Happy New Year ! ! (final post of 2005)

Well our last post on Christmas Day indicated a house full of sickies!  Praise God for His healing power…we are all on the road to recovery (fortunately, Lael never has gotten any kind of ailment!!)  There are still lots of coughs and runny noses, but gone are the high fevers and extreme fatigue.  We had to postpone our vacation a day, but we leave in a few hours for several days at the beach to celebrate the coming of the new year.  It’s plenty hot and we are looking forward to the rest and relaxation.  Thanks to those special people who have helped us make this trip possible!  We’re a little sluggish, but I think the beach will perk everyone up some.  We will not have access to email or the internet while we are away, so this is our final post of 2005.  We hope to return to blogworld the first part of next week.  As I mentioned below, we’ll be celebrating our Jonathan’s one-year-old birthday next week.  We’re going to throw a bigger celebration later in January after our teammates return to Benin.  It’s more fun to party with friends!!

As this year comes to a close, we praise God for His faithfulness to our family.  He has provided financially for us in ways we could have never imagined…often through so many generous friends and family members.  We have lacked for nothing!  Thank you to the family at RHCC for their partnership and generous support as well.  We couldn’t do this without the incredible prayer support and amazing missionary care we receive from people at the Richland Hills Church of Christ.

The Kingdom continues to advance wider and deeper among the Aja people.  As we reflect back on the year, we remember the number of joys (births of new babies as well as new Christians).  As well, we grieve the passing of several Christians, notably the death of Lokadi, the wife of Ega and the mother of our Lael.  This time last year, we were joyfully anticipating the birth of Jonathan.  We could have never imagined that Lael would be joining our family as well in 2005.  What a joy!!

I’m thankful for my beautiful wife, Kelly, who holds this family together!  She is a treasure from heaven!!  An amazing woman intimately involved in celebrating the uniqueness of each of the children in our home, while pouring herself into the major task of homeschooling Tori.  As we minister Light to the Aja people, I know my ministry activities would not be near as numerous nor as effective if it weren’t for her perseverance and prayers.  I’m thankful as well for Tori, Timothy, Jonathan and Lael.  They are such gifts from the Lord as well!  

Celebrating the blessings of Jesus with each of you….Happy New Year!
-Randy