Mom pulling Braeden on a sled.
Dad, Mom, Kayla, and Braeden
The sun shining the other day. Oh sun how I have missed you!!
Ellie let Kayla fix her hair. She of course left it up since Sissy did it!! But when Mommy does it she pulls it right down ;0)
Ellie and Papaw
Well 2010 has left us and now it is 2011. So far it has been a great year! We have set our dates for coming home for furlough. Furlough, for those that do not know, is the time we come home to travel to our supporting churches and share God's vision and the work we have been doing on the mission field. We will be coming home on October 14, 2011 and staying through July 16, 2012. This will give us about nine months to travel, raise ministry support, as well as share about God's work here in Estonia. I am excited about this (if you could not tell ;0)) So much that I am posting about it now, eight months ahead of time!
If you are a pastor of a church or interested in us visiting your church during our time home please email Justin at estoniamissions@yahoo.com with the date and time you would like us to come. We will be taking appointments from November, 2011 through June, 2012. We will start emailing churches to start getting our schedule filled up soon. We would love to share with you about Estonia and the ministry here.
School is going full force right now. The kids go to school four days a week. We usually are done by lunchtime. Then Justin and I both have our own school work for a few hours as well. I am only taking one course at this time so it is not too tough. Three more sessions to go and I graduate!!
Kayla wrote her first research paper! She did great! She had to choose an animal and research it. She chose dolphins. We looked on the internet and found two sources there and then she used two of her school books as well. I cannot remember doing research papers in the third grade, but she did perfect!
Braeden is learning more and more each day. He is learning to put sounds of words together to read 3-4 letter words. He loves art! He can draw pretty well too! I may have an artist on my hands.
Elaina is still her bright lovely self. She will be two soon! I cannot believe it has almost been two years. It has flown by.
My parents came for a visit a few days after Christmas. We really enjoyed our time with them. We did not do too much due to the weather, but we got to spend time together. I enjoyed seeing them it really meant a lot to me!
I have began a journey to becoming healthy myself. I started on January 3, 2011. I decided it was time to make a change and start taking better care of myself. I am soon to be thirty and all of my grandparents are dead. They each died of heart attacks or cancer. I do not want this to happen to me. So I have been making small changes and sticking to them.
I have been watching my calorie intake and trying to keep it to around 1200 calories a day, but no more than 1600 calories even on a splurge. I also have been working out to a video I have had for years and used occasionally. It is called slim in six and it is very intense for me. It is a cardio and muscle strengthening workout and has three levels. It took me several months to finally be able to just do the second level. When I began my workouts on January 3 I started with the second level and did that 47 minute workout five times a week. This week I began to do the third level of the program and am still going five days a week. The third level is 59 minutes. I started out at 199lbs and now I am at 192! Seven pounds down in four weeks! I am proud of these results and will continue on till I reach my goal.
My goal is to loose 45-50lbs to be in the normal weight range for my height. I know this will take a while so I plan on achieving my goal within 9 months to a year. As a family we have been eating better as well so this is impacting the whole family. I want my kids to know how to take good care of their selves and know how to eat healthy. This is the beginning of that.
Each day working out is not easy. Sometimes I do not want to do it, but I cannot give up! I will continue this until I reach my goal. Then I will make a plan to maintain my weight which will also include exercising as well. Exercising has been a hard thing for me to keep a commitment to in the past. Now, after four weeks I can tell you I feel a difference in my body. I have more energy and feel better.
I will post each month where I am at and what my weight is doing. The good and the bad. This will help keep me accountable. I am not willing to let another day go by that I say "tomorrow is the day". Today is here and the time is now to make a change!
Justin and I have been reading the Bible together as well. We chose a plan to read through the Bible in a year and this plan is in chronological order. We are on track so far. This is another goal of mine. I have yet to read through the whole Bible and next year this time I will be able to say I have!
We continue to help with the kids club here in Estonia. Justin is continuing to have evangelism training seminars as well. We still have about two feet of snow on the ground here as well.
Thank you for the prayers and support! Please continue to pray for Estonia and for God to continue to work in the hearts of believers here to have a burden for reaching their people. Please continue to pray for safety as we travel for seminars. Please pray for me to have strength to continue towards the goals I have set physically and personally. Thank you again for all of your love and support.