Spring are you coming????

Ellie after swimming at the Hotel

Giving Daddy Kisses

A beautiful plant Justin gave me for Valentines Day

Ha!! I just had to put that title because would you believe it is still SNOWING here!!! I am so ready for Spring!!! The snow has melted a lot but just as more grass begins to show down the snow comes again :0( On the bright side we have all been well and enjoying our time inside.

The kids are still doing well in school. Kayla and I finished with our radish growing in Science and are soon moving towards growing corn and beans. I do not know how growing corn int he house is going to work but I told Justin maybe we will put some corn stalks on each side of the upstairs bathroom (AKA the warmest room in the house) and the we can have a Hee Haw theme in there!! Ha!! Should be interesting to say the least. Braeden just finished learning about the human body and how everything works. He learned on day about babies and how they grow inside a woman and such. He was fascinated. He kept asking all week, Momma do babies have brains when there growing? Do they hear when they are growing? It is great to see them learning and being excited to learn. Elaina is talking more and more. She tries to keep it a secret that she can talk. I heard her one morning just talking away to Braeden, she did not know Mommy was up listening. Ha!! I told her I knew her secret and she needs to talk to me too!! She just smiled.

We recently went on a trip to one of the islands here in Estonia for Justin to do an evangelism conference there. We had a great time. About 15 people came to the session. We were invited to come back this Summer and help with a camp for youth there where more than 50 youth are expected to be there, to help with evangelism training. Justin was adding up how many he has trained through these session so far and 77 people have been trained in evangelism. This is only possible through the hands of God bringing these Christians to the realization of the need to tell others of their faith. God is working here to reach His people. Justin also had the opportunity to preach at the church we attend here. He preached on the importance of being a multiplying disciple for Christ. He did well. Justin is also continuing to meet with a young man one on one, in which they study God's word and learn about discipleship together. This young man has already started reproducing himself in the lives of two other people. We are still praying for others to be led into our lives to grow and learn about discipleship with.

We recently had to begin to face the reality that we may have to move again. We are not thrilled with this situation but we have decided to leave it to God. We will know soon whether we must move or not and will probably be moving in Summer if we have to. The house we are renting is for sale and if our landlord does not want to continue to rent it then we will have to move. The reason this is difficult is we have already moved three times in the past four years. That is a lot of moving and adjusting and we were worried it is taking a toll on the kids. But after prayer and getting perspective we have decided that as long as we are in God's will, He will take care of us. Life is not easy at times but we are very blessed and what matters is we stick together and stand strong in Christ. So please join us in prayer that the right decision is made about our living place here in Estonia.

I am 12 weeks into my journey of loosing weight and have lost a total of 22 pounds!! Yay!!! Six more pounds to go until my half way point. I have had to buy a new pair of pants because the ones I bought at Christmas were falling off of me! I am glad to see the changes with my body. Justin has lost about 18 pounds.

Thank you for continuing to pray for Estonia and for hearts to be changed here. Thank you for praying for our family. We love and miss everyone. Have a great week!!

Ellie is two!!!

Is that Handy Manny, or Handy Ellie??

Movie time!!

Minnie Mouse Cake!

So we had a birthday in the Owens house this past month. On February 15th Miss Elaina Grace turned TWO!!! I cannot believe it has been two years since God brought her into our lives. We celebrated with just our family here at the house with a Minnie mouse cake I made her. The cake turned out pretty good, and I enjoyed making it. We also took all of the kids to a play place here in Tallinn to play for a few hours that day. She got a Minnie mouse toy and a Jessie doll for her birthday.

We are almost finished learning the days of creation with the children's club. We have been learning the days of creation by doing crafts for each day of creation. It has been great to see the kids explore the days of creation hands on by making crafts to remind them of what was created on each day. Many of these children do not have much exposure to the Bible so this helps reinforce what they are learning. We also put each day of creation on the craft to help them remember at home as well.

We will be traveling this weekend and next for training seminars on one of the islands here in Estonia. Justin will be teaching Evangelism training over these two weekends and the church that will host the sessions has a lot of youth that are interested in this. Please pray for safe travel and for those that come to take on the task of being a multiplying disciple for Christ.

Soon Justin and I will celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary. It is on March 10th. I truly could not have picked a more wonderful man to have in my life. He truly is the man God made for me. I love Justin more than words could possibly say! We continue to grow with each other through every obstacle and miracle along the way. God has richly blessed us through these past ten years. We have three beautiful children, awesome supportive parents, wonderful friends and family, love and friendship from each other, and a Father who loved us so much to send His only Son to die for our sins and purchase a place in Heaven for us!! Who could ask for more?

Sure life is not always easy. In fact really I do not have many easy days, but I know that with the help of the Holy Spirit I can do anything. I know God knows all of my burdens and what I will do before I do it. I know that He will never give me more than I can handle. Sometimes this alone gets me through the day. I try to stay positive and focus on things I can change and give the rest to God. I do not always succeed, but I try. Justin is really the more level headed one between the two of us and he helps me a lot. I am trying more to control my temper and reactions. I see that I need to teach my kids the right way to react to adversity, and reacting by raising your voice or getting angry is not what I want them to learn. It is a long process and I still fail, but I continue to try and with God's help I will become more patient and less reactive.

Kayla and Braeden are still chugging along with their schooling. We are growing radishes right now in Kayla's science class to learn about plants and how they grow. It has been interesting. She is excited to be doing experiments in her science and learning hands on. Braeden is learning about the human body and how it works. He is fascinated by the bones and muscles. He had me draw him a picture today so he could decorate it. He is the budding artist.

I am through week eight of my weight loss journey and so far have lost 14lbs. I am at 185 now. I have also dropped another size in clothes. I hope to reach my goal of weighing 143lbs by the middle of August. I am still working out to Slim in Six, five day a week. I have been doing the third level of the video for the past four weeks. This is a big accomplishment for me because before I could not even make it through this part of the video. It is still not easy, but I make it through. Justin has also lost about 12 pounds just from the diet changes we have made!!

Thanks for continuing to pray for Estonia and God's work here. Please continue to pray for the hearts of believers here to be burdened to reach their friends and neighbors for Christ. Please pray for our family as we seek to raise our children in a friendly loving environment and that they would see Christ in us. Pray for us to be the parents God wants us to be. We love and miss all of you. Have a blessed day!!