Come and See...

“Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles he performs for people!”

Psalms 66:5

  April felt so long, and at the same time in flew right by. What is it about getting older that makes time pass at an increased speed? April included things like a talent show, three weeks of spring break, half our church having end of semester break, a wedding, lots of goodbyes, and plenty of fun. 

  

  Even with many of our CR participants traveling, we saw an increase in attendance, which is nothing short of God working. Aaron's group of guys have been so consistent, which is a big deal in this type of ministry. My ladies small group has roughly doubled in size! We are about to say a few more goodbyes, but I love seeing who God brings in during each season.

  

  The biggest praise of April comes from our Celebrate Recovery Inside program. If you have been reading our updates, or receiving our newletter then you know how long we have prayed for Aaron to be able to start a small group with the men. Well this month was the month! Not only have they given Aaron permission to meet privately with around 10-15 guys, they have given him twice the amount of time and lined up his class with mine. it has been so fun to drive to town and walk to the prison together. I love seeing how the guards respect Aaron and interact with him. I'm a bit biased, but I'm so proud of who Aaron is and the way God uses him with everyone he comes in contact with.

  We both have helpers in our CRI classes, which is also an answer to prayer. It enabled us to each take one week off while our kids were home on spring break. What a blessing to know the classes were still moving forward even when we couldn't personally be there. It's a humbling reminder that these ministry do not depend on us, but only of God to sustain them. He is so faithful to do so!

  At New Horizons, Aaron was asked to com help with some extra spring break sports classes! He got to take some extra church volunteers with him, and the teenagers LOVED it. When they get the opportunity to be active in a constructive way it helps alleviate tension and increase endorphins. It also gave Aaron and the volunteers an extra few hours to talk about Jesus and his love for each of these kids. 

  The kid ended their second term at school with a super sweet talent show!

Addalyn's Grade 4 class (you can see her in the middle)

They wore giant masks of all the teachers at SKI

Addalyn was the lunch lady. They dance to a medley of song, including Macarena which my kids have been singing non-stop ever since. They think its sooooo funny that we were their age when it came out.

 Dean's Grade 1 class

 He is the cute little blonde one in the front dabbing. It's his absolute favorite dance move.

 In the middle of the dance circle doing the shoot. I did not know these names until this dance lol. The choreographer told him he had "vibes" (swag) and he was pretty proud of himself.

Some four wonderful friends, the Flemmings, came to support all our kids (the Graysons' kids were also in the show). It is such a blessing to have them in our "island family". My mom was also there, but somehow I didn't get a picture! We loved having her there for this special night.

Aaron and Brandon filmed the show and ran the sound. It's just in their nature to help out whenever and however they can.

We had our "send off Sunday" the next week, and we prayed over these amazing young adults as they prepared to finish their time in St Kitts.

 I bawled like a baby, especially when Hilary said a few words. All four of these people have blessed us beyond words these last 2 1/2 years.

Now that we are in the last few weeks before Brandon and Wendi move, Aaron and Kistian have been teaching at Church on Sundays at least once a month. I love watching Aaron practice and prepare. He does an amazing job communicating the Word! God has been using him in ways we could never have imagined in our past. God alone can do such wonderful things!

We officially said goodbye to Katherine, and she got smothered in hugs. I cried so much. I will probably start crying again now if I keep typing, but we are really proud of her and excited for her future as a Veterinarian in Minnesota.

On Good Friday we had an extra thing to celebrate this year - Sean & Sabrina's marriage! 

Their wedding was stunningly beautiful, and very meaningful. It was so precious to get to be a part of their day! They spent the rest of the week on the island and then headed off for Sabrina's clinical year stateside. We already miss both of them! 

These friends are pretty fun co-wedding guests.

On the way to the wedding, we saw kites being flown. Thats a really popular Good Friday activity here in St Kitts! Due to many reasons, we have not been able to participate yet, but next year we will try to!

Easter Sunday!

So many sweet faces praising God.

 After service we had an Easter egg hunt for the kiddos!

Living overseas means holidays are rarely spent with your actual family. We are so grateful for FaceTime and technology so that we can still see our loved ones on special days!

We had our last goodbye the following week.

Hilary and I met for discipleship for about a year of her time here. It was so cool to see her love for the Lord, and the ways she grew even closer to Him. It was another very hard goodbye. Now she is back in TX, where I know she loves to be. So I'm happy for her, but i still miss her like crazy!

Y'all, saying goodbye does not get easier. In fact, it gets harder and harder. However, we had some wonderful wisdom through our missions training before we moved; they encouraged us to love fully, to refuse to put up walls, and to say goodbye well. That is always our goal and our heart with every friendship the Lord brings our way. It's an area that we would love your prayers in because it will take God's grace to keep us open hearted with all the transition this life here brings.

We got to go on a date to a grown up movie! It was awesome. No spoilers, but if you haven't seen it then what are you waiting for?!

There is an amazing old clock tower in town and we have the privilege to help keep it running for a few weeks!

Aaron uses a super cool old key to unlock the side and wind up the gears. The kids came along to help us out the first time.

We got to see some cool people Sean and Madi Miller! The very first time we visited St Kitts, almost 6 ears ago, they were living here as missionaries. They helped start the Child Evangelism Fellowship program on the island. This is the same ministry that we do our weekly after school kids club with! Most of our friendship has been over facebook, but we love the times we have gotten to have face to face time with them.

The kids went back to school (can I get an amen?) I love them so much, but noting gets done when they are here. Mostly because I just want to play with them, or do fun things with them. School is good for all of us.

Their first day back I took the time to "retreat" in my bedroom. Velvet Ashes puts out online retreat materials each year. The theme this time was shalom, and it really was a beautiful time of peace and rest and restoration after a crazy month.

Big Exciting News! We are now fully funded to purchase our van! I, personally, love the mini van life. It will also enable us to pick up more than 1 or 2 people for CR and other church activities each week. Thank you to every person involved in making this happen! It becomes "our van" at the end of June, so we will be posting all the happy van pictures then :)

Whew! If you made it to this point, and you're still reading this, please "like", "react", or comment on the facebook post so I can be extra grateful for your dedication. We hope that you enjoy this peek into our lives every month! THANK YOU for every prayer, thought, kind word, and all types of support that you give so that we can serve God here in St Kitts.