41 Days and Counting!!!

We are so excited about our upcoming trip to Thailand! The realization is sinking in quickly for us. We have sent paperwork off in order to get a work permit which we recently found out will be waiting for us when we arrive! Most missionaries have to wait about two years for their permits. We are in the process of getting our international driver's licenses and visas for the trip. We have been with my family off and on over the last few weeks in Virginia. On Sunday, we went to one of our supporting churches who voted to raise our support while we were there! Praise the Lord!!! Not only that, but they provided a lot of the suitcases, duffle bags, and trunks that we will use for our trip. We checked into prices of shipping things to Thailand and found out that it would be almost half the price to just take extra suitcases with us and that way we will be able to have our things with us when we arrive.

Please pray for us as we have miles to travel! We are on our way to Oklahoma to visit some of Randy's family and pick up the last of our belongings that we plan to take to Thailand. Then, we will go to Texas to be with more of Randy's family and begin the task of packing all the suitcases. On Sunday, we will be attending our home church for the last time before we leave. It will be hard to tell friends good-bye but we know we will see them again. Knowing that we are where God wants us is the greatest comfort. From Texas, we will be going to Colorado for a missions conference, then to Illinois for another missions conference, New York , Virginia, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and then back to Texas to leave on April 13th. Whew! Yes, we will be glad to arrive in Thailand just so we can be "still" for a while. Pray for health as we are traveling through different types of weather and also for strength.

It is so exciting to live a life for God that includes so many adventures. I am exceedingly and abundantly blessed by God. As Randy says, "Serve God where you are and you will be surprised where He will take you!" May God bless you as you continue to serve and walk with Him.

Finally, A Countdown Date!!!

We bought our plane tickets to Thailand today!!! We have a departure date of April 13th at 7:07 a.m. out of Texas. It is with mixed emotions that we now start counting down the days. Please pray for us as we continue traveling and visiting churches, family and friends. Keeping up with school work has been very hard to do.

We have been in Virginia for several weeks now, thoroughly enjoying the snow! We prayed and asked the Lord to give us some snow to play in before we left because we knew it would be a long time before we would see snow again. I believe that the Lord answered our prayers abundantly!!!

Randy and I enjoying the snow!

My brother, Ethan, and his daughter, Gracie, came down to play in the snow with us. We had a great time with them!!!

William is now five months old and weighs a little over 11 pounds! He is laughing and rolling from his stomach to his back. The Lord has blessed by allowing all our children to continue to stay healthy throughout all the traveling and being in different weather conditions.

I also want to thank the Lord for being able to spend some time with my family. My parents kept Lee, Cynthia, and Andrew for a week while we took the two "diapered" boys with us to South Carolina!

We will be in South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Illinois, New York, and Virginia ALL within the next month or so!!! Please pray that the Lord will continue to keep us safe through all our traveling.

In Need of Plane Tickets!!!

Well, we have come down to just under 100 days before we move our family half-way around the world. We are so excited. Many plans are being made. We now know that it is going to cost around $7,500 for plane tickets. We have started a fundraiser in order to help with this expense. If you would like to help, we would greatly appreciate it! We know that God wants us in Thailand, so we are confident in His provision. "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Philippians 4:19&20.

"How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" Romans 10:15

Please check out The Randy Ashcraft Family website: http://www.lafeministries.com/

A New Year With New Opportunities

To say that much happened during 2009 would be a tremendous understatement! God was so good to us during the past year and sent many blessings our way. He has opened our eyes to a new endeavor for Him and is gradually showing us the how and why and providing the means in which to do His will.

We are looking forward with great anticipation to what lies ahead of us this year. April is getting closer and closer and it seems the closer it gets, the faster time goes! We are searching for plane tickets to buy very soon. We are trying to make decisions of whether to send some things now or later or try to take certain things with us on the plane. We will be able to take 14 suitcases with us so we should be able to take most of what we are going to need. Some things which are heavy, like school books, we would like to send before we go. We are praying about renting a furnished house which would cut down on the expenses of having to buy furniture once we arrive. As you can tell, there are many things to make decisions about. Please pray for God's guidance as we make these decisions.

The children are starting to ask more questions as the time draws nearer. They are excited but also a little nervous, which is to be expected. I show them pictures of people that we met last April while we were in Thailand, so that they can get familiar with some faces. I am hoping that will help them once we arrive to warm up faster to those that we know.

As the New Year begins, most people are making the same New Year's Resolutions that they made last year. The Bible says there is a time for everything. Now is the time for making decisions that will affect the year ahead of us. However, we should keep in mind that if we fail in the resolutions we make, we shouldn't wait until next year to "try again." Every morning is a new chance to start over. We should remember that God doesn't promise tomorrow, so every new day that He gives us is a gift. It is a chance to "try again" on something that we failed or we can try something new. Praise the Lord we serve a God of second chances...and third and fourth and so on!

May God bless you and your family as this New Year begins!

The Excitement of Christmas

Christmas is most definitely my favorite time of the year!!! As we have done quite a bit of traveling in the last few weeks, the children have been able to see all the colorful lights and decorations from several parts of the country. They have caught the "Christmas fever"! Andrew got a camera for his birthday and all he has taken pictures of today are Christmas lights on houses and trees. Tonight, the restaurant we ate in had a huge moose out front decorated with lights!!! So, of course, he had to get a picture of it! Caleb has learned the word "lights" very well.

There is nothing like the sights, sounds and smells of Christmas - candy and cookies baking, lights and other colorful decorations, the cool, crisp air with snow falling, special music and the feeling in the air. Next year will be quite different for us. I am not sure exactly how we will celebrate Christmas but we will do what we can to make it a special day. For sure, it won't be cold! Even so, I will miss all the excitement and the feeling in the air. But I am thrilled in knowing that we are going to be able to introduce the Christ of Christmas to people who have never heard of Him!!! As we head full force into this wonderful season, may we not forget the true meaning of Christmas. It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday. I was thinking of that today while traveling down the road listening to Christmas music. As I have pictured the nativity scene in my mind all of my life, it always seemed so peaceful to me. But, as I was going over the "Christmas story," I couldn't help but realize how much I had separated Mary and Joseph and the birth of Jesus from the hustle and bustle of Bethlehem. In my mind, I have pictured a quiet, peaceful stable in a still, noiseless night. Yes, I knew there was "no room in the inn" which was just another result of the busy time in Bethlehem. It had just become a mundane fact that I heard every year, I guess. My point is - the people of Bethlehem were so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the events going on surrounding the census that they weren't even aware of the newborn baby lying in a manger! How similar to today. People are so caught up in the "holiday spirit" that they forget or don't even know the real reason for the holiday. Even the shepherds in the fields were told by angels. The wisemen have always interested me in the fact that there is so little know of them. They knew the Saviour was to be born. They came from so far away to welcome Him. And the Lord protected them. All of this was going on in and around Bethlehem, yet no one knew of the excitement in the stable! As I contemplate next Christmas, my prayer is that in the hustle and bustle of city life, in a place where Christ is not known, God will protect us as He did the wisemen. They traveled from the east to worship. We will travel from the west to tell of the One whom they worshipped. What a mighty God we serve! May we be able to lead many to Him and in the end, may we be found faithful.

Much To Be Thankful For!!!

Much has happened since the last time I was able to post. We left my parents' house today after spending two weeks with them. We had a wonderful time! My Daddy took Lee hunting and they had a great time. Lee told Daddy he saw a deer and Daddy was able to get a doe. The next day they went out, they got a 6-point buck! They were so excited!!! Later, he took Randy, Lee, Cynthia and Andrew to the woods to get his tree stand and ride 4-wheelers!

Andrew turned 6 and Caleb turned 2 while we were in Virginia! William turned 3 months old. He now weighs 7 pounds and 12 ounces. We thank God for all of our children and that they are in good health.

While at my parents' house, I spent one Thursday in the hospital. I had severe abdominal pain and after Randy took me to the hospital and they gave me some pain medication, I felt much better. Thankfully, it wasn't something that required surgery. However, after running many tests, they never were really able to say what exactly the problem was.

My brother and his family came and spent the day with us on Thanksgiving and we celebrated Christmas with them as well since we will be in Texas for Christmas. We had a wonderful time together. But as all trips to visit the Grandparents go, it has to come to an end. But today was a beautiful day with SNOW!!!!!!!!!! We were so thankful to see it although it wasn't enough to play in. We are hoping and praying that in January when we go back for a visit, they will get enough snow to play in. We are very thankful for the time we were able to spend in Virginia. We were also able to see some of my Aunts and Uncles and many friends. Next Thanksgiving will be very different for us and I couldn't help but thank God even more for this short amount of time that He allowed us to spend with my family.

As we leave the Thanksgiving season and dive into the Christmas season, the thing I am most thankful for is the gift of God's Son, Jesus, my Saviour. As I get older, I realize even more how much the two holidays go hand in hand. Even though these two holidays are only celebrated during November and December, we should celebrate them all year long. So many people do not know the wonderful story of Christmas. We are getting ready to live in a country that doesn't celebrate Christmas. At first, I was not fond of the idea of living somewhere that didn't celebrate Christmas. I then realized what a great job God was giving us in taking the Good News of Jesus and Christmas to a country that has many people who have never heard of Him. May we never take for granted the wonderful story of the love God had for us in that He gave His one and only Son. I look forward to learning a new language in order to share God's love with someone who doesn't even know that God loves them. It isn't just a story. It is HIS story!!!

Driving Again!

The last few weeks in our lives have been full! Randy took us to Oklahoma where we stayed with his sister and her family for two weeks. While we were there, Randy took a two-week missions trip to India with his Dad. While they were gone, I finally got the children's school books and we were able to start this year of school. Please pray for us as we got a late start and there will be days ahead that we are unable to work. I know that eventually we will be able to get caught up but we will be taking very few "vacation" days!

The children had their first attempt at roller skating several weeks ago. I was very surprised at how quickly they caught on! Caleb ended up taking his skates off and just putting them on his hands and pushing them around!

We have been staying with Randy's Aunt in Texas during the last week and tomorrow we will be leaving for Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with them. Andrew will turn six on Wednesday so we are planning on having a party at my parents' house. He is very excited! It is hard to believe that he is growing up so fast!

Please pray for safety as we travel the next couple of days. We will be visiting several churches while we are there. Please continue to pray for us as we are making decisions about our final months in the United States and getting things lined up for moving to Thailand.

God has been so good to us. During this month of Thanksgiving, we have much to be thankful for. Just looking back over the last few months, He has done many special things in our lives. Of course, the biggest is the addition of William to our family, safely and healthy! He has kept us safe while traveling and kept Randy from harm while on his trip. We will thoroughly enjoy this Thanksgiving with family and friends. Not only will we reflect on the blessings God has given us, but we will think ahead to how God may use us over the next year and we will thank Him for the opportunity to be able to serve Him in another field. We will thank Him for what He is going to do for us in the future. Although we don't know exactly what lies ahead for us, we rest in His promises and thank Him for being a God in whom we can put all of our faith and trust.