Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Back In the Swing of Things [MTC]

We had a good and busy Christmas break that included several unexpected happenings (threatened miscarriage, being snowed in, sicknesses). It was nice to have a break, but we are always thankful to get back to a routine and back to missionary training! One step close to heading to PNG...

Our classes this semester are sporadic and we have a lot of short, quick classes. We also are getting into more practical classes.

So far, here are the classes we have taken:
- Romans (completed)
- Missionary Technology (in process)
- Families in Ministry (in process)
- Biblical Parenting (completed)
- Student Teaching (in process)

Romans: We discussed Romans 5-8. Rather than being a deep study of the book of Romans, this was more of a class of practical application. Most of us have already taken a class on Romans, so this class focused on applying the truths in Romans. Later this semester we will study Romans 12-14.

Missionary Technology: In this class, we are learning all of the ins and outs of technology in a tribe. This includes things such as: batteries, soldering (we are soldering in the pictures below), solar panels, AC and DC, the watts each appliance takes, and more. We have textbook reading for the class every night. Some of it is good and helpful and some is over my head (some of it is even too much for Ben, so that should say something, since this class is much more his niche). Then we have lecture-style classes and labs.




Families in Ministry: In this class, we discuss different aspects of what it means to work together as a family in a ministry... particularly tribal missions as that's what we are all here for. We have to make a mission statement as a family, we'll talk about our philosophies of what it looks like to work as a family in a tribe, and we'll talk about homeschooling in this class.

Biblical Parenting: Just as the title suggests, we learned about parenting from a biblical perspective. We read Shepherding a Child's Heart, read a few articles, and spent class time looking into what relationships and responsibility looks like in parenting.



Student Teaching: We have this class every Monday this semester. We have to do different presentations in front of our class. Our first speech is on our testimony. Ben did his this past monday, and I will do mine next monday. Our next speech is a devotional, and the final speech is a sermon (only Ben has to do this one).

Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support as we do this training!

And just for funsies, here is a picture of Ben and I with our classmate Nathan. We all sat next to each other wearing a similar color blue, so we had to get a picture :)

Monday, January 6, 2014

Highlights: 2013 in Review

January:
* Transitions for Sophie: Moved her from a crib to a twin-size bed and took away her paci
* Spoke with churches and individuals about our incredible trip to Papua New Guinea
* Ben started working again at a construction company he had previously worked at
* I babysat
* Our Life Group threw me a beautiful baby shower
* We added sweet baby Brielle to our family on January 25



February:
* We adjusted to being a family of 4 while Sophie adjusted to being a big sister
* We were so, so blessed by friends and family who brought us many meals
* Sophie enjoyed the snow
* Sophie potty trained!



March:
* My grandma came to visit from Vermont!
* I resumed babysitting
* We took a weekend trip to Jackson, MI to visit Bible school friends
* Jason and Laken made a last minute trip to visit us over Easter
* We spent Easter break in Gull Lake, MI with the Miller family and Jason and Laken
* Sophie had her first Easter egg hunt
* Ben and I celebrated our 25th birthdays and Sophie turned 2!
* Ben started working at the RV factory again







April:
* We had Sophie's 2nd birthday party, Minnie Mouse style!
* Sophie puked for the first time on the way to her birthday party (should this be a highlight? haha)
* We celebrated my mom's birthday with the Walton family
* Enjoyed meeting weekly with Jessie to go through a book together
* We got our acceptance letter from New Tribe's MTC






May:
* We celebrated my sister Nikki's pregnancy with a baby shower
* Aunt Nanna came to visit lots
* It finally started warming up, so the girls and I and the boy I babysat spent lots of time outside!
* I enjoyed learning how to use my camera by taking outside pictures
* I was sad to say good-bye to friends from the two Mom's groups I was in
* We went camping over Memorial Day weekend with the Walton family and friends from church










June:
* I took a trip with my mom and the kiddos to the zoo
* We took a weekend trip to Columbus, OH so Ben could help my Uncle with work on his house
* We enjoyed fun summer things, like festivals and parades
* My best friend Abbey came to visit from California with her son, Wes!
* We did a fun pamper outing (nails, Granite City, and Debrands chocolate) with my Life Group ladies
* I got my wisdom teeth out








July:
* Brielle turned 6 months
* We had Walton family pictures taken by Carrie Weaver Photography
* We celebrated July 4 by honoring Ben's grandpa who is a war veteran
* My sister had her baby boy, Blake, and I got to her with her while she did!
* We went to the Whitley County 4H fair
* We had a day at the pool at our annual Moser-Walton pool party
* We said good-bye (and see you soon!) to our beloved Life Group
* My friend Jessica from NTBI came to visit!
* We did LOTS of packing!!









August:
* Spent a week with the Millers at Gull Lake Family Camp
* Moved to Roach, MO to begin our training at New Tribes Mission's MTC
* Enjoyed living by a lake (Sophie loves the water!)
* Started classes- SUCH good classes!
* Enjoyed catching up with old friends and making new ones
* Went camping with friends from school over Labor Day weekend








September:
* We enjoyed several campfires with good friends
* We grilled out lots! And had lots of people over for dinner
* Sophie and Brielle went to childcare- Sophie loved it; Brielle endured it
* Celebrated my new friend Asmara's newest baby with a baby shower
* Enjoyed free food from our food pantry and made Brielle some baby food!








October:
* We found out we were pregnant with BabyMill3!
* Dad and Mom Miller came to visit
* My mom and sisters came to visit
* For Halloween, the girls went Trick or Treating around campus
* We enjoyed starting to meet with two other couples for a Bible study each week





November:
* I had fun at a Ladies Retreat with women from my school
* I helped with my good friend, Laken's baby shower
* I enjoyed meeting with friends on Tuesday afternoon for a fellowship group
* Ben did plumbing each week on a new building at our school (this is his campus job)
* We attended Kyle and Val's beautiful wedding
* We enjoyed Thanksgiving with our families in Indiana









December:
* We got a dusting of snow and have a great hill outside our home
* We had lots of Christmas fun!
* I had a fun girls night out with my friends Rachel and Jill
* We said hard good-byes to friends we might never see again this side of heaven
* We were excited to meet baby Thatcher, Jason and Laken's son
* We enjoyed fun times with our e-linc (small group) at school
* We had good times with family in Indiana
* Christmas party with our Life Group in Indiana
* We celebrated Ben's sister Katie's pregnancy
* We had a scare with a threatened miscarriage but were so thankful to see a heartbeat