From Pixels to People

Mike, Holly, Lainey, Brady, and Jake

Amidst the busyness of the past weeks, we were given the opportunity to transform some on-line friends into personal friends. Mike and Holly recently moved to the Philippine coast as missionaries. Before their trip across the ocean blue, they had found this blog. So for a quite a while now, we have been getting to know each other's families through the miracle of the internet. When their friend needed to make a trip to Bontoc, it was the perfect opportunity for us to meet each other in person.

Although we were really busy, we were all excited to meet them. After our day at the Mainit Hot Springs, we met them at their hotel (sunburned, dirty, and hair all frizzed - us, not them). We enjoyed talking together and learning more about their transition.

The next day we were a bit more presentable as we met at the restaurant downstairs for a treat of their world famous halo-halo. (Halo-halo is a Filipino desert with shaved ice, ice cream, and a varied mix of other ingredients. Florma's is known for having the best halo-halo in town.)

We really wish we could have had more time to spend together, but look forward to crossing paths in the future. You can read more about their journey at their blog: Strangers and Pilgrims.

One Year Ago

New Site

On behalf of YWAM Mountain Province, I would like to introduce a new website. We have just published our new website/blog. The new format allows us to provide more content about who we are and what we are doing.

I have updated the link on this blog, but to save you the effort of moving your mouse way down there, just click here: ywammountainprovince.wordpress.com

Grace,
Tom

Post #400

For the last year, 8 months, and 5 days we have shared glimpses of this journey we are on with Jesus. We have shared the ups and downs, the joys and challenges, along the path. According to the counter, there have been some who have been checking in on us from time to time. So we are looking forward to hearing from you. Some of you have revealed yourselves and left a comment or more. Others remain hidden in anonymity. We want to hear from all of you, out of the 400 posts which do you remember most? Which were your favorites? Is there a picture or video clip that really captured your attention? Are there any that touched a special part of your heart?

Sometimes it is a challenge to come up with how to communicate in a few sentences what our family is experiencing...but we'll keep on trying.

Update

This is just a note to those of you that check the blog but never let us know you are there. We have sent our latest update letter out via email. If you have not received it and would like to, send us an email at:
We will add you to our mail list so you will receive our newsletter and urgent prayer requests.

What's up with the name?

Garden of Grace...
Garden...I don't want to disappoint or mislead anyone. No we are not master gardeners. Our yard is not beautifully ornamented with flowers and plants, nor do we harvest any herbs or vegetables from a well cared for plot. If you need advice on your gardening endeavors, it's best for you to ask anyone else! When our children come in from outside they only appear as if they have been planting and weeding a garden!

Grace...A seemingly effortless beauty of movement, form, or manner...Yes, with the exception of our 4-year-old, all of our girls have had some dance classes yet although they do look adorable in their dance attire this doesn't describe the way they move about or any of us for that matter!

A charming or pleasing quality or characteristic...I will say that all my girls have some of this, especially with their daddy!

We first chose this name for our home school at the beginning of this school year, actually the full name being "Garden of Grace Girls Academy". Then when we were thinking of a name for our blog we decided on this for the same reason: We desire our lives to be a place where we grow to be more like God, full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. But just as our gardening of plants comes up short, we can not attain this from just our own efforts. Believe me there have been times in my life I thought I just needed to try harder. No, we all need GRACE...the state of being protected or sanctified by the favor and love of God. Yes, we desire God to sanctify us...to make us like Him and be set apart for His use. This is not a one time, red letter day on the calendar. No, this is a process. This is a journey we are on with Jesus.

Lisa

He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

For the past 5 years, our family has been participating in and leading short-term missions projects. Last summer, we felt God leading us to take the next step and expand on this ministry.

In June we will be leaving our home and going to Oregon for training with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). Our YWAM applications were sent last fall and have been accepted. Passport applications have been submitted at the post office. We are now inviting people to partner with us.

This blog is dedicated to sharing what God has done, and is doing, in our lives. It is particularly exciting to initiate this during the Easter season. No other event can begin to describe what He has done in our lives. What love was expressed by the Lord of all creation that He would put on skin and carry the burden of our sin to the cross! But the wonder of the story is not that Jesus came and lived among us. Not even that He submitted to death on the cross. No, the wonder of the story is that He rose from the dead, proclaiming victory over death itself. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we are able to have a relationship with God and be called His children!