's visit and update

2009-03-19T19:55:00.006-05:00

The following are some pics from Mom and Dad's recent visit. The first couple of pictures are from our hike out at the bluffs. Being spoiled by grandparents is hard work. A bit north of here are some wind mills for energy and we went and saw them. We even crossed into Iowa, which isn't too far from here. Dad was born in Iowa but he left when he was 3 months old, and he hadn't been back since then. It had been a while but Iowa was glad to see its native son. Here's a rare picture of all of us. As for an update and prayer requests. We have been doing pretty well but also quite busy. The church is going ok. It feels like people are getting to know one another better and community is forming. Some people are also beginning to get involved, so that is very good. I would just like to see some more consistency as we can have many show up one week and not so many the next. Just continue to pray for us and our church- that we would go foward knowing God and sharing his love.
smart kid...
Evan performing for Grammie.

The Scooter

2009-03-18T00:34:00.006-05:00

Well, here's a couple of videos of Evan crawling or 'scooting' as we call it. He's really started doing this in the last week or so. Sorry I haven't posted much here recently. I know I have a lot to catch up on. I hope to put some more pics, videos and prayer requests on later.