Sunny Sunday

Melanie —  September 14, 2008

We haven’t written much family or ministry news for awhile.  First, the family . . . it’s been a good day.  Peter took Hannah on a date this afternoon to buy some shoes and then took Aliyah on a date to church and then to McDonalds.  The girls love their dates with Dad.  We completed our first week of homeschooling last week.  It was a good one, actually.  The girls are doing great with their work and seem very motivated and eager, which is wonderful.  I have been anticipating a few challenges with Joel being so much more mobile this year, but so far, he’s been going with the flow.  I would appreciate your prayers for good time management with teaching, providing good activities for the little ones, and juggling other responsibilities.  My main goal with the schooling is that the kids grow in their love of learning and over everything that they learn to love Jesus.

As of last night, all 4 of our kids have been to A & E (ER for you Americans)!  Joel fell off a bench at some friends’ house and cut his head, right next to his eye.  God was gracious and his eye was not damaged, although its a bit swollen and discolored at the moment.  He was such a trooper and lay perfectly still while the nurse glued his head back together!  They almost put one stitch in, but then decided that glue would do the trick.  It’s easy to take our health and safety for granted.  I am sure that our kids have extra angels assigned to them.  Hannah also shut her thumb in a door last night (she closed it with one hand not aware that her other thumb was in the gap on the hinge side – nasty!)  It could’ve been a lot worse but praise the Lord, it wasn’t.

Some honest sharing here . . . Peter and I are both feeling low at the moment.  We can’t really put our finger on what is wrong, but we are feeling a little bit disconnected from each other, lacking in motivation, and struggling to have good attitudes about even the minor difficulties in life.  Is this an attack from the enemy?  Is it just tiredness after months of travelling?  Discouragement over health issues (migraines for me, back issues for Peter)?  We aren’t sure.  We are praying for refreshment and for God to fill us with His Spirit.  We are also trying to be more deliberate about having quality time with each other.  Tomorrow afternoon we are going on a date, so pray for a good time of real connection for us.  Pray that we would be rested and refreshed over this next week and be prepared for the busy weeks ahead.  Pray for restored joy and passion for life and service for the Lord.