The Hiatus is Over...

I am pleased to announce that the hiatus is over!

According to dictionary.com, a hiatus is a break or interruption in the continuity of work.

Where I do not feel that the continuity of our work has been on hiatus,

I know that my blogs have...

Venezuela sort of shuts down from mid December til the end of January for the holidays.

I guess they take a sort of hiatus of their own!

Our life has been very full none the less since I last posted.

Our Ian, or Sweet Beefy as we affectionately refer to him, turned 11 years old!

Chris welcomed another birthday... actually, I don't know how welcomed it was, 

but for those of us who have come close to losing him on several occasions, another birthday is 

always a welcomed & cherished event.

I too celebrated another year in December.

Our holidays came with much enthusiasm. Traditional hallacas were made along with some of our 

family favorites. Lots of people passed through our house to both love on us & be loved back in 

return.

Our sweet love, Imanuel turned 9. (insert tears!)

We welcomed 2014 with much enthusiasm & expectancy.

Each year since Chris' accident has been filled with its own challenges & struggles.

Our family is looking at 2014 to be a year of favor & open doors.

We have many teams wanting to work along side of our family & we will also be welcoming Tech 

Carpenter in May. Tech will serve with us for the next 2 years as a Missionary Associate just as the

 Smith family is doing now.

We are in the process of transitioning the ministry of Global University over to the National Church.

We are very excited about this decision as it is time for the Venezuelan church to assume this 

responsibility & ministry.

God is opening the doors for us to purchase a property in Cabudare (a suburb to Barquisimeto).

With this new land we will be able to build a ministry base that will house Latin America Child Care

as well as a plethora of other ministries. We want to use this property to launch a church focused on

families. If you are interested in helping us purchase this property, please contact us by the emails in

 our blog info or comment on this blog.

As we were praying about this property, our neighbor, who is like a son to us, told us of an orphanage

close by that he had visited.

We too visited this home to find 42 children along with 2 single sisters who are caring for them.

They receive next to no support from the government. They care for the children because they know

 that no one else will.

The "God part" of all of this is that the orphanage is literally 2 blocks from the property we are

 purchasing.  We are excited to see just exactly what plans God has in store for our family & this 

house full of very needy children.

We are also excited that God has given the church in Pavia great favor with many of the local 

schools.

The schools are giving them incredible amounts of time to teach the children & disciple them.

We look forward to seeing how God is going to put all of the pieces together for this amazing

opportunity to reach hundreds of children in Pavia. We are also overjoyed that the building & land

for the Pavia Project have all been 100% paid for! What a blessing!

I was thinking about the word "hiatus." 

I remember being a kid & being so frustrated during the summer because all of the best T.V shows 

were showing re-runs! The good stuff wouldn't begin until September!

I think life is sometimes the same.

Sometimes, we feel that we are living in re-runs. The same things happening every day or week.

Those moments can be frustrating, especially when we are hoping for something new!

I have decided that God uses those times of being in a hiatus to teach us & even stretch us a bit.

You see, the longer the hiatus, the more excited we are when the new season begins.

I have great anticipation for our family & ministry in 2014.

I am pleased to announce to myself.... The Hiatus is Over & a New Season has Begun!