At this point, it is looking like there will be six guys coming for CMO. Four of
them will be coming for the first time, and two of them are veteran CMOers from
CMO 2015. We would appreciate your prayers as we prepare for CMO, as the guys
will be arriving in just under three months!
Bible First
For the past couple months, Denise has been busy sending out hundreds of letters
to Bible First students that have fallen off the bandwagon in past years. Her efforts have
been paying off. Multiple students have returned to studying the Bible, and just
this past week, a lady who signed up all the way back in 2006
finally finished the course!
We are also continuing to work on the Bible First website and the translation
of Good and Evil. Pray for God to bless our efforts, as we only have three
short months until CMO begins.
Family
The biggest family news is that…
It's a boy!
Despite the fact that we are entering unknown territory,
we are all looking forward to meeting Little Boy Blue! There are still a couple
of pregnancy-related health issues that we are working on, and we would
appreciate your prayers for those.
We are continuing to make progress on Good and Evil. Tolik has been polishing
up his translation, the designer has been putting the text into the layout, and
Josh and I have been busy supervising. ;)
Bible First
Josh and I are still working on the Bible First website. In the mean time, the
proofing of the other translations continues.
Carpathian Mountain Outreach
The application deadline for CMO is April 1st. (And that's not an April Fool's
joke!) So if you're planning on coming, be sure to get your application in ASAP!
Family
The biggest family news we have is that we are expecting a new baby! Katelin is
currently about 19 weeks along, and has recently started to feel the baby move.
So far, she says this has been her best pregnancy yet! Still, there were a
couple tests from her initial checkup that were out of line, and we would
appreciate your prayers as we work on those.
So do you think the baby looks more like its mommy or its daddy? ;)
We had a good report from the doctor today regarding Lydia's eyesight. We were
told that her weak eye has gotten stronger, and that she needs to keep wearing
her glasses.
The rest of us have been doing our best to stay warm, during an unusually cold
March. I wouldn't be surprised if we have had as much sub-freezing temperatures in March as the whole
rest of winter put together. But the forecast is showing warmer weather for next
week, and we are looking forward to it!
Good and Evil is coming along nicely. Tolik recently finished translating the
text, and now Josh and I just need to finish proofing it. About 1.5
chapters left to go!
Bible First
The two-week coding marathon that Josh and I did recently went well, but there
is still a lot more work left to do. So for the past couple weeks, we have been
getting together to work on the Bible First website three days a week, Wednesday
through Friday. So far, this has been working well for us, and we hope to make
as much progress as possible before CMO starts this summer.
This is where the code gets written!
Family
Lydia now has her new glasses, and she has adjusted to them quite well. Next
month, we need to go in for another appointment to see how much progress is
being made.
Last, but not least, here is our new family photo! It was taken last fall, but
I've kept forgetting to post it! For the prayer-card version, be sure to click
over to the About page of our blog.
It's been a busy month over here, with the holidays, Melissa's birthday, and of course, lots of ministry. Let's dive in!
It's cake time!
Bible First
Regarding the Bible First website that will allow people to do Bibie First online, we have been making progress, but not as quickly as we would have liked. So this week, Josh and I will starting on another "coding marathon" like we did back in October. Every day, for a week or two, we will get together and work on the website, with the goal to get it to the point to where we can begin to use it for our own students.
When it comes to the text of Bible First, the proofing of the Spanish translation is coming along well. Also, the Russian translation is now finished! The Russian translation will need some significant proofing before it will be ready to use, but it's always exciting to hit those milestones!
Good and Evil
Tolik is currently translating Chapter 12 of Good and Evil, and Josh and I are proofing Chapter 11. Since there are only 13 chapters, we are coming down the home stretch! (Of the translation part anyway. Layout and design comes next!)
Other Stuff
Since I am ETO's treasurer, the beginning of a new fiscal year always means lots of reports and statements. I'm mostly done with all that, but I still have a bit more to go.
Family
We recently learned that while Lydia has good vision in her left eye, her right eye's vision is actually quite poor. We are working on getting her glasses, which should hopefully help to correct the situation.
Other than that, things are going well on the family front. The kids are growing, school is going well, and after an unusually warm January, the kids are getting some good sledding in!
In case you were wondering, yes, I do speak Ukrainian. :) The church we attend usually has a mini sermon before the main sermon, and sometimes I am asked to do the mini sermon.
