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!!
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.