Our Growing Family and Praises to God!

First of all - and LEAST importantly - I think today may end a little quest I've been on. It is extremely rare for me to wear a bathing suit. Some summers I don't even get in a pool once so I don't think much about swim suit shopping. I have one that has functioned but I'm not satisfied with the modesty factor on it. With our trip to Hawaii in view I've been praying for a solution and remembering how very difficult it is to find suitable swim wear. I am not an ocean person at all but I have a feeling that will change when we get to Oahu :-) Andrew has offered to teach me to surf and I have every hope of making an "attempt". I'm not expecting it to be pretty, but it will be worth the memory. Today I found some board shorts that, after a little altering, I think will go quite nicely with a full length swim top I have. Niiiice. God is good!

Second of all - and more significantly - my younger sister, Jill, is officially engaged! Next spring I get a new brother-in-law and Xavier gets an Uncle Andrew! We are very excited for them and have seen this coming for many months. Xavier's been tackling him like an uncle for several holiday gatherings now. I love how the Lord keeps adding to our already big family and all of my brothers-in-law just fit in so perfectly with our craziness even though they all have one sibling or were only children growing up. They are some of the neatest men I know and give me hope for what the Lord may have ahead for me.

Third of all - and a little more exciting because I was not expecting this one - I'm going to be an Aunt again! Lord willing, in February, Lori and Jason will welcome their second little one and I get to torment them with snuggles and kisses and tickles! I love having nieces and nephews and Xavier gets such a kick out of how his cousins admire him. The oldest ones are 2 years old and both talk about him quite a bit and watch his every move when they're together (which I remind him of regularly!).

And lastly - and HUGEST of all! - it seems like the Lord is really doing a work in Gene (Xavier's father)! He is really wanting to come to church and is not showing the opposition he once had to the gospel. Several men in our church have been seeking to reach out to him and he is open and responding to them! I can't put in to words what a blessing that is to me as it can be very difficult for me to care for him as a single woman. Please be praying that God would save him and that he would be firmly rooted, not spring up for a time and then wither away. There seems to be a real conviction to turn from a pursuit of sin and he no longer disputes scriptures I mention. This is such a change from even a year ago! Please also pray for his girlfriend, Angie. She is a professing Christian and is supportive of him making these changes (specifically moving into separate homes) while still hoping to one day get married. This is exciting stuff! Could it be that after years of prayer and pleading the Lord is bringing repentance and salvation? Oh please join me in prayer here! God is so merciful!