Silence

Have you wondered as you check back day after day to this blog,"where did the Potters go?" Sorry for the silence! Let me introduce you to our new housemates, the Michigan winter BUGS!

Hmmm? You don't know them, well count yourselves blessed! Beginning last Sunday, yes a full week ago, Jack, Owen and Bethany welcomed these very friendly bugs into our home, and our bodies! A full 7 days later (all of which were spent at home, no work, no school, and very little activity) and Owen is mostly back to good health but Jack seems to be welcoming the bugs into his chest, ie. a nasty croupy cough. I, Bethany may be coming out of it, but the jury is still out.

Poor Joel has been holding down his full time work at the school as well as covering the early morning shift and naptime, allowing me to catch some extra sleep.

So we'd love to have fun, interesting things to share with you about the many interactions with the students here but we had to cancel every single one this week. Perhaps we'll have better success next week. Oh, how I'm looking forward to seeing something other than the four inside walls of our house.

Jack, representing Owen and I and the positions we've held all week

The view from the sick bed - thank goodness for kids videos!

We'd like to introduce you to our new Daughters!!
From Left to Right: Bridgette (Michigan), Grace (California), Rachel (Michigan), and Anna (Michigan)
Here at the Bible School, each dorm is adopted by a staff family for the year and this year we have the privilege of being dorm parents to four great gals. Bethany thinks it's about time she had some girls around!
We look forward to getting to know them each better and hopefully having a positive impact in their lives on a more personal level.

A Girls Only Weekend

My wonderful husband gave me a wonderful Christmas gift this year! He sent me to see my family in Missouri - all by myself - for almost a week! I arrived in Springfield on Saturday morning and got to see my brother, Jeremy, his fiance' Shannon (congratulations you two!) and his two boys McGwire and Kael. We had a great time together and enjoyed watching old videos from when the boys were little! I also was able to go to services at our home/sending church and it was so nice to catch up with our friends here, surprising many, as we didn't tell but three people I was coming!

Today, Mom and I had a lazy morning at home (I slept till 9!) and then spent the afternoon at the mall. We didn't get much but it was just nice to be able to go from store to store without hearing, "Mommy, can we go now? Mommy, I'm tired. Mommy, I'm hungry!" Just to brag on what a great husband I have, he even secretly saved up money for the last few months so that I could have a bit of fun too! I'm still amazed that I am so blessed to have him as my husband!

Today, Mom and I also got photos taken together. We had the photo studio to ourselves and had such fun! You can see the end results here and I think they came out really well.

Thanks Mom for a great day and for letting me invade the house, yet again! I love you!

And Joel, you truly are the best thing, after Christ, to ever happen to me! I love you!

Gingerbread House

Joel and Jack had a very special project this year. They built a gingerbread house together!
Joel has become quite the perfectionist and it was so fun to see Jack following in Daddy's footsteps.
Everything had it's place and it was all very neat and orderly!
Now Jack can't wait to dig in and enjoy his work!

The boys' big "best present ever"

The title captures Jack's sentiments as he recieved his big present!
Actually, it's for both boys and they both loved it!

Christmas Eve

We have a few traditions in our house for the holidays.
One of our favorites is to come home from the service at church
on Christmas Eve and exchange - PAJAMAS!
This ensures everyone has new, nice-looking pj's on
when we take pictures on Christmas morning.
These photos are of the time we spent opening the boys pj's.
Owen was so careful as he opened the package, tissue paper
and then gently set down his pjs on the carpet.

Christmas Morning at the Potters

We had a lovely Christmas, and it was certainly a white Christmas!
From Top left: Owen opening a gift, Joel and Bethany Christmas morning,
the boys just getting to come downstairs, Bethany making sure everything was on the table for breakfast,
Joel made fresh scones, a yearly tradition, Joel got VINYL! - The Sea and Cake (his favorite band), Jack opening a gift.

A winter's night!

End Of The Semester

I just wanted to write a quick update as tomorrow is the Bible School's last day of classes for this semester. The students are excited to be done and for a whole class, they will be graduating this stage of the training and looking to what the Lord has next for them. Many of them will continue on to the next two years of training with NTM. But for many others who are not yet finished here, this Christmas break holds some questions.

We have a higher than normal number of students who are either not returning or considering not returning in January due to a lack of finances. These are students who genuinely desire to see the Lord work in their lives and many of whom desire to serve the Lord full time as missionaries.

These difficulties seem to be part and parcel of life in ministry but I want to ask you to pray as the Lord leads you right now for His provision for the finances and resources that these students vitally need to return.

It breaks our hearts to see these students who desire to serve limited by finances, but we know ultimately that our God works all things (in times of plenty and times of lacking) for His purpose!

My handsome boys. Who could ask for more? Thanks Mom Stroud for
taking us to get these photos done! What fun and incredible memories they'll be!
I can't wait to see you again in a few weeks.

finding tree...

We found a tree and what makes it even better is that we were invited to a very good friends 'farm' to search for and cut one down. So much fun. Thank you Richard and Joyce!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

What's going on Next Door

At This Moment

We're in Winona Lake IN, visiting my brother Jon, Christine (His Wife), My parents, and my awesome sister, Rebekah! We're having a great time and will be here till tomorrow (Friday). We've had a great visit with Bethany's mom Lynn, who is also here with us for this holiday. And though things have been busy lately, we wouldn't trade any of the time for any less activity.

What are you holidays looking like?

Jack Aiden - such a smartie pants and looks more like Daddy every day!

Owen Daniel - the cutest 18 month old I know!!!

Jack has been asking often lately to help us in the kitchen. He does a great job rinsing dishes after I wash them and he LOVES to make dinner or bake with us. While Gram and Gramps were here, Jack had two different opportunities to bake cookies. He was so excited, and well, he got to stay up late and eat cookies before bed - every kids dream come true!

The boys love, love, love to read and as you can see, while Gram and Gramps were here, they read lots!!!

Autumn Eye Candy

 

Fall Fun!

 

Emailing: Big Dig

Today Owen's Teacher took the boys to the playground to play after their
naps cause she had an afternoon off and wanted to spend it with my boys!
(Emily is my hero!!!). While they were out there, some of the guys who
work here on maintenance were using a back hoe to dig and so all the
kids at the playground got to watch and for Jack, this is like HUGE!!
Well, Miss Marce, the director of the preschool, just happens to be the
wife of our head maintenance guy and got permission to take Jack up on
the back hoe! He was terrified at first but she managed to talk him
into it and captured the moment on her camera phone!! True to form and
totally like our kid, Jack wouldn't let her touch any of the controls
and when she reached for them, he would freak out and say, "No Miss
Marce, we can't touch anything"! Apparently some of our child training
is getting through. :)
Thank you Miss Marce for loving our kids so much and for making it so
easy to take them to school every day! You are a gem!

Bethany
<<Big Dig.jpg>>

Photos

Joel’s parents came for a visit as they are on Home Assignment from Guyana, South America.  We had a great time with them and the boys, especially enjoyed getting to know them once again.

Thanks and Prayer

We are continuously amazed by God and His love for us.  That we are able to serve Him here with our lives is the highest of honors!  Thank you for praying for us and standing with us in this journey! 

 

Some things you can pray with us about:

·         That we would maintain a healthy balance between our family and our ministries.

·         We have had a drop in our support due to the economic strain on several supporters. Because of this decrease in support and our ongoing medical bills and debt, which we incurred from going to and from Indonesia, we need to see a increase in our support.  Please pray with us that God would bring along others to financially join His team, with us so that we can continue to serve Him in this way.

·         That we will continue to grow in our relationship with Christ so that we can bear true fruit for Him.

·         That Jack’s health issues would be healed, if that is God’s will.  But that no matter what happens, we would trust Him with our little boy and his health.