This past year has been amazing! We are now on a journey that we never thought we would be on a year ago. So this is a post where we are just looking back on the last year and giving thanks to God for how he has been faithful.
January
We took in our first child through Safe Families. His name is Jacob and we had him over several weekends from January all the way through April. We also began our journey of looking at organizations to work with overseas, specifically in Haiti.
February
Dan and Regina, from Love's Door, visited us at our home for dinner and we first started thinking about Zambia after that visit. Benjamin's grandmother passed away from cancer so we made a visit to Iowa to celebrate her life.
March
JJ (8 years old) and Jovoni (7 years old) moved into our house through Safe Families. They lived with us for a month and changed our lives.
April
The month of April was mainly consumed with having JJ and Jovoni, especially over spring break. We raced in a small relay triathlon in Holland and we took first place! We also officially decided to commit to serving with Love's Door in Zambia.
May
We flew down to Florida to surprise Allison's sister, Lindsay, for her college graduation.
June
We celebrated our one year anniversary on the 5th. Allison finished her job at Holland Christian. And we went to Israel for two weeks on an amazing trip with Ray VanderLaan.
July
We were able to celebrate the wedding of our good friends, Hayley and DeMyron. Allison taught Vacation Bible School and jumped back into summer tutoring.
August
We raced in the Fremont sprint triathlon. The Allison's parents took us on one last family trip to Mackinac Island (Benjamin's first time up north!). On the 25th, Carsen (9 months), Ethan (9 months), and Jayven (1 year and 10 months) came to live with us for a month through Safe Families. We loved these adorable little boys and had our own little family!
September
This was a busy and bittersweet month for us. We were parents for much of the month with three boys but then we had to say goodbye with lots of tears. Benjamin finished working at Industrial Control, and we packed up all of our belongings and said goodbye to our first house that we were renting. Calvary Church also commissioned us during a Sunday service.
October
We headed to Kansas City for three weeks of church planting training through All Nations. At the end of our time, we stopped in Iowa for three nights to visit family and then we spent a night in Chicago with friends.
November
On November 1, we said our goodbyes and flew off to Zambia. A week later we moved out to the village full time. We had our first holiday in Zambia, Thanksgiving, and started calling this place home!
December
This past month has been a combination of settling into routines, beginning outreach and projects, picking up a little local vocabulary, celebrating during the holidays, and thanking God for where he has brought us in 2016!
Thank you to everyone for your support and love! We are amazed at what all has happened in this year and expectant of what will come. It is always an adventure to let God take us wherever He wants!
Happy New Year's!
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