Yet another Christmas Blessing

Wow, when it rains it pours!  This evening we went to my parents' house for supper along with my sister and her three kids.  My brother-in-law was going to join us but I was told he was tied up at a work meeting and he wouldn't be there until after supper.  My parents just got home on Sunday from visiting my brother and sister-in-law and niece in California, so it was really nice to see them again. 

A little while into supper, my brother-in-law, Lukas showed up, but right after saying hello, he went back outside.  I didn't even notice anything, until the doorbell rang and when I looked into the porch, he was gone.  I assumed that he had run back outside simply to ring the doorbell to bug everyone, so I didn't think anything of it.  The doorbell continued ringing and then the door opened and in walked my brother, sister-in-law and niece from California.  I was stunned!  What an amazing Christmas surprise.  It turns out that this was a Christmas present from Nicole and Lukas so that our entire family could be together again before Steve and the kids and I leave for the Philippines.

This will definitely be a wonderful Christmas to remember!

Merry Christmas,

Kerri

Our wonderful Christmas surprise

God's Amazing Blessings

This weekend has been an amazing time of experiencing God's blessings for our family in very tangible ways.  On Saturday we were given 50lbs of beef which had been donated by a local cattle rancher; on Sunday we were given an unexpected donation towards us moving to the Philippines; and this morning we had the Cochrane fire department show up unexpectedly and deliver presents for our whole family along with the largest Christmas food hamper we have ever seen.  I didn't know if I should laugh or cry when the fire department came, so I laughed at first and then spent a good amount of time this afternoon crying tears of joy.  Along with the presents for us, there was an additional present that came with a note saying that it was a gift for us to bless another family with.  We chose to give it to some wonderful friends and when their children saw it they wanted to open it right away.  It was a model train set  and it turns out that it was the exact one that the son had seen in a store a few months earlier and was wanting to buy.  What an amazing blessing for their family, and the credit can only go to God.

We have no idea where these Christmas gifts and food came from or why our family was the recipient of them, but I don't think we really want to know - it's simply a wonderful reminder of how much God loves us and blesses us even when we least expect it.  All I can say is thank you God.

Below are some pictures from this morning!

Blessings,

Kerri

Receiving the presents and food from the Cochrane Fire Department

Thank you to the Cochrane Fire Department for delivering the gifts!

Monthly Donations

I've had a few people express interest in setting up a monthly ongoing donation.  I have set up a new button on our blog to enable you to do so should you choose.  Just enter the amount you would like to donate in the box and click on the "Automatic Billing" button.  Again, all donations are done through PayPal, so the transactions are secure and you can choose several methods for billing.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Done classes!

This may be a bit premature, as this week is actually the last week of classes, then final, then I have to wait for my marks, but as far as I'm concerned, I"M DONE MY CLASSES!

At the end of this semester I will have all of the classroom requirements for my degree finished.  Next semester will be just my Field Education; basically a ministry internship.  I will be doing this at Rockyview, and I am quite excited about it.

It seems hard to believe that the end is in sight.  The past two years have been great ones.  Much has happened, some of it good, some of it not quite so good, some of it downright miserable, but through it all we have seen God leading and shaping us, preparing us for whatever He has in mind for us in the future.  In many ways the past two years have flown by, and in other ways it seems like we've been here FOREVER!

For now, we will still be in Cochrane, until June when we will hopefully head over to the Philippines...