March Trip HOME!!!

Long time no see!!!

Actually, not that long, we got to see so many of you in March, and what a blessing that was!

Josh and I went home to Philly for a week and a half, and Atlanta for a week and a half in March and we were OVERWHELMED by all of the love and support people showed to us in those weeks.

People blessed us with meals, people took time to pray for us, Joshua was blessed with an IPAD, I was blessed with CD's galore, books, and other goodies, people blessed us with their time.

It was truly overwhelming.

I was told that I need to be a better receiver (giving is SO much easier), I think that trip just made me an even worse receiver because I feel TOO blessed.

Seriously, it was THAT overwhelming.

So thank you to each and every one we got to spend time with, we were SO blessed by it.

 I lost my digital camera at the end of our trip, which is super disappointing.

So I'll post a few pictures from my IPhone.

Here's some highlights, and I'll post pictures at the end:

{going to Shady Maple to meet up with 2 of Josh's college buddies}

{Finding out Joshua has a disease in his right eye that he will be getting surgery on in the next few months or so - that's NOT a good highlight, but it was pretty big news. Thank you to all who prayed. The Lord guided us perfectly.}

{Having dinner at Josh's sister's and her husband's house!}

{Being at Calvary Philly- it was weird for both of us to hear Joe live after listening to him on our IPod's almost daily for a year.}

{Walking the halls of Calvary and running into SO many people. That church/school is filled with SO many amazing people that have just lavished us with prayer and support. THANK YOU.}

{Going to NJ to meet up with my cousin and her 4 kiddos under 4. She's superwoman}

{Going into NYC to have dinner with my life long friend, Laura. We had a BLAST and the greatest food ever.}

{ Taking Josh's parent's out to dinner for their Christmas IOU gift. We went to a restaurant that was on Diner's, Drive-in's and Dives. I must say, what my mother in law and I got was only so-so. Come on, GUY!!! (anyone watch that show?)}

{Abigail's SWEET 16 party! She actually turns 16 in August, but they had her big party so we could go! It was a BLAST! She is growing up to be such a beautiful young lady! Love her!}

{Lots of time with Josh's buddies. SUCH a blessing. We have both been so abundantly blessed with amazing friends.}

----14 hour drive to GEORGIA ----

{Pit stop in Cleveland, TN to visit friend's Kellie and Jason, Kayla Keyt, and sorority friends Leah and Jaclyn!}

{We made it the day before my dad's birthday which was such a blessing!}

{Dinner with all of my closest girlfriend's}

{Bridal luncheon, rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for JESSICA, my BFF}

{Jessica and Logan got MARRIED! One of the parts most dear to my heart was that I got to be there for her big day.}

{Getting answers for Josh's eye was such a relief}

{Surprise VISIT from my grandma, Aunt and Uncle!!! << click to watch my dad's reaction!}

{ The long awaited SURPRISE 30th ANNIVERSARY party for my Parent's!!! It was AMAZING!!! They were SO surprised! It couldn't have gone off better! Thank you to everyone who came!!!}

{Some family lounge time}

---BACK TO MOOSE FACTORY---

We were so excited to be back to Moose Factory, though it did take me over a week to be used to the slow lifestyle again! Different worlds!

People requested that I post our prayer requests more often, so here they are:

1) Wisdom for future plans as opportunities are arising.

2) Continued prayer for our youth group-some kids love to tell us that it's boring, it's a constant struggle for us to know how to minister to these kids.

3) Continued leading and guiding in Ministry Activity (when to be still, when to move!)

4) An abundance of love for the people here.It is NECESSARY for us to constantly have a heart for these people if we want to clearly show them the love of Jesus.

5) Always for our marriage, as it's one of our greatest assets in ministry.

Thank you so much!!!

 

{this was our "welcome home" freezing and snowy! :) }

{Thanks for reading!}

Kristen

{"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your next, write them on the tablet of your heart."}

Proverbs 3:3

*BIG thank you to Uncle Tom for so many AWESOME party pictures!*

January update

Hey friends and family,

Thank you for your prayers for Josh for the Pathways to Healing conference. 

It went really well!

He simply brought the Word of God.

We passed out Bibles, many took theirs home with them.

Seeds were planted.

We pray Bibles will be read & that people saw a glimpse of the heart of Jesus at the conference. 

There were many traditional (Nativist) speakers, some other Christian speakers, but Josh was the only one who simply brought the Word of God. He didn't have a step by step plan. He didn't say do this this and that. He simply brought the love of Jesus. It was powerful and awesome and scary and I am so proud of him. 

Last weekend I was able to participate in a sleepover with about 20 girls.

This was HUGE.

I rarely get to come in contact with anyone over 13 years old because this seems to be the age where the kids are no longer kids and they disappear into this wild and corrupt world.

But at this sleepover were tons of 14,15,16,17 & 18 year olds!!

It was AMAZING!!!

Oh I just loved them so much.

They were sweet and fun and personable.

It was fun not being the one in charge of the sleepover so I could just hang out with the kids and have fun. I had awesome talks with so many of them and especially fell in love with one 15 year old girl.

I found out just days later that the same girl who I came to adore so much had just attempted suicide months before. Then I found out girl after girl that was there is struggling severely and many have attempted suicide.

It just breaks my heart soooooooooooooooooo much.

I ache so deeply for these girls.

I love them so much and the Lord loves them so much but they are just empty.

I've been asking the Lord to let my encounters with these precious girls increase.

I have plans to see them on Sunday, and I pray that works out.

I am getting involved with this group that they are a part of so I pray that they come regularly and that I get to love on them even more. 

Please pray for them. Pray that they would see the love of Jesus in me and that they would realize how SPECIAL they are. my heart just hurts for them.

 During Pathways to healing one of the Traditional Drumming groups came in and did a little performance. Drumming is a very controversial thing on the island among believers. I'm not educated enough to have a stance, I just simply want to show y'all a glimpse into the world here. If they were competing, they would be wearing traditional clothing and they would have women dressed up dancing around them. If you are reading this post via email, you will have to go to my actual blog to view this video.

Enjoy:

Thank you for your continual prayers. We are loving life in Moose Factory and feel so blessed to be able to live in this community. It has been such an amazing opportunity to actually live among the Cree people. We are VERY grateful.

Also, if you want more details into our everyday, go to my other blog:

www.lovedonesimply.blogspot.com 

This weekend we are hosting two men coming up from the States that come to Moose Factory every Summer through Missions to the World. We're also having a HUGE birthday party at our house on Saturday evening for all the January and February birthdays! 

Have a great week!

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Micah 6:8

a very late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Hey y'all!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 I can't quite get over how fast time flies!

Our 1 year Moose Factory Anniversary will be here in less than 2 months...WILD!

Back to Christmas,

We had some VERY special guests come ALL the way to the Tundra for Christmas...

That car there traveled ALL THE WAY from Philadelphia to Cochrane, got on the train and drove ACROSS the river right there into our little driveway!

& out of that car came...

Josh's family!! We just need Sarah and Maurice who were greatly missed!

It truly meant the world to Josh and me that his parents and Abby would come all this way to spend Christmas with us!

I don't have tons of pictures of what we did because we really did a whole lot of relaxing, reading, eating, baking, watching Once Upon a Time, eating, and then eating some more.

My mother in law had to get on to me for feeding her too much.

What can I say, I'm my mothers daughter, it's what I do.

:)

They also came bearing LOTS of gifts,

AND food!!! Our refrigerator has never been that full!

They're the best!

I also got to bake with this little one...

I love her so, and she loves my brownies, so it works out well for us.

It was a sweet week!!!

It was overwhelming at times for me to introduce them to people and just realize all over again how loved and accepted we are here. The Lord has truly blessed us and I'm SO thankful to be living in Moose Factory. I love the people here SOOOO much and I'm so grateful my in laws got to meet some of them! 

THANK YOU Mama and Papa O & little Abigail too for dealing with the cold to spend time with us! We love y'all!

Also a BIG thank you to those who sent us gifts, we were so blessed by everything! 

We are so grateful for y'all!!!

The Stofka's hooked us up with what I like to call the perfect care package ever seen by man! SO practical and PERFECT!!! Thanks Stofka's, y'all are wonderful!

Also, thank you to my parents who sent up so many gifts and our already filled stockings! We missed y'all so much! Thank you for loving us so well from so far away!

Thank you SOOOOO much to everyone else!!!!!!!!

I should have just taken a picture of my high pile of thank you cards, too many to mention!!!

We are SO grateful and TOTALLY felt so loved by everyone!!!

This gift was a really big blessing because it was one that came from the Lord's perfect plan.

It came from my friend Stephanie and her church in Mississippi. 

Stephanie is a blog friend who has, along with her Sunday school class, truly taken Josh's and my ministry to prayer.

Of course we are grateful for all the amazing baking supplies, and the beautiful HANDMADE necklace by Stephanie, but mostly I have been so overwhelmed by the Lord and power of the body of Christ. 

Thank you Stephanie, Nick and your church!!!

Thank you for displaying the Lord's love so vividly.

We are so moved.

So after Josh's parents left, came New Years

We spent New Years in Moosonee at an annual party put on by a family from the Church over there!

It was a sweet night of meeting new people, playing Phase 10, and yet again, eating lots of food!!!

So far 2013 has been good to us, except my 8 day/infinity long spat with strep throat, sore ears and pink eye, other than that though we're GOLDEN.

Joshua will be speaking at a conference called Pathways to Healing in a week.

We are VERY grateful for this opportunity as many of the speakers there will be Traditionalists/Nativists, and Joshua will be bringing Jesus Christ and the Word of God, the only true way to healing!!!

Please pray for the event. Pray that the Lord would give Joshua the words He desires for him to speak. Pray for open minds and hearts from those who come to listen. Pray that the TRUTH of Jesus Christ would captivate the hearts of all those aching in our Community and the surrounding communities that will be attending. 

We see this as a HUGE opportunity and pray that the Lord does great things through it.

Thank you ALWAYS for your prayers.

We love and appreciate every one of you!!! 

Cheers!

"But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always."

Hosea 12:6