Extended Family Photos!

Here are some highlights from the Extended Family Photo Shoot last week:

All the Cousins – first good photos ever of all of  ’em together!

Siblings & Cousins

PaPa & Grandma with all their GrandKids!

This one is: “Who They Really Are!”

(or “Mountain of Cousins” as our Elizabeth says!)

“The Four!” (Siblings, that is!)

My Family!

These are, incidentally, a Big Deal. The day of the photo shoot, I posted on fb:

Polishing shoes and ironing clothes for our Extended Family Picture this afternoon! First time ever with all the Little People! Pray for the photographer(s): 14 people (6 little!) are going to be a challenge, for sure!

The last time we had a Steel Family Photo taken was ten years ago. So, we’re especially pleased with these results – and with the fact that Portrait Innovations now puts thumbnails online for sharing, etc.

So thankful that Mom insisted and then finally got us all to coordinate our not-so-easy-to-mesh schedules!

Do pray for us!

We recently sent out our April Ministry Report; I’m including excerpts here:

We appreciate your prayers for JM’s questioning and ordination service in February. We feel God’s kindness and the love of our sending church, and we’re thankful for each one who is currently partnering with us on a regular basis. Many, many others – including our parents and numerous teachers – have had an important part in our preparation for the gospel ministry and for work in Uruguay. We thank God for you and invite your continued prayers, counsel, and gracious accountability. You are part of God’s means for our growth into Christ’s image.

 

Please continue to pray that we’ll be able to leave for Uruguay on June 11. When we sent out this report, our monthly support was at 87% of the amount required by EMU before we can leave; since then we received news of a new ministry partner – and are now just over the 88% mark!

We’re moving forward in faith...

 

These next two months promise to be especially busy: We need wisdom and efficiency in making decisions and packing our belongings – and fitting everything in around three weeks of travel in May. These are good days; we feel more keenly than ever our need for God’s grace and enabling in order to meet all our obligations!

 

(As always, you can read the entire report on our ministry blog.)

Do pray for us!

Tomorrow: Ordination & Commissioning

We are rejoicing in God’s continued grace to our family!

 

Tomorrow evening, Lord willing, we will be celebrating JM’s ordination and our commissioning service along with friends Jon and Andrea Crocker, who hope to begin gospel work in Mexico City this year.

 

We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender!

 

We go in faith, our own great weakness feeling,
And needing more each day Thy grace to know:
Yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,
“We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.”

Ordination Exam Tonight!

In holy contemplation, we sweetly then pursue
The theme of God’s salvation, and find it ever new!
~ from Cowper’s Sometimes a Light Surprises

(You can read our Winter Ministry Report on our ministry blog.)

Pray for us: Exciting Updates!

Thank you for your continued interest in the work in Uruguay. God is answering your prayers:

• We now have a target departure date: June 11, 2013. (You can read details in our Winter 2013 Ministry Report.)
• Our current support level is just under 85% – We continue to be encouraged!
• Plans continue for a start date of March 2014 for FEBU (Facultad de Estudios Biblicos del Uruguay: College of Biblical Studies of Uruguay).

During the past three months we visited churches in SC, NC, IL, and OH.

 

The TN mountains were especially beautiful with fog and frost!

 

In family news:

• JM is finishing another course in the D.Min. program.
• Elizabeth is on target to finish first grade by the end of this month so she can begin second grade in March and be in sync with the school year in Uruguay.
• She turned 7 at the end of January, and DJM turned 2 in late October. If anyone knows how to keep them from growing so fast, we would like to hear from you!

 

We would appreciate your prayers during these next several months:

• February 13: JM’s public ordination questioning
• February 24: Our commissioning service, along with friends, the Crockers, who hope to begin gospel work in Mexico City this year
• March through May: Safety in travel and God’s gracious work in churches we visit here in the US
• June 11: Travel from Miami to Montevideo, Uruguay!

(You can read the entire report on our ministry blog.)

¡Primos!

All the Garwood Cousins together again!

Random Moments Are Often Hardest

Following loss, random moments are often hardest.

 

He would have been graduating from high school this spring, but random moments on random days may be harder than graduation day will be...

• Going to soccer games and remembering how much Jona loved the sport and how he excelled...
• Seeing some of Jona’s best friends across the campus or across the room... Watching them become men...
• Watching my own son grow, remembering some of the same milestones in Jona’s life...
• Remembering the special bond between Jona and “DJ” (as he called him). I’m so thankful that our Little Man still gets excited about photos and video clips of his oldest cousin; he was only almost six-months-old the night of Jona’s home-going...

 Thanks, Sarah Joy, for capturing this moment on Nov. 30!

• Waving good-bye to Esther and Esteban and Marcos as they back out of our driveway and start down the street, remembering the many times we waved good-bye when Jona was at the wheel...
• Using a recipe Jona liked...

The last time Jona ate supper at our house, I served Greens & Rice Casserole. He was so sweet as he expressed his appreciation for the meal; I treasure the memories of the time spent together as extended family that evening. And even though that casserole was a dish we also liked, I hadn’t been able to make it since that evening almost two years ago...

 

At the very last minute before leaving on our latest trip, however, I’d thrown a pound of organic baby spinach into a zipper-bag and into the freezer. Upon returning home, I wondered how I’d cook it so my little people would eat it; I really didn’t want to waste it. Finally, after cooking the greens, I made myself pull out the recipe for that casserole...

 

And then... So many precious memories came flooding back with the memories of that last meal Jona ate with us at our house. And with the memories came the tears – and the renewed realization that it really is the random moments that are often the hardest and that catch us off-guard...

 

As you pray for loved ones now going through hardships, remember that our loving Shepherd sees moments only He can see – and He knows best how to comfort, strengthen, and give desperately-needed grace...