Jayson under the sunlamps

Oops, here is a picture of Jayson under the sun lamps. Doesn't he look cute with his little "sun-glasses" as Mikaylah calls them. Mikaylah loves to hug and kiss her brother and only occasionally wants me to put him down. If he makes any noise at all she is in his face making sure he is okay. She also wants to bathe in the sink and get her diaper changed on his change table! I guess toilet training will really take a back seat now!

It's a Boy!

Yes, he is here! He was born November 16, 2006 at 11:20 am EST. 3.5 kilos (seven lbs 14 oz)and 20 inches long. An easy birth he was out in ten minutes! We are very blessed. He was a bit jaundiced (biliruben level at 12.4)and was sent home Nov 18 with a bili blanket only to be readmitted to the hospital Nov 19 when his biliruben (spelling?) level went up(to 15.6). I was pretty upset as I was not expecting that result at all! They allowed me to be a "room in" mother so I could continue to nurse him. Thankfully his numbers began to come down under the "sun lamps" so he was allowed to come home Nov 21(at level 8.4). Anyways here are pictures of our sweet boy, called Jayson Scott Phillips... thanks to everyone who contributed to the name search. We put the y in Jayson's name partly because Mikaylah has a y and partly in honor of Jayson Keidel one of the boys from Bethel dorm in Cote d'Ivoire.

Tagged

Three Things Meme

1.Things that scare me:
-The possibility that my children may reject Jesus Christ.
-heights.
-cockroaches.

2. People who make me laugh:
-my sister.
-my daughter.
-my husband.

3. Things I hate the most:
-Being unorganized.
-Clutter.
-When people deny Christ.

4. Things I don't understand:
-How to do my website
-Why my daughter sleeps less when put to bed late.
-How I don't get anything done when I have a whole day free.

5. Things I'm doing right now:
-feeding my daughter.
-laundry.
-trying to figure out my website.

6. Things I want to do before I die:
-witness my children following Jesus.
-live in Africa.
-Figure out my website.

7. Things I can do:
-kiss away my child's boo-boos.
-french braid.
-explain the Gospel.

8. Ways to describe my personality:
-happy.
-sensitive.
-easy to please.

9. Things I can't do:
-stay organized three days in a row.
-wipe my daugher's nose without her complaining.
-figure out my website.

10. Things I think you should listen to:
-God.
-Children.
-music that you can sing with.

11. Things you should never listen to:
-whining.
-Whining.
-Whining.

12. Things I'd like to learn:
-How to be consistantly organized.
-How to completely speak, understand and think in French.
-How to do my website.

13. Favorite foods:
-perfectly ripe Mangoes.
-perfectly ripe avocadoes.
-perfectly seasoned juicy steak.

14. Beverages I drink regularly:
-Milk
-Ice Water
-Orange Juice

15. Shows I watched as a kid:
-Flintstones.
-Gilligan's Island.
-Little House on the Prairie.

Tent Camping in OCTOBER!

Yes, we did! We travelled out to Wilson Kansas on September 28 and returned to Indiana last Saturday October 7. Mikaylah saw her first tumbleweed in Wilson (that reminds me very much of Saskatchewan minus the wheat fields). She was in heaven because the family we stayed with had four children who were all older than Mikaylah and were very attentive towards her, which she loved! Plus they had a playground complete with two slides, two swings and a trampoline! Pure heaven for a two and a half year old!
The Missions Conference ended Wednesday night so Thursday morning we began the trip home. We camped one night in Missouri and one night in Illinois. It was cold! But we forced ourselves to stay up long enough to roast marshmallows and make s'mores! We were in bed by 9:30 shivering away while Mikaylah was cozy in her sleeping bag. Stay tuned for pictures!!
Sorry about the teaser for pics, Tim just took video, no stills, so sorry about that!

Please Pray

Our mission board just informed us that the 2007 support levels will be assesed this month and we should hear by early October what our new support level will be. It is with fear and trembling that we await this news. Please pray that it will not be significantly higher than what it is now. Perhaps even lower!! That would be a miracle! Tee Hee! Thanks

In the miracle dept... daughter age 2 years 4 months two weeks did her first pee pee in the potty! It was bedtime of course and after all the routine and she was properly tucked in under her pink comforter she pleds to papa "go potty". She is lying, I told dear hubby, it is just a stall tactic to waylay going to bed. But dear patient hubby took her to the potty, helped her take off all her p.js (top included... I'm thinking boy does she have her papa hoodwinked) and diaper and all and she sits on the potty and demands "brown m&m please". To his credit, papa did not fold, "you must pee pee in the potty first". Then papa leaves me in the bathroom with her to demonstrate, which isn't too difficult for a 7 month pregnant woman. and Low and behold... she produced!! "Papa come back in here! Mikaylah just went pee pee in the potty!!" We praised her up and down, but her only response was, "brown m&m please." Papa proudly brought her the ziplock bag of m&ms and let her pick one. Then he again left the room. "ready to get back in your p.j.s?" I inquired, "no, green m&m, please!"
It was 9:58 when she finally went to bed last night! sigh! but she did sleep in til 10:00 this morning!

Oui! Il fait tres bien!

Oops, so sorry it has been so long, yikes over a month! Tim just got back his first French test score.... 98% Waahoo! He even got a sticker on his page! Mikaylah and I are so proud of him. He is working so hard!
We have less than four months before we go to Quebec so Tim is wanting to get at least a little bit of French under his belt before we go "native" or at least are immersed in it! We are up to 87.4% of our needed support. We have heard from a couple of churches who would like to support us, but are either waiting for us to begin language study in Quebec or for their budgets to be approved for the next year. So we are teetering awfully close to the 90 percentage point! VERY exciting to us!
Most of you know that it has been a very long deputation trail. We can hardly believe that it is actually becoming a reality. We heard from Sahel Academy this week. They got off to a great start. The dorm has 18 kids this year, nine boys and nine girls. Pray for Tim and Brenda and Amber, the dorm assistant as they nurture these young people. We are excited and anxious to join them in what looks like could be fifteen months from now! WaaaHooo!
Any more of you think of baby boy names for our son we are open to all suggestions!

oops here's the "after" photo

Okay, sorry about that, yesterday, I was having trouble uploading pictures. So when I did it over again today, with the after shot I just had to include a cute picture of our daughter asleep in her "big bed". We sure are gratefull to all of our friends who have loaned us furniture for the "mean time" between now and Quebec! Hopefully there will be new friends in Quebec who will loan us some furniture until we leave for Niger! Tee Hee! Thanks for the good response of name suggestions both on the blog and on our email. We are working on a website through this mission at a reduced rate, still not free like blogspots, but hopefully easier to publish pictures!

The Container is GONE!

Waahooo! What a relief! We never thought we would be so excited to see an empty room! What we thought would be an 8x8x8 foot cube of our worldly goods ended up being almost 6.5x8x8 or 323 cubic feet for all you math geniuses out there, well, at least my brother in law! Here are the before and after pictures, mind you we also had a couple of extra mattresses and some boxes of tables and chairs for the Niger field that are not technically ours, just being stored in our huge dining room until the UHaul could come and carry it all away! We are so thankful for the Marines, our friends, not the corps, for packing it all in the container and looking after it when it arrives in Niger. We have had many people ask us when we are actually leaving. Truth be told we don't know, but the opportunity to send our "stuff" arose at a reduced rate so we jumped at the chance. Many people in the church here in Kokomo have loaned us beds, a microwave, a rocking chair, dishes, etc. to tide us over until we leave for Quebec (hopefully in January) for language study. Another answer to prayer is that Tim will be studying French here in Kokomo this semester. His first class is two weeks from today. Pray for him. We are so glad that he has the opportunity to take an elementary French class as it is not always available! God's good timing!
I have one more thing that we would like help in... choosing a name for our son. Yes, we are having a baby boy! Mikaylah would like to name him Brutus, but I am not totally sold on the idea. We would like him to have Tim's middle name, Scott. But we are stuck for a first name. Any ideas would be appreciated. We have looked on line and still haven't found one that resonates as "that's it!" yet. So send in your ideas and suggestions! The boy is due November 23rd but I may very well have him early as Mikaylah came 20 days early. I'm aiming for the eleventh, that should be memorable, don't you think? And he won't have to share a birthday with daddy or uncles or grandpa! Maybe we should have a contest and the one that wins gets a signed autograph of the baby??? hmmm we'll have to think this one through!
Okay I have given you lots to praise the Lord for and lots to think about!

Good News!

We have had a good report of my dad. He is home now and a little afraid of doing too much (which is good). We are just so thankful that the doctors and nurses took such good care of him. God is good all the time!

Pray for my Papa

We got the news this weekend that my (Janice's) dad was rushed to the hospital with chest pains. For dad to tell my mum to call 911 is serious. Poor mum, she must have felt so helpless. The EMT people reassured her that she did the right thing. Dad had a bunch of tests done and they discovered that yes, he did have a small heart attack. No more mowing the lawn or vacuuming for him! We had just celebrated mum and dad's 45th wedding anniversary on July 8th. So this came as such a shock after visiting with them last weekend. It was so fun to see Mikaylah playing "frisbee" with "grampa" and gathering raspberries and feeding the birds. Mikaylah still associates the word "backyard" with Grandpa. We did have the camera out but it wasn't working :( Anyways. Dad is still in the hsptl and hopefully he will be coming home today. Please keep both my parents in your prayers. THanks.

Yes we are having a baby!

We told Mikaylah this week that she is going to be a big sister. When Tim asked her where the baby is she said "hiding!" another of her favourite words! :) You know this baby really is a miracle child. We were hoping that Mikaylah wouldn't be an only child, but we knew she would have plenty of "brothers and sisters" in Niger. I was in a state of disbelief and wonder when I found out that we were indeed having another child. We were not planning this child, but God was. He knows the plans he has for us. Are you tired of hearing me quote Jeremiah 29:11. To be honest I never tire of hearing it. It is a constant reminder to me that He holds our future! I woke up on Monday morning and did not feel queazy at all! With Mikaylah I was sick for nine months. Throwing up two or three times a day! (I know too much information) but to put it in perspective, I have only thrown up four times with this one! God knew I needed to be on top of things with a two year old to care for! So when I woke up Monday morning and didn't even feel queazy I panicked and called the doctor's office. Now who but a neurotic geriatric mother would call the doctor because she feels good???? But they patiently let me come in and listen to the heart tones. 153 per minute. Mikaylah was there too. She was laying on my legs with her ear on my tummy... "baby, hiding". I wish I had a photo of that, but it is in my heart forever. We are 16 weeks along and expect this little one for Thanksgiving. How awesome is that! And since we are not on EBM's insurance yet we do qualify for Medicaid so all of the baby hospital and prenatal care will be looked after. Praise the Lord!

I'm Happy!

Mikaylah is two. We are trying to raise her to be a happy child who loves Jesus and is obedient. Right now she is opposed to change. She doesn't like to get her diaper changed, she doesn't like to get out of bed in the morning, she doesn't like to go to bed for her nap or for the night, she doesn't like to get in the tub or out of the tub. Her standard answers for "let's change your stinky diaper" is "No, I'm happy!". Like her disposition is going to effect the state of her diaper. "It is time for a bath, Mikaylah." "No, I'm happy!" forces me to take a very unhappy child and undress her and put her in the tub. After twenty minutes and very wrinkly toes and fingers, "Time to let the water out of the tub!" You guessed it, "NO! I'm happy!" Sometimes these protestations are through the midst of many tears and foot stamping and not the "If you're happy and you know it stamp your feet" kind! Well, I guess one out of three is better than nothing, though she knows Jesus is a bearded man to whom she prays and she wants her own way rather than Mommy and Papa's she is always "Happy!" at least so she says!

God's Waiting Room

I hate waiting! I am a fairly spontaneous person and love it when my husband surprises me but I hate to wait! We just finished studying the Gospel of John. Before He went to the cross Jesus told his disciples to wait for him at a particular mountain in Galilee. They still didn't understand what was going to happen. After Jesus was crucified they were crushed! Their Lord was dead! They still didn't clue in that he would be raised from the dead. They were hiding! Did they go to the mountain? Maybe but they got tired of waiting. Peter decided to go fishing. That's all that he knew how to do. Besides the last time he saw Jesus was just as the rooster crowed after he denied knowing Jesus for the third time. Even if Jesus was to come back would he even want anything to do with him?
Right now I feel like Peter. I feel like everything we planned for is falling apart. We had a three bedroom apartment in Quebec ready and furnished for our arrival the end of June. We have 79.5% of our support. Not enough to go to language study says our missions committee. Maybe in January. Tim and I were devastated. This is not how we had planned. Is God's word still true? "For I know the plans I have for you', declares the Lord,'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to Me and I will listen to you and you will seek Me and find Me when you search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:11-13) Yes God's word is still true. We don't know why we have to wait right now, but wait we will. We will pray. We will trust. We will obey.
You know what happened to Peter when he went fishing? He caught NO fish. He fished all night and caught nothing. Jesus then came to him. Jesus told him to cast his net on the right side of the boat. When he obeyed his net was FULL of fish. Jesus' timing. Peter obeyed. The rest of the chapter shows how Jesus reinstated Peter to the ministry. How beautiful to be in God's waiting room. To wait on him. Yes, He is rarely early and Yes, he is never late. Trust is a hard thing to do when you think you' ve got it all figured out. But He wants us to lean on Him not on our own understanding. So we wait. we may have to start the process of getting into language school all over again. But we wait.

He IS Risen!

Happy Easter! Remember Jesus sacrifice for us and celebrate his power over death! We still have $800 per month to raise! It seems impossible to us but God is in the business of the IMPOSSIBLE!! As you are aware, our desire is to assist missionaries in the discipling and mentoring of their children. Up until recently we anticipate renting a large home in Niamey in order to help Sahel Academy accommodate more boarding students. One very important detail has since changed. We will now be the only dorm parents for the school so we will be living in the dorm on campus. This does make our entry into Niger a lot easier since we won’t have to go house hunting, however, this does mean that our timely arrival in Niger is even more crucial. Our target date is June 26 2006 ~ ten weeks from now. Please pray with us that we will be fully financially supported in the next six weeks so we can be released for French language school before we head to West Africa in July 2007. We heard from Laval University in Quebec this week. They have received our initial application. We have some more paper work to fill out. Please pray that we will not go ahead of God but that we will demonstrate our trust in Him. We do not know God’s timetable but we do know that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we think or imagine.

Decisions Decisions!

Thank you for praying for our situation with Laval. We have finally gotten through and we had to resubmit our applications but we didn't have to pay our registration again. Now we are waiting for our acceptance letters then we can procede from there. Only 15 weeks until language study begins and we have a lot to do before then. We have just heard that our field, Niger is wanting to send a container. We have been invited to send some crates to put in the container. This cruches our time and we only have 15 weeks to raise the rest of our support. But, this is actually good timing because we can send our household goods now and they will arrive in Niger before we do. We won't have to store our stuff when we go to Quebec and next year when we leave for Niger we only have to take our suitcases. We need to make good decisions quickly. We need to decide what to take, what to buy, what to store and good people to rent our house! Please remember us in your prayers!

Oui! Je parle Francais

This was our cree when I studied French at Laval University the summer of 1991. (Can it really be fifteen years ago?) And even though I lived in a French speaking country for 10 years and can speak enough French to make myself understood I still do not dream or think in French. Right now we are trying to get information from the university about this year's summer and Fall sessions. the WEB only has info about 2005! The deadline for admission is March 1 and they still haven't updated their website! I believe that our admission letter we received for last year will be sufficient for this year, but trying to get in touch with these people is very difficult to say the least. Pray that we will be able to get some information about this year and our status. The email I sent them came back saying that they were backed up and would try to get back to me in five business days! C'est la vie!

Thankful Hearts

Thank you so much for praying for our appointment with INS. We arrived right on time for our appointment only to find out that the computers were down. They offered to reschedule us or we could take our chances and wait. The offices closed at 2:00pm and this was now noon. What should we do? We had already arranged for Sharon to watch Mikaylah and we had already made the trip down to Indianapolis and paid for parking. We decided to pray. We knew that all of you were praying too. One young man from South Africa said, “you can’t pray for mechanical things.” We told him we believed God could answer any prayers. We prayed that the computers would be running again by one o’clock. One by one the people started to leave either rescheduling their appointments or canceling them altogether. At about 12:40 the officer at the window (who was the same officer we worked with last June) motioned me to come to the window. “We will just get the paperwork done in case the computers come back up”. So I gave her all my information. At 12:59 the computers were back up and by 1:20 I had a stamp in my passport!! Praise the Lord. He even fixes computers!! Unfortunately our South African friend had already left without witnessing God’s answer to prayer. Thank you for your prayers on our behalf.
Since it was Valentine’s Day Tim got some flowers for his girls. This is a picture of us with our valentine’s flowers. Mikaylah was very interested in her very own flowers! And hearts! She even tried to eat the wooden heart shaped buttons on her sweater. She is growing and changing so quickly these days. At the end of February she will be 23 months old. She actually spoke her first complete sentence this week too. Tim was playing “Got your nose” with her pretending to steal her nose.When he put her nose back on her face she said, “Thank you for my nose!” Tim and I about fell over, and of course no amount of coaxing would get her to say it again, but at least we were both present to hear her first sentence! So we say thank you for your prayers and Mikaylah says Thank you for my nose! At least she is thankful! “I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “Plans to give you a hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11.

I was beginning to doubt!

Well Yesterday morning I was met at the door by the Fed Ex man who handed me an envelope from Passeport Canada! Yes my new passport has arrived. I applied for it the end of October as it would expire November 8, 2005. Not that it is SOOO important, but I can not return to the US if I leave without a special stamp in my passport that says I am a permanent resident. Since American passports are good for ten years the stamp is usually good for ten years, however since mine was about to expire, so was my valuable stamp! So now I have a brand new passport (Canadian ones cannot be renewed) full of blank pages! I have an appointment in Indianapolis on Tuesday February 14th (yes, Valentine's Day) at 11:50 am EST. Please pray that I will again get that all important stamp saying that I am a permanent resident of the US. otherwise we may have to immigrate to Canada!! Tee Hee!

God's great gift

Hallelujah! Here is a photo of our new wheels! (with our house in the background!). It only had twenty-six miles on it! It has a roof rack and even built in child safety seats. This is WAY better than anything we ever imagined! Praise God! This is evidence of how he cares for us.

Impossible?

Who learns more, the student or the teacher? I thought I had learned the lesson a month ago when I studied the eleventh chapter of the gospel of John. It’s the chapter where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Fast-forward six weeks. January 26 I was teaching a group of ladies at the homeless shelter from the Gospel of John chapter 11. We didn’t get past verse six, “Yet when [Jesus] heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.” At first the ladies were indignant, “how mean” and “Doesn’t He care about their feelings?” were some of the comments, but as we discussed it, Monisha, one of the ladies said, “I guess it had to look impossible for Mary and Martha before Jesus would step in.” That is when it really dawned on me, too. So often our prayers tell God how to help, rather than simply, “help!” Mary and Martha wanted Jesus to heal Lazarus; Jesus wanted to do the impossible, to raise him from the dead! Right now we are in need of another vehicle since our car was totaled. We were so thankful for the money from the insurance but were wondering how far it would really go. One of our friends at our church knows the owner of one of the car dealerships in town. He pled our case and now we are driving a brand new Dodge Caravan!! God does like to do the impossible. We never dreamed this. We were only asking for something reliable. God did more than we could think or imagine! “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his Power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20,21

Huge Dividends

This week I got an email from one of our MKs who is in his second year of college. He is leading a group of young men to go back to Cote d'Ivoire to build a roof on a church. The leadership and initiative he is showing makes me proud to know him. This is one of the reasons we are doing what we are doing, investing in the lives of MKs. This investment has huge dividends, they are going back across the ocean, back "home" for many of them. Brandon is still young, yet the call of God on his life is strong and he is answering it!

mommy and Mikaylah in Niger

This picture was taken in Niger last February I'm just trying out the photo options.  Mikaylah was only ten months old here and she didn't really like riding this way so we had to snap the photo before she got upset!

God is Good, All the Time; All the time, God is Good

Hmmm it is that time again when we have to start getting ready for Tax Day. Tim decided to take our last three years of income taxes to Sears because they were offering to go over it to see if we could get any more refunds. Low and behold we didn't get any deductions for Mikaylah last year because our tax lady forgot about her... now who could forget such a precious little one!!
Waaa Hooo for us though, the government owes us money with interest to boot! Tim says its like putting on an old pair of jeans and finding a ten dollar bill in it, money you didn't know you had! What a blessing for us! God is good, all the time, all the time, God is good, even when the government doesn't owe us money!

Humble pie anyone?

We are down to one vehicle now, if you can call it a vehicle. I know I am supposed to be content in all situations. And I really am thankful for Tim’s little S-10 truck. It reminds me of our honeymoon except we have this humungous car seat in between us. I was inwardly complaining this morning while Tim was scraping the frost off the windows that I can’t quite close the door all the way from the inside. “Don’t worry, dear,” Tim said as he got back in the truck, “you won’t fall out!”
Then just when you think you have been humbled enough, God shows you how you can still grow in this area. Paul, one of our supporters at church, a retired gentleman, told us we could have his vehicle and he would ride his bike to work!! Talk about being humble, Okay, Lord. I get it. Thank you for the truck! Don’t worry I didn’t take Paul’s car!!

On the deputation trail

Just a quick update. I was involved in a car accident on Monday, January 9th. We are thanking God for your prayers. The Lord protected me. I wasn't hurt and Mikaylah was at home with Tim at the time for which we are very thankful. However the car was towed away. We didn't know if it was fixable or not. We were hoping that it would be fixable because we figured it was worth more to us than the money to "replace" it.
We are also thankful for friends. Sharon came and picked me up and took me to the insurance office to file the paperwork. The only glitch appeared to be that the young man who was at fault did not have any insurance of his own. The insurance company called Tim and told him nothing would be done to fix our car until it could be proven that the other party didn't have insurance. They told us that it would take weeks before anything could be settled.
Sharon and her husband Drew graciously offered to loan us their car for this weekend so we can go visit a church. Yesterday Tim got the news from the insurance company that the claims adjuster said it would cost over $14 thousand (yes, I said thousand, not hundred) to fix the car, so it would be totalled. We were disappointed at first. Then we were told that we would be receiving three thousand dollars for the car! And they were going to waive the deductable since it we weren't at fault! Praise the Lord!
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, ... plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
I just got a phone call today, Friday January 13th, that the insurance company has a check for us and we just have to go pick it up! Thank you for praying for us. We have two more churches to visit in January, two in February one in March and one in May. Pray for Tim as he makes phone calls. Pray that more of the pastors he contacts would be generous and invite us to share our ministry with their congregations.
On a different note please also pray for the paperwork for my Canadian passport. It was submitted in October and was denied in December, so we just resubmitted another application a couple of weeks ago. Pray that all that paperwork would go through smoothly this time. My dad's uncle just passed away but we can't go to the funeral because without my passport US Customs won't let me back into the US! So, please pray that we will get it back in a timely manner.
We are praising the Lord for his protection and provision for us. Please continue to pray for us.