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Moving, our Dog, and Friends

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Update 1:

Hi, I’m back, sorry I haven’t posted anything for a while but I will fill you in on the details. 

Ok, so we moved into Phoenix, and at first I thought it was going to be a lame hot summer but it wasn’t (it was very hot though). I made a friend and his name is Soron. we went to the pool a lot together, and we had sleepovers, it was really fun. I also had other friends that I invited to my house for my birthday party, it was fun we did a ti-die, a scavenger hunt, and a water balloon fight! So anyways right now I am in Cottonwood AZ, we moved here because we are planting a church here. It’s kind of sad because we are 1 and ½ hours from my friends. But I made some new friends here from soccer practice, and plus we go down to Phoenix on Sunday to go to church so I see my friends at church. The new house is nice. It has 4 rooms in it so we have an extra room. Oh, I almost forgot that we went to Idaho to pick up our dog. Right now my Mamaw is visiting us here. Bye, see you next time!

Update 2:

hi👋.Not much has happened since last time. I did have a sleepover with Soron it was fun but he busted his lip on our bench. It is better now. Our friends are coming to visit us from Idaho, that we met in Mexico on a mission trip. They have three kids and one of them is my age. My soccer season is over but I think I have one more game. We go on a hike with our homeschool group each week, and we go to a thing where the moms do devotionals while the kids play. And one of the players on my team is in the homeschool group. My sister volunteers at our local library once a week. Bye!

Flat Emily week 18.

Hi, y’all! Sorry, it’s been a while! I’ve been movin around and things so that takes up some time. We’re up in Cottonwood now so that’s good! We have a rental house with 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. I’m starting to make friends up here. One of them I met at the Library. She was my first friend. I also work at the Library. Well, volunteer. I’m also hoping to start working at a horse barn! Two of my friends work there and one of them lives there in a camper. She has two sisters and a brother. Both of her sisters are my friends, one is younger than me the other is the same age. My other friend I met at a homeschool hike thing. Her brother is Winston’s age and they played soccer together. I have a ton of friends down in Phoenix and I see them on Sundays and every other Wednesday and some other times too. My room is super nice. I have a wall of pictures that some of my friends helped put up. Today some friends from Idaho are coming to see us! I’m making earrings for a Christmas Market for my church so that’ll be fun!

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Ministering Before the Lord

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Again, we are in a brief season of transition as we move up to Cottonwood, and it is great to see God working all around. We signed a lease for a house in Cottonwood and are excited to watch the Lord work. For a couple of days, or more accurately weeks, we have been reflecting on how amazingly blessed our family truly is. Over the years, we have been so very blessed to be a part of many church families and individual lives in all the places the Lord has taken us. Our time in Phoenix has been no different. The Lord continues to use people locally and all over the world to join, support, pray for, and equip us for the work that He has called us to.

In 1 Samual 2 and 3, we see a young Samual “ministering before the Lord.” At such a young age, this work is most likely what some would call inferior tasks, which must be done anyway. Each person is to “minister before the Lord” in whatever ministry the Lord has given them, big or small, seemingly essential or not. There will be both immense and minuscule tasks in Cottonwood as the Lord grows His church. My question is who is going to join us in “ministering before the Lord?

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Softball, Grand Canyon, and Uncle Panda

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Flat Emily Week 17

Yesterday was a happy-sad day. Why you ask? Because it was my last flute lesson with Ms. Fancy! I played softball while we were here and yesterday was my last game, and… We won! 18 to like umm 11? I didn’t hit the ball but I got two runs! Exciting, right? (Oh, for people who don’t know softball, a run means points.) If you don’t know how I got on the base without hitting the ball, it’s because I got four balls… You don’t know what that is. It’s another way to get on the base! You know, if you don’t swing the bat. If you have four balls then you can get on the base. Still don’t understand?! Please just search it up on Google! I can’t use up all my time to explain it to you. Thank you! (Oh and if it sounds mean, *which my brother says it does* I was just kidding. Lol) We are definitely going to Arizona now. I mean, I’m kind of happy? But not really. I’m sad because I always have to leave my friends behind. *Sigh*. Well if we stay for forever, which is likely, I will be able to get a budgie! Here’s a picture of one. So cute! Well I better get going. Ciao!

Flat Etie

Hello guys🤗! We are still in Texas, Pilot Point. But we are moving at the end of April! We are going to Arkansas, Tennessee, Indiana, Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and then Arizona. (they are in order when we go there). I also have to tell you about our mission trip to Phoenix, we went with Brad,Sterling ( our pastor), Avery (Sterling’s daughter),Toni, Mark, Kristy, and Deb.We helped a Taiwanese church. We went to apartment complexes and prayed for them with Mark and Laura. They were missionaries in Taiwan for 29 years. We also went to this place called Uncle Pandas and it was sooooooooooo good! We were going to go to the Grand Canyon on the last day but we didn’t. The day before we went to Cottonwood (that is were we will be going when we go to Arizona to plant a church) and then we went to Sedona instead of the Grand Canyon. I will put more on my next  blog post. Bye!

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Overdue Update and a Zoo

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Flat Etie

I have not put anything for a long time so I’m going to do my best to fill the gaps. After we saw our cousins we drove to Idaho and saw our friends and met some new friends. We stayed at an old friend’s house and it was fun. Then we went down to Texas and spent time with Mamaw. Mom worked at Samaritan’s Purse.

After Mom’s work, we went down to Grandma and Pa’s house and had Christmas and New Year with Great Grandma and Great Pa too. Then we went back to Dallas (that’s where Mamaw lives) but we are like 45 minutes from her.

Where we are staying is SO COOL 😎  WE LIVE AT THE ZOO!!!! Well, it’s like 50 feet away but still so cool, and there are cows, camels, and zebras that you can see without paying. Plus we got free passes. We might go to Montana after Texas but we are not 100%. That’s all bye 😀

   Flat Emily week 16!

Oh my goodness guys! It is literally week 16 (well more than that because I missed a few. Alright, fine! It’s been a year since we started.) 😉

I can play a little bit on the flute now! I got one for Christmas, and I absolutely love it. We are in Texas for now, well actually for about three months. At the church we go to they have a youth group so now I don’t feel too big in the kids’ church. It’s an awesome place.

My birthday is going to be so soon! February 20th! Oh, another really big thing. We live in a zoo. *pauses to let that sink in* You know with bears and stuff? Yeah we live there. It’s so fun because there are these cute “oreo” cows and they love me! And I love them too! Look real cuties! Byeeee! 😀

*Editor’s note* I apologize for the delay; it is my fault, and thank you for your continued support.  I also want to clarify that God has brought us to Texas for some church planter training. If it is the Lord’s will, we intend to head West by summer as we continue to work as missionaries, now in our own land, sharing the Gospel of Jesus. 

-Brian

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Blueberries, Birthdays, and Baking

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Flat Emily week 14!

We have been back in the US for 2 ½ weeks so maybe we have seen some of you by now!  If not, we will see you soon!  Right at the moment we are in Idaho and Daddy is hoping it will not snow but Winston is.  Sorry I have not got much to write. It’s been a bit hectic since we got here.  We got off in Fort Lauderdale, FL and the humidity was insane! Then we flew to Chicago and then got in the car to drive to IN. So yea the jet lag kind of got us. The birds in Idaho are so pretty like this one! Isn’t it so pretty! Ciao!

Flat Emily week 15!!!

Hei guys!!   Since we’ve been here in Idaho it has been a busy week.  I got to watch a movie at one of my friends’ birthday party. There were a LOT of people.   Also I had these popcorn chips and they were SO good (like so yummy I could have eaten all of them).  And yesterday for mommy’s birthday we went to some hot springs and had Mexican food for dinner with vegan chocolate fudge popsicles for dessert!  YUMMY!! Ha det, au revoir, bye, and ciao!!!

P.S I like to bake a lot!  So if you go to Thursday night dinner at church in ID you will have some of my baking!

Flat Etie

Hi, we are back in the USA! So let’s go back in time,after Romania we went to Norway,and we had my birthday there.  We stayed at are Norwegian friends house and it was soo fun, they found a blueberry patch in the wild! I had a blueberry cake it was yummy😋.We flew to Florida and then flew to Chicago where Pa and Grandma picked us up.  We had a late birthday for me and then we went to Bedford to my Uncle Chris and Aunt Becky’s house where we saw my cousins. It was sooooooo much fun,the day we got there it was my cousin’s birthday!    peace out✌️.

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Friends, Kittens and Exodus

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June 2023 (Etie had some catching up to do!)

I’ve finished my school. It was sad leaving everybody.  Did I tell you  that  we are going back to Cluj, Romania?  It is kind of sad because we can’t go back to the USA😞 until  we leave Cluj.  I have been learning some Norwegian.  I will show you some Norwegian; øæ¤ and how to say tea and coffee thanks: te og caffe takk. I’m so excited to go back to the USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! bye for now!

July 2023

Hello guys and welcome back! In Romania there are a lot of interesting things; we have to take the bus everywhere because we don’t have a car, (update: we actually just got a car yesterday!) For a while we didn’t have a car and we took the bus everywhere which is actually really cool.   I like having a car because we don’t have to walk to the bus stops and stuff like that. Also, did I tell you that I am playing futbol (soccer)?  Here it is called futbol, I think that makes way more sense honestly.  My coach speaks English which is really nice, so he just mostly translates everything into English for me. We have a four story house counting the attic and the basement which is pretty cool, me and my sister have made the attic into this secret hideout which is fun. They use the basement for storing supplies to be shipped to Ukraine, so we don’t go down there.   My sister and I are sharing a room which she is irritated with lol😂.  I have also met a lot more friends than I thought at first.  I have made a  friend  from North Ireland that is here in Romania and I also have a friend that is from Romania,  actually I have a bunch from Romania which is pretty cool. See you next time bye🙋

Flat Emily week 12

This week we got to walk some really cute doggies(we really wanted to foster one, but our landlord said no) and we are going to do it again next week too!  Today I’m going to my swim lessons and after that we have dinner with some people from church then I’m going to a sleepover!!  Yesterday we went to an Exodus base to see what it was like there and there they have lots of hammocks right by the creek and some super cute little kittens.  On Monday we went to the library with some other Americans. The library has an American Corner with English books!  Some really exciting news is that I’m going to learn to play the flute!  It has been REALLY hot here so the swimming pool will feel good.  Ciao! 

 

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See the Lord Working

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For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

Wow the Lord is amazing! I am in the kitchen at the community center helping make lunch for some of the Ukrainian refugees with the help of a few Ukrainians and some fellow volunteers. I am hearing Romanian spoken and played in the Christian music while trying to use my Google translate to talk to a very sweet Ukrainian grandmother.  She is telling me about her granddaughter who is living and working here in Romania.  I just think how delightful it will be in Heaven when we can all understand each other without the use of our phones or an interpreter.  

My heart goes out to the Ukrainians, a lot of the people that we have met are older and probably already retired before the war.  Now they have fled from their country with not much and in a new country for who knows how long.  Some of them are mother’s with children whose husbands are back in Ukraine. They can’t leave due to the fact they have to be there to fight if called. 

I met one older woman who was a missionary and is writing out her testimonies in Russian and I then take a picture of it and use Google translate to English.  Her sharing is reminding me to take time out of my busy day to see what God has put around me.  To see someone on the bus I can help or talk to or even the lady who is alone and doesn’t have family here.  I love to see the Lord working through so many people.

for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13        (We are his hands and feet)

 

Lunch at the Community Center

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Blue dress and Bluebells

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Name this flower in the comments

Leaving Spain

This week we had a sleepover with our Norwegian friends.  For breakfast we had pancakes and a typical Spanish flatbread sort of thing. Since it stopped raining we have gone to the beach EVERY day! (seriously:)  Today we are having a BBQ at the leader’s pool.  Well it’s a shared pool but they are renting it for the day.  Then it’s our graduation on Saturday and I’m going to wear my blue dress. That is pretty much everything until we leave 😀.  Ciao!

Arriving in Romania

Hey ya’ll!  This week we are getting new experiences like riding the bus, walking home, and doing LOTS of cleaning at the community center.  The last couple of days its been raining but today it is not.(yet)

Hopefully I can get more flowers to plant for a fairy garden sometime.  Some flowers I would like to get are Bluebells, Daisies, Jasmine, Marigold, Primrose, Pussywillow, Snapdragon, Forget me not, and last but not least Columbine.  I also will need a little pond, rocks, shiny rocks, and some other supply’s.  Today we are going to a big strip mall type thing that has a vegan pastry shop.  Also the big store there has the best chocolate with coconut milk 😀. Ciao!!

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Cows with bells and Norwegians!

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Flat Emily:

Tomorrow we are leaving for Spain.  We are in Spain for 3 weeks then we will come back to Cluj for 4 or 5 months.  The Norwegians left yesterday, it was a little sad, but not too much.  Tomorrow we are going to fly to Italy and drive to Switzerland to visit some friends. We will stay there for 2? days then fly to Spain and see the Norwegians!  Today is one of the students birthday and they hopefully 🙂 got us something vegan yay! ciao!

Etie:

After we were in Medias we went to Cluj, which is still in Romania.  In Cluj we made lunch for the Ukrainians everyday except Sunday.  I really liked the English classes that we did for the Romanian kids.  Another fun part about Cluj was they had a ping pong table.  There were parks everywhere.  The park that I liked the best we called the alligator park, because it had a really big slide that was an alligator.  It was really fun to go down it on your jackets, to see how fast we could go.

After we were in Cluj we flew to Italy and got yummy vegan pastries and they had bread that was like pizza crust that was really good.  Then we drove to Switzerland and yes they do have  very good chocolate and cows with bells like I expected.  We saw the Swiss Alps there. When we were driving we saw lots of waterfalls.  We visited our friends in Basel that we met in Spain.  We went to an Aldi in Germany. They had lots of vegan stuff, even vegan kit kats.  Then we drove back to Italy and flew to Spain.  I am really glad we are back!  Guess what, we live right next to the Norwegian family!!!!🤩 The End.🙋

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Cactus, Pumpkin and Donuts in Romania!

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Flat Emily week 8

In a few days we are going to Cluj Romania for three weeks.  On Sunday we went to Sibiu and went to church there and also we got long donuts too!  If you ever go there make sure to get them 😀.  I have two snails as pets and thirty outside in a great little area for them.  I’m writing about raccoon dogs and I will put a pic here.  Yesterday we went to a different base that has a school for Roma kids and helps build houses for them.  Where the Roma kids live there are 150 houses and 600 people!  That is a lot of people and still more coming!  I can count to 19 in Swiss – German now!  Au revoir!

Let me tell you how we go to Romania.  First we went on a plane ride from Dublin, Ireland to Germany for a little layover, then to Austria, and then to Bucharest, Romania.  That night we went on a train ride.  It was my first train ride ever and we were in a sleeper car.  I got to sleep on the top bunk.  When we finally arrived we were supposed to get to Medias at 7:30 am, but we really got here at like 8:30. 

We are staying in a house with 19 people, so it’s kind of crowded but not really.  There are three families including us and four students.  I am really glad that we could see the Norwegians again.  It has been fun playing with them. 

Today we went to a Ukrainian school and I was the dinosaur there.  It was very fun. We played red light green light, hide and seek, and danced around.  Also when I was here I accidentally got poked by a cactus when we were playing pumpkin.  Because for pumpkin you have to close your eyes.  We are making a little home for snails outside, because we found a bunch in the backyard.  All the kids are helping.  The End! 

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