Football!

 Last week some football players from Greenville College in Illinois came during their Spring Break to serve the kids in our community and our church.  The coaches and team members (22 to be exact) arrived Saturday night and worked hard all week long.  Monday through Thursday they ran a football camp for the kids in our church and the neighborhood.  They held the camp at a local park (one of the few) after taking time to clean up all the trash and syringes that were lying around.  Unfortunately this park is known as "Needle Park" which happens to hold our public library.  For four days, this park was transformed into a place where kids were learning about discipline, teamwork, Jesus, and skills needed to play football!

So how did this impact our schedules, other than running our nieces and nephews to and from football camp?

Groups that come usually bring their own cook or take turns making meals, but this team decided to hire Emily to cook for them!  This was an exciting and new challenge.  Thanks to some helpful advice from people more experienced, helping hands in the kitchen, and the grace of God - the football players were fed and she had a blast "throwin' it down" in the kitchen.  Emily's parents were in Philly for a few days and her mom helped with some cooking during the week!

Jonerik led worship for the team as they debriefed at the end of their long days.  He offered an open discussion about what God was teaching them and what they were experiencing.  It was powerful to hear how God was using and blessing them as they used their Spring Break to serve others.

If you look closely in this picture you will see little 4 year old, Gigi hanging out with the team.  She LOVED the attention and made friends left and right.  She loved football camp too.  Yelling and tackling things are a perfect outlet for all of her energy!







The team also did some work projects around the church and accomplished some things that were great for a big group of football players to do.  We were really grateful for all their hard work and dedication.

They were a great testimony just by being a group of men who respected authority and loved Jesus.  They shared some of their lives with the kids through talking about who Jesus is and what He has done for them.  We were blessed to have the group come.

For more pictures and information on their week check out their website:  www.emapnation.com
They have several "Philly Updates".

In the meantime...

I apologize to my internet followers for our delay in making our site a little more presentable.  I don't want this to delay all of the updates, however, so you can enjoy some rough drafts in our design until the final product is in place.

Under Construction

Thanks for checking our blog!  We are working to give your website a new and fresh look that will hopefully help you learn more about us and our ministry.  Please excuse the mess as we work to pull the details together.  Thank you for your patience.

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.

Weekend to Celebrate!

This past weekend we celebrated.  Celebrated a wedding and time together as a family.

My oldest brother, Parke got married on December 11th to Lynnelle and it was a beautiful wedding/reception!  They were married at the historical Donegal Presbyterian church in E-town and had the reception at a college facility nearby.  This was a sweet reminder of God's provision and we were excited to be a part of their big day.  Jonerik was one of the groomsmen along with my other brother, Andrew (best man) and our cousin Matt.  I was the "wedding coordinator" and helped orchestrate the schedule for the day.

This weekend we also celebrated time together as a family.  This is special for us because we all live in lands far, far away.  Parke and Lynnelle live in TX and Andrew and Alanna (with Eliana) live in Illinois.  Jonerik and I are the closest to my parents since we are still in the same state and now only about 2 hours apart.  Andrew and Alanna lived over-seas while Eliana was born and plan to return there in a couple of years so time together as a whole family is rare and very exciting.  

We are blessed to have times together and it is encouraging to hear what God is doing in different parts of the country.  There are costs when it comes to following God's calling on your life and when I don't see the people I love so dearly for such long stretches of time I am reminded that there is a greater purpose to why we are alive and who we serve.