December 2013 Christmas Celebration

This December we have been blessed with being a part of the local Indian Christmas Celebration.  This has been such a great time as we practice, prepare, and pray together for this special program.  Over 100 guests came for the program, which was a miracle in itself.  We got a big snowstorm the morning of the program and church was cancelled.  We were scheduled to start setting up for the celebration around 2 PM and we had a speaker flying in from Ohio.  As we all kept the situation held up in prayer, in spite of the snow, God still blessed it and made it a success.  The children had worked and practiced so hard and they did such a wonderful job.  We were so very proud of them and we are so excited for when our kids will be on stage joining them.  We dream and wonder if it could possibly be by next Christmas, and deep in our hearts we hope so.
The speaker, Sanjay Kalra,  had been raised as a Hindu in Delhi, India and was very successful in a worldly sense.  However, he came to the point of recognizing his need for the Lord.  He was saved and later his parents also came to know the Lord.  His marriage was saved and they are serving the Lord as a family now.  He could not even speak about it without tears coming to his eyes.

Christmas Practice 2013

We also got our I-800A appointment date, which is set for January 6, 2014 in Des Moines, IA.  WooHoo!  We have been working extra hard at collecting all of the documents we need to finish our dossier.  One document that has been so difficult to obtain is the police clearance.  We have our records stating that we have no criminal history, but we can't seem to get the letter we need.  We have gone to local and state police and no one seems to be able to help us.  We think we finally may have figured this out with the Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI) of Iowa office.  They said they can do the letters for us, which helps our stress level ease quite a bit.
On Christmas Day we were supposed to eat with some of our friends, but we were so tired that we instead slept the entire day away!  When our kids are here we know that won't happen, so we were enjoying it while we had the chance :) HA.

Sanjay Kalra with us

Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.