One week and one day until Christmas! Our tree is up and decorated, stockings are hung, garlands grace our front porch… and I am intentionally taking time to remember the joy of this season, rather than fixating on all the to-do lists and schedules.

It’s funny – every time Allen and I start looking at our calendar and thinking there’s too much going on, our family gets sick. We aren’t sure if it is weakened immune systems from the stress of everything or the Lord’s way of saying, “Just STOP! Slow down, you crazies!”… but either way, that’s what we’re fighting this week: Congestion. Coughing. Sneezing. Runny noses.

So yeah – you can pray for healing for our family this week.

Our weekend plans varied greatly because of these pesky colds: No Colony Christmas fun, no cookie decorating, no children’s Christmas performance at church… instead, we had lots of movie marathons, cuddles, cocoa, and playing with Duplos. I feel like we’re just preparing for our move to Togo already by figuring out how to continue to do life in the midst of these illnesses. We’ll be exposed to a whole new onslaught of germs and bugs in the next few years!

In addition to praying for us to get over these colds ASAP, you can pray for these things:

• Allen’s schooling: After this week, he is off for two weeks of Christmas break (hooray!). Then it’ll be a final push to finish these three classes before starting his final semester at Wayland.
• God’s timing and wisdom: In case you missed it last week, we were accepted to language school in France, starting in September 2020! We have a LOT to do in order to be able to start then, including saying goodbye to life in Alaska, attending our last ABWE training, raising the rest of our financial support, and more. We need wisdom for each step and to see God’s timing come to fruition.
• Togo Central Team: We shared in our November newsletter that ABWE has formed a Togo Central Team, which we will be joining! This team will be serving predominantly in and surrounding the Kara region. Our team leaders (Lee and Violette) are preparing to move from Mango to Kara next spring. Pray for God to guide them and our team as we begin ministry in that region together.

Have a great week, friends. Eat some yummy Christmas cookies, sing some carols, and reflect on the joy of this season.

PS – God is so faithful to provide. If we have four people sign up to partner with us for $70 per month within the next two weeks, we’ll reach 85% of our monthly support by the end of the year! If God has called you to join our partnership team, now is the time to set it up for things to process through by year-end. Click here and select “Give Now” to set up your monthly gift.