This is the email update I sent out to our mailing list:
It's officially the holiday season! Yeah!
I don't know about you all, but for me Thanksgiving is a holiday that really helps me gain perspective on my life and to be more optimistic and find more to be thankful about. This year Thanksgiving really hit home for me even more than usual- maybe because it's my first year being a Mommy and being so thankful and full of love that I'm get moved to tears a lot easier than I used to. One thing we are so thankful for is our relationship with YOU! Thank you for your support, your encouragement, and your prayers! You mean a lot to us!
November was a really big month for us and we have lots to share with you all!
First and foremost - our family permanently has a new member! We found out this month that Sigel's adoption/Student visa was 99% impossible - we went to court to attempt a student visa for him to go to his adoptive family and the judge declined it. The only other option to try was going to take another 6 months minimum. The roller coaster of uncertainty has been really hard on all of us, and so after speaking with the adoptive family, we all agreed that it would be better for Sigel to remain permanently with us in order to give him security and help us all move on with life. Tristan and I are very happy to have Sigel as our son -as he already has been in every sense of the word. Sigel was SUPER excited when we told him the news! The future is still unknown legally for us - due to our age we don't think we can adopt him in Honduras - it's going to be complicated but we have peace and know that somehow we'll work it out in the end. So please be praying for us as we begin to tread in legal waters and make him legally our son!
Other family news: Madelyn has turned 6 months! I can't believe how fast it's gone - she's changing so much! she is now eating lots of different foods, starting to sit on her own - albeit rocky :) , she is playing and chatting and giggles all the time - especially with her Daddy and Uncle Jeff and she's growing like a weed!
Jorge finished up his first year of school this month - he's graduated 7th grade with very good grades and will be starting 8th grade in February. We're really proud that he's held down the same job now for a few months as a cook at a restaurant!
Jeff -my brother - has been a huge help to us - he's cooking all the time for us on top of his ministry endeavors. He's been doing lots of projects that we never seem to have time to do - just in the last 2 weeks he's made 5 tables and 10 benches for El Ayudante! He also took care of Sigel for 10 days while we were in Massachusetts.
El Ayudante - we have broken ground on 2 new buildings in the month of November! We're building a guard house and a staff house (for us while we're there with teams which will make it so much easier to bring our family out there!). The foundation is finished and this week they will start pouring the floors. The walls will then be put up and then in February a team is coming to do all the finish work for the 2 buildings - cabinets, electricity, plumbing, bathroom, fixtures, painting, doors, windows etc. It's been a lot of work for Tristan as he's been supervising and organizing these 2 houses - working with the contractor, organizing supplies etc. Next week we are also set to begin drilling a new well out there.
Seeds of Change - in November we received our Non-profit status! Praise God! Now we can begin fundraising to buy land. Youth groups have been going great! We finished another year with the feeding program as the school year is finished. We'll begin again in February.
Tristan, Madelyn, and I were in Massachusetts for 9 days speaking at churches, visiting friends, and doing a little touring. We were very busy! We spoke 5 times at churches plus met with a mission committee, a couple pastors, and some individuals concerning ministry in Honduras. We also packed in some history - the Freedom trail, Plymouth plantation, the Mayflower, and touring the Vanderbelt mansion inRhode Island. We were so blessed by Pacific Union church and all the love they poured on us while we were there - they took such good care of us! During our trip Jeff and Sigel held down the fort in Honduras.
Sorry for the lengthy update but as you can see November was a really really full month! December will be busy as well! We will be in California from December 16th - 27th, in Oregon from the 27th through the 13th of January, and then back in California from the 13th through the 25th. If you have a Bible study, church, home group, friends, etc that you'd like us to get together and share what we're doing in Honduras we'd love to share what God is doing in Honduras!
God bless!!!!
Above: Madelyn's first time on an airplane and first time on US soil! She did great on the plane!
Madelyn loved the turkey leg! She gobbled it right up trying to fit the entire leg in her mouth at once :)
Above: us touring the Vanderbelt mansion in Rhode Island / below: madelyn all tired out from the site seeing
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