Giving Thanks this Year

Thanksgiving was a time of lots of memories...spent with the Brittsan family...Naomi and Christy have been friends since they were born and now Naomi and Eric have an amazing little baby! Naomi's folks Brian and Angie cooked up a fabulous and super creative meal.

Joseph has been enjoying surfing every day and we are so thankful for this time to spend with the Lord and with friends. We have also had time to get started on some reading for YWAM and get some last minute travel details lined up.

We are so thankful for the people God has placed in our lives! What a blessing.

A scripture that's been standing out in Isaiah 55:6 & 7

"Seek the Lord while He may be found

Call on Him now while He is near

Let the people turn from their wicked deeds.

Let them banish from their minds

the very thought of doing wrong!

Let them turn to the Lord that He may

have mercy on them.

Yes, turn to our God for He will abundanty pardon!"

He is so good. May we know His love deeper.

-Joseph and Christy

a time of rest

we arrived in San Diego last night and it is beautiful here!

On the way in we felt like this time was going to be a gift from God, of rest before we head over to Northern Ireland. It has been just great so far getting to be with old friends and spend time with the new little one Samantha. She sure is a pretty little gal!

So, Joseph is getting ready to go surfing later today with Eric - they'll have a blast...

Naomi is my oldest friend on earth and now she has her own baby! It's awesome to get to spend this time with them!

It's 70 some degrees, and Ketchikaners would be overheating a bit (like we are.)

Many blessings to all,

Joseph and Christy

Sigh...

We have our visas!!!!!
Good from Dec. 1 through Sept.14...so we'll be on our way!
Thanks be to God!
Hooray!

Nothing that is worth doing can be
achieved in our lifetime; therefore we
must be saved by hope. Nothing
which is true or beautiful or good
makes complete sense in any
immediate context of history;
therefore we must be saved by faith.
Nothing we can do, however virtuous, can
be accomplished alone; therefore we
must be saved by love.

-Reinhold Niebuhr

Washington

we've been spending lots of time with family and friends before we leave the country.

Joseph's family and Christy's uncle Bob (Bob is the one you see here devouring the jar of smoked salmon we brought to him. It was great to see someone enjoying Alaska's goodness so unreservedly.

It's great to see our nephew Liam again. He's quite the champ and has amazing parents!

We had a day in Seattle this week to get some last minute details taken care of like getting our digital fingerprints taken. Then we tried to find fed ex for something like 3 hours until we eventually found a fed ex truck and the fellow was nice enough to lead us to where we needed to go. We got to spend a few hours with our friend Taylor (wonderful bearded fellow that he is) and check out his art show at the Chai House in Seattle.

We will know by Monday if we have our visas for UK! We are starting to get excited.

love and blessings,

Christy

Thank God for His last-minute style

Today, we received our certificate of sponsorship for the UK (the day before we were hoping to send it) which is amazing after waiting for over a month...We just had to get on the road...ferry rides to and from Alaska are always a great time of reflection and transition.

We are quite blessed as of late to be the recipients of a NEW CAMERA with which we will be hopefully taking great pictures of our Journey through the years to come. After almost a year of being camera-less this is a real treat and an upgrade to say the least! These pictures are among the first we have taken with it.

Tomorrow we are sending off our applications for visas. Yay! We missed the storms on our 19 hour drive through Canada. The skies were blue almost the whole way, ...a bit of rain near the end. Quickly got through the borders, and had a good rest last night.

Here's a poem by Irish poet Joseph Plunkett, executed by British soldiers in 1916 for his part in the Easter Rising:

"I See His Blood Upon the Rose"

I see his blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.

I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but his voice - and carven by his power
Rocks are his written words.

All pathways by his feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,
His cross is every tree.

Makes us think of this one great truth: The earth is the Lords, and all that is in it.

Be blessed,
J and C

Ah...

sigh, safe and sound after about 13 hours of driving through B.C. today. God cleared the skies for us..ferry ride from Ketchikan was good too! We had a good Thanksgiving dinner send off and everything is good! We are in Washington with Joseph's family and glad to be out of the car.



We will put a few Canada photos on here tomorrow.
Time for rest.
love,
J and C