We are still here...

Please forgive me as I know it has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote...Things continue to stay busy here. Even my last two Saturday's have been completely filled with learning how to teach ESL once we are on the field. Week before last was very special as we had 3 days of training with our IMB president, Dr. Jerry Rankin. He spoke on the subject of "Spiritual Warfare." Our eyes were opened to some unbelievable ways in which Satan works in our world. There were many things that we learned and I could spend days on all Dr. Rankin talked about (of which I won't). We all live in a dark world, but we, as "sent-out ones" we are entering an even darker world. It was encouraging to hear about those who have gone out before us and to fully understand how important it is that we absolutely bathe ourselves in Prayer and the study of God's Word. He used 2 simple analogies that I thought most of us could relate to....Let me preface this first one by saying this has nothing to do with the Michael Vick story and I love dogs...Speaking on the subject spiritual warfare, in most of our cases we can not relate to demon possession and the spirit world. We are more familiar with those suttle ways Satan can creep in and affect our relationship with our Savior. One of those ways is by simply what we put into our bodies, thinking that it won't effect us. Dr. Rankin used the analogy of two dogs fighting...Which dog will ultimately win??? The one that we are feeding!! He also used the example of the "Ganges" river in India...This river is considered to be holy and many people come each day to wash themselves in this river so that they can be healed from whatever ailment they might have. The only problem is that entities such as, partially decomposed bodies, trash, raw sewage, animal waste, and even chemicals have entered this body of water. So it doesn't matter how holy we might consider ourselves, if we are adding awful things into our lives, the end product can be pretty gross. (pretty cool analogy, heh!)
This last week, we went through a couple of days of "Doctrine" study. It was an awesome time of learning and reinforcing, as we went through the major issues of doctrine...Their is absolutely nothing like GOD'S WORD!!!!!!!!!
Friday was also our first round of shots, which went suprisingly well. Rachel and Claire went first, Claire only crying a little....Daddy and BIG BOY Philip went next with NO screaming, running away, clawing, punching, kicking, or general hysteria...Then Big Mac, no problems there either...All in all, Daddy and Mommy got 4 each and the kids received 2 each.
We also received a visit on Friday from Rachel's sister, Rhonda and her oldest child, Hannah. Saturday was a fun-filled day as everyone but Daddy went to the pool. I had my last day of ESL training, of which I am now certified...very long day...and I was so excited to find out after my hours upon hours of training that we would get to celebrate at CHUCK-E-CHEESE!!!!!!! It was so refreshing and relaxing to sit in the largest C-E-C I have ever seen, with more people than I thought possible in this particular space. Oh yeah, and trying to keep all forms of life aware that my son was doing "ski-ball" for the 14th time was quite the thrill as well. I believe he even made in the basketball goal once (with a ski-ball).
Everyone else is doing well....we are all making alot of new friends...McKenna is doing great and enjoying her school and hanging out with some of the "older kids"... Claire is doing well, starting to put together words, albeit still unclear, but alot louder for some reason...Philip thinks he is the BMOC and they all love fishing in the lake (especially mommy). The kids are also doing better on Sunday in our house church!!!!!!!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!!
I will update the next post with some photos!