The Everyday

Kent was graciously reminding me again today that it's been a really long time since we've done a post. Sometimes it's scary that people will forget where we're at and what we're doing. So this is just a post to bring you up to date on our everyday lives here at New Tribes Bible Institute.

We're currently in our second year of Bible school, and will graduate in May. After another summer in Bluffton, our plan is to go onto the Mission Training Center in Missouri, where we'll get more training for the work that we will do on the field.

We're once again enjoying this year of Bible School. It's such an amazing place to be discipled and grow in the Lord. Yet, we still live the day to day just as you do. So I thought I'd share some of those moments that we've had over the past two months.

My sister Bobbie, who is on home assignment from Africa, and her husband and three boys came to visit us. It was a blessing for them to visit us and see where we live.

Grace still enjoys dressing up and we enjoy seeing how silly she looks.

Grady is doing well in school, he's holding his third "Right On!" ticket. Incase you couldn't tell, he's pretty excited about it.

We celebrated Grady's 6th birthday. Last year his birthday was kind of a dud, so we wanted it to be a little more special this year. So we had a hot dog roast...

With the 10 boys from NTBI ...

We ate cake and played games....

Had Grandpa Rockwell drive all the way up from Bluffton to visit us and take us out to eat....

 

And then enjoyed a monster cake with Kent family. It was a great birthday. I can't believe he's 6!!

 

 We were blessed to have Bobbie watch all 9 cousins. So my brother and sister-in-law decided to have a night out. As you can see its always a little crazy when we get away from our kids!

We had spirit week here at NTBI for Tribal Cup, which we won. I dressed as a twin with my "NTBI" friend Jill. It's actually a little scary how much we look alike.

The kids also dressed up that week. Grace got her costume from Grammy and Grady just picked from one of the 15 that he has.

Here's a blessing we received last month. Each year, a small church here in Michigan collects enough food for all the married students that are attending NTBI. The food came at just the right time and has been such a blessing to us. Grady was super excited about it and wanted to help me put it all away.

I love matching Grace, something I never thought I'd do with my daughter. We have matching headbands on that one of my friend's daughter made for us. I know I'm partial, but I think Grace is the cutest little girl I know.

No matter how crazy life gets here, we always find time for friends. Josh, in the middle, and his wife, Brenda Lei, and their two girls will be leaving us soon. They will graduate in 3 weeks and then head home to Missouri. Their hope to leave for Belgium in July 2015. We love them dearly and will miss them a lot, but are so thankful that our friendship has been able to grow leaps and bounds over the last semester.

Christmas? Yes, Grady found the new little tree I got at Goodwill and so we had to put up all the Christmas decorations. It was a bit crazy but worth it. Grady was definitely the most excited!

Grace is growing so much. This is a puzzle that she's putting together for the third time. She was able to do it all by herself!

Grady and homework.... yes homework in kindergarten. Some days I do better with it than others. This is his little table that he works at, and usually has a cookie or something fun to eat while he works. I'm thankful that he doesn't seem to have a problem with school. It makes the evenings short, but it's what we have to do while we're here.

So that wraps it up. Behind the scenes of these pictures is homework, visitors, the loss of our close friend, Dot, extra trips home, more homework, our marriage, working with our kids through difficult times, and our van that overheated and may have a frozen engine putting it out of commission for good (Kent's working on it right now).

Life isn't a bed of roses, as I'm sure you're well aware. Wow, what a choice I have to seek God daily. Asking him to lead me in what he would have me to do just for that day. Trusting him because he's faithful. Relying on the Holy Spirit to convict me and support me moment by moment. Life is tough but I'm thankful I don't have to walk it alone. Thank you God for filtering my entire life through your hands.