Handfuls of Blessings

Do you ever wonder what happens to a missionary's house while he is in the States?  Our previous furloughs we took things off of the walls, draped sheets over the furniture, and locked the doors.  Some missionaries move out of their houses, and others store everything in containers.  This time things will be different for us.  A fellow missionary will be returning from their furlough in January and will be staying in our house during our absence.  This will keep our house occupied, as well as give them time to find a house of their own.  So the cleaning, sorting and packing has begun. My book-loving kids are begging, "Please don't pack these books, yet.  What will we have to read?"  Washing the living room walls   For several weeks in a row, our ladies soulwinning team has seen someone saved each week.  Tonight my partner and I were making visits and were able to lead a Jaja (elderly lady) to the Lord.  Please pray for the me...

We have given Skyler an additional name - Shiloh's Angel.  At 1:30 this morning, Skyler woke Keith and I up again with the words, "Shiloh's sick."  (Even writing about it sends my heart racing.)  The symptoms were the same as our last scare with the addition of headache and blindness.  In garbled speech, Shiloh kept asking if we could take the mask off so he could see.  Shiloh & Rufus - His Diabetes Bear Let me give you a peek into our hospital experience.  We arrived at the hospital to find the emergency room door locked, and no one around.  I went in a different entrance and began knocking on doors.  A nurse woke up, and I told her that I wanted an I.V. of Ringer Lactate for Shiloh..  I asked her to call either one of two physicians whose names I had given her.  After 40 minutes of waiting, a totally different doctor came.  This doctor and nurse stood by watching as Shiloh vomited and offered no assistance.  I asked ...

Where would we be without computers?  Well...I found out as I was nearly a week without mine.  My greatest fear when it first gave me the totally black screen was that everything was lost.  Praise the Lord - my documents were retrievable but all emails were wiped out.  Which means...all of my email addresses, too.  But that is such a small amount of loss compared to the possibility of everything being gone.  So...if you have corresponded with us in the past year, you might want to send us an email letting us know your email address. This week we have been getting plenty of rain which gives us nice, cool weather perfect for African Chai or Hot Cocoa.  We have a spice here called Tea Masala that makes the chai soooooo good.  I am already stocking up on it to take back with us on furlough, since I am so addicted to it.  Drinking chai is my stress reliever (yes, I drink a lot of it), my comforting drink (especially when having a culture day), a...

Savannah has finally reached the age everyone thinks she is - three years old!  She is tall, talks a mile a minute, and has a storehouse of "wisdom" from five older siblings, so for several months people have thought she was older than two.  She was blessed to have her Grandma & Grandpa and Aunt Alisha be here for her special day. Savannah loves her sister and tries to imitate anything she says or does.  She likes to use Stanley as her horse and take rides around the house.  She looks to Shane as her protector to save her from the dogs (and to carry her around).  Skyler thinks up new ways to get her to scream, and Shiloh is her quiet buddy who she depends on to help her.  Siblings look on as she opens her presents How thankful we are for our six blessings and the joy they bring to our home.  We pray that each one of them lives fully for Christ as His servant.

Grandpa Stensaas (61) and Stanley (13) I'm two days late posting Stanley's birthday pictures, but some unexpected events came up.  Stanley was blessed with two cakes again this year.  He shares a birthday with his Grandpa, so when Mom & Dad stayed with us last week, I fixed a chocolate cake for the birthday boys to enjoy together.  Shane getting dunked by Keith On Wednesday, we took the kids swimming.  Some Danish friends allow us to use their private pool, which we especially enjoy doing for birthdays.  Stanley wanted to float his penguin in the pool.  I wasn't willing to risk it. I'm not sure what inspired his request, but Stanley asked for a penguin cake. Savannah drying off and getting warmed up Also on Wednesday, my husband reached his goal of losing 70 pounds!  Congratulations!  For seven months, he has worked diligently.  He has a great amount of self-discipline, and I admire his perseverance. Skyler throwing ...