Family Fun

This past weekend we went to Texas for my cousin's wedding. It also just so happened to be my first Father's Day. So, one of Wifey's friends, and one of my former youth, who is now a professional photographer, came over to take pics of the family. I sure wish we knew how to have fun at our house....

Levi is now 4.5 mos old...Wifey and I are not. ;-)

A video of our new son...Levi David

Since facebook shut down my video, I figured I'd put it here for the world to see. He's a good lookin' kid!

In The Beginning...

For those of you who have not heard the news, Wifey and I are expecting our first biological disciple! Apparently, my wife has enough wisdom and gentleness to cover enough of my ignorance, in order for the Lord to deem us 'blessable' with a child. We're pretty excited! (That might be an understatement!!!)

I find my head spinning as I try to think through everything that needs to be thought about before D-Day (Delivery-Day), i.e. getting the 'nursery' ready, putting the baby on our ins., making sure he/she has clothing so he/she doesn't run around naked for the first 6 years of his/her life, making sure I know how to work a car seat, making sure my wife knows how to change a diaper (ha...just couldn't pass it up! Love ya, Wifey!). Actually, I'm hoping to practice blindfolded so when I have to do it at 2:30am I'm more prepared. Even how to hold a squirming baby is still an 'X' factor for me. I'm sure like every parent, I just want to make sure I don't do something incredibly wrong (though I'm sure I'll have many blunders at first and will learn from my mistakes). Even with the infinite amount of other things I'm trying to think through that I don't have the time or space to write about, we're still extremely excited.

Right now, according to babycenter.com, our child is the size of a 3" shrimp. And as of this week he/she has fingerprints. HOW COOL!!! Thank all of you so much for praying for my wife and I (expecially you "Bunco Babes")! Being away from family is tough, but when God provides another 300 member family to fill in, it makes things much easier!

By the way, our Due Date is February 14th, which just so happens to be my b-day. Thank You for the gift, Father!

Drumming for Jesus

Taylor and I had a drumming stand off...I'm not really sure who won, but I think all that had to listen pretty much lost!

To Wifey

I just want you to know how much I love you and miss you!

Of all my experiences, both at home and around the world, you are my greatest blessing from the Lord. I have found that a wife is to be an encourager, looking into the heart of her husband to cheer him on and uplifting him, ignoring all the faults and praising all his successes. She is to be his biggest prayer supporter when the road ahead is difficult for him and his greatest earthly joy amist all of his celebrations. She is to be his best friend, sharing in laughter so much he cries, as well as joining in the passions of his heart. A wife treats her husband with the utmost respect because of the man he is trying to be, and it can be seen by the proudness of him in her eyes. I know all of these things to be true because you live them every day. You are a blessing to my life and I thank my King daily for loving me enough to give me a wife like no other! Thank you for being the woman you are, and the wife I've always wanted!

Father, who am I that you care for me this much??? Glory be to Your Everlasting Name!!!

Romanian Food w/the Missionaries

Yesterday was a great food day for us. After church we went out for a shuaorma (sh-warm-uh) which has to be one of the tastiest foods I've had in Romania. It's kinda like a pita bread burrito filled with wonderful chicken meat and seasoned french fries; I had mine with some shredded cabbage and some 'spicy ranch' dressing. Other options are tomatos, peppers, ketchup, dog, mayo...I'm just kidding about the dog...or am I??? But it really was quite exquisit! Yum!



Here is Justin, the missionary, devouring his shuaorma. But I'm confident that more ended up on the ground than in his mouth. He will soon have half of the dogs in Romania following behind his every step if he keeps this up!



However, Marty, the missionary, lets nothing go to waste! Even with this gigantic chocolate shake (which was more like a chocolate milk), it was good until the last drop! Go Marty Go!!!

Even the horses got in on the action. True, they're not missionaries, but who am I to discrimitate? Eat up little fellas, you deserve it!

Doing that thing we do...

As I'm sure you already know, our mornings are spent prayer walking and our evenings are filled with evangelism. Well, as is usual with everything else in life, we're running out of time to finish all the work our team is needing to accomplish. On top of that, the weather is getting hotter and our bodies are getting tired faster. But is that going to stop us? NOT A CHANCE! We're here, not for our glory, not for our neat stories, not for our comfort (though the beds are quite nice), and not for vacation. We're here to work, to glorify our King, to share the gospel with souls who's time is really running out! So we will endure, despite the heat and the exhaustion, until our committed task is done. For all of you at home reading these blogs, please be in prayer for our team, for our new friends Justin and Marty, for the Youth at Holy Trinity who have been awesome in helping out every night - even giving up their Bible study time to join us tonight on the streets (I am extremely proud of these young people!!!), for the Romanian leaders like Bogdon & Mihai, for Randy & Teresa, and for Troy & his family. Please pray that our strength will be in the Lord. Please pray that our hearts will continue to hurt for these lost people. And pray for the members of our team to be thinking about how they can make evangelism a real part of life once we get back home. Thank you to all of you who are lifting us up daily!!!

Here is the team gathering together before going out to do evangelism. We meet every night at Holy Trinity around 6:30 and usually end here around 9:00.

Here is Justin sharing the gospel with a bunch of kids who just showed us why American adults should never play 'football' with Romanian kids...EVER!!! We got whooped!

One of the young kids following along, reading the Scriptures from a Romanian Bible. They were absolutely sharp!

Here is our soccer group. I'm not sure why the American's are the only one's really smiling. We were the one's who lost horribly and got schooled on the playground by people three times younger than we are. (Maybe even 6 times younger than some members of our team...not to mention any names!)

But don't let the Romanians fool you. Not all of them take serious pictures. Here is Ioana (Titi, the Youth Pastor's daughter) and Diana (my homegirl and friend of Ioana). These are two of the coolest young ladies I know and are absolute goofballs! Pray for me!!!