Wednesday, August 17, 2016

A Big Move and a New Addition!

Well, its been a while since our last blog! A ton has happened since our last post in the Rockwell family. We had a graduation, a 550 mile move, a new family addition and so far a very busy summer.
This was the beginning of our long, but fun journey home. These awesome men came together to help us load this trailer and truck in mere minutes on a very warm Missouri evening.
 The men that helped are good friends and staff members at the MTC. They were being pulled in all kinds of directions at that time as we were not the only people moving home after finishing the training. We are still so humbled by their biblical servant attitudes and inspired to carry it on wherever we go in this life. The truck and trailer were a huge blessing donated for our move home by two very loving and giving families in our home town. We were and are still so grateful to them for their generosity. We can't go into missions without individuals who represent the body of Christ like these families do and we definitely recognize and appreciate that!
Grady and Grace made lots of friends while we were studying at the Missionary Training Center for New Tribes Mission. Here Grady and some of his friends were hanging out and playing one final time as they said their goodbyes.
This is one of the part of missions that is hard, moving and saying goodbyes. We had great training here in Missouri on these goodbyes. Staff who experienced so many of these hardships came along side of us and helped us realize what our teammates Grady and Grace were going through. They opened our eyes as parents to helping them cope with the feelings of anxiety and loss that our kiddos experience. These feelings are normal and expected when we move on and/or say goodbye to people and surroundings they love. We as grown-ups experience them too. However, we are able to cope differently than Grady and Grace.
The next morning we said our last goodbyes to friends and our surrounding for the last year in Missouri. We stopped to take one last picture...If you look closely you can see someone is about to make us a family of 5!

Meet Dorothy Jane! We call her Dot or Dottie. She arrived 1 day earlier than expected on June 8th. Our whole family has found her irresistible!
Just before 9am on June 8th Dorothy Jane forever captured our hearts as she made her appearance into this world and joined our family. She has been an incredible baby, sleeping 7 hours on the first night we brought her home. Dorothy (or Dottie as we call her) is named after an incredible lady that captured our hearts years before, the late Dorothy "Dot" Kipfer.  Dottie's middle name of Jane comes from Brenda's late grandmother Mary Jane Girod. The kids absolutely love her to pieces and can't walk by her without laying a few kisses on her. We are blessed beyond measure and are so grateful to have her smiley face in our family.
Here's another shot proving her incredible happiness she carries and passes on to us daily. We love her wild hair too!

Grady wanted to get his picture taken with a Saguaro Cactus. In this picture he wanted to show Mom how tough he was by leaning against one. He thought Mom would be impressed that he was leaning against a cactus.
Kent and Grady took a trip to Arizona in July. The trip was to help Grady see his future home and surroundings and allow him a chance to adjust. He got to meet the Principal and Superintendent of his school in Arizona, see his and Grace's classroom, meet a few new friends who will be our neighbors at NTMA. He also enjoyed the southwest landscape. The trip seem to be a success as he talks about it with us he is starting to get more excited.
Its time for school! Their 1st day of school for 2016. Grady is our 2nd Grader and Grace is now our Kindergartner.
Just incredible how fast time goes. Just seems like yesterday Grace was born and now she's in Kindergarten. Grady is growing up into a young man so fast we fear to even blink anymore! The first day of school back in Indiana was special. It was the first time they have been to school in their "home state." Although if you ask Grace she tells everyone she's from Michigan.
It was so neat to see Grady tell Grace about the bus and act so confident about going to school. He marched right on the bus fearlessly, leading his sister to school on her first day. Prayer would be appreciated as they will leave this school in December and transition to a new school in Arizona beginning in January.
Here are our Diplomas from New Tribes Mission acknowledging the completion of our training. We are now full members with New Tribes Mission!

We've received excellent training and are very excited to start telling others about what God is using New Tribes Mission to do in the world and how we plug into His plan through New Tribes as well. Right now we are building our team of prayer and financial supporters. This means we are meeting with individuals who would like to invest in the Kingdom of God by praying for and financially supporting our family, who's desire is to have a hands on role in reaching those who have NEVER heard the "Good News" of Jesus Christ. Our hearts hurt for those who have no one to tell them and no way to read or learn about Jesus and His finished work on the cross. There are NO churches in the next village or around the next corner to hear of Jesus. Our hearts are burdened because the tribal people we seek to reach don't get a free pass from God for being ignorant either (Romans 1:18-20)!
If you share this same burden for the unreached but don't feel lead to go, feel free to contact, talk and pray with us. We would also ask you to go before the Lord and consider joining our team financially.