Spring is in the air

Janae and Marcy working on their BSF lessons
that they hijacked from their sister Rachel's internet access.

       As I see the temps in Northern Indiana hit the single digits, we have also gotten through our cold snap here where it actually got down to 59 degrees at night. I am sure that most of you are feeling sorry for us but we managed to survive. The rains have mostly let up and are not an everyday occurrence anymore and it has been really nice here, temperature wise. This week at Génesis during lunch, one of our team members had been playing tag with one of the students here, all hot and sweaty, said "man, I don't see how you guys take this heat, don't you ever get hot?"  This was on a extremely nice, 73 degree day, Karen and I just smiled and replied, sure we do get hot, in August and September. :)

We continue to be thankful for our security system "Buddy"

         We have had a great month of teams at Génesis with (2) two week "gap year programs" and the kids participants have been outstanding. We have had a great time in growing with them and seeing what Godly people they are becoming. We were told that one of our objectives here at Génesis was that when we have teams here, to grow them and stretch them in their walk with God. During this month of January and these two teams, Karen and I have been the ones that have been stretched. Thanks to Kati, Johnathan, Meagan, Julian, Hannah, Jonathan, Alyssa and Micaela for everything. We still have this coming week with five of them and look forward to it.

New location for Genesis. Needs a lot of work before the first of May.

      Karen has been spending a lot of her time this last couple of weeks planning and looking for ways to use the space at our new Génesis location. We plan on moving the middle of April. You can see more on that on the Génesis blog as I will be writing more about that in the next couple of weeks.
       Things that we are always thankful for.  Good health, SKYPE, a great DR family at Students International, care packages from the states, emails from a lot of you filling us in our your lives, and of course Gods protection on our lives and the blessings he showers us with.

Feliz Año Nuevo

Marcy finding out that she was going Texas with me "at the airport"

Group photo in Texas with Grams, Gramps, Jeff, Abby

Happy New Year. It has been almost 1 month since I have last posted on this blog. On one hand it seems like there hasn't been much to write about yet much has happened. About a week after the girls got out of school and Karen and I were done at Genesis, Marcy and I boarded a plane for Texas to spend Christmas with my folks who winter in Edinburg (McAllen area) volunteering at the Rio Grande Bible Institute. Marcy didn't realize she was going until I pulled her purple backpack out when we arrived to drop "me" off at the airport. We were there about 9 days and had a great time.

After Church on Sunday

       While we were there, our daughter Abby and husband Jeff came down from Oklahoma City for a few days and that made the trip even more special yet. It was fun watching Abby and Marcy enjoy each other so much. I hadn't realized how much I had changed until I finally admitted that I was freezing cold there in their low 60 degree weather and was missing the 80's back home.

     We had so much fun there and it was hard to say goodbye but after 9 days it was time for all of us to say good bye :)  

Marcy crashing at JFK at 2:30 am

Janae and Nina have fun of their own with Karen at home

 We spent the night in New York City on the way home, kinda. We slept at JFK airport on the floor waiting for our connecting flight. But it was worth it.










 Upon returning home again we found out that Karen, Nina and Janae had a fun time of their own while we were gone. Which didn't surprise any of us that much. It was good to be back together though.
      One excersize that we did in our home after getting back was for all five of us to say what our favorite thing was over the last 12 months, what our worst thing was and then what we were looking forward to the most from this upcoming year. The answers varied somewhat yet a lot of them were the same. Best things included having our family members come here to visit us, Rachel and Elliot's wedding, worse things were, leaving the relationships that we had built in Costa Rica, and the first few weeks/months in the Spanish speaking school here in the DR. Things that we look forward to this next year: LEARNING MORE SPANISH!!!!!, more family coming down to visit us, and seeing what God has in store for Genesis, in particular the building and location.
       Thanks for the prayers and keep them coming. Especially pray for Genesis as we are now fervently looking for a different location for the school. Do we buy or rent? Do we stay in town or go out in the country more? What are our long range goals for the school more than just building wise? Just as Karen and I now are feeling good with our level of financial support, we are looking at the financial needs of Genesis. Just keep praying that Karen and I and the rest of the staff can discern Gods will here and not let our own goals and wants get in the way of that.

        Thanks so much. Mike for the family.