My Birthday

"From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another" (Jn. 1:16)

This is the house, decorated by Hannah in the early morning hours.

These are the girls, after having baked a messy chocolate cake by themselves! scrubbing up. 

This is Hannah, making some yummy side dish. 

This is Carter, making sure all the places are decorated.

This is Jake, putting flowers on the table and this one in my hair. 

 

                  This is Dave, cooking up something awesome while I lingered with the sunset

 This is everyone (including Alicia!) waiting for me to put the camera down and come to EAT!

This is me, wondering how and why God chose to cram so much blessing into 38 years.

Change

We recently received three very valued guests.  Two of our pastors from the States (Pastor Bryan and Pastor Dave) and Ross, our great friend and also a board member, arrived two weeks ago and spent a very quick week with us.  It was a blessing to have them, and to say we were sad to see them go is an understatement!

Part of what this team did was to help us sort out some organizational challenges we have been having at Mavuno.  This involved restructuring some of the administration, with our board's involvement.  Their goal was to enable everyone to be in a place where they were particularly gifted and to split up some of the load of the director into two different jobs.  Dan Tanner will now be focusing extensively on Mavuno relations with the government, donors and potential on-campus parents.  Dave will be in charge of day-to-day operations.  Because this is a big change for everyone here, we ask for your prayers as all of the staff make the necessary adjustments.

1 Corinthians 12 has been such a blessing, as we seek God's will to do our best in the roles that He has gifted us in.  This is also a great time for discipleship, as we all seek to have each staff person in the best possible position for them and we all learn more about working together as a Body.  Praise GOD for a Godly, committed staff and please pray that each one of us would continue to fix our eyes on Jesus, doing our best for the glory of God and the sake of these precious children!

One highlight for our kids, besides being able to spend time with these three men (and hear some good Scandinavian jokes!) took place the last day they were here.  Hannah and Launa (Tanner) have been studying Revelation by listening to Pastor Bryan's sermons.  They are currently on #62 out of 68.  Friday morning Pastor Bryan himself sat with them and answered all their questions about Revelation.  How cool is THAT?!

sunrise at Mavuno