After a long absence....

Hi everyone - Please forgive my long departure from blogging. We have literally had a whirlwind going on in our lives and I have not taken the time to let you all know about it! There is no way I could fill you in on all the details, so I am going to just give you small snippets with a few pictures to update you on everything. I will just put it all in list format :o)

1. We're having a baby!!! Yes, you read right. Just a few weeks before Christmas we found out that we are expecting a little miracle. It was quite a surprise for us, but we are so looking forward to all the unexpected blessings that God has in store for us through this new little life! I am 13 weeks along now, so just beginning my second trimester. Baby House will make it's arrival around August 17th. We have been so overwhelmed at God's grace to us in allowing us the privilege of having a baby. My body has had a hard time adjusting to pregnancy and we had a few scares in the early weeks of my pregnancy, so it gave us great opportunity to appeal to our Savior as the Creator and Author of Life. We have already been able to see God growing our trust in Him through this baby!



This is one of the only early prego pics I have, but it serves as a great segway to #2.

2. We had a fabulous Christmas this year, which the above picture displays. This is DT's family. His mom and step-dad are on the left, and his sister, Kathryn are on the right. We spent the days around Christmas time in Morganton celebrating with them. I consider it such a blessing to have joined such a wonderful and loving family. God is rich in His blessings!

3. Our annual New Year's Conference was really great as well. Four men from the baseball team (which DT has been spending most of his time with), came on the conference. Two out of the four, Logan and DJ, gave their lives to Christ! One other, Chris Bangi, is still seriously investigating Jesus but asked DT to spend more time with him helping him learn more. It's was so incredible to watch God work in their lives there and now back at campus. I'm so sad because we took NO pictures there, how lame!

4. DT just got back from a whirlwind 8-day trip to Malaysia. He went with Rupert and Daniel, two other men on our staff team to prepare for our Cross Cultural Project this summer, which DT will be leading. It was a great time of planning and preparing and the Lord is really paving the way ahead of us for our students to come there and work with students from all over the world. I will blog soon more about Malaysia. Please continue to pray for DT as he plans and prepares for the summer! Here are a few pictures from their trip.




This picture is taken at the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Look them up, they're pretty interesting!
This is a view of the city from a restuarant called Lookout Point (appropriately so). I hope it helps you get an idea of how enourmous KL is. There are literally people from all over the world, so many different nations, so many different religions that all exist within this picture. It's overwhelming and humbling to think we have an opportunity to serve there! Keep praying! More pictures of that to come.

5. We will be spending Valentine's day in Blowing Rock, NC for our Winter Retreat with CO. Pretty exciting! DT is leading the retreat, so keep him in your prayers. There will be lots of fun, speaking, skiing, and free time fun. More on this next week when we get back! I'm speaking to the women on Sunday morning so I'd appreciate your prayers too :)

I will be blogging more frequently, so the blogs will NOT be so long! Hope you feel updated and I"ll be back soon!

I read a verse today that brought together many of the things DT and I have been learning together lately. I decided to share it and a few thoughts about what God is teaching us.

Malachi 4:2a,
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.

Pretty good, huh? I was humbled as I read this beautiful promise of God to His people Israel. The second part of the verse actually says, "You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall." I don't know much about cows, but it did make me think about our sweet little puppy, Macy. We don't allow our little darling girl freely roam the house during our precious hours of sleep, so she goes into her "bed," aka - the crate. Now, let it be said that this girl can sleep and she stays quiet and calm when she knows it's bedtime, but at the first hint that she might be able to come out of there she goes crazy. She turns back and forth as best she can and crashes into the sides of the crate, which is metal, so you can just imagine the racket. And you have never seen such excitement! It's like she hasn't seen you in years! Every morning, DT so graciously gets up when Macy lets out her first whimper that she has to go outside, and as soon as the doors of her crate open she bounds straight for the bed and tries to jump up and see me. It's really so cute. And it makes me feel like a million bucks :)

Here's a picture of Macy when she was a tiny girl, just 6 weeks old.

So what does that have to do with cows? Ha! I just got the mental picture of how excited Macy is to get out of that crate and I figure it must be how a calf feel to get out of the stall. The freedom to be able to jump, frolic and play is exhilarating! Sheer joy is what I would call it. It made me think this morning about what some of my own crate/stalls have been, and to be honest God has been revealing quite a lot about how little freedom I experience in Him. This season of our life I have experienced minimal joy, and I think it is because I have had little care towards God's purpose for where we are and His desire for us to be holy. I have been fairly consumed with the way I would like for the picture to be painted, and haven't allowed myself to stand back and watch the Master Artist paint His portrait of our lives.

Our pastor yesterday spoke on 1 Peter 4:12-19. I won't post the whole Scripture, but please take some time to read it if you can. The title of the sermon was, "Purity and Joy in Suffering: God's Comfort and Instruction to Us." So good for both of us. It was such a good reminder that God is in the process of purifying, correcting and healing His people so that we are more like Christ. I believe this has been a first step for us in being able to say, "Thank you Lord," for a time, a set of circumstances and hard things that we could never have chosen.

If you have a second please pray for a few things for us:

1. DT has been spending most of his time on campus as the chaplain of the baseball team at Campbell. We are praying that God would raise up a few men who will give their lives to Christ and be spiritual leaders on their team. Would you join us in praying for these men? Specifically this week, DT is challenging these men to commit a few days of their Christmas break to join us at our New Year's Conference in Orlando, FL. It is a big commitment, but always produces so much fruit in our students' lives.

2. DT is leading our Winter Retreat in February of 2010. He is completely in charge of everything from the finances, the hotel, the meals, the band, etc. It's a large responsibility and he wants to honor Christ in all his work. We also want it to be a time where our students (UNC, NC State, and Campbell) will have fun and grow in their relationship with Christ.

3. DT and I both have been asked to speak at our New Year's Conference in Orlando. We will both be speaking on "Growing Up In a Broken Family." DT will speak to the men, and I will speak to women. This is a very sensitive and highly relevant topic. We want to honor God through the experiences He has given to each of us and give the hope of Christ to those who have had similar stories.

Sorry for the long post! They won't all be this long I promise :) Please keep reading!

Welcome :0)

Welcome to the House Party! We are excited to keep you all updated on our lives and our ministry here. We'd love for you to follow us, and we hope our simple life adventures will keep you coming back. Much love, D & K