Happy (late) Thanksgiving! We hope that all of you had a wonderful day spent with family, friends and reflecting upon the goodness of our Lord. Our family was so grateful to be able to be with our family this year to celebrate, but we also had many tears as we missed our family and friends that are abroad. How anxious we find ourselves for heaven and thinking of the joy that will be when we find loved ones together in one spot! : ) At the beginning of the month, we were thankful to have been able to take part in Charity's sister's wedding. Megan and Philip were married on the 2nd of Nov. and it couldn't have been lovlier!

It has been just a little over a month now since we arrived back here in the States. It has been interesting to see the range of mixed emotions that we have.... Like we said before, it is wonderful being with family and friends here, but we are also grieving the distance that we now have between family and friends who are in other countries. In the 6 years of being in Romania we rarely ever thought that one day we would be crying for the other side of the ocean. : ) When we came to Boise, we felt that the Lord was making it clear that it was time for us to move back to the States for a while, but we wanted to make sure that it was truly Him that was leading, not our emotions or own thoughts. Since being here, we don't have any reason to believe that we are to go back to Romania, but rather feel that the Lord has been showing us that for now, our place is in Boise. Our hearts had desired to get to Sweden as quickly as possible, but we think that it may be further down the road than first thought, maybe even when the kids are grown. Only the Lord knows! We know that as long as our hearts remain open to being available, that He will be faithful to show us when it is time to go, or where to go to. We praise God for His faithfulness and strength that He showered upon us during our time in Romania. I don't think that there will ever be words enough to express our gratitude to Him for taking us down the road that He did. It was full of some very - very very! - hard days and seasons, and yet at the same time, some of the most wonderful days and seasons as well. We find ourselves constantly in awe over His goodness and dwell on the awesome miracles that we saw happen. Our family grew in a way that we would not have otherwise, we grew to appreciate other cultures (even though it was also mixed with frustration at points in time : ), and we think that we saw some of the most joyous days of our lives living out in the village!

For now, the Lord has provided a good job here for John working on re-model/construction, and Charity continues to work (via internet) for a company out of NY, but working directly with the Romanian team that she was working with before. It is amazing how the Lord provides! The kids are missing "home" greatly, but also seem to be blossoming here. We can't help but think that we are back here for the sake of the kids, to be able to grow in their giftings and to get prepared for what the Lord has planned for them in the future. Jerusha has enrolled at Ballet Idaho to continue in the passion that she has for ballet, which was discovered while in Romania. She also discovered that she is a wonderful little seamstress and now loves to sew, being taught by her Nana. Ethan is still enthralled with his Legos, wants to take a karate class with John, and also has asked if there are any inventor classes available to take. : )

Please pray for our family in this new chapter of life that we find ourselves in. Pray also for John who has taken up sketching again (mainly architecture that we saw while in Europe), and is planning on getting his work in a local art museum that is here in Boise. Lord willing, he will have an exhebition opened up this spring.

There are many things to be grateful for this holiday season. Most of all, we are so pleased to share in God's faithfulness, and to have wonderful friends and family. We are also very grateful for your faithful support and prayers these past six years, may God bless you! This will be our last update that we send out for a while, but please feel free to keep in touch with us and write whenever you have time. : )


With love,
John, Charity, Jerusha and Ethan