Jeremiah 29:11

Need a touch from Jesus today?

2009-02-09T13:46:00.000-08:00

~Do you long to know Him more?
~Do you long to glorify Him so much more in all areas of your life?
~Do you feel like a lost sheep in the craziness of this life at times?
~Do you read the Word with a sense of checking it off your list or are you able to search for God like your looking for the contact lens you dropped or your diamond wedding ring you seem to not be able to find?

You know their are times in life,
many times, where I need to stop
and have some intimate moments with Jesus.

Receiving a touch from Jesus
today can be the encouragement you need too!

I watched this video after my sister, Kristi, sent this to me and was moved to tears. I felt the Lord's presence and sensed Him reach down and touch my spirit! God knows each of our hearts and hears our cries, our needs and our anxieties.

God's love and faithfulness to us is beyond understanding.
Who am I but a sinner
saved by the GRACE of Jesus Christ.

(Due to internet filters you might not be able to view click here)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jng2cVItdI)

This video was on a massage in
Matthew which is an area I am reading through right now.

"And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows" Matthew 10:30-31

Jesus is aware of EVERYTHING
that happens even to the sparrows,
and I (you) are far more valuable to Him than they are!

He cares much more about us than the birds of the air. He knows the exact number of hairs on our head and in Isaiah it says we are, each one of us personally, engraved onto the palms of His hands. Nothing can snatch us out of His hands!

Thank you Nicki, Kristi's good friend from church, for allowing God to work through you to encourage my heart!
(New Life Pentecostals of Toledo)

Born at 26 weeks and doing great!

2009-02-03T06:36:00.001-08:00

Little Jeffery is doing really good! His mom and dad have been by his side at the hospital both day and night! He is starting to officially nurse this week and it seems like that won't be a huge deal for this little guy;)

God is so amazing and we are so thankful for His continued faithfulness in all of our lives!

Thank you for praying and for checking in for updates on how my family is doing.

Notes from Kristi....

2009-02-03T06:06:00.000-08:00

Mom and sisters! Kristi top left.

Date: Saturday, January 31, 2009, 4:05 AM

hi everyone, I just wanted to send out a simple email to say, i am still kicking....lol.....I was down really sick from my first chemo treatment, and then had to have another one this past Tuesday. When i say really sick, i was very very sick, i really thought i was dying inside,......for real ( well, that is what they told me they were gonna do,.)"kill me, with out , really killing me" wow, they weren't kidding, i was down for about 8 days, couldn't do simple things.... like type or read, or talk....i was so so weak, and the pain in my body and muscles was unbelievable, i can't even explain what it felt like.. so I'm not gonna try, but the good thing is, i am ok today....

I will take it....i have a break this coming week, which means i skip one week of chemo. If they did what they did for my first chemo 3 times straight in a row, ( 3 tues in row) i would die.... so..THANK YOU JESUS........ my body can have a break.I did have chemo twice now, but this past tues. was half the meds.... and chemo... but i was still so sick, that it was one of the worst chemo's i have ever had, it took everything in me not to get out of there....but God finished it up, and after 4 hrs of poison going into my body and still feeling like i was gonna throw up everywhere, not to mention i had a really bad migraine...i made it, so long story short, lol, i completed the first cycle, (i have to have 2 cycles, which means 4 times going to get chemo)I will be starting over again, with the whole process again, day 1 of chemo, is when they give me 5 hrs of chemo. and they send me home with so many pills. In 4 days i have to take like 60 pills.. ( oh, did i mention i hate taking even Tylenol )...really, it's crazy.

I will be very sick again, i think i have 11 days to go, and counting down, but God is good, Jason's mom will be arriving to help take care of the kids so Jason can go to work.... He used all his vacation, poor guy, we had to use it last year for cancer, and the 2 yrs before that for the birth of kristalynn and holden... so whats a vacation anyways????? Jason took really good care of me those 8 days, so i thank the Lord for that time he got to care for me and the kids, cause i couldn't do anything, it even hurt to smile, and you all know i love to laugh and smile.....ok enough about my hair started falling out last night , yes again, so you will all have to bare with me....on the whole scarf, wig ,balled thing........you can pray for me for peace and confidence in the Lord, with how my appearance is gonna be, i am starting to struggle with pictures of me this past summer time fun in the sun and the 30 pounds i lost after the first cancer in April 08, and how i felt healthy and so happy. and free........and now realizing i have gained wt from chemo and stress , and now my hair is falling out again.

I just pray God will take that pain/ emotions away from me completely, so I can concentrate on living and being healthy with my family for many years to come big or small, balled or not....

Thank you so much for caring about my family and myself, and for reading this long winded, poor wrote email..... i thank you for your constant prayers....God is doing good threw this cancer, the Lord has provided different people ,taking on different roles, from food, to support, to coming and helping me with the kids these past few days, threw the prayer wheel, to hair cuts for my family, to having a person who wants to go with me to Cleveland for 3 wks to be my caregiver...... it's unbelievable ... God's' favor started being very clear 2 days ago, and to that we are very very thankful...we are blessed,

the pfaff family

2009-01-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday, we found out that we are pregnant (8 1/2wks)!!!!
Oh, my goodness is right! Of course we talked about the possibility of having more biological kids down the road...but not this year and definitely not now. Preventive measures can't stop the Lord's plans...lol

We are so excited (maybe its twins...I'm a twin, Aaron's mother is a twin and Aaron has a twin brother & sister so each pregnancy we wonder about that one!!!lol) but the last week has been an extremely emotional one. Initially it was challenging choosing to trust God's perfect timing and plan.
On Thursday we decided to share the news with our case worker while also having to inform her that we aren't able to take Dannijah and Toriano's twin sisters (who are going to be born any day now).

That was one of the hardest things I have EVER had to do or say .

We choose to believe He is only protecting us from something around the corner that we can not see...and for that we are very grateful!!!!

I am reminded that God never said things would be easy...lol
I could easily have chosen to be depressed about the situation all week. With the Lords help I have chosen not to go that route and despite the pain of giving up all the planning, excitement and emotional attachment to the twins (these last five months) and increasing the chances of losing Dannijah and Toriano...we are choosing NOT to lean on our own understanding but TO TRUST IN HIM! Our mighty and loving God is in control and loves us more than we could ever know.

After all He only has our best interest at heart!

Children services will try and find a home that will take all four children (Dannijah, Toriano and their twin sisters). If circumstances were different we would have loved to take in all four.

Possibly having to see Dannijah and Toriano uprooted again, after experiencing many moves and much hurt already in their short little lives, is so hard for any one think about. We are trusting God again in this area.

If the Lord desires for Dannijah and Toriano to stay with us forever ...we trust that He will bring the peace and healing from not being able to take their sisters. Their is so much heartache when siblings can not stay together.

If he does bring a family to adopt all four of them together we pray that it is a family who lives their lives to glorify the Lord. At the same time we choose to trust that He will heal our wounds and carry our family through that time.

Will you continue to pray with us that their mother will find the COURAGE and take back her life over these next few months. That she will honestly deal with her issues and be able to come to know the ONE who can heal her completely, the ONE who can unconditionally love her the way she has NEVER been loved before and the ONE who can save anyone from the pit of hopelessness and death. Pray that her heart will be softened towards our family and for the light of Jesus to shine down deep into her heart creating an urgent need and desire in her to know who this "ONE" is!

God has given me a love for their mother (despite her feelings towards our family) and I whole heartily love her as a sister who is lost. I am so thankful for Him working in this way!

Thank you for praying for her, for the kids and for our family!

Toasting in the New Year!

2008-12-31T18:58:00.001-08:00

click to view larger

Aaron, Brayden, Holden, Faith, Austin, Ethan, Toriano, Kristalyn, Dannijah, & Jamithy - We are ringing in the New Year with my sister's kids for 10 days! Thank goodness for our 10 second timer on our camera!

Kristi and Jason are in Texas...

2008-12-30T19:43:00.000-08:00

at the number #1 cancer center in the US.
She is there for 10 days having many scans and test run. Please continue to pray for her and her family. Thank you so very much!

Happy Birthday Toriano! Is adoption still a possibility?

2008-12-29T18:26:00.000-08:00

Adding these two to our family these last four months has been a joy! Of course we have had many discouraging moments wrestling with anger issues and screaming. However, God continues to be so faithful and keeps reminding us of how far they have come!

We officially have 3 two year olds in the house...lol
At least until late February when Dannijah will turn 3.

The possibility of adopting these two is still on the table; if you will! Aaron and I have not shared with most of you about the possible opportunity of taking their twin sisters when they are born in Feb. or March. We found out the mother was expecting twin girls 4 months ago and have been considering the pros, cons and challenges since then.
Will you pray for us as we make such a HUGE decision...one that we don't take lightly and that NEEDS to be covered in prayer.

This last month I really felt that these children were going to go home very soon. I'm not sure why but I just did.
There has been some huge issues that have taken place this last week in the case. In fact, the issues are so big that we wonder if adoption will be a possibility soon than later.

We trust God and are praying for all parties involved, for protection, and for His wisdom.

beautiful nephew...Jeffrey Thomas King II

2008-12-18T10:52:00.001-08:00

Click on the pics....
I am wearing my dad's wedding band on my arm (above photo)!

Last reported update: Korinne was able to hold the little guy, he got his first few drops of mommies milk and came through a minor surgery! Thank you for praying!

Uncle fell off Roof....

2008-12-17T11:39:00.000-08:00

Last week my Uncle Charlie, (my dad's side of the family) fell of a roof and I have been told that he has broken many bones in his body. He is in ICU at Toledo hospital. I would appreciate it if you would pray for healing for his body and for the Lord to prepare his heart ...to accept and believe in the Savior; Jesus Christ.

...we thank you for praying.

Living Hope Children's Christmas Songs...God Tube.com

2008-12-17T11:37:00.000-08:00

Click below....

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=6f9a3cfa9a2ebbcfdb23

our beautiful nephew born at 26 weeks.

2008-12-12T05:21:00.000-08:00

Our nephew (name still undecided) "little Jeffy" was born to Korinne and Jeffery King on December 11th at
5:33 AM. He was born weighing in at a whopping 1 pound and 14 ounces.

With out going into all the emergency details...my sister Korinne is doing much better and "little Jeffy" is doing better aswell!!!!! We definitely felt and see your many prayers being answered.Thank you for being prayer warriors on behalf of my family.

Talk about a miracle...I have NEVER been so in awe of God's creation! He is so amazing....
"Little Jeffy" is so very tiny.... I rejoice that God is holding Him in the palm of His hand...as I remember that God already knows the plans and purposes for this beautiful child!

I was up for 40 hours so please forgive me for not being able to get back to you all earlier with an update.
Your prayers are so important to God and to us...thank you for ministering to our family in this way.

As of this morning I received a text saying "Little Jeffy" is breathing on his own and my sister and Jeff where able to hear him cry. ;)
Praise God for His MERCY at this time in our lives!!!!

The road is still a long one but we look forward to leaning not on our OWN understanding....but rather placing all our trust in God's PERFECT plan for this little one and his parents.

It's Kristi's 30th Birthday....

2008-12-04T16:03:00.000-08:00

I'm sure she would love to have a birthday note sent to her!

Email her or leave a comment below & I'll forward it to her.
Jason and Kristi
http://www.gotjesus.kpfaff@yahoo.com

Happy Birthday sis...I love you so very much and I am thankful for the 30 years God has given to us!

Many people do not know of the miracle God performed for us 30 years ago. I was born healthy and you were born very sick.
After a month of being in the hospital and the doctors giving up hope ...our faithful parents took us to Pastor Grandpa's church. Grandpa had an alter call and our parents took me up front. My little body was nearly 2 hours away from yours when the church family laid their hands on me...praying and expecting God for a miracle.

That moment changed the rest of our lives...didn't it!!!!
At that exact moment back here in Toledo the doctor recorded that you began to get better, started eating and your intestines where healing.
Amazing...God....How great he was back than and still is today!

I love you sis and no matter when God calls either of us home to glory... I'll continue to share our testimony with others hoping to bring glory and honor to Him!

You almost died when you were born and God spared your life and brought about healing to your body than. He can do it again and I know you are confident that He will complete a good work in you before he takes you home.

God has worked in and through you...touching my life and so many others. Thank you for being used by Him!

xoxoxoxo
Love, J

Kristi:

2008-12-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for continuing to pray.
We have seen God working and are so encouraged by it!

God has proven himself to be faithful so many times in the last couple weeks...I can name a few things off of the top of my head.
With in less than 24 hours of asking the Lord provided my sister with a deep freezer from a generous and loving family, brand new laptop computer and web cam (so she can see and talk to her children while in the unit) from a woman she really doesn't even know, a cleaning lady to help clean her house 3 times a week while she is away, my grandma (my father's mother) to drive back up from Florida to live with Jason and the kids so the children don't have to be up-rooted, and the list goes on and on.....

Wow, God is at work and we love it! However, the news came back on last Wednesday confirming the tumor to be Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She will need a stem cell transplant or radiation along with chemo again. Kristi has just been trusting the Lord in this VERY scary time and leaning NOT on her OWN understanding.

Please pray for Jason as the emotion of it all has piled up so high and has hit him very hard. Pray now...for strength in Jesus Name. Strength to focus on the positive and TRUST God when everything seems to be crashing down around him.

We are just continuing to wait for the Cleavland Clinic to contact her with the next step. We expect to be hearing from them early this week.

Many of you don't even know her but I want to thank you for caring to read these updates and for praying for my best friend and sister, Kristi.

Aaron and I thank the Lord for you as you pray and BELIEVE!

2008-11-13T14:28:00.000-08:00

Jason and Kristi are looking and in need of a used deep freeze so they can prepare, if needed, to have 30 generous meals made for her family while she is away for 30 days. If you can help please email (sawades4christ@yahoo.com)!

Thank you for caring, for praying and for reading!

"Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. You have been healed."

2008-11-13T14:02:00.000-08:00

Kristi's brain MRI came back clear!!!!!!!! Praise HIM.! She will still be having a needle biopsy but today the doctor told her it would be next week some time. She was going to have to wait.
They will be placing the needle through her chest and into the tumor/mass.
If they did the surgery rather than the needle biopsy they told her they would have to cut her chest and take rib out to be able to get to the mass.
So, obviously neither sound good but she said a needle in her chest sounds better than a rib being taken out.

Praise the Lord for her MRI coming back fine and for her continued faith in Jesus. Kristi BELIEVES beyond a shadow of doubt that God has the power to heal her body again. I say again, because we wholeheartedly believe God's plan was for her to be healed the first time around. When the cancer was all through out her body and he took it completely away with in the same month.
He is still the same God and we believe, if it is God's plan again, that he can and will take away all of her cancer again.

God is so ALIVE are real to her....if it be His plan for Kristi to be healed it will happen (despite the odds, funny looks from people, lack of faith or mockery of others). If His plan for Kris is to take her home...she wholeheartedly will continue believing in his perfect plan for her life. She trust no matter what the end results...that Christ will be with her and give her rest in His perfect plan. Seeing her faith...is amazing......

I can't help but remember the sick woman in
Mark chapter 5 :25-34...

And there was a woman in the crowd who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years.
She had suffered a great deal from many doctors through the years and had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she was worse.
She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched the fringe of his robe.
For she thought to herself, "If I can just touch his clothing, I will be healed."
Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel that she had been healed!
Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
His disciples said to him, "All this crowd is pressing around you. How can you ask, `Who touched me?' "
But he kept on looking around to see who had done it.
Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and told him what she had done.
And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. You have been healed."

We are praying for you and believing God for another miracle!

We just moved!

2008-11-10T05:32:00.000-08:00

First, I want to thank you all for the many responses we have received about my sister! Because they have been so encouraging to us we have forwarded everyone of them to Kristi to help encourage her through this time! Thanks for praying.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
God has brought our family a new home (that we are renting)!
Believe it or not it is located one street away from our old house in Point Place.Where we lived for over eight years!
After two months of searching for a home that was some what affordable, for rent and had room for our family to continue growing...God lead us to this one!
We live right off of Ottawa River Rd. In fact, we have a pleasant view of the river when we look out our windows or our three season porch!

What a blessing it is to have much more room (2,019) than our other house (840 sq. ft.)! Come over and visit us!!!! We would love it.We want to say a special thank you to the helping hands God brought us to help make our move much easier....
Thank you ...
Hanson, Tim, Ed, Ryan & Rob
for your gift of time and service and to the
Chamberlain family ....for a wonderful meal!

Thank you Lord for providing a new house for our family!

Email me if you would like our new address and home phone number! sawades4christ@yahoo.com

JESUS HEALS TODAY...DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF PRAYER?

2008-11-07T18:20:00.000-08:00

Above twin sister Kristi and I at her first cancer free walk in September. The kids and I made tank tops in honor of my sister and mother's fight against Hodgkin's Lymphoma and Colon Cancer. Click on the pics to get a better view.

My sister, her husband (Jason) and her 3 beautiful children (Faith, Kristalynn and Holden) are in need of prayer warriors. Will you spend some time on your knees before our heavenly Father and uplift her and her family to the Lord.

For those of you who do not know or do not remember all the details...last year the same week our father went to be with the Lord my sister found out she had stage 3 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. The scans found it through out her whole body.

She was told that with out treatment she would be dead by Christmas ( 3-5 months). Well God wasn't through with her and completely took away all the cancer in her body with in the same month! At the advice of her doctors she continued down the road of chemo and 8 months later was, Praise the Lord, in remission! However, we believe she was healed in the beginning.

This last year has been such a growing time for Kristi. I have seen her trust God like no one else I know. I have seen her faith not be moved. I have seen her strength come from the Mighty One. I have seen the Light of Jesus in her. I have seen her reach out and love the unloved and rejected. I have seen her minister to the lost(...her neighbor girl, a stripper, expressed absolutely no interest in calling on Jesus until last month ...God used Kristi to lead her to salvation in Jesus Christ!).

I have seen a wife that will stand by her husband no matter how strong the storm gets. I have seen a woman mature from a child to a God fearing follower of Jesus Christ.

The light of Jesus is shining so bright in her life. You look at her or talk to her and you know she has something that very few people have. A REAL DEEP and meaningful relationship with the Savior of the world; Jesus Christ.

I have hungered for that light, I have thirsted for that joy and I have been continually moved by her faithfulness in the promises of God's Word.

2 weeks ago Kris found another painful lump on the back of her neck. The doctor told her she was fine and he would see her back in 4 months. She said, NO WAY...and insisted, insisted and insisted on being sent for a CT scan. After frustrating the doctor he said fine...and she received her CT Scan. The results came back indeterminate....what ever that means.
So believe it or not the doctor that told her she was fine became concerned and sent her for a Pet Scan. It took him two weeks.

Yesterday, we went to the doctor to get the results...
They found the tumor in her chest back and it is twice as big . This time it wasn't anywhere else but her chest. They couldn't explain the horribly painful neck aches that she has been having or the on set of severe migraines these last two weeks.
This doctor didn't even take time to finish reading the report ..which we found to say that the radiologist recommended the doctor to send her for a brain MRI.

Krist went back in and had to fight to get the brain MRI as well.

Before she left...the doctor told her that they are going to have to go in through her throat and down to her chest to get a biopsy. IF it is Hodgkin's they will be sending her to the Cleveland Clinic for 30 days...she will be a unit with no contact from anyone and will be in need of a bone marrow transplant and a stem cell transplant. She will also be taking chemo while all this is going on. The doctor also told her survival rate was not 80/20 anymore...it would be 50/50. We know God knows more than the doctor's crazy statistics and he will decide the perfect time ... of her healing and home going...it won't be a minute to soon or to late.

Only God's strength could pull a human being through all of this.
If it is not Hodgkin's than they will have to take a different route. She hasn't had pain in her chest until yesterday. Today the pain is in her chest and has been very painful today.

The headaches/migraines have been going on for a couple weeks.
She is having her brain MRI on Monday , her surgery consult on Tuesday, her surgery for the biopsy on Wed. or Thurs. and than we should know the results by the end of the week.

Please pray...her faith is resting in God's control of her life and God perfect plan. She rest in the fact that God is not going to take her home until her work here is done and he has completed what He has started in her!

She desires God to be glorified through all the suffering and pain that might be to come .... but we believe God heals TODAY! ...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Here are some words for from an email she sent out:

so please pray for joy for me , (rejoice in all circumstances, the bible says ) peace for me and my family, and for me not to doubt......ever,.... that the Lord can't heal me.... i have been reading and reading the Bible, and noticed in the gospels, that the Lord didn't heal those people because he felt bad for them, or they begged him, or because they were good people, he healed them because of there faith..... Jesus said, your faith has made you well, get up and go.....and thats what i am praying for.....confidence in the Lord, no matter what i feel, see, or hear......the Lord is bigger than all of this !!! Jesus also said, because you believe, you are well...... praise the Lord, for his promises..... as i walk threw the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil, for the Lord is with me.....always....the Lord works for the good of those who love him and are called according to HIS PLAN for them....

thanks for your love and support....kristi, jason, faithmarie, kristalynn, and little man, holden
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=

By His stripes we pray Kristi will be healed!

Quick Update...Sawade family growing again!

2008-10-10T04:40:00.000-07:00

Jacob will be returning to his mother in the next month or two. She is doing well and has completed her program.We will miss him so much. Jacob will always be a son to us.
He needs his mother and we are so excited that she has worked so hard to make good decisions! Will you pray for his mother to continue to be able to make good choices and to successfully bring her daughter(13) and son(5) back home together.

Dan'Nijah and Toriano after 3 weeks have been officially placed with us! We are so attached to them and are thankful for the time we have with them. These children have a good chance of being adopted...so we are excited about that possibility!

What is NEW with the Sawades?????

2008-09-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Hi, guys...thanks for checking in!
We have been so blessed by your prayers and support while being back in Toledo.

We have seen God at work so much this year! He has given us many opportunities to serve and for that we are so grateful! He truly has been so very faithful to us.

What are you guys doing?
God has enabled Aaron to continue being self employed. He loves it and is very thankful when God supplies the work to keep him busy;)

Are you still planing on going back to training for ministry overseas?
YES, YES and YES!!!! God has us here right now but we are working hard to pay off a college school loan. While we are doing that we pray that God would also allow us to adopt children before returning.

Are you still fostering?
Yes, we are! We still have Jacob and have many children live with us, emergency placements, from time to time.

Are you going to foster forever?
Not that we know of....lol...unless God has other plans for us. We hope to adopt a small sibling group and than be able to return back to finish our training with New Tribes.

Where are you living?
We are still renting a two bedroom, now 3 bedroom since Aaron built our bedroom in the basement, house in South Toledo. As our children grow and our foster children come and go we see a huge need for more space. But currently, we choose to be content and very thankful for all God has provided us with!

Where do all those kids sleep?
We get this question a lot...lol
Yes! In one room we have two bunk beds (4 boys). In the other room we have one bunk bed and a crib. We also have one extra twin bed/frame and 2 sofa couches with double mattresses in them! So yes, God has provided plenty of sleeping room...its the kids running space that is limited;)

Who do you have right now?
We have 6 under 7 right now. We have (1) 1 1/2 year old, (2) 2 1/2 year olds, (1) 4 year old, (1) five year old and (1) seven year old!

The two children who are with us are emergency placements for about 7 days. We received a call for children services last Thursday...and were very nervous taking on 3 little ones so close together. It wouldn't have been so worrisome if we only had to stay home this week. But that wasn't the case....We had my sister's cancer walk (by the way she is still doing great, Praise the Lord!) on Saturday night (Aaron was working so he couldn't be there) and than we had the opportunity to travel 45 minutes to share with family and friends saved and unsaved the hope of Jesus Christ on Sunday morning (we went praying non-stop that God would be with the children (helping them behave) be with us (sharing only words that would come from Him) and praying that he would plant seeds in the hearts of those who listening. Believe it or not the kids were great and God never left us!

Who is in school?
We are homeschooling Austin and Ethan this year and loving it! We don't have custody of Jacob so he is required to go to public school. We walk him to the bus every morning and upon his return home he is greeted by all the kids and I at the bus stop!

How is your family doing a year in a half after your father's home going?
Overall, I think we all would definitely say it has been very hard and difficult to watch each other grieve in different ways and for each of us financial hardship has been well known. But with that I believe each one of us would tell you how awesome God is, how his plan for each of us is perfect, how his timing is perfect and how his faithfulness as carried all of us through the raging waters!!!!!!

Any more questions we can answer??? leave us a comment below and we will answer it the best we can!

Meet our new son, Jacob!

2008-07-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

Jacob was just placed with us today! He will be 5 on August 21st. (5 days before Austin's birthday). We have been preparing and praying about him joining our family all week. He has had a rough childhood already and we feel so privileged to be able to share the love of Christ with him.

***Will you pray for us as we seek more training opportunities in order to help him with some issues he is dealing with.

It's early, but so far he seems to be a bit relaxed, polite and well mannered.

He loves having other kids to play with and lights up when we verbally encourage him;)

***Will you pray for his mother, 32, that she will make good choices and finish her programs so Jacob can be reunited with her.

Click on photos for a better peak!

***Will you pray for us as we seek God to provide us with a bigger vehicle. In time, we desire to fill our dining room table with children! That means we need a vehicle that will seat 6 children and 2 adults. Those size vehicles are expensive but we trust God will provide in His PERFECT timing.

Thank you for all your prayers and support! We love knowing that we have people praying for us and teaming up with us in praying for these little ones.

Meet Erin!!!

2008-07-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

click on photo to get a better look!

Click on the photo for a better look!

Erin came to us this weekend while her foster family was able to get away for a special trip!

What a blessing it was to care for this beautiful child! We loved her SO much.

Aaron took us and my niece Faith to the new Bass Pro Shop in town! The kids had a great time!

Click on the photos for a better look!

Meet Haley and Cody!

2008-06-27T19:17:00.000-07:00

Click on photos to get a better peak!

Hi, everyone! On Thursday we were called to take Haley and Cody.

Haley is so very cute and very smart for her age. She is two but she talks like she is four ;) She has adapted very well. She is polite, fun and loves playing with the boys!

Cody is 5 months old as is still dealing with withdrawal from drugs. He is doing way better than we imagined. He cries at night for about 5 hours with only 10 minutes breaks every hour. During the morning and day he really seems to be a more normal baby...laughing, smiling and of course just whimpering on and off so you pick him up.

Pray for them as their mother is doing better and they will probably be sent home in a month or two. As of now, we will only have them for 4 days while their regular foster parents are on a respite, but we already wish we could keep them!

June 12, 2008 Welcome back ....its been awhile since we've updated....

2008-06-10T14:49:00.000-07:00

The last 2 post are new and the several photo slide shows on right side of the page as well!

The slide shows are cool but we are worried that they may take some too long to load and view our web page. So will you do us a favor and let us know...if it takes too long. We'll try something else! Thanks.
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Well, we are on the eve of the first full year of my father's home going with Jesus. It still hurts very much. Father's day is around the corner and so is my father's birthday. I never knew or felt what it was like to lose someone so close to me. It's been troubling at times... I feel like it has become harder instead of easier.
God is always their offering peace that passes all understanding...I just have to be willing to take it!

Times are still very rough and emotional for my mom and sisters but God has been so VERY faithful to each one us! He has not left our side. We look forward to continued healing for our family and for the Lords financial provisions.

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On a more exciting note! God has been working in our hearts while back here in Toledo. In April we officially became licensed foster/adoptive parents in the state of Ohio!

You might ask where this came from....you'll have to read the post under this one for the answer.

With that said, we have felt God preparing us for more children for over a year now. Children with special needs who might have been hurt, starved, abused or neglected. We are also willing and open to take care of and love a child who has mild physical or mental needs.

We aren't sure why, where or when but we definately know He is up to something good!

We trust in God's perfect timing.
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We are praying that God would raise up a strong team of prayer warriors for our family. Individuals and families who will TEAM up with us, who will be on their knees praying for God's strength to work through us and enable us to go and stay in a third world country. Reaching people who have no chance of hearing the Good News if missionaries don't go and tell them.

Our needs will be and are great...we will not be able to work during the training at the Missionary Traing Center (MTC) in Missouri. In order to be accepted into the program we will have to be debt free, which means we need to pay off Aaron's school loan of $7500 before we return to school. We will have to be supported monthly with enough support to pay our tuition, housing, food and necessities. We are praying that God would raise up a strong team of individuals and families that have a heart to give to further the Lord's Kingdom. We pray that this team will be able to support us as we become equipped and as we head overseas.

We could return to NTBI as soon as this August and then onto MTC in January if God provides the needed funds. So please pray that Aaron will have plenty of work and we are able to save and pay off the loan, or that God will supply in other ways.

A final decision to return to school has to be made by August 1st (less than 7 weeks away).

Will you pray with us for God's leading as we seek Him and what desires He has for our family this year.

God Bless and thanks for all your love and support!

It feels good to complete something!

2008-06-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

We are currently licensed, in the state of Ohio, to foster or adopt children in need!

We started training in May 2007 and weren't able to continue. After deciding not to return to NTBI last January we felt the Lord deepen our desire to adopt as He continued to open the door to return to Lucas County Children Services Training. He provided us with babysitters for 7 Saturdays, in a row, from 8-4 each Saturday. Wow, we couldn't believe it! Thank you to my dear friend/missionary; Kelsey (from our church youth group) to my sister, Korinne and husband Jeff, and good friend Anna and Oliver for all their help!

He did this all in the first day! Its hard to find babysitters for 3 kids especially when you can't compensate them for their time like you would wish. We felt God organized this for us and everything went very smoothly!

In April we completed our 40 hours of training, tons of paperwork and home study preparation!
However, we have yet to receive a call or a placement.

We trust God's timing ....and are so very very thankful for the 3 beautiful children He has given us already!!!

Hospital Visit for 5 days....

2008-02-23T11:26:00.001-08:00

Only a few of you new about Brayden being in the hospital this week and for that I am sorry. However, we trusted that God would bring our family to your minds and that you would pray for us even with out knowing all or any of the details.

Brayden and I just got out of the hospital after being there all week. Brayden got really sick Saturday and was up all night both Saturday and Sunday. Looking back we should have gone into the hospital late Sunday afternoon but Aaron and I just weren't sure if it was the flu or something more.
We called the doctor and they thought he would get better through the night. No. He got much worse. His temp spiked to 104.5 and I spent all night asking God to help me keep his temp under control.
Monday morning came and his breathing became labored. We wanted to take him to the ER but the doctor's office told us to bring him in first. Aaron took him over and we found out that he had RSV, possible pneumonia and a double ear infection. The doctor told us to get to the hospital and that they would be admitting him.

Aaron did a great job and spent the first 12 hours with Brayden while I stayed home taking care of my sisters sweet kids.....We had been watching 6 kids that were 6 and under Sat, Sun and Monday! Whew....not good...when kids are sick. Last week Ethan went on antibiotics because the doctor heard some pneumonia in his lungs starting...praise the Lord...the meds worked. On Sunday Austin laid on the floor all afternoon with a temp. and with in 6 hours or so got much better! Still... it was very trying to be able to care for more than one sick kid at a time. God really grew Aaron and I this last week!

My sisters and her husband, Jason, came back from Virgina about midnight on Monday evening. (Great job Jason!) I than drove to the hospital and switched places with Aaron. Brayden was getting worse. His oxygen level was low and the respiratory therapist were concerned. They hooked him up to oxygen, taping the hose around his face, than they started him on treatments every 3 hours through the day and night. They would come in give him a breathing treatment that would take 5-8 minutes, than start banging really hard on his chest, back and right and left side of his lungs. Its called percussion and it is suppose to help break the pneumonia up. At times some therapist had no mercy while others said that the kids really didn't need to be hit so hard. Brayden cried every time because he was sore but settled down towards the end of his 1/2 hour treatment. The respiratory therapist would be returning in about 2.5 hours to do it all over again.
After that we had to hold him down, may I remind you ever 3 hours, and suction out his lungs. We did this by shoving tubing up through his nose and down to the bottom of his lungs. It wasn't fun :( He fought the first 2 times but really never fought again. He would just cry and say...mom...dad...mom...ect. He was such a strong and good boy!!!!!

By Wednesday he still wasn't any better and I was confident that it was time to try something else. They started and IV, which was really hard for him but he was so very good, and than we received the results of his chest x-ray confirming lower right lobe pneumonia.

With prayer, time and much chest thumping every 3 hours he slowly started to turn the corner.
He is doing much better but still has treatments every 4 hours. He is taking 2 of the 4 different medications for 10 days and than the remaining 2 he will take until spring arrives.

Thank you so much for your concern and prayers. We needed them. It was very very busy at the hospital...getting sleep for either of us was nearly impossible. We shared a room with another family and literally the space we had was the space of a very small bathroom. A roll out chair and a crib was all that would fit.
It was trying at times but God never left us and we saw Him at work so many times during our stay.

I have become good friends with our roommate and plan to meet up with her soon. Her name is Dawn and her 2 week old son is Parker. They have 4 days out of a total of 16 left! Pray for them as they are concerned that a new family, who will be taking our spot will bring in some new virus that will infect their child all over again. Pray for peace and pray that the Lord will work in their family bringing each of them closer to a solid relationship with Jesus Christ!

Thanks again for all your love and prayers! It means so very much.

urgent prayer request for twin sister's family...

2008-01-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

Please pray for my sister, my brother in law (Jason) and their 3 kids.
Unfortunately, my brother in-law Jason had to be sent to an alcohol intervention program through his work. He will be flown today to Virgina and remain in the program for 30 days. His addiction as been getting worse and worse.
Jason was physically abused and had alcohol issues in the family. Its so sad...kids don't ask to be raised like this ...but yet this is the result of sin in peoples lives and trauma to children. Pray for wisdom and please, please pray that Jason will allow God to work in his heart and that he will choose to accept God's free gift of GRACE!

Pray for Kristi, as she is weak emotionally and physically. She needs prayer as she continues chemo, faces the fear of no husband being present and is raising her children alone this next month (10mon. , 2 yrs, and 5yrs old).
Jason is a great guy with huge potential. I think he feels like giving up and walking away from everything and everyone...but we know God can change anyone who wants to be changed. Pray for his heart to be softened while he is gone. That he will open his Bible up and choose to be forever changed!

Thank you for your prayers
on behalf of the Pfaff family and ours.

2008-01-15T05:09:00.000-08:00

Click on Pictures to view them larger!

Babysitting 9 kids at the Sawades! Whew!

4 drummers in the house! Oh, boy!

One King : Austin's solo (in the middle of clip 2:40)
and Living Hope Children!
The children did great for having a
snow storm and postponing the program
for another two weeks.

Family Update Part 1: Decisions, decisions, decisions...

2008-01-08T18:10:00.000-08:00

January 2008
Family, friends & partners,

Thank you for praying for us while we have been "silent", unsure of what God had in store for our immediate future. We have been weighing issues and seeking guidance over the last couple months. After much prayer and discussion we have decided to stay here in Toledo for another year.
During this past year, we have been through some deep valleys. Jamithy's father, Jerry who was only 53, went to be with the Lord. Jamithy's twin sister, Kristi, was diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma just a week or so later. These events have created much hardship, both emotional and financial, for her family.
Jamithy's sister, Korrine and husband Jeff are moving in with her mom in order to help with the bills. I have been working as much as possible to help finish the basement there, so they have a place to stay. There is still much work to be done, which is one of the many reasons we felt God wanted us to stay.
We feel confident that it is the Lords will for us to remain and serve here. We would like nothing more than to return to school and continue our training, but not if God has something else for us at this time. We feel that these valleys are part of our preparation, molding us for our future ministry in missions.

Rom 8:28 says,
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose".

We are excited to see all He has in store for our family this year and in the years to come!

Words can not express how much we appreciate your commitment to lifting our family up to the Lord. You have been such an encouragement to us and we praise the Lord for your ministry to our family!

Family Updates : Part 2 !!!

2008-01-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

Brayden has been doing well! He is far from a baby any more. He definitely seems to have more of Ethan’s personality. A personality that is sweet but most the time is busy, loud, energetic, fearless, aggressive and feisty. He enjoys playing with his brothers so much! He loves to mess up board games, knock over toy towers, play drums (like his brothers and dad), dance, color, and wear Austin’s dress shirts (for some odd reason ;) ). His vocabulary is still small but he is always trying to talk or sing along with the musical Frog and Toad! He will be 2 in May and we simply can’t imagine life with out this amazing little critter. What a blessing God has given us!

Ethan has been busy keeping up with his older brother while also taking care of his little brother Brayden. Brayden’s nickname is “baby” or “Braaddee” and Ethan prefers to call him baby! Its so cute. Ethan is learning to recognize his letters and sounds and seems eager to learn! He is still a cuddle bug…he loves to ask if he can sit with us or if we can nap with him. He is king of facial expressions…both good ones and bad. He is fun, cute, crazy, feisty, and aggressive and one of the best gifts God has ever given us!

Austin…wow….a blessing like no other! He has always been sweet, thoughtful, kind and compassionate. He continues to express these attributes while taking care of his little brothers. He watches them like a hawk and has extreme panic attacks when they do not follow closely to us while away from home. It’s really sweet but not healthy for him to carry such a burden. We continually try to comfort him by sharing with him that it is not his job to make sure the boys don’t get hurt or lost. Home schooling is going great! It has been getting better along the way as we both have had to learn to prioritize our day and set goals and expectations. God has given this guy great brains!

Austin, is excited to stay here another year. It’s a God thing! Over this last year he was literally counting down the days until January so we could return. We were concerned for him when we decided to stay. But God is faithful and took care of our concern!

Aaron and I are praising God for His never ending faithfulness in our marriage, in our spiritual growth, in our children’s lives and through his provisions for us! He is amazing and we are excited to live everyday, he allows us to live, learning more about Him and how we can bring glory to His name. God’s grace in our lives is so evident and we can’t thank him enough for rescuing us and giving us hope and a bright future!

Pray for us as we continue, to work with doctors, looking into my headaches and 3 lumps on my neck. I was having headaches at least 3 times a day for two months. The day after Christmas I discovered a lump on my neck. The next day I found another and the third day I found the third . A little over a week ago I had a CT scan and the doctors do not seem to be alarmed at this point. Praise the Lord! However they do want me to get another CT scan in the next month or so.
Currently, the lumps are barely there and I have had hardly any headaches this last week!

Will you continue praying for us in these ways?

* Wisdom as we continue to help repair and fix my mother’s house.
Pray for us as we will have to continue selling his personal belongings and as we see God provide for each of us.

* that God would use us to be an encouragement to a broken, hurt or lost family in our local area this year. Pray that God will use our insecurities of reaching out and ultimately see Him bring a family to know Him. Last year we started training with Lucas County Children Services to see if God would allow us to adopt a child. After 1/3 of our training we were advised that we would not be able to adopt until this February. Needless to say we were planing on not being here...and yet ....here we are! We joined their training again and look forward to seeing if God will use us to plant seeds in a hurting family here, help take care and love a hurting and abused child for a time or , if the Lord allows, to be blessed with adopting one.

* raising our boys and for Brayden as he will have his 2nd hypospadius surgery mid summer

* pray for my twin sister, Kristi, who is an amazing woman and such a fighter! She is taking chemotherapy until May. I believe she is half way there! The doctors have her taking 4 of the worst drugs for chemo. The Lord has again given her much strength as she continues to raise their 3 children herself and fight this disease. Recently, she has had lot of pain in her neck and in her thigh. She is a believer but has seen so many (family, friends and acquaintances 8+) die this year that she is really freaked out and doesn’t seem to be able to rest in God’s ultimate control in the lives of His people. Pray for her marriage and for salvation for her husband.

My mother, Linda, What a blessing she is to me and so many other people! Pray for her as she continues to feel the loss of my father and is trying desperately to pay the bills. Pray that the Lord will show her the importance of fellowship of believers and give her a desire to build Godly relationships.

My sister Korinne, Korinne is very intelligent, funny and accepting of others! Pray for her as she is attending Ohio State, teaching, preparing to graduate, fixing up and selling her trailer ( in order to move in with our mom to help pay bills) working , fixing and repairing dad’s house, dealing with the loss of my father (her closest friend in the world), struggling financially and feeling really discouraged. Pray for her husband who hasn’t been the same since our father’s home going. Pray that God would restore both of them to be supportive of each other at this very difficult and most important time.

My baby sister, Elisha, who will always have a special place in her oldest sisters heart! Pray for her ...she has taken the death of our father really hard and continues to struggle with the activities in her life. Our father was very involved with all her activities and interest and she feels like nothing in life is worth living for. Pray that God will give her some thing in life that she feels is worth living for. Pray that God will protect her from sadness and depression. And that God would continue to wrap his arms around her and raise her up to serve Him despite the valleys.

2007-09-07T17:17:00.000-07:00

September 8, 2007

Wow, we can't believe its already September.

Hope you guys have been staying cool with all the heat. We have been reminded how much we took for granted having the blessing of air conditioning this summer. Just about 2 months ago the AC in the house decided not to work anymore. We used to call my dad because dad was Mr. Fix it and did all that kind of stuff for a living.

Whew.... its been HOT but God is good and has given us many days of cooler weather in between!

What have we been up to?
We've still been pretty busy taking care of my dad's business and personal belongings. I'm afraid it won't be completed any time soon. We have appreciated your prayers on behalf of my family and its been really awesome trusting God and seeing Him take care of my mother and us girls!

How is your twin sister, Kristi?
Kristi, has been hanging in there while trying to adjust to her life revolving around feeling sick most the time. She has had two, three hour, chemo treatments. She had a bone marrow test done and we are praising God that the cancer is not in her bones. She is in stage 3 and has to have chemo for the next 8 months.
Thank you for praying for her, her husband and their children. They really need it and really appreciate it!

How are the boys?
The boys are great! They are growing up so fast. Austin just celebrated his 6th birthday and is reading! Ethan is getting much taller and I find him always wanting to know people's names. No matter who they are...commercials on TV, books, people walking by...I think its really cute and hope the Lord grows that desire to love people. Brayden is running around talking and trying to keep up with his brothers. He keeps us moving! In fact, they all do;) Its amazing how much the boys learn from each other.
Aaron's family says he looks like my dad...I love it...we aren't sure how long he'll stay looking like him but I can tell you he sweats like my dad did. This boy can be standing still not doing anything and have sweat dripping from his hair. Gross.....

What are your plans for school in January?
Tell you the truth...we aren't sure what God has for us yet. We desire very much to return but the Lord has us here for now and we are taking advantage of that. Its been a rough couple of months and its so comforting knowing that God, in advance, new that it would be.
This fall we are excited and honored to be hosting a small group at our house. The group is made up of couples from our church and will be meeting on Sunday evenings. The Olympians ministry for the children in our church will also be starting up on Wed. evenings! Aaron and I will be joining the team and helping out were ever we can! We still have the privilege of being involved in the praise team, nursery and missions ministries aswell.
Ways you can be praying for us:

Spiritual
God will continue his work in our hearts and that we would whole heartedly seek to honor Him.
Reach out more to others; being sensitive to their spiritual and physical needs
Oneness and teamwork in our marriage and for wisdom in being examples for the boys.
Work...that God would stretch our income; covering the bills and allowing us to save for the down payment for school
Time...that we would prioritize our time and line it up with an eternal perspective.
Home and family life; that God will continue to grow our relationships with each other and ultimately with Him

Thanks for checking in with us...email us and let us know how we can be praying for you.

August 25, 2007

2007-08-29T08:15:00.001-07:00

Thursday, August 18th

2007-08-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

I Peter 5:10
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered for a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

Hi, we just want to take a minute to share with you how much we appreciate knowing that we have people like you praying for us. We are so thankful to know Jesus Christ and to be blessed with His people encouraging our hearts and lifting us up!

First of all we want to thank God for His grace, mercy, comfort and love! We choose to believe His Word and trust that He is in control, at work and bringing glory to His name no matter what our circumstances.

We praise Him for protecting Ethan this last week. Austin was on the front porch and Ethan was in the house. Ethan started running and with his arms extended out. Next thing I hear was him putting his whole hand and arm right through the window. The sound was horrifying and I started shaking. I thought we were in big trouble. I got to him and was expecting huge cuts at his wrist but instead found myself in unbelief that he was hardly hurt. Ethan stood their in shock with some shards of glass in his arms and chest, and a couple minor cuts to his wrist, upper arm and chests....that was it! Praise God!!!!! Praise God!!!! Praise God!

Update on my twin sister Kristi....
Kristi had surgery last Thursday and the doctors confirmed yest. that she does have Hodgkin's Lymphoma. With the test performed already she is at least in stage 2 (possible 3 or 4) ... they won't know for sure until they do testing on her bone marrow (After evaluating factors, the pathologist classifies the cancer in order of severity as Stages/Grade 1, 2, 3 or 4. Grade 1 is sometimes referred to as "low grade," the least aggressive, and Grade 4 as "high grade," the most aggressive. Over the next two weeks she will daily have test and procedures being done.

The doctors shared with her that if she wasn't treated she would be dead by Christmas. She will start treatment next week so she will lose her long hair within the next 2-3 weeks the doctors said. They also told her that the survival rate (after treatment) is 60% (70% for stage 1 and 2). They can say what they want but we know God has allowed this and has a plan for her life not taking her a minute before He calls her home.

Considering the news, she seems to be in good spirits. Scared to death but choosing to cling to the one she knows will carry her through!
Please continue to pray for Kristi, her husband Jason and their 3 children (Holden 5 months, Kristalyn 1.5, Faith 5).

Aaron and I are hanging in there! Heading into this year we thought our one focus was selling our home and getting back into training. Enabling us to be a part of reaching tribal people with the hope of Jesus Christ.
Recent circumstances of my dad's sudden home going and my sister fighting caner as answered some of our questions we had about having to set aside training this year. We rejoice that God loves us so much that He, in advance, had prepared for us to be here! Its been such a privilege to be able to stand beside my mother and three sisters and go through this valley together. Seeing God working in my family and ultimately bringing glory to His name.

Once again, we thank each one of you for your prayers and support. We have felt and have been empowered by the ONE who knows all, is in control of everything and loves us more than we can ever know.

I Peter 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

The Doctor Believes My Twin Sister Has Cancer....

2007-08-02T19:07:00.000-07:00

Wow, these last two weeks have been unbelievable.

From having my wallet stolen, to my dad's sudden home going, to trusting God to provide for my mother financially (prob. going to have to file for bankruptcy), to the family cat and my dad's dog being put to sleep (Friday) and last but not least finding out my twin sis. has some type of cancer.
(Dad and Kristi above)
I don't know what else to say....

besides being able to tell you.... beyond a shadow of doubt I know MY God is at Work and He is in total control of this valley that He is walking us through.

If you can pray for my mother, sisters and I
(Kristi, Jamithy, Korinne, mom (Linda), Elisha)
that we ALL will walk this road with the Lord and that not one of us will STRAY from HIM. Pray that these things that God is allowing in our lives (possible to grow us and draw us near to HIM) will deepen our relationship with the Lord and bring glory to His name.

Kristi (my twin sis) goes in for another cat scan tomorrow and than will be scheduling for a biopsy to be done. Please, pray that they will get her in right away. She has had pain for over a month or two...The doctors thought she was just sick but know they think it might be Hodgkin's lymphoma. Her throat (lymph nodes) have been hurting and swollen for some time. Today the doctor said it looks like she has it down the right side of her chest wall (behind her lungs).

We'll keep you posted and thank you for all your loving and prayerful support.

God's at work even in our darkest hour...

2007-07-28T05:17:00.002-07:00

Dear family and friends,

We need to share with you some urgent news.

My dad (Jamithy's dad Jerry Milks) went to be with the Lord this week. He was killed in a motorcycle accident in the evening hours on Monday, July 23rd.

It has been a huge shock and still hurts in the deepest way. We are depending and trusting God for everything now. My dad was such a pillar and rock to lean on while growing up (even while being married). He was always there for us girls and his sons-in-law. My dad loved and passionately wanted people to come to know Christ and spent most of his time sharing that with his many friends and customers (in his own aggressive way:) ).

My mom (48) and sisters (twin..Kristi(28), Korinne(24) and Elisha(21) and I have been able to spend countless hours together praying, crying, hurting, and asking God to provide the necessary funds needed to give my dad a memorial service and help my mom work through the many bills. We pray for wisdom in dealing with my father's business and financial situation.
We've never experienced loss and pain this deep ...but God has been very faithful and gives us the strength we need to continue on.

We choose to trust God's plan for my dad's life. A life that was in His hands from the day he was conceived. We trust God had finished what he started in my dad's life and took him home not a minute to soon. We rejoice that our dad had an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and that he is walking with Him today!

Below you can read from the Toledo Blade (Obituary) about my dad's life. We would be encouraged if you could visit our guest book too...

CLICK HERE:
www.legacy.com/ToledoBlade/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=91493708

Time as been just flying bye...

2007-07-17T08:42:00.001-07:00

2007-04-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

Check out the links to the right>>>>
To view pics...click on the picture

April 2007 Update
Hey, thanks for taking a few minutes to check in with us!

Sorry, its been so long since our last update. We have
been really staying busy.

Thankful Moments...
The Lord has been taking such good care of us while being back in Toledo. When we wrote to you last we had just moved into our home in south Toledo. We've been here for a couple months now and are enjoying it so much! Our favorite thing about the house is our cute little fenced in yard! We are so thankful to have the luxury of our own backyard again! If your looking for us and can't find us this summer...try our backyard!

We are also thankful that the boys have finally adjusted to the three of them sharing a bedroom. The baby cries himself to sleep and no one seems to notice anymore!
Living in an igloo can't be fun...
The house we are staying in is an old house without insulation in the walls. Needless to say, sleeping in our bedroom felt just about as cold as sleeping outside during those cold winter nights we had. Seriously, we had like layers of clothes on and about four blankets on our bed...we are thankful for the warmth and sunshine!

Whats been keeping us so busy?
WORK:
We praise the Lord for supplying us with many people from our home church that need repairs or remodeling done to their homes. Aaron has been very busy and its been such a blessing being able to have income while continuing to build relationships with people in our church.

CHURCH:
When we returned to Toledo we met with our pastor and his wife to share with them our hearts. Hearts that were willing to serve in any area or ministry we could. Since that meeting it has been really neat seeing God reveal some different areas if ministry that we could serve in!

Aaron has been working on repairing and building many projects at the church. He is on the "mowing for Jesus" team, serving on the praise team again, and serving on the missions ministry team. He also has been a huge help and blessing to me in my areas of ministry!

Jamithy has been blessed with the opportunity to take over and organize the nursery and toddler ministries at church. Our family has been able to spend a lot of time working together to help create a more welcoming area for our church family and visitors. Last year the Lord brought a new youth and children's pastor to our church and we are currently trying to get all of our programs to work with our new ministry...called "The Rivers Edge". Aaron and I have just about completed drawing and painting some murals in our nursery area. The nursery was plain and has been in need of some things to make it appealing to the small children using the room. We were also asked if we would be willing to do some wall murals in two other sections in our church too. It is a huge honor to be able to be a part of this ministry and seeing God really use it to glorify Him! We've seen the faces of our church families and visitors light up already!
While serving on the missions ministry team we have both been busy creating monthly missions videos for our church's missions wall, contacting and helping to organize a list of our church missionaries for current prayer needs. I have also been serving on the praise team and the church's cleaning team.

Upcoming Ministries/Outreach opportunities:
This summer we hope to get a chance to serve in our children's church ministry, our "adopt a flower bed" ministry (each family/group can serve for a month to keep the church grounds clean and weed free), and our many summer outreach events.

Hobbies!!! What do we all do for fun?
Well, Aaron is coaching both the Austin and Ethan's
soccer teams this year! We have practices on Tuesdays and games on Saturdays. Aaron is a great coach and is teaching the kids more than just soccer. He is taking time each week to teach the kids and build their character by giving them practical things they can work on (like helping others) each week at home! Aaron seems to love it an really enjoys having time with the kids!

Tennis and Guitar School...
Thanks to our pell grant I was able to learn how to play tennis at our community college. The course was an 8 week course. I really enjoyed it and would like to take it again during the summer semester. Aaron and I hope to play some buddies of ours at church!
I am still working on playing the guitar..I love it but because I'm so busy its taking a long time to learn how to play songs... I'll get it...I'm just trying to make sure and practice at least 15-30 minutes a day. I have been working with Eric Roberts who started a christian online guitar school called "8chords 100 songs". Its great! Its working! and... its really affordable! I would recommend it to anyone who would like to learn to play the guitar. For a year I have searched for something that offered all this! http://www.worshiptheking.com Now that its warm I've been able to take it out and practice on the front porch!

When we can, we love to stay active...playing any and all kinds of sports!

We have setteled in!!!!

2007-03-08T07:43:00.000-08:00

Hey, New Tribers and Cascade families! We are planing on visiting you this Saturday and Sunday! We hope to see so many of you!!!!
_______________________________________
Thank you for all your prayers...thank you to those of you who left comments on our last update. Your encouragement means so much!

Closing on the house went very smoothly. We had no surprises with the closing procedure but did have a huge surprise with God's provision for where we were going to live for the next 10 months. At the last minute, with only one day left until we loaded the moving truck, God provided a cute 2 bedroom home for us to rent. The circumstances were amazing. Our good friend/lawyer Richard Chamberlain had a co-worker/friend bring up at a meeting that he needed to find someone that would rent/buy his wife's house. Richard told him that he new of a family that was looking for some where to rent for 10 months. We visited it the next day and it was a perfect fit for what we needed! A two bedroom ranch house with a basement, a small fenced in yard, a 1.5 car garage for Aaron's tools and a monthly payment that was lower than the appartments we couldn't afford. The Lord gave us way more than we were hoping for!!!! The owners were just as pleased as we were and went out of their way to get the house ready for us by the next day. Needless to say we signed a 10 month lease and really are enjoying our new place!

Good-bye 287th st.
Thank you for all the help/labor and fiances given through out the last 2 years journey. Thank you to Mark, Chris, Matt, & John for helping us move out. thank you to Pst. Jeremy, Mark and Matt for helping us move in. Thank you Camile and kids for watching our kids ALL DAY...wow (what a huge help). A huge thank you to my mom for watching the kids in the van while moving in. Thank you to our pastor's wife Jill and Mrs. Chesser for the wonderful dinner you provided.

What teamwork the body of Christ is! We are richly blessed.

Click on and check out the 2 pictures with Aaron's close call with the Uhaul truck. Missed his friend's truck by 1/4 inch. It was pretty funny...

We have been moved in for a week in a half and are just now feeling a bit settled.

The house is an old house with old widows and drains. We wonder how much our gas bill is going to be this month and in the future months of Dec and Jan...yikes! The furnace kicks on just about every 5 minutes and even though it's set at 68 degrees it is always really chilly. We had some plumbing issues that Aaron had to address this last week. It reminded us of our first home up at New Tribes.
Washing dishes in the tub...

Hello, Glencairn Ave.
(Did we tell you...we were praying to live with in 5 minutes from the church...we are... exactly 5 minutes!!!)

We are very thankful to God for moving us to a location where the owners are totally willing to have Aaron do all the work and will adjust our rent payment some for fixing up things around the house. It is an answer to prayer!

Other updates:
*We are serving on the missions committee at church which continues to be a blessing. We are serving on the praise team again while also coordinating the nursery and toddler ministry. Now that we are getting settled we would love to have families over once a week so we can get to know them better.

*Praise, Aaron has plenty of work lined up for this month.

*We have an appt. at U of M on the 13th for Brayden's 2nd consult for his surgery that will be coming up with in the next few months.

The boys!
Austin and Ethan are doing great! However Austin does miss child care at New Tribes and Kidworks on Mondays. Ethan has been potty trained for about a month and Brayden is crawling all over the place. He is still nursing well but really enjoys eating food. He looks just like Ethan did at his age.
That bath picture looks exactly like Brayden when he is in the bath. The boys between 9-12 months.
Brayden Ethan Austin

We are glad we could update you and look forward to hearing from you about God's faithfulness in your lives. Please take a moment to send us your praises and prayer request. sawades4christ@yahoo.com

Love all of us

It's closing time...please head to your closest...Title Company!

2007-02-22T07:14:00.000-08:00

Finally, after a long month of negotiations and fixings we are excited to tell you that we will be closing on the house tomorrow morning, Friday the 23rd, at 9:00AM! Can you believe it! God is so good and we are so excited to see Him continuing to open doors for us as we head into Tribal Missions.

We have truly been blessed to have so many people taking the journey with us by prayer. Thank you for allowing God to use you in this mighty way and for your loving ministry to our family.

We ask for prayer as we close tomorrow, load the moving truck Saturday, and for wisdom as we urgently need to find/decide where we will need to stay for the next 10 months.

We thought it would be easy finding an appartment but it has been very difficult. We will update you as soon as we know where exactley God moves us to.

Working together,
Aaron and Jamithy

Greetings from the Sawades in Toledo, Ohio!

2007-01-20T19:33:00.000-08:00

We hope you and your families had a joyous Christmas and are enjoying the New Year!

We are so excited to finally have the opportunity to update you with where were at and what God is doing! As many of you know we have had a house in Toledo and are awaiting the sale of it. God allowed us to attend training for a year in a half and we are so grateful for the time of growth!

In December we were faced with a huge decision. With no money to continue in training and no money to pay the mortgage in Toledo we felt it wise to step out of training for a short time. We are confident in His perfect plan and find our hearts willing to follow Him in the direction He leads. We trust God will sell our house in His perfect time and we eagerly await that time.

We want to share how appreciative we are to those of you who helped us carry a house full of belongings down one hall, down 4 flights of stairs, to the other end of the building and finally onto the uhaul truck. Thank you so much to those of you who came over to help clean, made a meal for us and watched the boys. We were so grateful for the help and really needed it.
We want to thank our deans for meeting with us, praying for us, giving us Godly insight and for showing us Christ like love.

With that all said we want to share with you a bit of our adventure these last 2 months.

Having the opportunity to finish our junior semester was such an awesome blessing! We loved it and can't wait to go back and finsh our final semester (Lord willing Jan. 2008).

The week we finished up with finals for our classes was followed by a really rough weekend of packing and cleaning (cleaning and more cleaning). We started on Friday and worked continuously. We finally were able to set out (Tues.) from New Tribes heading back to Toledo. Before we left our Church family, from Cascades Baptist, came to visit us in our apartment. They came to sing Christmas carols and bring gifts! It was truly a blessing and a great encouragement. We love them so much and hope to keep in touch with them while we are gone.

We arrived in Toledo late Tuesday night and found ourselves welcomed by our good friend from church (Ryan) and our neighbor friends (Troy, Camile and their kids Casie and Gillian). They helped us unload for over an hour and we want to thank them so much.

We then had to leave a couple days later to go visit Aaron's family in Warsaw, New York. We had a great Christmas and stayed their 5 days! We drove back to Toledo and the next day we received a call from our realtor saying that their was a couple that wanted to look at house the following day. We laughed at first because we were still living out of boxes. We accepted the challenge of getting unpacked and having the house look presentable. It really was motivating!

That weekend was New Years. Aaron spent all day watching Austin and Ethan and I spent it at the hospital with Brayden. He was admitted early that morning with Reactive Air Way Disease (also known as asthma). He was suppose to spend the night but they told us we could go home. That was a blessing but the next 2 days we spent running back and forth to doctors because he was having breathing problems.
Now, everything is controlled and both Brayden and Ethan take Pulmacort (a steroid breathing treatment) daily. Praise, the Lord they have all been really healthy these last few weeks!

Now, the exciting news you all have been waiting for!!!

After countering, re-countering and re-re-countering we finally get to sign papers tomorrow to sell our house!!! Can you believe it. We have only been unpacked for 2 weeks! God is so amazing and we are really excited to see if this is really it.
Classes at New Tribes started 2 days ago so we know for sure His plan for us is to remain here this year. We are looking for housing or and apartment to rent on the south side of town so we can be close to work and our ministries at our home church. We find ourselves traveling nearly 40 miles back and forth 4-6 times a week. Yikes, that's expensive for gas so this will be a huge blessing! We are serving on the praise team again and have been asked to serve on the missions board at church. We are grateful for the opportunity to be involved and continue challenging hearts with missions!
Work???? The Lord has blessed us with so much work from within our church body. Aaron loves it and he said if the Lord kept him busy doing what he is doing... that would be great!

The boys and us have been really enjoying life with out balancing the homework load. Aaron has had time to play basketball with our church's outreach on Thursday nights again. He has been asked to share once every 3 weeks as part of a ministry with 3 other guys.
Aaron and I have been able to spend time talking and watching movies together. Its great!
I have been able to spend a ton of time playing with the boys, cooking meals and homeschooling Austin. I am learning to play tennis at our community college (thanks to Pell grants) and have also been busy learning the guitar. Something I started 2 years ago but had to put on hold this last year in a half.

Austin is starting to read 4 letter words and is adding and subtracting math. He is a sweetheart! He has adjusted real well to all that's gone on and seems to look forward to the next adventure. We hope to hook up with some kind of homeschooling group here in Toledo so he can have fun and meet other kids.

Ethan is so cute and still remains to be our fiasty one. He is almost potty trained. OK, some days are great and some not so good. He is busy still wanting to do everything his brother does. Its pretty humorous. He has actually wanted to sit down and do school work like his older brother. We do a little but mostly I try and use him to help with the dishes, laundry or baking.

Brayden is 7 months today and is starting to crawl a bit more! Oh, that's really not that exciting. I forgot it only gets harder when they start moving. He still is nursing well and eats 2 jars of food a day. He loves Cheerios and loves to laugh, giggle and play with his brothers.

So their it is! A long list of updates. We will definitely keep you posted as we take another step towards finalizing the sale of our house. Closing is scheduled to be on February 16th following with only 7 days to pack, find housing and move. If you have ever bought a house you understand that nothing is for sure until you sign at closing. Something we try and remember!

We are excited to see God work in the lives of the people around us and in our lives. We are praying that others will want to experience the great adventure serving Jesus Christ brings!

Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement. We have seen God use YOUR PRAYERS ever step of the way!

By His Grace,
Jamithy, for the Sawades
WE'LL UPDATE SOON....check out new pics in photo gallery coming soon!

2006-12-12T07:56:00.000-08:00

2006-12-01T19:40:00.000-08:00

God's CONTINUING training program designed specifically for our family...

Hi everyone!
We have been so touched by many of you checking out our website through this last month. We apologize for not updating you since the 1st of November. The Lord has been working in our hearts and lives to prepare us but we're not sure for what yet.

RESTING HEARTS...
We are updating you today with hearts that are resting in our Savior's hands. This last year and a half has been so amazing and we have really seen the faithfulness and love of our Father. We have grown to know Him like we have never known Him before. We have had the opportunity to learn truths that have forever challenged our lives and our thinking. Through God's Word we have been able to see that nothing good is done in our own strength or power but only through His divine and enabling Spirit that dwells within us! Wow, what hope we have and what an awesome future!

The News...(A's Comments)
After talking with the Deans here at school, we have decided that if our house in Toledo hasn't sold (or in the process of) by December 17th, we will be moving (Dec. 18th) back into our home in Toledo before Christmas. We wouldn't have planned it this way, but God obviously has other plans for us before we finish the training, and He certainly knows best what we need to be equipped for tribal missions. Our Deans explained that God will be using this time to continue our training in a way that is just for us. The time off to get the house sold will also allow us to serve in our home church and we can also get to know those who are partnering with us a little better. Of course, God could still bring us a buyer for the house in the next 2 weeks, which our Realtor says would be a miracle because houses never sell between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So please pray that we will see for certain the road that we need to take to stay where God wants us to be, whether our training continues in Jackson at NTBI or in Toledo at LHC (Living Hope Church).

Your prayers have been much appreciated and we feel very loved and supported. Thanks again for your amazing support.

Trusting in God's perfect plan for our family,
Aaron and Jamithy

We also want to thank each and every one of the staff that we have gotten to know so well here at NTBI. I wish we could have pictures and name each and every one of you. God knows who you are and we wanted to say thank you...for allowing God to use you in our lives. Thank you for being so loving, challenging and insightful. Thank you for your on going commitment to serve the Lord, to serve others and to be willing to stay behind in the United States; training and equipping people like us who are desiring to reach the lost with the saving hope of Jesus Christ. Thank you for not ever making us feel like a number and for taking the time, even when its encroaching on your personal time, to get to know each and every one of us.

Only through His power and grace!

2006-11-01T11:13:00.000-08:00

Wondering what's going on????

OK, well I'm sure you all have been wondering what is going on since today (the 1st) is the day the bank was going to start foreclosing on our home in Toledo.

Well, we've got some amazing news once again! Since our last email (last Wed.) God has provided, through His faithful people, $3000!!! Can you believe it ... $3,000 in less than 5 days. Our home church (Living Hope) and our 2nd home church (Cascade Baptist) has been very supportive. We have also received financial support from a few of our good friends here at school and our families back home! To each of you thank you so much for being part of God's work in us and in the ministry of reaching the lost.

This 3,000 pays the mortgage for the months of Sept., Oct., and Nov! It also pays for our tuition payment through Nov.!

Humbled and amazed, once again at God's faithfulness and how every step we take with Him is totally in His hands.

Thank you all for praying without ceasing.
Thank you for praying for the Lord's will to be known to us and for us to have hearts that respond to His direction for our lives.

WHAT'S NEXT???? Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course,

but the LORD determines his steps.

Since God provided the money needed to keep our house from foreclosing and for our tuition bill, we plan on completing our 3rd semester here at school! This gives us another 7 weeks for our home in Toledo to sell. If it doesn't sell before school starts back up, we'll probably have to sit out until January 2008.

We've made plans but once again the Lord determines our steps.

Learning to walk in the direction God leads us each day!
We love you guys and thank you for your prayers that God has answered so mightily!

2006-10-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

DETOUR AHEAD????

Over the last day or two God has really shed some light on our house situation.

On Tuesday we were approached by our good friend, Marilyn, with some good insights God had placed on her heart. After talking with her we came to realize what a urgent situation we are in. She asked us...what kind of example is it to continue pressing forward when you have a remaining commitment that needs to be dealt with. Wow, we never looked at it that way. We were focusing on God providing and failing to see our part in the choice to buy a house 8 years ago. Once this started sinking in we became heart broken that our plans would have to change again.

THE BACK UP PLAN...
We are very optimistic that the Lord will indeed sell our home before we have to move back to Toledo. But just in case that is not in His plans for us in the near future we thought we would share with you the back up plan.

At this point we plan on packing up and heading back to Toledo in 2 weeks. We will be moving back into our house and finding work to pay for the mortgage until the house sells. Taking this hard but right step would allow us to put into practice all we have learned up 'til now. We are trusting God to have a place for us to minister at our home church and have the opportunity to continue challenging families and individuals to be a part of tribal missions.

Things that God might or might not have planned for us in order to continue in training past the next 2 weeks.

To stop the foreclosure proceedings on the house we need 2 months of payments ($1100)
As soon as we started to accept possibly having to move back home the Lord started sending in the finances that will enable us to keep our house. At present we've had a gift of $250 from good friends at our church here. Last night we also got a call from our church here in Jackson and have been blessed to receive another $550!

To finish the semester we need Novembers mortgage payment and school tuition ($1900)

In order to return to school to finish our last semester, in January, we need Someone to buy our house. If the house remains unsold we will have to wait until we sell the house to come back. The next opportunity we have to return to finish our training here in Bible school is Aug. 2007.

Learning what it really means to serve God.
Walking in complete contentment where ever it is He has us.
Phillipians 4:12
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

GOD TEACHING US THROUGH OUR HOUSE NOT SELLING...

2006-10-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

Wow, its been a long road, this last year and a half, trying to sell our house. We can't help but be amazed by God's grace and provision in our lives.
God has taken what we thought to be something that would quickly sell and pay off our debt and our school bill to a whole new level. He has taken it to His level and has used His plans to teach us so much of who He is.
Is it crazy to say that we are glad (maybe content would be a better way to say it) we haven't sold the house????? Sure if we had it our way we would love to sell it or have sold it a year ago, but we would have really missed out on the blessings of trials and tribulations. Learning the character and faithfulness, of our Lord Jesus Christ, has been something I (personally) wouldn't ever change.

Seeing God work has truly been remarkable! I have seen God show us so much through the course of not selling our house. In fact, I can't or forgot to write down all the ways. Here is a couple of the most recent insights I've gleaned from STILL owning our house in Toledo :)
God has really challenged and changed Aaron! Its so beautiful the things He is doing in His life! #1 He has really been pushed to work very hard, to make deadlines,to plan and to correspond with individuals much more. #2 God has grown A to understand that God alone is our only source and our only control over any and all circumstance in our lives. #3 I have seen him let go of making all A's in the classes and really look at the bigger picture of putting what we are learning into his every day walk. It has truly been rewarding and I feel honored and privileged to see God work so much in his life!
In my life, God has used not selling the house to show me His ultimate and ever present faithfulness...no matter where you go or where you are. Just this last weekend, before our trip to Toledo, Aaron woke up with really bad lower back pain. Ok, severe back pain. Then Brayden went to the doctor and was given, at 3 months of age, steroids and breathing treatments. We hadn't had time to change the brakes on our van; which were grinding so bad its only by God's grace that were alive :) . We just had gotten to Toledo, I took one bite of a soft english muffin and the crown on my tooth fell out.
Ok, this is were it gets good! God never healed Aaron's back but gave him the strength to work some 26 hours on the house! God laid it on our neighbor's heart, thanks Troy!, to come over and offer to replace our brakes on the van while Aaron was working! Finally, late Friday afternoon, I was able to make contact with my dentist who I haven't seen in 2 1/2 years (by his emergency number) and was able to have my tooth problem fixed within 1 hour of the incident at no charge. Are you kidding me??? :)
I also was really anxious of the severe pain I would have (again) while getting the crown sat. He changed the cement to something else and it barley hurt at all :) !!!!!!! Praise God!

One last thing, before driving away last night in Toledo I took a look back at this nice looking house that is completely cleaned, fixed and ready to sell. It hit me how much time we have invested, how much money(God's many provisions) , the sacrifices, the many people that helped and how hard we have worked both mentally and physically. All for this material thing that has no eternal value. We started to pull away and A and I felt proud of what God enabled us to accomplish with this house. It felt good!

But even beyond that...
God gave me a beautiful picture, that I shared with Aaron, about this
(feeling of good job, well done, pride,) maybe being a very tiny glimpse of what it is like seeing a tribal church planted and seeing people who never would have heard the Good News of Jesus Christ reached. After all the illnesses, sacrafices, hard hours and laborious days ~ seeing our tribal brothers and sisters know Jesus and begin to share who He is with neighboring villages. What a privileg! Being a part of impacting the eternal destination of these brothers and sisters has to be the most fulfilling reward known to mankind. Realizing this was a moment that we both will not be quick to forget.

You see, this is how its been for the last year and a half. I wouldn't trade all the long hours of hard work and stress for anything! God has taught me so much that I can't wait to see how MUCH MORE He has already done or is planning to do in our lives!

2nd last thing, Aaron purchased curriculum for the boys (the children's Firm Foundations - Chronological teaching of the Bible) and He is really excited to dive into it with the boys (at least Austin!). Time is a HUGE factor here so we have to wait a bit longer to get started with that. In the mean time we have been talking with Austin about some of the simplest truths we are learning about. Who we are in Christ and what exactly He did for us on the Cross. It has truly been/has become such an honor and privilege to talk with him about Jesus Christ! He knows we are ALL sinners. He knows that we are not sinners because we sin but because we are born that way. He also knows why we are born sinners and who committed the first sin. He seems to be very open in talking about who God is. I can see his eyes really light up when we try and use illustrations in his life ( like disobedience) to drive home the main points of the Cross/Bible stories. These truths are so simple but I am just now beginning to REALLY understand these truths.
Please, pray for us as we seek wisdom in trying the best we can to grow the boys up with reading, hearing and obeying the Word of God.! Its such a blessing!

Thank you for reading this far and staying up to date with all God is doing in our lives!

2006-09-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

September Update!

Walking In Faith

Thank you Valerie for taking all the pictures!

We are so amazed by God's continued faithfulness in our lives! He has kept us here, in training, for over a year now! Isn't that exciting!

Our Home!
A little over a year an a half ago we decided that we wanted to take the next step... and sell our home. Which would enable us to move forward in training for missions. We planned to sell our home and have enough money to pay off the house and to pay all our tuition for Bible school. Well, we still have our house. God hasn't allowed it to sell and we are at rest with that. Through us not selling our home He has shown us His continued faithfulness and has grown our faith in who He is! We rejoice that we are in His will and can rest assured that He will take care of selling our home in His perfect timing!
At present our house is vacant and we are still paying a monthly mortgage. Please, continue to pray that God would provide additional finances to pay our school bill.

Brayden's Hearing!
Brayden just had another visit to the ear specialist on Thursday. Two test confirmed that he passed and CAN hear in both ears now! Praise God...!!! We also have been able to wean him off of his gas and acid reflux medications!!!!!

Hearing God's Word...
is life changing and we can both tell you that we will never be the same people we were before we came to this place. Sitting under God's Word has changed and challenged our every motive, thought & action in our daily walks.God has blessed us with some really awesome friends that just so happen to be our teachers (co-labors)! He continues to use them in our lives. We love to seek advice and answers to many of our questions from the insights of these people. We appreciate their ministry so much!

Ask us! We would love to share with you what we are learning!

Ethan
is loving childcare and is trying to complete full sentences. He loves to still do EVERYTHING his older brother does. His favorite thing to do is to pick up and play with ANY bug/insect he can find. Dead or alive! Its pretty crazy...the kid is fearful of a slip'n slide but not bugs/insects.
Every day we have our work cut out for us with how defiant and strong willed he can be. We are doing the best we can to be very consistent while trusting God for wisdom and strength.

Austin
is still our big helper! He loves to do crafts, cook, shower, play with bugs, play soccer and wrestle with dad and Ethan and do just about anything with his good friend Karter!
He is able to read 3 letter words now and is getting closer to being able telling time. However, I do need to teach the poor kid how to tie his shoelaces :) He is privileged ( paid for by Karter's parents) to be able to attend a homeschooling group, called Kidworks, all day every Monday. Him and Karter ride with our good friend and staff lady Michelle Hobbs an hour away to Grand Ledge, MI. There he learns things like... Music, Art, Spanish, Writing, History, Science and Gym! Wow...he loves it! Marilyn, my good friend and Karter's mother, still meets with the boys once a week to work on math, phonics and any other homework they have from kidworks. What a blessing and he's having a great time!

Boy's Health
Tis the season for once again sickness to run rampant here at school. Ethan was really sick for 5 days and has had to go back on a daily steroid for asthma. Brayden has a double ear infection,congestion, sneezing, coughing and a runny nose. Poor little guy.
He is being treated with antibiotics so we hope to see improvement real soon! Praying for our health is much appreciated!
Thanking the Lord for providing us with health insurance and perseverance through many sleepless nights!

Busy, busy busy!
Unfortunately, we are very busy and can't keep you posted much more than once a month. Aaron is looking forward to adding another post with some exciting things that God is teaching him and our family! Coming soon... so be watching for it!

Here is a picture of my good friend (sister) Valerie! She is an enormous help to us with the boys and some house chores and is a great encouragement to me! I asked you to pray for her this summer while she went to Brazil. She's back and has more passion than ever to reach the lost. Thank you for praying for her! Valerie is going on to Missouri to continue in the training. She is desiring to go to PNG and who knows, maybe God will have us both heading into the jungle together some day!

I also have a couple other good friends named, Ciara (who also babysits ~ which is sooo sweet and such a blessing) and Mandzs (Ciara's good friend & mine too!). Who are both preparing to go on in the training as well. Please pray for them as they continue to seek the Lord's wisdom and as they choose which training facility to attend. Presently, they are looking to finish up the training in England!

I LOVE YOU GUYS!