HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS!

We of the Miller household want to wish God's very best to you this Christmas season. He has given of Himself - Christ Jesus our Lord, to be our Saviour and to bring the hope of eternal life to any who accept His love.

This is an emotional roller coaster for us this year. Our hearts are full of the joy of the season and the hope and promise of good things to come in the year(s) to come. Naturally, that includes the prospect of grandchildren later this summer, and we pray that God will grant health and strength to Tammy and Sarah as they go through their pregancies - and to their loving husbands, who will try to make every day a better one for their new families. This Mom & Dad miss their kids VERY much, and although our minds accept the fact that families grow up and move apart, that doesn't make their absence any less painful. We Love hosting the kids for holidays and family gatherings, and their absence is truly missed! Also, this past year, I lost one of my dearest mentors-of -the-faith, Judson Cornwall, my grandmother, who was also a spiritual mentor and a dear, dear lady, and my niece, Susan - the latter of whom are particularly missed when the family gets together. It's times like these that makes us aware of how great will be our feeling of loss when we finally get to Africa!!! If seeing our children and grandchildren is few and far between Now, imagine how much less it will be once we've moved even farther away! But that is part of our "counting the cost" to follow Christ. His call to us is even more important than our emotional ties and dearest loves. Like the song says, "I have decided to follow Jesus; no turning back, no turning back."

So we CHOOSE to focus on the things we DO have, not the ones we don't. We rejoice in the health and presence of our beloved family members and friends. We thank God in anticipation of Rebecca's upcoming college responsibilities - I'm so proud of her I could virtually POP! ! ! ! She's one talented lady, and I'm so blessed to have her as my bride of 26+ years. Times might be tough financially, but our heavenly Father knows what we have need of, and He WILL provide, as He has promised in His Word. We look forward with Great Anticipation to being united with our Pamoja Team over in Tanzania, in the Lord's perfect time. That day will come, by His grace, and what a wonderful day that will be, when He reveals our roles in their ongoing missions efforts.

So, as I close this Christmas message, I again pray that the Lord will pour out His abundant blessings upon you. If you do not yet have this faithful Lord as your own Saviour, I ask the Spirit of God to move in your heart to accept Him and His proferred gift of relationship with Him, into eternity!

God bless and keep you, by His perfect and great grace - DL

Merry CHRISTmas

Dear ones,

if any of you happen to actually have time or take time to come to our blog on Christmas day, we want to wish you a precious day filled with Jesus, since it IS His birthday we celebrate. :>)

We are going to be having our church program from 10 to 12 and then coming home for a traditional new england Christmas dinner. David's parents are joining us so we look forward to a happy aft. and eve. of games, food and fellowship.

blessings to you!!! we miss you Jim and Sarah, Tammy and Josh!!!!!

love,
rebecca, mom

Some BIG exciting news

Hi, everyone! Last week I got an email from my boss at the community college where I am a lab instructor in the PreSchool. She has asked me if I would like to teach a class! Needless to say, we have said YES! I am very happy about this. It is the PreK Curriculum and Methods class which is something I love to talk about with my lab students. David is having fun introducing me to friends and family as "Professor Miller". :>) I am not sure who is prouder, my mom or my husband.

Because of this new position there has been a change in plans concerning Africa. We had planned to go in Feb. for three weeks, but are now postponing till later. The Lord knows the right timing and we will listen to His leading. The people involved with us from EF and Africa have given us their blessing in this change, PTL.

Our Christmas season is very different this year. We are all missing David's grandmother who went to be with the Lord in April and his niece, Susan, who was killed in a car accident in Sept. Our family get togethers are nice but we all feel the difference. We are also missing our other children , Jim & Sarah and Josh & Tammy, as they all live to far away to see them very often. It has been an eventful year for us all. We continue to look forward with joy and anticipation to the births of our first two grandchildren next summer.

Well, goodbye for now. Merry Christmas to you all!!!

love,
rebecca

The Warm & The Cold Side of Things

For the past week, Rebecca has been gone to sunny Florida, helping her mother pack up her belongings as the latter sells her home. For an older lady, she is good health and spirits, but she just can't live alone any longer, and has faced that fact. So she will live with family and friends the rest of her days. We are as much at peace about that idea as she is.

Meanwhile, the boys and I held the fort here in Ohio, where the weather has been mostly cold and somewhat snowy. ALL of us managed to catch colds during the week, but are slowly coming out the other side, health-wise.

The next major step we are anticipating is our upcoming trip to Tanzania, to scope out the land, meet the rest of our Pamoja Ministries Team, and get a better mind-picture of what our future ministry in Africa will consist of, Lord-willing. We need to get started soon, obtaining Passports for the boys, arranging our flights to and from "the dark continent", and continuing to raise all the finances we can, so that this will be an easy venture to make, not draining our existing Missions account at Elim Fellowship any more than necessary. It will be a very expensive venture, nonetheless, and FAR more so for our two Year stint overseas, when the Lord provides for our needs. It will be wondrous to see how He will accomplish it! All praise and honour to Him! ! !

For those of you who keep up to date with us, we thank you for your ongoing prayer support, and we ask especially that we might be obedient servants to go where He sends us to go, and do as He bids us to do. Should the Master lead you to respond financially, that would be a most welcome blessing. You can contact us through the Response post at our home site Blogsite (top, left corner).

A Blessed Christmas to you all, in celebration of the Lord Jesus' birth! DLM