Prairie Camp 2014

Day 1: "The more you depend on what it's your hand, the less your will receive from God's hand"

Day 2:

Matthew 6:5-6 - Where is your place that you go to be alone with God in prayer?

***Some gifts can only be found alone with God in prayer.***
You can hear when you are alone. There are no competing voices. There is no pretending in the closet.  You can't fake out God.

Matthew 11:28-30 - Alone with Him I find rest.  When I'm rested, I remember who's God and who's not. 

***Alone with Him I find my direction.***
His agenda may be different then mine.  Sometimes God changes your plans so He can spend time with you.  Some of the best times with God are unplanned.

One of the things that happens when you are alone with Him, you are yoked to Jesus.

***Alone with Him my character is conformed to His.***
The source of my unrest is my forcefulness and my pride.  The journey to true rest is patience and humility. (Acts 4)
You get filled with the fruits of spirit.

***Alone with Him I'm moved by His heart.***
vs. 30 - When it's His heart, it becomes light.

Chapters

Everyone goes through different chapters in their lives, through chapters of grief and through times of great favor or blessing. Each chapter, when you look back, was just a portion of your life and each one serves a purpose. For example, the languages and cultures to which I (Steve) was introduced as a child have taught me something that widened my view of the world. Also, when one grandfather passed away, I learned to appreciate my time with the other while he was still alive. Even today, our experiences in life are teaching us.

Over the last two years serving with Wycliffe, we have been learning. Bridget and I have struggled and celebrated. We continue to celebrate the life of Anne, knowing how God’s provision brought her into our lives. We struggle, and in ways may always struggle, with the two losses we experienced before the joy and blessing of Anne’s birth.  Our story is not unique, but it is very personal and we don’t share it lightly.  

 
     We recognize the need for growth, both personally and as a family. At the same time, Wycliffe allows us two years to develop our partnership team and we were unable to do that. We feel we must step away from Wycliffe for a time.  And yet, it is our desire to return to this ministry someday in the future , as God leads, after this time of  intentional development.

 

I do not think we have the words to express to you what it means to us to know you believe in us and this work for which we still feel a calling. Your partnership with us has been an encouraging blessing. I am certain we would not have come as far as we have without your prayers. We do not have a way to thank you that seems adequate. We appreciate each and every one of your influences in our lives.

As we move into the next chapter of our lives, we choose to continue to support those who do not yet have the Bible in their language and those working along side them. We have decided to partner with colleagues and friends in Wycliffe, Paul and Christy Dubois. We invite you to consider joining us in partnering with them. 

With heavy hearts, we humbly thank you,

Steve, Bridget and Anne

Days of preparation are not lost days.

                                                  - Pastor Lance Nothstine

9 Months Update

Anne never ceases to amaze us. I absolutely love that I have the ability to stay home with her. She had her 9 month check up on Friday and she is perfectly healthy. We are so blessed to have a healthy, growing girl. She loves to eat but she wants to do it herself now. She fights me for the spoon if I try and feed her. She loves to use her fingers and feed herself. She will try just about everything we put in front of her. The doc OK'd tomatoes yesterday, so she go to try some pasta noodles with tomato sauce. She loves it.

She has learned this week how to clap, so now she claps and dances to her music.

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 Anne is crawling everywhere now.  She loves to pull her toys off the shelves and play with everything at once.  

Weight: 15 lbs, 15 ounces
Height: 26.5 inches

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Eating: She is still nursing around the clock.  We have started introducing solid different foods.  She is starting to prefer to eat whatever we are eating, instead of enjoying her purees.

So far:
Thumbs Up: sweet potatoes, green beans, applesauce, avocado, peas, squash, carrots, bananas, whole wheat cereal, guava, watermelon, pasta with sauce, meatballs, yogurt with any fruit

Thumbs Down: oatmeal cereal, spinach, peaches, any pureed meats (but she will eat chicken right off the bone cut into pieces)

Sleeping: Not much has changed in the sleeping department.  She still nurses around the clock, waking up every 3-4 hours during the night.  I hoping this habit breaks soon.

Milestones:

*"Mama" and "Dada" are her favorite things to say.

* She can pull herself up to a standing position.  Because of this, we had to full lower her crib mattress and we have to watch her carefully so she doesn't fall.  She hasn't learned fear yet.  Sometimes, she struggles to get back down when she gets up.


* She is still a daddy's girl. She loves when Steve comes home from work and when we visit Sears during the day.

*She loves to go to the park, anywhere outside really.

          * She loves to pull her toys from the shelf and play with everything all at once.

*Anne has four teeth now.  Two on top and two on the bottom.  I think a few more are on the way soon.

 Aside from reading and playing with blocks, she spends her days crawling around, dancing and clapping, playing with friends including her cousin, Austin, and just enjoying life.  She is generally pretty happy kid.