Snow Day!

Yesterday into today produced a large amount of heavy, wet snow here in Philly and we are enjoying a nice quiet snow day.  Jonerik is actually taking a nap right now because we didn't get as much sleep as expected last night (thank you neighbors) and he has been shoveling at church all morning.  Here is a glimpse of the snow outside one of our living room windows:

So far our January has been challenging and exciting as usual.  We enjoyed a staff retreat with Cornerstone last week.  We went to a retreat center in NJ and spent some time outside of the city bonding as a staff (thanks to fun games like Quelf) and talking through the next 6 months.  We all participated in a 'test' called UCIPHER which is meant to help you understand yourself and your team better.  We had a good time of learning and sharing about our personalities, abilities, and motivations.

In January some of our regular ministries take a break:

Adult Bible Study

Kid's Club

God Squad

Teen Club

Family Night

While some things stay running or change for the "break":

Women's Bible Study (Wed mornings)

Sunday School - Growth Groups

Food Cupboard

In January of this year, while some things were on 'leave', we had three Wednesday night prayer services.  This was a great time of worship, study, and group prayer.  We plan to continue this prayer service once a month on the Wed. that follows our monthly Family Night.  Our hope is that we will become more passionate about prayer in our individual lives and as a church body.  That we will have a hunger to learn more about what it means to communicate with a holy and loving God.

Limaris has started her radiation and she is adjusting as needed to how her body is responding.  She goes to the hospital once a day M-F and alternates evening and morning appts. weekly.  This week she is getting her treatments done in the evening, next week it will be during the day.  Emily watches Gigi some days while Limaris is at the hospital and has enjoyed having a little shadow following her around the house.  Here are a few fun pictures of things we like to do:

There is an app on Emily's phone that takes your picture and then you can dress yourself (or someone else) up like a princess.  Gigi is a natural!

The second picture is taken in the back yard.  If you are wondering why it looks like a castle behind our apartment, it is because the building where we live used to be a hub for some kids ministries with our church.  The church no longer uses it, but the castle has remained =)  One of the selling points for us when we were deciding to live here, as you can imagine.

For Christmas we bought Gigi 2 DVD's from Sheila Walsh's series "Gigi, God's Little Princess".  Gigi loves the DVD's and has claimed the character to be her own.  The personalities - and hair - are actually quite similar!  We just got her a book from the series for her birthday and we had fun reading that this week.  It is fun to see her attach herself to the character and I pray that the truths in these books/DVDs will sink deep into her heart.

To see more of the Gigi series, here is the author's website:  

Gigi, God's Little Princess

Balancing work/ministry, family life, and other responsibilities has proved to be a challenge at times, but we are taking it one day at a time and praying our way through. It is hard to believe that January is almost over already!  

Sister Update

Beautiful Limaris.

Limaris was in the hospital in late November/early December due to a bacterial infection.  It was from her pic line so they took that out.  She soon recovered and was home for the holidays.

The doctors feel that if they continue with the chemotherapy her body will build an unhealthy tolerance to it and so they want to change her treatment to radiation for the time being.  The doctors affirmed that her cancerous tissue was 80-90% smaller after her chemo. treatments since March - praise God!

She began outpatient radiation treatment yesterday and it is scheduled to run for 10 and half weeks M-F.  She chose to go in, in the evenings this week but that may change next week.  She wanted to do this so she could be with her daughter during the day and she would be able to take her boys to school and pick them up.  The hospital is helping her with some resources and because she no longer has a car they have given her free public transportation.  We will see how she responds to the radiation and what that means in terms of supporting her with childcare and/or transportation.

This is a picture of Jonerik, his two sisters, his mother, his grandfather and some of the kids at his grandfather's 83rd birthday party on Saturday!

Please continue to pray that our family turns to God for help and support.  Pray for Limaris as her body adjusts to radiation - new form of treatment.   For protection of her heart and lungs.  Pray for the children as they are affected by her sickness.  Pray that these circumstances draw us all closer to God and that He will receive the glory each step of the way.

December 2010 (belated)

Where did December go?  We had a full and festive month with church parties and time with family.  Here is a taste of what we were busy doing - 


We had a blast with several Christmas parties (Kid's Club, Adult Bible Study, God Squad, Women's Bible Study)  I don't have many pictures because of being busy and not carrying my camera with me at all times, however I do have a few fun pictures from our Wed. morning Bible Study group.  There are a few additional women pictures because a women's class from a supporting church brought breakfast and provided music.

These are some of our "regulars" - it's a fun group!

This was our church service on the Sunday after Christmas.

  I love the picture of our kids singing because it shows the crazy diversity in our church.  We go from pajama pants on one side of the stage to a fancy Christmas dress on the other end.

We also had some great family time.  Christmas day was spent with Jonerik's family.  We eat a big breakfast together and Jonerik traditionally reads a children's Christmas story (about the birth of Jesus).  And then they open presents.

...yes the room was filled with people behind me and all around the room.

We spent New Years with my family.  This a picture of my adorable niece!  She got a tea set for Christmas and there were Cheerios in her stocking so...

Unfortunately, our family holiday was cut a little short by a horrible stomach virus that was highly contagious.  This is how I spent bringing in the new year.

We celebrated the birth of our Savior with the people we love and that is what makes December so enjoyable.  The business, added stress, and extra work are thrown in there too, but we made an effort to not let them take over.  We are kicking it into high gear as the new year begins and we are faced with a heavy mission.  Bringing hope to our community through Christ is as I've said a battle, but we know that God is here and we trust He will provide and sustain us as we fight.