2013 Countdown

So much happened in 2013. Here are 10 of our favorite things (not neccesarily in a particular order except for #1):

10...Enjoying Vancouver snow and our final days with our friends there and seeing our Bible study we started there really kick off. At the end of January we completed our training in Vancouver and moved back to the States to complete more training. Our Bible study still continues to this day, though.

9...Making new friends during our time training in Richmond. We especially enjoyed a snow day there filled with board games & movies & pizza with one of our favorite couples.

8...Eating crawfish, king cakes, and New Orleans food one last time before leaving the U.S. and getting to return to New Orleans to say goodbye once again to friends there. Leaving New Orleans was extremely difficult for us, and we appreciated one final weekend there.

7...Finding a new church home in Vida Nova. We LOVED Harbor, our church in New Orleans, which was one of the reasons it was so difficult to leave. But we found another church that we love, that makes us feel like family, & has a huge vision to reach Lisbon that we're excited to be part of. They've prayed for us and loved on us and our daughter since we've come. They are a big blessing to us.

6...Traveling around Portugual. We've enjoyed taking a day or two over a few weekends this year to visit other cities in Portugal. Our favorites have been Obidos, Nazare, Evora/Monsarez, and Guimares. Nazare was especially wonderful since we left during a heat wave in Lisbon and our hotel had air conditioning!

5...Thanksgiving in Lisbon--We cooked all of our tradition foods and had 12 Portuguese friends come join us for the celebration. We were so excited to have all of these people join us and pray that we can have more opportunities to grow these friendships and share God's story more with them.

4...Learning and using a new language. While J. already spoke Portuguese, he's preached his first sermons and taught his first classes in the language here. B's now able to share her story and interact with friends solely using Portuguese.

3...Revealing that Eliana was a girl at a baby shower our family threw for us. We love our family and miss them dearly, so we treasure the time we had in March to say goodbye.

2...Finding an apartment and making friends here. This is our new home, and we do love it. We feel comfortable here and our new friends take away the sting of being away from our U.S. family and friends.

1...the birth of Eliana! Our daughter is our biggest blessing & biggest joy. We are so happy that she was born into our family in August 2013 here in Lisbon, Portugal.

We can't wait to see what God has in store for us in 2014. We know He will be with us every step of the way. We pray you have a wonderful new year as well--filled with laughter, love, and the knowledge that God is always with you.