Merry Christmas!!

So it is Christmas Eve here in Estonia, and the past few days I cannot help be a little home sick. Okay a lot home sick. Holidays are not the same without all of our family, but with the help of Skype and the fact that my parents are arriving here two days after Christmas, that helps. We have been on Christmas break from college and home school this past week. We have been sledding with the kids and enjoying our time together. Today we watched Toy story 3 (an early gift from us to the kids). Here are a few highlights from this year:

Kayla is learning how to write in cursive and how to multiply. She loves to listen to music and can sing Psalm 8 by memory. She is a bright loving child and very helpful big sister.

Braeden is learning to read and write. He is learning to add. He loves to listen to stories and even though he does not sit still during them, he can tell me everything that happened. He is a lively bright little buddy, but also a loving little man.

Elaina is learning her shapes, she loves to say circle over and over again! She likes to sit and listen to stories as well and still loves to dance to music. She is a bright, silly, little angel.

I am halfway through my schooling. Only seven more classes to go! Justin will finish his schooling shortly after me in December 2011.

We helped with the Christmas party at the kids club of the Hope church here. The kids made candy trees for their parents, played Christmas games and sang Christmas songs. These kids are such a blessing to my heart. To see their smiling faces really makes my day! We gave them each a little gift for Christmas, and look forward to seeing them next year in the kids club.

Justin is continuing to do seminars in conjunction with the Seminary here in Estonia, about how to Share Jesus Without Fear. Many have come to learn how to share their faith more effectively. Justin is also going further with not just teaching evangelism, but also praying for God to lead him to men that would like to learn more about what the Bible says about discipleship and how to become a multiplying disciple of Christ. Justin has began meeting with a man who feels led to work with the youth here in Tallinn. They have been meeting once a week and learning together.

We are grateful for all of the blessings God has given us. This year has been challenging at times but very rewarding as well. God has shown us that He can make us much stronger than we could have ever believed we could have been. God also revealed His mission for us here and it feels so good to understand the bigger picture now.

Thanks you for continuing to pray for Estonia. Thank you for praying for our family. We hope that each of you have a Very Merry Christmas as you celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! We wish you many blessings this next year as well. We miss and love you all!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!!

What I am thankful for

The first snow!! Yes we have had enough snow to make a snowman!

The volcano Braeden and I made, then we made it erupt!

A cell model Kayla and I made.

First day of school!!

First day of school!!

Camp out

Baseball

Kayla had a birthday!! She is 8!!

The boys made cars at Kayla's party

The girls had a spa party and painted their nails and made glitter lotion!

I decided to make a list of things I am thankful for and put it all together. This list is not really in any order, except the first thing. So here it goes!!

1) First, and foremost, I am thankful for Jesus Christ, who came to earth to save me from my sin, and offer me eternal life in Heaven! Even though I did not deserve it, He died for me, and only through Him, am I saved.

2) I am thankful for the wonderful man God placed in my life. Justin is my partner, my friend, and my soul mate. I am truly blessed to have him in my life.

3) I am thankful for each of the wonderful children God has given me.

Kayla is a beautiful, smart little girl. She reminds me of myself. She has a warm heart and is sensitive to others. With one look into her sparkling blue eyes, you can see to her heart. Oh how I love her.

Braeden is a handsome, bright boy. He is a little (okay a lot) wild a times, and loves to explore the world. He also has a sensitive side, and loves to snuggle. I see Justin in him, especially when looking at his beautiful hazel eyes. That boy will melt hearts, he already has mine!

Elaina is a beautiful little doll. She is funny and loves to dance and play. She is a little stubborn at times (which I have been told I was too!!). With one look into her beautiful brown eyes, you can tell she is filled with love. She sends joy to my heart.

4) I am thankful for my parents. Who have guided and supported me no matter what. My mom is my best friend and stood by me when the world failed me. My dad would always tell me never to give up on my dreams; I could do anything I put my mind to. I love them very much and am very excited about their upcoming trip to see us here in Estonia. December 26^th cannot come any faster!!

5) I am thankful for my sisters. Even though we did not always get along (what siblings do?). We love each other very much.

Debbie, my older sister, is who, I have always admired. Every little sister wants to be like her big sis, and I did too. I still admire her for being who she is, going to school while working, and still maintaining her family. She is a good mom and wife. She has a genuine heart that not everyone sees. I miss times like the ones we shared when we were young. I love her so much. Maybe more than she knows.

Jamie, my little sister in the middle, is also someone I admire. She is also taking school right now along with taking care of her family. She is a good mom and wife. We used to stay up on the weekends playing Barbie’s, school, and doctor. I miss those times as well. I love her very much as well.

April, my youngest sister, is ten years younger than I am. She is also in school, and I admire her as well. She had a heart condition as a child that kept her from many things, but she did not let it hold her back. Instead, she has chosen to become a doctor and combat heart problems. I remember sharing a bed with her right up until I got married! She would come down the hall with her blanket and ask if she could sleep in my room. I did not mind the extra company. She was always like my real live baby. I miss times with her. I love her very much too.

6) I am thankful for my in-laws. How many people can say that?? I have two sets of in-laws and I am very blessed to have them in my life. They all love my children and me, just the way we are. They love us and support us. They have raised an awesome son, who is wonderful to me. I love them very much.

7) I am thankful for the rest of my family. I come from a close family, so family to me is just not my immediate family, but aunts, uncles, and cousins too. I love holidays because I get to see all of them and catch up. Oh how I love all of the wonderful times we have shared!

8) I am thankful for my friends. I have many friends in different categories. Those from Baylor, Mother Francis, here in Tallinn and church family. They are all dear to my heart. I have special memories from both of the places I worked, Baylor and Mother Francis, and with our church family as well. I was truly blessed to work with such awesome people who let me into their lives and continue to pray and support me. Our church family is dear to my heart. I love that we come from a praying body of believers. Here in Tallinn, I have met some wonderful women too, who also have welcomed me and support me. God has provided special people along my path, and I am very grateful for them.

So that is the list. It really turned out not to be what I was thankful for but Who I am thankful for! I hope you enjoyed it! I hope each of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, we all have so much to be thankful for!

We have just finished our first six weeks of homeschooling, and it has been going good. With Braeden we have learned about fossils, made a volcano, looked at dirt, read 6 books, and much much more!! With Kayla, we have learned about Indians, I read 3 books to her, and she has read 3 books on her own! We have learned about animals, and how to use them in an apologetic way to prove against evolution. It has been quite interesting and fun! Elaina also likes to join in on the science experiments and readings. Justin is also teaching the kids this year. He has been a huge help.

The kids have also started playing baseball, once a week. They are learning the basics right now, but are enjoying it. The team is a group of kids from the international school here in Tallinn, so they all speak English. It has been a good way for the kids to spend time with other kids.

Justin has started the training sessions for the evangelism training. The first one went well with five people coming. Each of these people had a heart for evangelism, but needed better tools to use. Please continue for these sessions throughout this year and next.We continue to help with the kid's club at the Hope church, and are enjoying that as well. We do games and crafts, we have had about 8-10 kids coming each time.

Thank you for continuing to support and pray for us. We love each of you. That is all from our neck of the woods. We would love to hear from you, write if you have the time!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Fall is here!!

The girls at the zoo recently.

The fort we made from the boxes our home school supplies arrived in.

Elaina in her Big girl bed.

Justin and I, can you believe it has been 9 1/2 years!!

The kids at a castle we visited in Narva.

Elaina and Braeden.

My lettuce.

My first roses!!

We had a pretty warm summer with temperatures in the 90's for a week or so. The rest of the summer was mostly in the 80's but humid, which does not sound too bad, but you have to factor in the fact that we do not have air conditioning!! That changes everything!!

Summer went out with a bang in mid August with the temperatures falling to highs in the 60's and lows in the 40's. Definitely not Texas weather!! Fall here is cooler and makes me want to be home to go to the fair and carve pumpkins. I love the cooler weather and the crisp breeze, I could do without so much rain, but nothing is perfect right? I had planted some lettuce, cherry tomato plants, carrots, and rose bushes this past spring. We have already eaten the lettuce. The tomato plants are finally beginning to ripen, and the carrots will be ready in October. The rose bush in the front yard bloomed with beautiful peach roses, and the one in the back yard is beginning to grow as well. I am no green thumb by any means, but I decided to try and so far so good.

We decided to change the kids home school curriculum this year. Kayla was beginning to become bored with the one we were doing, so we opted for a more hands on program. The kids have been excited since the supplies arrived a few weeks ago, and so am I!! This program has about 30-40 books per child that we go through, but it is literature based, and we will spend a lot of time reading together and journeying through the books as a family. This curriculum is also packed with activities and fun things to do. I was a little overwhelmed when first getting things organized, and I still am, but I know we will make this journey together with God's guidance, and have a great year. We plan to start the first week in October, I will post school pictures then. I can not believe that Braeden will be starting kindergarten and Kayla is starting 3rd grade!! Elaina has also stopped using her pacifier!! She lost it for one day, that was a week ago. Where has the time went?

We have been waiting for God to show us where He needs us here in Estonia. He has shown us that there is a need for evangelism training and a need for understanding that sharing our faith is not an option but a command from God. We have had a church here request Justin to teach their youth Share Jesus Without Fear, which is a simple way to express your faith and teaches the reasons why we are to share our faith. Justin had this book translated in Estonian this year, and now has the opportunity to use it!! He will begin teaching them on Sunday nights starting on the 19th of September and carry through till January. There is also interest in this program being taught at the seminary as well, here in Estonia. Justin has a meeting with the seminary on the 16th of September to discuss this.

We are tapering this book to fit the needs of the people here as well. Cold evangelism just does not work here, so we are focusing more on the people that each believer already knows and is in contact with. These are the people that will be more responsive and need to be reached. With 70% of the population here being unbelievers, every believer here knows at least a handful of non believers. Our hope is to have the believers see that the people who are in their lives, who do not believe, these are the people God has placed in their lives for them to be a witness to. Witnessing is so much more than just sharing the Gospel, it is a way of life. We strongly feel a burden for this work and are excited for God's upcoming plans!

We also have an opportunity to take a more active role in teaching the children's church at the Hope Church, here in Estonia. We are excited about this opportunity and this is where I will be more active. We will be meeting on Saturdays and have Bible stories, prayer, crafts, games, music, and snacks. We are praying to become closer with those that attend the Hope church and for God's continued guidance to how He needs us in this church.

We recently had are three year anniversary since we came to the field. Whew, who would have known that in three years we would have moved to two different countries, learned two different languages, tried to adapt to two different cultures, have another beautiful child, and seek God continually for guidance as to His plans for us!! God is amazing!! He knows His plans for us and reveals them to us in His timing. We feel like finally we have a glimpse of God's plans for using us here in Estonia. Our main focus that God has laid on our hearts here is evangelism training. We feel like there is a need for that here and God has burdened us with that need. Eventually we would like for this need to be taken over by an Estonian here. that is our goal, to work ourselves out of a job! Our second focus here is outreach. There is a huge need for growth in the churches here, and people are more likely to come to events, rather than church. It is important for the people here to see that Christians can have fun too! We feel like with the children's club, camps in the summer, and other outreach events more people will respond and get involved with churches. We are excited about what God is doing here in Estonia, and look forward to growing with Him here!!

Thank you for your support and prayers! We love each of you very much. Please continue to pray for God's work to be done here in Estonia. Please pray as we begin a new school year in a few weeks. Going from teaching one child to two is going to be an adjustment. Pray for God to continue to move in the hearts of the people here.

Fishing for Christ camp

Well we have had a very busy past three weeks here in Estonia. Justin's dad and step mom came to visit us and then six days after their arrival a team of three more people from our home church, Farley Street Baptist Church, came to help us with a camp at the Lasnamäe Hope church.

We had a good time together and everyone stayed with us at our house. We had much fellowship and the kids loved the extra attention. I would like to share with you how thankful we are for the ones who came to help us. Thank you Mike, Doris and Van and Jim and Joyce. We truly cherished the time we spent together.

The camp went well. We had 38 kids total who came. Each day we would have Bible lesson, songs, games, and crafts. The kids enjoyed the camp. It warmed my heart to see each of their smiling faces eager to learn and play each day. God truly blessed us through this camp. About half of the kids were not affiliated with the church or friends of ours. At the end of the camp we made wordless bracelets so the kids could share what they learned at camp. Six kids asked Jesus into their hearts that day!! Thank you God for these precious lives. It is such an honor and blessing to be a part of God's work here in Estonia. God is working all around us, we just have to stop and listen to where He needs us.

Many of the members of the Hope church also helped with the camp. They proved to be a valuable asset and it was a pleasure to work with them and get to know them better. Thank you to each of the people that helped with the camp. Without you it would not have been possible.

Our kids went to the camp as well and had a great time. Kayla had accepted Christ into her life last year and earlier this year Braeden also accepted Christ into his life. We had to make sure Braeden fully understood what this meant, but he showed that he understood, so we prayed with him this May and he asked Jesus into his heart. What an awesome message the Gospel is, that even a child can understand. What a wonderful God we have!!!

We would like to continue to challenge the group that came here. We know that it is expensive to come, but if you feel that it is God's will for you to continue to minister here, then He will provide. We challenge for each of you who came, and those that did not, to pray and if you feel that you would like to commit to coming to Estonia, for the next five years, then plan on coming. We would be more than happy to have you stay with us again. We plan to continue to put on camps in the summer for the kids here. By committing to five years you will be able to see how God is working here each year you come. Those who came got to see God working first hand and it was a very rewarding time.

If you cannot come, then please still pray for Estonia. Pray for the hearts of the people here to continue to be softened. Pray for the ministries here to continue to grow. Please pray for an upcoming opportunity for evangelism training to be taught in the seminaries here. Please continue to pray for us to be willing to submit daily to the will of God for our lives and His ministry. Thank you for all of your support and prayers. We love you and miss you all!! Thank you again Mike, Van, Doris, Jim and Joyce, words cannot describe the joy and happiness you brought not only to the children here, but also to our family. We love you all, thank you for being who you are.

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Up Coming Events

Ellie pushing the baby doll.

The fire at the Jaanipäev

Playing games

Our stuff

The wood before the fire

Some of the food and friends.

Playing

Ellie and I

Talking, We had a great time!


Justin teaching Braeden how to throw a football.

The kids
My little princesses!
My 29th Birthday!


We have been enjoying the wonderful weather here in Estonia the past few days. The sun has been shining and the temperature is finally warm enough not to need a jacket all of the time. Last night we went to celebrate Jaanipäev with some of the members of the church we have been working with. We were very grateful for the invitation to join them for their celebrations. We enjoyed the time together very much. Jaanipäev is the night where Estonians celebrate the summer solstice. They go out to a village or forested area and have big bonfires and cook out. They have music and dancing and just a good time. They usually stay out most of the night because this is the night that the sun does not set. We lasted until about 10:30pm which is good for our crew. We had a lot of fun.

We are growing more and more accustomed to things here in Estonia. God is revealing slowly but surely His wishes for us here. He is showing us more in detail what our contributions will be here and how we can be used here. We continue to pray for His guidance daily and ask that you continue to pray for Him to clearly show us His will for us here.

We are very excited for the upcoming camp that we will be doing alongside the Hope church here and the team of our friends from our home church in America. We have been working to get things in order for the upcoming event. We pray that many kids come and hear the word of God. We pray that many kids get to see and feel the love of Jesus through this camp. We are very grateful that we are able to do this camp with the Hope church. We are grateful that they have welcomed us with open arms. We are getting to know their members better and are starting to feel at home with them. We are also grateful for the team coming from America. Tickets here are not very cheap but those that made a commitment to come are coming faithfully. May God bless them richly. Everyone will be staying at our house, so I am really looking forward to the fellowship time!!!

We will be celebrating Breaden's 5th birthday soon. I have invited many from our church and neighbors to come celebrate with us. I will post pictures and details of the happenings later. I can not believe that my little buddy is turning five. Time flies when you are having fun!

The kids are doing great. Kayla is learning to ride a bike without training wheels!! Go Kayla!! Braeden can write his ABC's and 123's!!! Go Braeden!! and Elaina ca climb up the slide and slide down all by herself (a little kiddy slide)!!! Go Elaina!!! Maybe I am a little bias but man are my kids great or what?

I finished my first two classed towards getting my Bachelors degree and I made an A in both of the courses!! I am so happy. I finished up my language school for now. I need to practice talking and listening more but I know much of the grammar. Justin also will finish his language school tomorrow. He is much better that I am, much better.

We ask you to pray for the upcoming camp here. We ask that you pray for God's will here in Estonia to be done. That many would come to hear God's word and feel the love of Christ during this camp. That all of the glory be to God. Pray for safety for the ones traveling here and for them to have a great time here in Estonia. Thank you for all of your love and support. We love and miss you all!!

Spring has sprung!!

The kids and their new spring hair cuts!!


Justin turned 30!!! I am married to an old man now!!! LOL!!!
Elaina on Easter.
Braeden on Easter.
Kayla on Easter.




Well it is spring time here in Estonia now. We had three feet of snow on the ground since the beginning of December. All of the snow melted within the first week of April! We are so thankful to be seeing the green grass now. The kids have been enjoying time outside and I have as well. I just love spring time.

I recently started going back to school online. Am I crazy or what! School has been going well though and it will only take a year for me to finish. I also will be only taking one to two classes at a time. So it will not be that bad.

The kids recently got their hair cut for spring. They are growing so fast. Little Ellie is sick right now but getting better. Braeden just finished learning how to write all of the alphabet. Way to go Buddy!!! Keep up the good work!! Kayla has also been excelling in her school. This year with her school started out being a struggle. I realized that the problem was with me not her. I was approaching her schooling as a chore. In return she was not giving much effort. I realize now after taking a long look at it and praying about it that being able to teach her and help her learn to apply Christian values in her life is not a chore, it is a privilege. I am so proud that she is my child and I want the best for her. I am embracing teaching her now. We are enjoying that time together now and I cannot tell you how amazing that feels. How blessed am I to have such wonderful children. I am grateful to have such a wonderful Heavenly Father that guides me and leads me gently and loves me even when I fail. I am embracing being a stay at home mother and home school teacher now!!

Justin is at a conference right now in Latvia. He will be home on Saturday. The conference is about reaching people int he Baltic regions. He called me today and said he is learning a lot. We are still praying for God to show us direction here in Estonia. We know He has a plan for us and will tell us in His time so we continue to pray and be obedient with what He has already showed us. We are continuing to get more involved at the Hope church and are continuing to get acquainted with the members there. We are excited about what God is doing with that church and are privileged to be a part of it.

Please continue to pray for my family. My moms side of the family has lost four people within the past few months. First was my grandma, then her sister, now two of her brothers in this past week. I know that this is very hard for my grandma's two remaining siblings as well as for the whole family. My mom's side of the family is very close so this is like a whole generation being wiped out. Pray for peace and comfort. Also please continue to pray for God to show us where we are needed.Thank you for all of your support. We love each of you. Please keep in touch. Write a note if you have the time.

What are we doing?

Since we arrived here last April from having Elaina we have had one thing that we have constantly been praying about. What is God's plan for us here? When we first arrived we were very excited and ready to get started. The question was how and when. We thought at first that we would not need to learn Estonian immediately but quickly realized that was needed. So we enrolled in language school again. We still were very eager to get started but still no real direction so we continued to pray.

We had heard from a friend at the church we were attending that there was an Estonian church planter who may be interested in working with us. We continued to pray. Justin was invited by another church planter here to attend the church planter meetings that many of the church planters in this area attend to discuss with one another the happenings and their ministries. He began to go to these regularly usually once a month. The person who invited him was the church planter we had been told about before that possibly would want to work with us. So the more Justin got to know him they decided to meet and discuss the opportunities for us to work together.

He has a church in the Lasnamäe region of Estonia. This region has about 112,000 people living in it. The church they have is four years old and has been having home groups, children's club and youth outreaches. It is called the Lasnamäe Lootuse Kogudus (Lasnamäe Hope Church). They have a handful of members. They are very eager to reach their people for Christ. They need more workers. They had asked us what our plans were. We really had no answer other than we want to do God's will and help them in any way that we can. We do not want to take over or do our own thing. That to us would defeat the purpose of us being here. After all we believe that the goal of missions is for the native people to be able to effectively be able to reach their own people. The people at the church seem open minded and happy to work together. One of the ladies said "We can be a team then that is great!".

I feel as if I need to be honest with you. We have had many times here where we have felt as if may be we made a mistake in coming here. We feel at times as if we can not be used here. We have been down at times. I feel that you need to know this because I need to be real with you. I know we are not the only missionaries in the world, or people in the world, that have had doubts about God's calling on their life. Sometimes we feel like our lives would be easier and better for the kids in America. I struggle with homeschooling and feel that I do not do as good of a job as a certified teacher would. It is something I am having to really work on. So we have a choice to make daily. Either we submit our lives to God and be transparent to our needs and desires in order for Him to show us His will for us, or we can be defeated and depressed and unused. So we choose to submit daily to God. It is not always easy but He blesses it every time. He loves us and wants what is best for us. We just have to learn to listen and that is what I am personally working on at this time in my life. So I am sorry if this was a little too real for you to get a real glimpse into our lives but I feel it is necessary. I am not perfect but God is and where I am weak He is strong!!

We feel God has led us to this church for a reason. We do not know fully what our role will be there but we are committed to do God's will and be available to do whatever He asks us to. We are excited to be able to start working alongside the Estonian people for Christ. Please pray that we will continue to seek God and His guidance daily. Pray for the planning of the camps this summer as we have a team coming in July. Pray for the church to be able to find a more permanent meeting place that is available to them all week. We are helping look for a place now and we need God's guidance to find the right place for the church.

Thank you for all of the prayers and support. We love you all and would love to hear from you!

Elaina's first birthday

We went to America unexpectedly on the 24 of January. We went to be with my family due to my grandma being very ill from her cancer. She passed away while we were on our flight there. It was a very hard time for me and my family. She had lived with us since I was a baby. It was especially hard for my mom, aunts, and sisters. She is in Heaven now and pain and cancer free praise God. I had a wonderful time with my family and really did not want to leave. Being there made me see how much I had missed the past two years. It made me feel guilty for not being there to help my mom as she went through this for the past two years. I know that my mom and grandma both understand why we are here. I know that they do not harbor any hard feelings for us being here. I miss them though in a very real way. So not getting to say goodbye to memaw was very hard, but I will see her again in Heaven and I can not wait! The time with my family I will cherish we shared many good time over the two weeks we were there.



While we were in America we were able to celebrate Elaina's first birthday a little early. It was a huge blessing to share her first birthday with our family because we do not get to do that often. It was a little last minute planning but everyone was able to come except one of my sisters and her family. We missed them and wished we could have seen more of them but with a busy family it is hard and we understood. Over all we had a very good visit. We are glad we went home to be with my family. Thank you Jim and Joyce for letting us invade your home yet again.

Praying for direction!

Christmas eve. We always open one gift. These are from Gran!
Elaina snacking on paper. Fiber is always good! lol




Christmas morning!


Our beautiful gifts!Us!
The kids sledding in the new snow gear from Grandma and Peepaw!


Well it seems like the past month has flew by at times and has went slow at times. The holidays especially Christmas is a difficult time for me to be away from our extended family. We have been very blessed this year though and I am very grateful for the wonderful family God has allowed me to have.
In mid December we had a minor automobile accident. It was our first wreck in a foreign country. It was our fault as well. They have these big circles here instead of stop signs and they have two lanes we were in the outside lane of the circle. In order to continue to go around the circle you have to be in the inside lane but we didn't know that. The inside lane can also go straight. So as we were going around the circle the lady in the inside lane went straight and bumped us on our side. It really only scratched the car. We did not know what the process here was for a wreck so Justin got out of the car and went to talk to the lady. I would usually be frustrated int his situation and be asking God "why me?", but instead I was overwhelmingly grateful that no one was hurt and was praising God for everything even what was going on outside which I had no idea of till later. You see Justin was talking to the lady outside and she was smiling and very kind. We ended up being there for about one and a half hours, the whole time Justin was out talking with the lady. You see we had got out that day because Justin felt that we needed to explore this area of town that he felt God may be leading us to work. He wanted to do a survey but we didn't know how or how it would be perceived. So we went out to a mall in this area and left without doing the survey. Then this accident happened within minutes of leaving the mall. While getting everything taken care of for the wreck Justin was able to speak to this lady and do the survey. She is not a believer but comes from a Lutheran background. She is interested and seeking God. She also would be interested in coming to a bible study if there were one in her area. As we were leaving she told Justin she was sad that this had happened but she was glad it did otherwise we may have never met. Wow what a way for God to speak to you!

Also in December we thought it would be nice to make cookies for the neighborhood and make cards with a verse about Jesus' birth on it and give them out before Christmas. So me and the kids made sugar cookies with m&m's in them and Justin and I made cards in English, Russian and Estonian saying Merry Christmas and with Luke 2:10-11 on them. We have 25 houses in our neighborhood so we passed them out as a family by hand. If the neighbors were not home we left them on there mailbox. We did not know how this would be perceived by them but we felt what could hurt. To our surprise many of them were very grateful and even gave us a gift in return! It was much more than we had hoped for because we had been told that things such as that could be perceived as rude here. More and more we see that God is trying to show us that the people here are more relational than we have thought.

The day after we passed out the cookies we were heading into town for groceries and had another accident. This time it was more serious and the roads were icy and another car swerved into our lane and as to avoid being hit we moved and when we did we began to spin and ended up flipping our car over in the ditch. Thank God no one was hurt. We were all shaken up though. The kids were scared and hanging by there seat belts. Poor Elaina didn't know what was going on. Some kind people stopped to help us out of the back of the car. The other vehicle did not stop. A lady who lived across the street from the accident let me and the kids come into her house while everything was sorted out. They were so kind to us. Then the news was out there as we were needing to leave so embarrassing we made our Estonian news premiere. After everything was said and done Justin and I couldn't help but think that that accident was a direct result from what we had done passing out cookies and part of the Gospel to our neighborhood the day before. Our thinking is that the devil is very unhappy that God is using us here in Estonia.

Well after having two wrecks in two weeks I would be lying if I said we were not just a little discouraged. We have to keep things in perspective though and know that God knows all things and with Him anything is possible. We have a great church family here who took wonderful care of us the week after the second wreck. We are very grateful for them.

We are still praying for God to reveal to us where He needs us here in Estonia and what He would like to do through us here. It is difficult at times to not know what you are to do or where to do it but God is using this time to build us and bring us closer to Him. Please pray with us. Pray for God's will to be done here in Estonia, pray for our safety here, pray for us to continue to have the strength to seek and follow through with God's will. Pray for God to provide us with a team to work with us here. To God be the glory!

We thank you for all of the prayers and support. Without it we would not be here.

We had a very good Christmas. The kids had a good time. We took them sledding on Christmas. We have about three feet of snow right now. I have never seen so much snow in my life. Elaina is toddling around now and has taken four steps on her own. Man she is growing fast. She has eight teeth now and Kayla has lost eight teeth now. And Braeden well he is still Braeden!

We are looking forward to a new year here in Estonia. Hoping each of you has a blessed new year as well. We love and miss you all.

Elaina's first steps