OCTOBER 2007

OCTOBER 2007

And here we are again: one more month has come and gone. Autumn once again - our fourth since coming back to Europe in '04.

So, what happened this month? I'm glad you asked!

CCBCE Ministry
School has been moving along at a pretty steady pace. It has been an absolute joy to teach the book of Acts again, and Sunday night chapel has been great as well. I have to say, I think co-teaching the gospel of John with Pastor Jason has been my favorite time (don't tell that to my Acts class!). We have also hosted a number of conferences this fall, and that is still such a great blessing to offer a place of refreshment for people that are serving Jesus throughout the year and (literally) from around the world.

The kids
Still doing great. They're talking about and praying about two things all the time now: #1, visiting Jeremy's family at Christmas, and #2, Jurica (more on him in a minute). Ian & Leah are still doing a great job with school - they get that from their mother (they love school). Kara and Mikayla keep Christi busy at home as she spends time teaching them and loving them and trying to keep them out of trouble - they get that from their father.

Jeremy & Christi
We're well, but - to be honest - we're a bit tired right now. It has been a great year in so many ways, but for whatever reason (I don't know... four kids, two dogs, seeking adoption, three to five classes a week, Jeremy still working on his master's degree via correspondence.... ), it has also been a long year. We want to finish out this semester well, and we don't want to neglect anything that the Lord has for us. Please pray!

Jurica
Not much for news, but we were able to go to Vukovar, Croatia last week (Oct. 24-26) to try to get some information. (Many thanks to you that were praying for the trip!) What's the latest? Not a whole lot. Jurica is on the other side of Croatia with his uncle, but it doesn't sound like really good news for him. The children's home is trying to regain custody of him, and so that might be a bit of a process. He is still not adoptable at this point, but we'll see what happens. Our friend Laci (pronounced, 'Lot-see', not 'Lacy') is the pastor of a church in Vukovar, and he has been helping us out quite a bit. He is hoping to meet with Maria (the social worker in charge of Jurica's case) on Monday (November 5th) to see what the status is with him and his situation. Please pray that he'll be able to get some details about Jurica for us (what his birthday is, do they have any idea about where his case is at, how is he doing, are there any chances of him being put up for adoption, etc, etc).

Simply put, we want what is best for him, and we believe that the best for him (for any child really) is to be in a place where he's going to learn about Jesus and have an opportunity to grow up in a Christian environment. If that is with someone else, great. If that is with us, than we'll be thrilled. We plan on doing whatever we need to do in order to find out what we can do for him. As they say in Croatian, "Bogzna" ("God knows"). Thanks for joining us in prayer for this and for Jurica.

Other Prayer Needs...
Please pray for Christi as she'll be sharing at a women's retreat the first weekend of November, and for Jeremy as he shares at a men's retreat the same weekend. Never a dull moment around here!
Please continue to join us in praying for Ireland - Jeremy's hope is to see an all Ireland Calvary Chapel conference happen sometime in the spring.

Thanks again for everything - we're grateful to have friends and family that love us and take such good care of us!

Jeremy, Christi, Ian, Leah, Kara, & Mikayla