2012!

I am so excited about this New Year!  It feels like it is full of so much potential!  As a family, we have so much to look forward to!

We get to serve the Lord another year doing what He has called us to do.  We get to watch and see how He will provide for all our needs through His people.  It is just an amazing, faith building way to live.  Challenging... but Faith Building!  

We will take a required trip to Singapore for new visas.  The government requires us to exit the country to get our worker visas.  Currently we are here on student visas.  While we are there, we'll get to see an authentic celebration of the Chinese New Year in China Town!  About 75% of Singapore's population is Chinese so really, almost all of Singapore could be considered "China Town."  We've scheduled physicals for all of us, hope to schedule dental appointments, and possibly a surgery for Dano's knee.  While we are there we hope to visit the *free* Botanical Gardens and the World Class Singapore Zoo.  So while we are going to Singapore for "business," we'll also take care of medical things and hope to have a little family vacation time as well!  We're blessed to be able to stay in the OMF guest house which will significantly decrease our lodging and meal costs.  

After this we look forward to moving to our next point of service...the place God called Dano and me to 12 years ago before we even had children!  How exciting to see God's faithfulness as we have continued to follow Him and as many of you have continued to encourage us in so many ways!  Dano is so eager to get his hands on some airplanes!  I'm eager to get "settled."  Our first home will be another temporary home, but hopefully by June or July we'll be able to move into our permanent home on this side of the world!  We're looking forward to seeing friends that we've already made in our new location by meeting them stateside, here, or virtually via e-mail or facebook.  

So as you can see, this year has a lot of practical things to be excited about, but we are also excited about the spiritual things God has in store for us.  Dano and I plan to finish reading through the Bible this year!  We plan to take a more focused effort on teaching all of our children to pray specifically and consistently.  We're looking forward to getting involved in a local, indigenous church in our new town.  We're excited about how God will use us in speeding Bible Translation.  And we're looking forward to the unknown... knowing God holds the big picture!  

As we have all of these to look forward to, we spent the morning of January 1st sharing these with the kids and asking them what they were looking forward to and what their goals for 2012 were.  In the same fashion of New Year's Eve, I gave each family member a paper with 2012 from the free download here.  On this page, they were to draw or write what they were looking forward to or striving toward in 2012.  Below you can see our final pictures.  If you want to see one better, you can click on it to make it a little larger.

Dano's prayer is that he'll be useful in the
hanger at our new place of service.  I have
no doubt he will be.  They are anxiously
awaiting his arrival.  They are very understaffed.

Derek

Emma
She said she wants to go in outer space and look
back at the Earth!  All I can say... she has big
dreams!  =0)  

Mine

Olivia

Virginia
(front)

Virginia
(back)

Wesley
He hopes to see a hippo... that is the little blue
drawing up at the blue water.

Wesley (the back)
This is the picture of all the animals at the zoo
he hopes to see... gorilla, alligator, iguana (we
have those in our yard), tiger, & lion.  

Thank you for investing in our family for so many years.  We look forward to continuing this journey with you as we serve side by side... separated by half the world yet side by side!  Your encouragement and support means more than you could ever know.  Your prayers for our family are priceless.  We are forever in debt to you... forever in debt to our Lord!  

May the Lord richly bless each of us in 2012... but not for our own good... instead may we each turn around and be a blessing to those God places in our lives!  We are blessed to be a blessing!  

Love,

Melinda  =0)