A new year is here! We’ve already started the new year busy as we wrap up our time in the Chicago area. We leave for NJ on the 7th. Pray for us as we say our good-byes. I hate this part.
Highlights of New Years were: a date with Ben; praying through different spheres of our life and ministry for the upcoming year; Dylan occasionally sleeping through the night; a Skype call with our youth group in L’viv. It was awesome to see them gathered. The connection was terrible but we could make out faces and voices. Can’t wait to see them…less than a month.
We’ve packed and shipped ministry supplies and Christmas presents (people have been so generous with our kids…I always feel like a thank you card cannot express enough our gratitude…) We’ve spent all our gift cards that don’t work in Ukraine. (Too bad Portillo’s isn’t international. But hey, Starbucks made it, and we have their competitor, Gloria Jeans, not far from us in L’viv.)
I used to be a big resolutions person, but since my slogan for December has been Simplify, Don’t Complicate, I am trying to eliminate tasks from my life, not add them. So resolutions are out, but one thing I feel convicted about is Bible memorization. So I do resolve to spend as many hours in Bible memory as I do watching television this month. Thank goodness for i-Phone apps. I have started with 1 Peter 2:2-3 for 2012. It seems practical, as I feed Dylan each day. As he goes crazy for his milk, I realize that I want to be that zealous for God’s word. How cool that Paul even uses that imagery.
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it, you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good.
We attended Blanchard Alliance Church on New Year’s Day and received a beautiful send-off from our church family there. A church leader stood and blessed us with words of Psalm 20:
3 May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings.
4 May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
5 May we shout for joy over your victory
and lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the LORD grant all your requests.
6 Now this I know:
The LORD gives victory to his anointed.
He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary
with the victorious power of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.