Long needed update

Well it has been a long time since I have posted a blog. Who knew how busy life would be with just one more additional blessing aka Elaina. Well, we will start back in February and work our way to now.

On February 15 at 2:12pm Elaina Grace Owens was born! She was 8#10oz and 20 inches long. To our surprise she had a ton of black hair!! Kayla and Braeden were both bald lol! We were in America at the time and stayed there until April 1st. Thank you to Peepaw and Grandma, aka Justin's dad and step mom, for letting us stay with them for three months. We had a great time welcoming the newest addition into our lives and enjoying time as a family.

On April 1st we arrived back in Tallinn Estonia. Note to self do not take anything as carry on baggage when you have three little ones with you (not to mention one that is only six weeks old) unless it is just a small backpack. Elaina did well on the flight we had three stops on the way and with the 19 hour flight and 8 hour time difference all of the kids did well. When we arrived back here in Tallinn we began getting accustomed to life here and life with Elaina.

Since we have been back we have been praying for God's guidance and what He would have us do here. He has opened the door for Justin to be able to teach an evangelism course called share Jesus without fear. It is a practical and easy way to share your faith on a daily basis. He has taught the course at the church we attend and at a missions trip we went on in August to southern Estonia. We feel that as missionaries our job is not to come in and take over, but to rather help in any way that God wills us to do and our goal is to have the Estonian people reaching there own people.

In May Franklin Graham came here to Tallinn and thousands accepted Christ as their Savior. it was amazing to see all of the people come to the alter! To God be the glory!! Justin has been involved in an American football team here and plans on continuing with that next year. Justin took an intensive language course in July for three weeks and learned a lot of Estonian. While he was at school I went to the park with the kids and met a new neighbor each day! Our neighborhood is full of young families like us so we naturally have something in common.

We went on a missions trip to southern Estonia in August for a week and were able to see how they do their camps and help as needed. The kids attended the children's camp each morning and had fun.

I have started language school recently to learn Estonian. We both started with a private tutor in September. The good thing about the Estonian language is it uses the English alphabet with a few extra letters. It is a very vowelular language so for me a southern girl it is difficult to make all of the sounds. With God's help I will be able to learn though.

Kayla is in first grade now. We are homeschooling and it is going well. She is a very intelligent peaceful child and she loves to learn.She has made a few friends that come to the house often to see her. Braeden is just now starting to learn preschool books. He wants to do school work so badly, he says, but his attention span is still very small. We will probably have to do his lessons running in circles lol. Elaina is now seven months old. She is eating baby food and she enjoys it. She has four teeth coming in two have already broke through and the others will soon. She enjoys babbling and has said "Da Da" on many occasions. Anytime I ask her to say ma ma she just grins and laughs. She is rolling and scooting everywhere and can't wait to catch up to Kayla and Braeden.

I am enjoying being able to spend time with my family and little ones during these precious moments of their lives. I have been missing nursing however because it was such a big part of my life. I recently found out about a possible medical outreach that I may be able to be involved in though and am praying for that.

Pretty much that is it in a nut shell. I will try to update this about once a month. We are just ordinary people who have followed God's call for our lives which for us is to be in Estonia. We are not worthy by any means but we allow God to use us for His will and let others see His love shine through us so that they may come to know Him as their Father some day. Thank you for your prayers and support. I will post pictures next. Bear with me this is new to me this whole blog thing lol!

Christmas in Tallinn

We went to the Town Hall Square the other night. They have a big Christmas tree and a Christmas market where vendors set up in the square and sell clothes and knicknacks. We won't be here in Tallinn for Christmas because we will be in America, but we decided to put up our Christmas tree anyway. Last night we took the kids' pictures in front of it after church. We will be leaving on Friday to fly back to Kiev for a few days and then on Monday we will fly to America for Christmas. We will be in America for 3 months so that the baby can be born and then we hope to be back in Estonia by April 1st.

Last day of school

The kids had their last day of school on Monday and they had their Christmas program early. It was very cute. The kids sang songs in Russian and memorized verses in Russian. They know a lot of songs in Russian, I was surprised. It brought tears of joy to my eyes to see them growing up so fast.

Sickly Kids

Today Braeden woke up with a high fever and not feeling good. We decided to keep him home today but Kayla was feeling good enough to go to school. He started feeling better about an hour and a half later and was playing. I got a call from the teacher at school an hour before school was over that Kayla was running a high temperature too. I went and picked her up and she was asleep on the couch. On the way home she got sick in the car. Right now as I write this they are both feeling better. Pray that they would continue to get better and so that they or us won't be sick while we are on our trip to Tallinn next week. Oh before we went to pick Kayla up, Braeden was feeling well enough to see the puppies that are outside at our house. Here are a few pictures of that.

Kayla's 6th Birthday

We can't believe it but today is Kayla's 6th birthday! It seems like just a little while ago she was little and a baby. She has grown up way too fast. These pictures are of her birthday that we did at the school that they go to. There was several other little kids her age and she got to have cupcakes and juice. We gave her our gifts at home earlier. She has had a good birthday today. Hopefully the next won't come so soon!

Estonia Mission Trip

I am posting all of the pictures and updates on my other blog estoniamissions.blogspot.com. Go there to see the daily updates and pictures.

Justin

Estonia Trip

Well the time is coming for me to make our first exploratory trip to Estonia. I leave next Friday the 10th and will be gone until the 17th. Pray for me and the group I am going with for safe travel and that the Lord would show me if Estonia is where He would have us serve. Pray for Crystal and the kids while I'm gone that they would be safe and in the Lord's hands. I'll post pictures and info about the trip when I return.

God Bless,
Justin