Winter - Our Favorite Season

Oh, February! What was once the coldest and greyest month of the year in TN, is now possibly our favorite season.With cool winds, temperatures in the low-80's, and rainy season wrapping up, February filled our eyes with sunshine and our hearts with joy. We had multiple visitors and guest speakers at the various CR classes. We are praising God because the prison once again opened its doors to Aaron, and the women's class has stabilized! While not every woman has returned to class, God is working in these ladies' hearts (and mine) each week. We have also seen some of the former male residents of the prison seek out Aaron and begin to attend the Tuesday CR class. God is doing such wonderful things, and we love that we get to be a small part of it!

At the beginning of the month, we once again invited some friends over to watch the Super Bowl! 

It's really fun to have such a multi-cultural group enjoying this very American pastime.

Aaron's new radio show, Hope & Recovery, launched this month! 

He did a wonderful job, and we are already having local friends reach out to tell us they are enjoying it. Our prayer is that the show will help spread God's hope, as well as spread the word about CR and CR trainings. 

We went to the dentist.

It may not seem "news worthy," but I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous. It may have been a few *ahem* years since our last cleanings. They didn't do x-rays, but they also didn't say that we had any cavities, so yay!

Early in the month, Aaron met a visiting pastor named Phil from Toronto, CA.

Pastor Phil jumped right in and gave his testimony at both New Horizons and our Celebrate Recovery group! We enjoyed getting to know Phil, and we hope he can come back to visit again soon.

Addalyn's class participated in the SKI science fair. She and her classmate, Chloe, worked really hard to find out if water, ammonia, or vinegar would make the best lava lamp. 

Vinegar was the winner!

The science fair was at SKI's parent school, Windsor Medical School, about 10 minutes up the road. Grades 3-8 showcases their projects and students shared about their research and results.

Dean's class came to see all the projects!

The project and fair were bit overwhelming for us newbies, but the kids had fun anyway. We are really grateful for Chloe and her family showing us the ropes.

 We had a long weekend off school after the science fair, so we filled it with play dates and fun!

I can't believe that a year ago I was worried my kids would never have more than 1 or 2 friends here, and now we can fill entire weekends with fun plans. God has been so faithful to connect them with other sweet tiny people.

A highlight from this month was the team of 9 women from Harvest Chapel in Lafayette, IN. One of which was Angela Gill who will be moving here in the next few months! Many of you have read about The Gills, and Sye's eye injury. This wonderful family will be taking over pastorship of our church as soon as they move to the island. We are still praying for them as Sye faces at least 2 more surgeries and healing time before they can come down! Please continue to pray with us for his healing, for their hearts in the waiting and the leaving, for all their support to be raised, and for their kids and families through all the transitions. 

The Harvest Chapel group of women absolutely blessed the socks off of us during their time on the Island. They shared with, and loved on, the young ladies at New Horizons Juvenile Rehabilitation Center and the women at Her Majesty's Prison.

Angela, alongside our music team, led us in worship during church. (Yes, that is my dad tucked in the back on the bass!)

 The "main event" was a women's conference on Sunday afternoon. This conference had been placed on Wendi's heart by the Lord many months prior. These amazing ladies made the vision become a reality!

They busted their booties setting up and beautifying our church space.

Each attendee received a gift bag with a hand-painted tag, hand made flowers, conference book, chocolates, and wonderful resources! 

Jennifer speaking on Shattered Expectations & Runaway Emotions (click the link to watch)

Kim shared about Protecting Our Minds When the Enemy Whispers (click the link to watch)

In addition to being a fantastic worship leader, Angela also is a very talented baby-holder!

In one of the break outs, Lori spoke on depression. I sat in on this one, and her heart and transparency were beautiful. I know the Lord used her to encourage so many of us!

Stepheney's break out was on Women in the Bible!

The worship was so sweet. There is just something about singing praises to the Creator as a group that fills our souls!

Stepheney is also super good at baby-holding!

 I loved how so many women jumped in to make sure the mammas could soak up the conference too. 

I got a few baby snuggles myself (Thanks Angela for the picture!).

Wendi really brought the Word as she spoke on Lies We Believe and the Truth that Shatters Them! (click the link to watch)

Every women I talked to who attended the conference raved about it. As women of God, we need to hear more than "you are great, you can do this, pull yourself on up and make it happen." We need to know that, no matter what, GOD is able to hold us, sustain us, and that He ADORES us. He doesn't leave us or forsake us, no matter what we are going through. He doesn't expect us to fix everything ourselves, nor did He create us to do that. It's all about depending on Him. I could go on and on (and on), however - these ladies said it much better than I could in this paragraph. You can watch all 3 large-group sessions via YouTube here!

On Tuesday, the group took over Celebrate Recovery for us. The women provided snacks, led worship, and shared with us during large group time. 

(L to R) Kim, Celeste, and Ginny shared their testimonies with us. Celeste and Ginny had never shared their stories like that before, but they all did fantastic! It was wonderful to hear each woman speak to what had happened in their lives, and the way Jesus has moved, and is continuing to move.

Not only did these women come all the way here, serve daily, and bless us like crazy - but they also had us over for dinner and gave each of our families bags full of gifts and goodies (including coffee, and girl scout cookies, so you know these gift bags were super legit). The thought and intention that went in to each bag was amazing. There were toys for each kid, home products, clothing, and treats.

 Early on in the week, Jennifer shared with me that their hope was to come alongside and help and support and make us feel loved. They want to be a blessing and not a burden. They 100% succeeded in those goals. These women are full of the love of Christ, and I can't wait until we get to see them again! 

 My parents were also able to come down for the last week of February, and they were able to celebrate Dean's birthday with us.

The kids put Papa right to work playing and building with all the toys.

Dean turned 7!

He chose Salt Plage, a gorgeous outdoor restaurant on the peninsula, for his special dinner. Dean mostly likes these cool dockside hammocks, and watching the fire "dance" in the lamps. Thank goodness for grandparents who spoil him rotten and were willing to take us there, because dinner was DELICIOUS!

After eating and watching the sunset, we drove back to town and saw How to Train Your Dragon 3. It was awesome! 

Our buddy Shawn took us to a delicious restaurant called Central Eatery last month, so we decided to take my parents to eat some really good local food!

We all got ribs (yum!), with various sides of veggies, cornmeal, coconut dumplings, and rice & beans (yum, yum, yummy, yum!)

While my parents were here, the kids had their 100th day of school!

My mom helped me deck them out in old people attire and make-up. It was awesome!

Having guests helps us remember to slow down and take advantage of the beautiful places and fun things to do on the island. We spent their last morning soaking up the beach and pretending that we weren't saying goodbye that afternoon.

After we dropped my mom and dad at the airport, Aaron left for the radio and New Horizons, so the kids and I hunkered down and spent the afternoon resting and loving on each other. The goodbyes are always really hard, but getting to have the time together is 100% worth it. 

Thanks for reading and catching up with us this month! We love sharing our lives with you. Thank you for every prayer, comment, support, and encouragement you give us. You all make it such a joy to serve on this precious island!