Sparky...

I realize my last post might have been TMI... I'm impressed you came back by after that one!

I've had a couple people ask about the girlies and specifically Sparky... There are lots of exciting things happening in her life these days... She just technically started her senior year since she will graduate next January. She tried to work it out to graduate this spring but she will still need two courses next fall that they don't offer here in the spring.

She has felt a call on her heart for ministry for sometime but it wasn't until this fall that she was able to better define what that call was. She feels lead to start an after-school program for kids here. (Like the "Good News Clubs") So she is busy both working on her ministry plan and finishing up high school. She will be taking online courses from a Bible College starting next January... She is definitely anxious for this next chapter to fully begin... (I am in less of a rush...)

She also had the chance to host a Japanese exchange student for a week this past fall. It was a wonderful experience to open our home then our hearts to Kamiko. She is a sweet, quiet girl who was clearly overwhelmed by our busy lives!

She joined us on a Wednesday, which is our youth group night. The kids on our youth worship team come here after school Wednesdays to pratice, fellowship and eat dinner here, so her welcome to our home included Paul, Myself, Cate, Jackson, Sparky;s boyfriend (who leads worship for youth) my parents a home health aid and three other youth members... Wednesdays are quick dinner then rush off to youth (so we can get there early) so she kinda had to roll with the punches...

By the end of the week she said we were nothing like she thought an American family would be like, and we assured her she was correct... We are anything but a typical American family! We all got a chance to bond though and it was hard to let her go home after one short week!

So, as I mentioned above, this guy is still around... It seems like he might be around for awhile.

(Why does this picture look funny... We were at our "camp" on Islesboro and they both had packed plaid flannel shirts and for some reason we made them swap... I'm sure it was funny at the time...)

He and Sparky have made the decision to "court" (as I mentioned in my last post) so they are now dating with the intention of marriage... People ask me how I feel about my daughters making these decisions so young... Truthfully, it's not what I pictured for their lives, but they are both girls who deeply love the Lord and are actively seeking his will for their lives. We should be totally freaking out by the world's standards, but we aren't... We are in prayer with them and together and so far it seems like this is the direction the Lord wants for them...

Here she is helping him get ready for the "8 Days of Hope" mission trip he went on last fall... (Please ignore the forever messy kitchen... Thanks!) He was headed down to Alabama and I guess he decided a buzz cut was needed...

And here is is the day he returned... She did not want me taking photos at this moment, but he was only gone 11 days and it was clearly the longest 11 days of her life... She wouldn't let go long enough for me to take a picture of him in his official "8 Days of Hope" sweatshirt... I think it's time for me to come up with a name for this fellow... I'll have to think on it for awhile...

Sparky also took a "creative sewing" class this fall and took to sewing like a duck to water... She made
two purses, a pair of shorts, a skirt, two queen size quilts, matching Christmas stocking for Cate and Jackson and tons of these little monsters and owls for Christmas gifts...

This particular fellow was for her fellow...

I'll leave you with this picture... Also known as the "worst group photo of all time"! We has an "Ugly Sweater" Christmas party for the youth... I was assembling the kiddos for the group picture our pastor asked for to put on the over-head Sunday morning... About six of the teens were in the bathroom and I was trying to pose the ones still in the room when my camera gave me that flashing light of death which means I literally have seconds before it totally dies... I quick took the picture so not to let our pastor down... This picture did not end up on the big screen Sunday morning...

 I still wonder why...

Thanks for listening,