Growing like a … what?

This September, Aris started kindergarten. She is absolutely loving school, and other than a minor meltdown the night before her first day, there have been no tears. At least not shed by her. Zane, however, took her absence quite hard. I haven't cried, but I am amazed at how big my children are getting. It's hard to believe that my child is old enough to go to school.

My baby isn't a baby either anymore. He talks in sentences, he answers the phone and he's also demonstrated that he has a long term memory. Yesterday as we were walking to school, Aris asked me where my watch was. My watch has been missing for many months, last seen in Zane's possession near the couch. I explained that I didn't know where it was, but that I thought Zane had hidden it. Five minutes after we returned home, Zane handed me my watch! I was amazed, both by getting my watch back and by the levels of memory and comprehension that action displayed.

Not only is Zane showing lots of growth, I have watched Aris change as well. Her motor skills have improved greatly, as evidenced both by her drawings and her computer skills. Yes, that's right...both of my children love to play on the computer. The trick is to make sure it's their games they're playing and that they aren't just randomly pushing buttons.

The kids aren't the only things growing around here. I have begun to create a beautiful garden from my patch of dirt. Although the squirrels are my enemy, I have still managed to create a space that makes me happy. One of this weeks highlights was seeing my toad lily bloom for the very first time.

As my plants have grown and blossomed, so has my belly! I'm 20 weeks, but look a lot bigger. The baby is becoming quite active. We suspect that this one is going to be spirited just based on how hard he/she kicks. Although I'm fascinated by how my children are growing up and changing, I’m looking forward to cuddling a wee one again. And now I must go make cookies… blessings, Gracie :)

The Bottom Line

It’s been so exciting to see how God continues to provide for our needs in so many different ways.With another child coming, we’ve needed a larger vehicle, and we were able to purchase one.  Praise God!  This was made possible through personal savings, donations, an outside billable job, help from International Teams (IT), and a short-term interest-free loan from IT, that we expect to have paid off by May of next year.

With the baby coming in February, I expect to be going on Parental leave for a few months.  During this time, EI will be covering a good chunk of our expenses, so the extra support coming in will help cover what’s currently owing to IT for the car.

Praise God for how He continues to provide!  We are certainly very blessed!  Pray that people will continue to answer Gods call in this area.  We’re looking to raise an additional $1000/month in order to cover current needs plus RRSP’s and car replacement savings.

Aris's Dance Camp Performance

Aris went to dance camp this summer. At the end, they had a performance. This is the first chunk of it...

Exciting New News!

Hello all!

We've got some exciting new news!  Grace and I are expecting!  The due date set for the baby is February 11, 2008.

Grace and I are quite excited about this new addition to our family. Aris is also excited to have baby to help take care of.  Zane seems kidna excited, although We're not quite sure how much he understands about this yet.

The addition of another person to our family will have some impact on our needs.  The place we are currently living in should continue to serve us well for the next few years, if not longer.  The main immediate need is in the area of transportation.  Our car only has space for 2 car seats.  As such, we're going to need to replace it with something bigger before too long. Would you pray for us in this area?

We'll try to get a newsletter out before too long with more info on where we're at, what's going on in our ministry, etc.

Thanks for your continued prayers!

Steve & Grace.

More Effective Ministries

My purpose within International Teams is “Developing Resources that help IT Canada be More Effective in its Mission”. How has this played itself out in the past few months?

International Teams has a ministry in Hamilton, ON. We’re working with churches, helping them to reach their city together. It’s been exciting to see churches from various denominations come together in all sorts of areas to serve and reach their city. This past fall, I helped them develop a web site (www.truecity.ca) that they have found very helpful in facilitating some of this. They had their third annual conference in February, which brought 370 people from 65 different churches together. I had the opportunity to produce the promotional material that helped to make this possible.

International Teams has a number of financial partners who give to various projects, or generally to the expanding work of IT. Up until recently, we’ve found it challenging to communicate how that money is being used. I’m now involved compiling communication to these donors in various formats (print, email, web, etc.)

We’ve also been actively bringing stories from our missionaries together on our web site (www.iteams.ca). I personally have found it an exciting way to hear more about what’s happening around the world. We even send out a monthly email with some of these stories. You can subscribe to it from IT’s web site.

Coming up, I’m starting to work on a new web site for a ministry developing audio training materials for African pastors. What an exciting opportunity to help those in the front lines of communicating God’s word to those who have never heard!

It’s pretty exciting to see God at work, and all the ways I can be a part of it!

So what are Blogs, and why should I care?

Between my newsletters, listening to the news, etc, most of you have probably heard the term “Blog”. Some of you even have your own. Others of you have never used a computer, let alone seen a blog. So what’s the big deal?

Blog (Short for web Log) is a special sort of web site that’s set up a bit like a journal, where people are able to write stories, articles, etc. about what ever they like. They can even post pictures and videos to blogs. Another useful thing about a blog is it’s ability to deliver it’s contents in a standard way (RSS) that other computers can read.

For our purposes, they’re an exciting way to publish stories, prayer letters, etc. that our friends, family, supporters, etc might be interested in reading. All of our news letters are also posted to our blog (www.vanbruwaene.ca) with an archive back to the original one. In addition to this, we have other articles there that don’t make it into our newsletters for one reason or another. We’ve even got videos of our kids on our blog.

A number of other missionaries in International Teams are also starting to use blogs. Since those blogs all publish their contents in a standard way, International Teams is pulling the articles into our centralized news page. The result is a great place you, and anyone else interested in IT, can go to read about current happenings.

In addition to our blog, we now also have an extensive photo gallery that’s kept up to date with all our latest pictures, shots from our travels, etc.

If you haven’t checked our blog out yet, I encourage you to do so! And if you’re a computer savy person who uses an rss reader to stay up on news, or even a “my yahoo” homepage, you can add our site, and IT Canada’s news page too (news.iteams.ca). I think you’ll enjoy the news you get there better than all the other bad news generally read on CNN!

Our Blog can be found at:

www.vanbruwaene.ca

Zane Sings "Be Bold"

Zane (almost 2 years old) sings the song, "Be Bold"