Through The Storm

Storms of life are raging over me
Wind and rain blow down across my path
Yet I know, somehow, it's working for my good
It has drawn me closer to You

Through the storm and through the fire,
I know it's your desire
To make me more like You
Lord, give me the strength to last
until the storm has passed
And through it all, do Your work in me

Help me, Lord, to know these trials aren't here to stay
There will come a new and glorious day
When the clouds will break, the sun come shining through
We will be forever with You

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My heart is heavy as I think of the events of the past week in the lives of those around us. This song we sang in church this morning was a real encouragment to me. I feel so inadequate, but I know God is working in me.

Joy and sadness….

About a week and a half ago Roxane took "Paula" to her court appointment and she was awarded the custody of her kids again. They have been in the foster system for just over a year. What an exciting day! A lot has changed in the year that they were gone. "Paula" was saved in July and has been a regular at church and Bible study. She spends lots of time just reading the Word and we have enjoyed seeing her grow in the Lord. In the meantime her children have been exposed to some not-so-good influences in the different homes they have lived in during the past year. Now there is the challenge of helping the kids to adapt to the way of life their mom has chosen, and lots of prayer that their hearts will be softened. There are many challenging days ahead for her.

At times we are overwhelmed with a sense of sadness as we think of the oppression here. Since the ceremonial time has begun in the villages, we hear the beat of the drums from inside the house and the chanting when we step outside. We hear many stories of people around us that are struggling, such as those that are sorting out the confusing messages they get from different people regarding what it means to turn and walk with the Lord. Then there’s the story of a 13 year old foster girl having a baby, with questions as to who the father of the child is. Another mother that we met recently is about to loose her children permanently to adoption if she doesn’t comply with the orders of the court in cleaning up her life. She has expressed a sincere desire to change, but then falls into the same traps again and again. She has attended one Bible study recently, but has not made any other steps toward letting God transform her life.

We are thankful for the opportunities we are given to interact with the people here, but at the same time it brings sadness and heavy hearts. We are so glad for the your prayers for our family and on behalf of the work here.

Sightseeing and the New Year w/ added pics

We spent a couple days doing some sightseeing last year. Actually last Friday we were headed up to Shiprock, NM for Jim to like at a furnace at a mission there. So we decided to make an adventure out of it and do some sightseeing along the way.


We headed out while it was still dark and heavily snowing on Friday morning.









Our first stop was Canyon de Chelly near Chinle, AZ. It was not snowing there, but still overcast. The freshly fallen snow was beautiful though, against the canyon walls. We really enjoyed the scenes there.

We drove on to Shiprock. While Jim was checking out the furnaces there we drove out to shiprock (the actual rock that the city is named after) We stopped at some trading posts and then went back to the mission. Jim was nearly done there and they invited us to supper with them. After which we drove on up to Cortez, CO for the night.

The next morning the sun was shining again and we headed to Mesa Verde National Park. At the entrance we found out that it is 20 miles in to the Visitor Center and Gift Shop over mountainous roads. It sounded beautiful, but with the recent snow it was also icy at 9,000 plus elevations. So we decided to drive through some of that and head back when the roads got bad. We went about 10-15 miles or so (I can't remember now) and then came back out. What we did see was beautiful and well worth the drive.

We drove south west of Cortez to Four Corners. It was not quite what we expected, but I'm glad we saw it.


Each child in a different state at the same time. Who knows which
state we parents were in at the time.

From there we drove north west so we could drive through monument valley on the way home. It was a great drive, with landscape changing frequently. We stopped occasionally for pictures or little hiking excursions.


Rock formations and caves along the way.

We came back home through Tuba City arriving at about 8pm. We saw so many amazing things along the way. The universe declares His majesty!

They always have something here at the church for New Years. (As a sidenote...Jim and I have not seen the new year in, in probably at least 10 years, so this was out of the ordinary for us) At 7pm we had games to play and lots of food to eat. We had a lot of people here. Then at about 11:30pm we gather for prayer and pray the new year in. I guess typically everyone leaves after that. But this year some were in the middle of a game that they wanted to finish...so they played their game, others decided to go sledding (yes, at 1 in the morning.) About 2 o' clock they were leaving....or so we thought. Just a few more runs down the drivway on their sleds. I can't believe our kids were still up at that hour. They have never even been up to see the New year in....and now 2am. It is crazy! Sharayah actually slept for a while but then woke up about 12:30 when she heard the fireworks going.

Finally after getting the kids off to bed we ourselves crawled into bed about 3am. But our kids actually slept really late, which was nice that way we could too. We got up about 11am. It made a short busy day then trying to catch up with laundry and stuff after being gone for 2 days. We did survive though and I got a lot of things done. Thanks to Mary (Mom) we got most of the aftermath of the party cleaned up in the fellowship building too. She's supposed to be on vacation, but I guess she can't help herself. What a blessing for us just to have her here and thanks so much for all the practical help you've given.

Happy New year to you all!