Isn't she beautiful???

Last Saturday our beautiful granddaughter entered the world. She has lots of dark hair, 7 lbs 7 oz, 22 in long and perfect, of course. As you can see by the picture, she already has grandpa wrapped around her little finger. She is our first grandchild and we were so excited we forgot the camera so David took pictures with his cell phone. Yesterday he was flipping his phone open and showing her picture to everyone at church. We finally understand what all have told us about becoming grandparents.

We have been experiencing such a wide range of emotions the past few weeks. Mom passed away November 6th, it was peaceful but so sad. Her children and grandchildren were able to be with her and while we sat around the bed we laughed and cried over our memories during her last few hours. Listening to her grandchildren comparing what shape or character "their" pancakes took on when she made them for each of them, she was a wonderful grandmother. We were able to keep her at home and it was bittersweet but what a blessing she is no longer in pain and is with our heavenly Father. It is so comforting to know she knew and accepted the Lord into her life. We are so grateful and thank you all for your love and prayers during this difficult time. We received many emails, cards and flowers expressing sympathy to our family after Mom passed.

We have been busy traveling East Michigan and making a few trips to West Michigan district to visit with Clarksville Wesleyan and Coldwater Wesleyan churches. The pastor in Clarksville is close to a couple in our church and Coldwater is where our pastor attended as a young boy. We got to hear all sorts of things about his childhood. Coldwater is rejuvenating their mission program and planning a team to Guatemala this year. We were blessed to be part of Bentleys' mission convention and truly enjoyed our day. I learned how to make Tres Leches cake from Susie Gray, a missionary from Mexico. It is delicious! Our good friends, the Sumners, were there they will be spending their summers in Zambia teaching in Jembo. North Branch Wesleyan was a joy, members of our family attend there and we enjoyed seeing them and sharing with the church what God is doing in our lives. It never ceases to amaze us how all our churches are connected to each other through family and friends.

We traveled to Holland last week to meet with the mission board of Engedi church. It was great, a few of their members have been to Zambia and they have adopted a village there. It was exciting to hear how they have been touched by the people of Zambia. Their church has a team scheduled to visit Zambia in February so the next time we will see them we will be in our new home. We are getting so excited!

While in Holland we made a stop at International Aide, a wonderful store and resource center for short and long term missionaries. They offer a wide variety of items for use here and abroad at a very low cost. We were able to purchase items, such as laundry tablets, that are hard to find and/or very expensive in Zambia. What a wonderful ministry they are providing.

One bedroom in the house has become the Zambia loading zone.. Suitcases, duffle bags and boxes. We put things in, sort through, take things out. It's hard to think of all you will need to start your life over in a new country. Things we now run to the store for, we are finding are not easily found in Zambia.

God continues to bless us, we have gained numerous prayer partners this month. During the last few weeks we have seen God working in so many ways and it’s amazing to see how kind and gracious His people are. We have received donations and pledges totaling 80% of our goal, isn’t that amazing? If our list of financial partners continues to grow as it has been, we will be leaving for Zambia the first week of January, 2008, right on schedule. That’s only 7 weeks away!!

Davids’ truck is gone so we only have my car and the house remaining. God has taken care of us and guided us the past several months and we are confident He will take care of our remaining obligations when the time is right. All this work is His timing, not ours and we pray daily to stay in His will and trust in Him to work everything out. Please continue to pray for traveling mercies as we visit churches and for our health. We are both still working and it’s been a struggle to keep everything going the last few months. We know that God is blessing you and honoring your contributions, prayer and/or financial. Thank you again, we could never do this without all of you.