Phil is in Anchorage!

This was us watching Daddy get on the plane... And watching him disappear into the clouds! :)

Please pray for Phil, he will be attending a the Alaska Mens Retreat, hosted by Bible Baptist Church and Pastor Duffet! He also gets to do a ride along with the Alaska State Troopers as he is getting in the program to be a chaplain. Please pray for his safety and for him and the other missionaries and pastors at the retreat to be encouraged and to get their batteries charged :) he was able to go with friend and co laborer Bruce Claypool! He serves in Bethel, Alaska. T I'm excited for my hubby, and praying he has a marvelous time!

Here are some pictures of recent activities!

 

Thanksgiving with some great friends!

 

Katie Rae celebrated her 4th Birthday! ((Isn't she beautiful?!))

 

 

 

Winter Scenery pictures... The Sunsets and Sunrises are just amazing.

 

Christmas 2014! We were blessed with presents from family members, friends and churches!

 

Kids playing in our first big snow!

 

This girl loves her daddy!

 

Here is Elliott being adorable :)

 

Family picture in front of the church

 

Family picture! (Someone is feeding our kids miracle grow, and it isn't me!!)

 

Hope you enjoy!

Update... Finally!

Hi all!

Welcome to 2015! Crazy that it's already 2015... We are so anxious to see what God is going to do this year! Not only in our family, but in our ministry here in Alaska, our home church, our supporting churches, and each of you!

Things are going well here in Dillingham. It has been getting colder, we are at about -5 right now. We have very little snow, but we have lots of ice on the ground still!

Community Baptist Church is doing great also! We've had alot of sickness and traveling this winter... but just this past Sunday we had 5 visitors! Also, last Sunday night we had 5 neighbor kids stop by the church after services and I got to talk to them for a while, and invite them to Sunday School! Hopefully they will get to come soon!

Phil's job is going good too. He's enjoying the regular schedule and being able to plan things for this summer! He's also gotten to fill in the pulpit for Bro Abrams alot with him traveling. He really enjoys getting the opportunity to preach!

Baker is loving school... he does great with reading and counts to 100 now! He's growing so much that we had to call Meemee and ask her to send him some jeans! He outgrew all the ones he had! He seems to be growing so fast. He loves all his friends at school, and gets so excited to see them around the village. Phil and I both comment alot that we are known around as "Bakers Mom, or Bakers Dad" :) We have really gotten to know alot of people just through Baker going to school!

Katie Rae is... our onery child :) She is doing good, but misses Meemee and Pawpaw. She misses playing with cousins... but having some babysitting kids here for her to play with has helped too! She's growing like crazy too. I really thing she has added inches... her hair is growing alot too, which she is so excited about. She wants a braid :) We are thinking about letting her take some preschool classes soon, which she is ecstatic about!

Elliott is walking everywhere, and trying to run... which makes life really interesting! He's such a good baby, and loves to be tickled and have people on the floor to play with! He has just started liking to be read to, he'll get a book and bring it to you for you to read to him :) It's adorable. He also could live on gogurts... :) He's wearing 24 mo-2t clothes... at 15 months!

I (Emily) am doing well also! I have started going to an exercise class in town, at the elementary school gym... it has been nice to meet new people and get moving more! Hoping the Lord will give me grace and patience as I try to lose some weight... So needless to say, I have stopped baking :) Trying to enjoy my children and the friends that God has given me here! One of my "breaks" is grocery shopping... or at least browsing :) Big news for me, is that Phil got me tickets to Anchorage on February 19th! I get to stay 4 full days! He is keeping the kids, and I get to go enjoy some "city" and shopping... I play on browsing every store I can! Also, sushi is in there somewhere! I have a friend to stay with too!


Thank you for praying for our family... hope you enjoyed this little update! I'm going to do another post with pictures!

Emily

Mini Ministries

It's amazing... How God can take right where you are, no matter where, when or why...  YOU can have a ministry. When we were on deputation, Phil always said we were going to take at least the first 6mo-year to just adjust. Figure out how to live in bush Alaska. It is such a different way of life here... Phil has been able to get a job at the local hospital... He was so leery about it at first... Thinking he would have more influence at the school. But we prayed hard, and God gave peace and opened all the doors for him to work at the hospital. So we were sitting at the dining room table the other day, thinking about what we could do. We want to be involved and do ministry things, but The Lord just hasn't let a lot of those things happen yet. So we determined to allow The Lord to use us in little ways. Ways that He is allowing for now... So I (Emily) was doing dishes, and I knew that Phil had gone outside with the kids... But when I looked out the window, this is what I saw... It brought tears to my eyes. This is my amazing husband... Ministering. These are the kids that ask us almost every time they see us... "Are you going to church again?!?" :) (and who says people don't notice?!) one of these days, I hope they come with us! So anyway... Phil was really wanting to be a blessing, to be ministering where God had him... That day, he had a nurse come up and ask him to pray for her. (ding! ding! Open door!!) God is giving us these little areas to serve... I get to play the piano at our little church every service and bake for people and I'm now babysitting a little boy... God is using us. It might not be in BIG ways like we want it to be. But we are doing what God has called us to do! 

Plans are already starting for the summer ahead, of village Bible clubs, and taking Bibles to villages to get them in each home... How exciting! 

Winter is coming... Very soon. It's about 25 degrees every morning now. Which we are so thankful, it brought the first frost which means all the "no seeums" are gone! PTL! They are like little gnats that bite, and swarm by the hundreds! 

Thank you for your prayers for our family. For Phil this move has been easy... For the kids and I it has been harder. We miss family... And civilization.... Lol but God is helping us (me!) to find my own place here... Serving my hubby and babies, and making our home. And... My bread baking is getting pretty awesome! :) 

We love you all. Write more soon! (Maybe I can get Phil to write a post!) 

Please comment! It let's us know that people read this :)

💙 Emily 💙

PRAY!!!

Just a quick note to share about answered prayer... We accepted an offer on our house that we have for sale in Pekin, IL!! We've been waiting and praying for Gods provision for this to happen, and we are incredibly excited! Closing is set for October 24th. Please continue to pray that the inspections and financing for everything goes through okay! 

We are praising The Lord for answered prayer!

Here are a couple pics to enjoy :)

Lunch at Community Baptist Church last Sunday. 

We hope you all have a blessed Sunday as you serve The Lord in your spot on this earth! 

Funny Faces - Part 5

So, after all the serious posts... I had to do the Funny Faces of the weekend. If you are around me for long, you know I love taking silly pictures. I love to laugh! :) here are some that hopefully put a smile on your face! I know they do me!

 

 

And that's all folks! Thanks for your patience with all the pictures... hope you enjoyed!

Saying Goodbye - Part 4

So the whole weekend it's self, was emotional. It was so many things... we went from being scared to death, to excited, to nervous, to sad, to ecstatic, to here we go! :) Monday, was by far the hardest day for me (Emily). Saying that farewell to my family... to my mama... to my sister... to my nieces and nephews. Knowing just how fast time flies, and how much people change. Especially kids... they grow so fast. So Monday was hard. Even now as I write this, I can't keep from crying. Seeing these pictures. Remembering the weekend... the hugs, the tears, the joy. The only reason this was actually happening was because we knew it was God's will. The Lord wants us here, He wants us serving Him and reaching souls in Alaska. That's why we are here. We want other people, who have never heard of Jesus to hear. We want to give them an opportunity to hear that someone died for them... that HE gave His life for them. That's what makes all this worth it. Please don't think we regret this, or we are having a pity party. It's just hard. Especially when you have a close family like mine. But God knows. I keep reminding myself ever since we've been here, that just because I'm in the middle of nowhere, in bush Alaska that God. Still. Knows. And no matter where you are, God knows. He knows our heart, He knows our thoughts. God knows that I love my family dearly and that this was a big deal. But God was with me (and us) the whole day.

Here are some pics... :)

Family Pictures

All the Grandkids... so far!

Family... it's an amazing thing that God gave us.

 

 

So we started with prayer... lots of prayer.

Then lots of hugs, and tears and goodbyes.

The last pic I took of my family! It will grow even more soon!

 

My mama is the most tenderhearted person I know. She loves her Lord, she loves her family, and she loves to love. This image will forever be in my mind.

 

I love my mama. She wouldn't want us to be anywhere else but in Gods will. But that doesn't mean she doesn't miss us... I'm so thankful for technology! We've gotten to speak, to text, to Skype... and she's already sent me boxes! She's an amazing woman!

So... off we go! This is Tuesday morning, waiting for the hotel shuttle to take us to O'Hare! This was at about 5 am :)

 Eeeeek! Getting on the plane!

 

And... we're in Anchorage! (Katie's backpack was "sooo heavy", so Super Daddy hooked it onto his)

 

And we're here! Praising the Lord for safety... and that we didn't lose a child in the 3 airports :)

 

Thank you to everyone who had such a part in us getting to Alaska. We pray God blesses you abundantly for the sacrifices you've made.

 

Now... let's serve the Lord!