Thursday, December 18, 2014

The Christmas Dress

Since being back in the United States on maternity leave, Kevin and I decided that we needed to put our little girl in a preschool program our church does on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We placed her after Thanksgiving and she loves it! Her vocabulary has shot through the roof, her confidence has increased, and her ability to play with other children has bloomed! But today was the last day of classes before Christmas break. As sad as this moment was for us knowing our little girl might not be able to experience such a wonderful program again, there was a bright side. The teachers put together a musical performance with each of the age groups (2, 3, & 4).

Once I found out that sweet pea would be doing a Christmas music program, I wanted her to have a dress. Not just any dress, but a Christmas dress. I decided to hit Facebook and ask anyone if they had one they could donate for the cause. I received three immediate responses! One dress I was able to pick up two days later. That dress was super cute, but a little too long. Luckily, it will fit her next year in Africa without being too hot. The second dress is super dressy so I was worried about her ruining it at lunch before the program. So it is the third dress I wanted to talk about.

There is a ministry partner family of ours that we have befriended who lives in another city. They are a wonderful couple and when I got a response from them, I was expecting a silly joke (the usual). :-) Instead, I was blessed with the news that a dress for our little girl was in the mail and on its way. When the dress arrived, I was floored at how cute it was and there was a note attached telling me of its story. The family had ordered a dress online but had received the wrong size (2T, girlie's size) by mistake. When they contacted the company to see about getting it returned and a replacement sent, they were told to keep the incorrectly sized dress and use it to bless someone. And not too much longer, they saw on Facebook that I wanted a dress, size 2T. This wonderful family knew it was meant to be for us and blessed us with this dress and we are grateful! Thank you so much Leta and Ron Holland for your blessing this Christmas.

Without further ado...sweet pea...in the Christmas dress...



P.S. For those of you curious and want to see girlie in action, here is a link to the video of the program. The program starts around 9:39 with the 2 year old's singing 3 songs. The video continues with the other classes as well and they are all adorable. The school and teachers did an excellent job!!!

Saturday, December 13, 2014

PC-12 Dedication

Three months ago, the DRC-West base received a much awaited donation - a new (to us) airplane! A generous person donated the monies to purchase and refurbish this needed plane.

Source: Jocelyn Frey

The Pilatus PC-12 is an incredibly well-designed airplane manufactured in Switzerland. It is pressurized and fast. It is capable of flying at nearly 30,000 feet and roughly 300 miles per hour. It can also carry more than 2,000 pounds of cargo or 10 passengers.

The DRC is over 905,000 sq. miles
(the same size as the U.S.A. east of the Mississippi River) 

These statistics are nice, but what it really means is more opportunity and capability to advance the Church in Congo. Having an airplane that can hold such a large amount of people and/or supplies is very important, especially when travelling long distances with medical supplies. Before, if someone wanted to take our largest aircraft - the Caravan -  across the country, it would take 8 hours each way, meaning a multiple day trip to go over and back. Now with the Pilatus, we can do it in less than half the time, 4 hours each way!


So, welcome to the newest aircraft in our fleet. It has already proven very useful during the Ebola outbreak. We praise God for this awesome tool and look forward to seeing the adventures we are able to take it on!

Thursday, December 4, 2014

It's a Boy!!!

Source: Kristi Webb Photography
On November 11th, 2014, at 6:10 PM, Kevin and I welcomed into the world a healthy baby boy. Baby Solomon weighed in at a whopping 10 lbs 9 oz and was 22 1/4" long! We feel very blessed to now be a family of four. 

From the first meeting, Sister has adored having a baby in the house. She loves to help change his diaper, she likes to hug and kiss him, she always asks to hold him, she likes to "pet" him, she even sticks her finger in his mouth when he cries to pacify him. For a 2.5 year old, she is such a big help, even if she has yet to realize how delicate most tasks are. 
Source: Kristi Webb Photography
Presently, we are still in Tennessee. As soon as baby boy's birth certificate, passport, and VISA come through, we will head back as a family to the Congo. This is looking like it will be right after Christmas. We are definitely eager to get back to our team.