we've been enjoying ourselves travelling around and speaking at lots of churches. Big churches, little churches, city churches, country churches, at least one every week. We even got out to the Outer Banks and got to speak one more time at the church we pastored years ago. It was so good to see familiar - and new - faces. Cecil preached and gave a report of what God has been doing in our lives since we last saw them.
Fellowship after the service lasted more than two hours (with a pot luck dinner). We also got to visit the beach near where we used to live while we pastored. It was the first time for Deanna to see the Atlantic Ocean.
We celebrated two birthdays this year so far. Vera's birthday was on New Year's Eve, but since we were at a conference we delayed the party a couple weeks. We went to a place called "Art Quest" and had a very artistic time with a variety of crafts.
Deanna's birthday was January 28th. We celebrated at a "Bounce House" with lots of activity. Dad really enjoyed being a kid again.
After lots of bouncing we had pizza and cake with Deanna's friends.
Timothy has truly learned to love playing basketball. Here he is suited up for a game.
The girls have been active with the cheerleading squad. Here is one of their half-time presentations. It was better than the Superbowl. 
While our lives continue to concentrate on deputation work in the States, the Lord continues to work in Russia. We just received some astounding news from Khabarovsk. Sergei, the director of Open Heart Homeless Shelter, will be meeting with the Governor of Khabarovsk territory this week. Please pray that God gives Sergei favor with the Governor. This has a potential for ending some of the problems the shelter has had in dealing with documents and other issues. The economic downturn has hit Russia very hard, and the poor seem hit the hardest.
When we return to Russia we hope more people will come to the Russian Far East and join in the harvest there. Please pray for the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the harvest field. Some young people who attended the World Missions Summit over New Years have expressed a desire to come to Russia. Now that they've felt a call, the hard work begins. They need to prepare themselves, get a ministry plan in place, raise the financial support, get people to pray for them, receive visas, buy tickets, and actually get on the plane.
Now that the Missionary Children's school in Khabarovsk has closed, we will by home schooling once we get back. We're praying that the Lord send us someone to help set up the homeschooling and get things going. Do you know someone who would like to help teach missionary kids in Russia for a while?
And please pray for Jason, who is now in Khabarovsk without any other team members. Check it out: he is being highlighted on the MAPS recruiting site at http://goag.org/goag/maps/onassignment (at the bottom of the page).
The Peace of the Lord be with you!
Shalom,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy, Vera and Deanna
