We are anticipating our upcoming year of service here in Jamaica and seeing all that God is going to do in the lives of the children, staff and teams here on campus. We are looking forward to working with over 26 teams this next year. We are excited that one of our first teams will be from our home church in Texas. With many projects and maintenance issues here on campus we are looking forward to seeing what God can do through each and every person. Some of the projects that need to be accomplished is 1)completion of the surrounding wall, 2)repair of plumbing issues throughout the campus, 3)painting, 4)completing the educational and vocational buildings (interior/exterior). Great to know that with God all things are possible!!
With the arrival of our container several weeks ago, we are still trying to get our home in order. Jeffrey's mother arrived shortly after our container arrived and she was a wonderful help with either watching the children or helping unpack boxes and plastic containers. There is still much to do in our home but we can't let it overwhelm us. I am having to adjust with not being able to use a hammer and nails to hang up pics and things. It's quite different with concrete walls (cinderblock walls). I desire for the house to feel like a home, our home.
With the holidays upon us, we took time to celebrate the birth of our Lord with some friends here on campus. We had a whirlwind of baking and cooking for 2 days. It was great, had the kids in the kitchen as well as the cook, who prepares the meals for the students. His nickname here on the campus is Chef (or Uncle Allen-by our kids). With the students gone for Christmas vacation, it has been very quiet here allowing us to have family time as well as getting to know the staff at CCCD on an more intimate level. This was our first Christmas away from all of our families, which was hard, but God enabled us to have a wonderful time and we were still able to do some of the family traditions as in the past. (Jeffrey's mom even brought a little snow from back home...obviously fake snow but the kids enjoyed it just the same.)
We are also still trekking along with homeschooling. This being our first year to do this, which is even a learning process for me, but has been very rewarding. We were delayed in starting their schoolwork prior to our move but they are making it up by not taking the 3 weeks off at Christmas time. Having the flexibility to do their school work is wonderful and allows our children the ability to work with the teams. Lexi and Erin are eagerly awaiting the teams because they desire to work along side them. They quickly get to their school work right after breakfast and try to beat the other to see who gets to go out first and work with the team. I don't mind this as long as their school work doesn't suffer!!!
We are looking forward to having some of our family members visit in March and June. Knowing that they are coming, helps us anticipate with excitement their visits. Anyone else wanting to come, just send us an email or contact us. We would be happy to accommodate!!!!
Last but not least, we desire to have a stronger and deeper personal relationship with Christ, our Lord and Savior, to have Him be the focal point in our marriage. To draw us closer to Him and to each other. Jeffrey and my desire is to also equip our children with the knowledge of Jesus and to teach them morals and values that are pleasing to Him. God has blessed us with much and we desire to honor Him in all that we do and say! May you all have a Happy New Year full of God's blessings!!
