Where we have been...

The beautiful song, "I'll Be Home For Christmas" has certainly taken on a new meaning this year for sure!

I have had to take a break from posting for a while due to the recent events that have taken place in our family. After a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving w/ our family in Ft. Smith, we returned home for only one wk. We then set out to Phoenix, AZ (Glendale actually) for approx. 9 days b/c Patrick was asked by our former Hispanic pastor's brother (Alejandro Moreno) to come speak @ his church's week-long conference...similar to a revival. Bro. Moreno (Javier-our close friend and former Hispanic mission pastor in our church in Springdale), his beautiful wife (Miriam), and their 2 super-great girls (Kenia and Thania) traveled with us all the way to AZ. Patrick spoke all last wk. (7th-13th) and did a wonderful job I think! And Bro. Moreno was MORE than a blessing to us as he was the primary translator each night as well as 3x on Sun. for Patrick's lessons/messages. We were planning on returning home a couple of days after recovering from the long yet beautiful wk. However...the Lord certainly had other plans for us.
Only a/b 1 hour away from Phoenix on our way home Tuesday, we noticed our van making a new, very strange sound. NOT good! It was especially bad since we were almost 90 miles (uphill-through the mountains) from the next big city and Flagstaff was said to still have snow on the ground from their recent snowstorms once we did arrive there. After pulling over on the side of the hwy. to lift the hood, check the oil, etc...we quickly made the decision to turn around and head back down the mountains to Phoenix to get the van checked out. Hoping and praying it was nothing too serious (esp. since we had the van all checked out/oil changed/etc. before we left Springdale), we made some calls a/b concerning our return. As the sound continued to get louder and louder and the temperature of the vehicle began to rise some, we pulled over in the closest little town we reached. We found a mechanic soon after turning off in Black Canyon City and they quickly informed us that the loud, horrible sound was b/c a rod had snapped in our engine and our "motor was shot". Lovely. They said it was pretty much just a freak thing that occurred, and that the van wasn't nearly in the condition for something like this to ever happen.
We waited in the auto repair shop/gas station parking lot for a good while (while the kids thankfully took naps in their car seats) until help arrived. We found the cheapest deal we could find to have our vehicle towed all the way back to Phoenix, and Bro. Alejandro immed. set out to come pick us all up. After unloading the crazy-full van (w/ 8 people and 8 people's luggage-2 being small kids), watching the van be towed away, and piling like a bunch of sardines into Alejandro's van...we headed back to Alejandro/Irma/Keila/Zoar's house in Glendale.
And now to avoid making a LONG story even LONGER...
Basically, the mechanic spent a couple days finding the motor he wanted for our van. And it is supposed to be finished this coming Tues. We were certainly taken back @ first by such a huge financial set-back (esp. during the holidays). However, we have truly trusted that God had a special reason for our reason through it all. Plus, we have just tried to enjoy our extra week together w/ these incredible families in Bro. Moreno's congregation. The Lord has taken care of us, but we could certainly still use your continued prayers as all 8 of us set out to head home AGAIN this coming Tues. Nothing like getting home RIGHT before Christmas! This certainly changed a lot of plans for us as well as for the Morenos and it's certainly made for an interesting situation concerning finishing our Christmas shopping this past wk., but what an awesome family to be stranded with! God has certainly grown each of us in more ways than I could even describe... And HE at least knew what the plan was, even when we did not.

Love to you all...

Beautiful MBSF moments from the semester...

WOW! We have been so busy that I haven't had much time to even blog a/b the semester that's now almost over already! This Fall has been adjustment in some ways, but SUCH a blessing in others! Our numbers have grown significantly @ LIFELINE each Thurs. night on campus and we feel very blessed that the Lord has grown our group. The students represent such a wide variety of personalities, backgrounds, ethnicities, talents, etc.
Our worship/praise team has expanded and we now have 2 groups that rotate every couple of weeks. We now have several guys who are MORE than capable to handle any audio/video function for the group. ...BOTH are definitely talents that goes unnoticed any many churches and ministries these days. We are thankful for them and we could never say it enough!
Patrick asked for some of our local churches to get more involved in this ministry that they already support this sem. as well. Therefore, a few churches have stepped up by helping prepare a meal (or 2) for our Thurs. night meetings. They have been DELICIOUS to say the least! And, our students cherish getting to eat a home-cooked meal for a change too! It's looking like it might not be possible for next semester due to the weekly cost, but we sure are thankful for what's been provided so far. We also have 2 beautiful women from our church here in Springdale who prepare the food every other wk. that a church hasn't brought it. They always go above and beyond and we are appreciative! There truly are no words to describe what they sacrifice each wk. to make it possible.
Since Patrick loves to "mix it up" each and every week, we have done LOTS of different themed nights and activities this semester. We did another "Destination Unknown" Thurs. night recently where the students don't know where they're being taken or what's been planned. Patrick taught several weeks in a row on Biblical dating and relationships. One of the students prepared and taught a lesson one wk. We had a guest speaker one Thurs. night who's a local missionary in town. And of course we've participated in some awesome extracurricular activities too! Late nights, flag football around campus, movie night on Old Main lawn, college lunches @ church once a month, football watch parties, a scavenger hunt around town (leaving out after a HOG watch party @ our house), and even more. We just had our Christmas party last night on campus since the students will be deep in final exams next wk., and it was so great! When I upload all of the pictures from the evening, I'll be sure to post them on here of course.
Kennedy has loved getting to know all of the new students as well (as most of you can easily imagine)! She memorizes their names without us ever working on them @ home, asks to see them @ random moments during the day, and "talks to them" on her phone ALL the time. They love on her and Will, and we love watching them on the floor playing w/ our kids. It's a beautiful thing that we wouldn't trade for anything!

Thank you Lord for bringing this ministry into our lives and thank you for bringing the group to where it is today. Please continue to grow our group in our faith and in our relationships. Show us what your good and perfect will is for MBSF and the direction you want Patrick to lead this group in. We love you so much!


Watching the HOGS play

Just some of the food the students brought to the house...SO healthy! Ha!

Playing dress-up w/ Mallory (or ON Mallory, really)

A pretty common occurrence w/ our group

"20 person conga line" accomplished @ a random, local restaurant during the scav. hunt


...inside joke

"Rowing on dry land" (part of the scav. hunt as well)

Part of the group:



Bowling night after LIFELINE one evening (those who weren't doing homework) : )

Skit team in our new room up on campus

Another f.b. watch party @ some students' apartment

Playing w/ the kiddos


One of the meetings earlier in the semester when we were meeting in the outdoor pavilion


"Change of location" one night due to the tornado warnings and sirens sounding around campus...Satan was working overtime that night, but it ended up being one of the greatest nights of the sem.