A New Baby in April

Yes... It is true, Iver5 is in the oven and God-willing headed our way April 15... A wonderful blessing from God to us... The kids are all super excited and we can't wait to meet him or her (Yes, we do the surprise thing). Kimberly wrote a good blog post about children being a blessing and the whole process we went through in praying and seeking God's direction for our family size. Read it here. It has been a great pregnancy according to the one bearing the pain, namely Kimberly. She is doing a great job and we are all so amazed at her perseverance and toughness as she home schools, raises four kids under the age of 6, and puts up with a husband studying theology (and dead languages like Greek and Hebrew) and working 30 hours/week... By God's grace we have made it this far, and Jesus continues to be our joy, even in the midst of the sanctifying chaos surrounding us...

A New School Year

Danny, Daniel Josiah (DJ) and Trinity started a new school year this fall. Danny is in his second year of seminary now at Reformed Theological Seminary, getting his Masters of Divinity (the degree most pastors get) and is loving it. Though it has been quite challenging to balance everything in life, he is learning lots of great things about God's Word and gets to apply it every week as he preaches. Danny has also been helping develop the creative arts team at RTS and spearheads the videos for their website. Kimberly has had a good year of growth as a mother and has been doing a great job keeping a blog that God is using in great ways. She took a missions class with Danny this past semester and loved it. RTS gives spouses free classes and they provide child care so spouses of students can at least get one class in a semester. That has been a huge blessing. Kimberly has also become quite the teacher. She loves doing it (most of the time), and has great gift and creativity for figuring out ways to teach our kids what they need to know. Her days are busy, and she is the hardest worker of us all... She loves to keep herself moving. We are all so thankful for her and the way she serves our family and God's Kingdom so faithfully.

DJ, who turned 6 this past November, started Kindergarten in Iverson Academy with mommy teaching him. Kimberly joined Classical Conversations and has been using this curriculum. We have been super pleased with the results. He is doing great and thriving in his math and reading. His Lego building skills are amazing and we love seeing him develop a love for learning. He has also started playing board games with daddy like Settlers of Catan and Dominion that help him develop his math and business skills. He picked it up fast and has even beaten his father a few times (Daddy says it was luck but DJ knows he's got skills).

Trinity, who turned 4 this past August, started pre-school at a local Church through the VPK program (i.e. she goes 3 days a week at no cost). She loves her class, her teacher and getting to begin getting a good foundation for mommy to build on when she starts Iverson Academy next year. She loves dancing and is always singing. Her capacity to memorize song lyrics and Bible verses never ceases to amaze us. Both her and DJ memorized all of Psalm 27 this year...

Katy Grace (2) continues to grow and be one of those joyful sanctifying blessing that 2-year olds are. She has a lot of spunk, but a lot of love in her heart for people. Every morning she prays for Daddy's back (he slipped a disk this summer) to be better and she loves to talk (and scream) in her pitched voice that we find quite adorable (when she's not screaming)

Benjamin (1) continues to develop and is such a joy. He loves playing with his big brother and boy does he love to eat. We can't believe how much one small little mouth changed our grocery list. He loves to cuddle and of course he sucks his two middle fingers like the rest of the kids do. We love him a whole lot and are so thankful for him...

A New Call as a Pastor.

This past October Danny took a call as a pastor of Orlando Korean Presbyterian Church. The church has recently added a worship service in English and Danny was hired part time (15 hours/week) to lead this new ministry called Open Kingdom. It has been a joy to be called into this ministry and our family loves serving in a multi cultural/ethnic setting where the gospel is changing lives. Danny is responsible for shepherding the Open Kingdom congregation, with his greatest duty being preaching the Word every week and challenging the congregation to engage this diverse and needy part of Orlando with the Gospel of Jesus. Our vision is to see God grow a Spirit-filled, diverse and vibrant gospel movement through this ministry that has a deep impact on the spiritual, cultural, social and economic condition of the community. Besides preaching each week, Danny is leading the prayer ministry and developing the discipleship and evangelism ministries for the English ministry church. Please pray that God will use us for His Glory and Kingdom and that He will bring this community into Christ's Church and send Christ's Church out into the community and to the world. Open Kingdom is still small and just getting started, and are unable to fully provide the financial support we need for our growing family.

Please pray for God's provision for us, and if you feel led by the Spirit, please partner and invest in this gospel work by supporting us with monthly gifts of whatever God might lead you to give. Danny has joined Global Service Network as a minister which allows our supporters to give tax-deductible donations on line. We still need to raise $1500/month to help meet our growing family's needs.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for Danny this winter semester as he seeks to test out of Greek 1 and 2. This is a very hard task but something he must do if he is going to graduate on time. Pray for discipline and focus as he studies.
Please pray for Kimberly as she teaches our children, cares for our home, and supports Danny in his schooling and ministry. Pray for patience and perseverance as she works so hard and is tired often from the pregnancy. Pray for our marriage that God will protect it and draw us closer together even in this busy season.
Please pray for Open Kingdom Church. Pray that God will grow this multi-cultural ministry and use us to reach the needy community. Pray for unity with the other pastors (who are all Korean), and that the Gospel and the mission of Jesus will unite us in our mission to this world.
Pray for our children. Please pray that God will develop them for His glory and the joy of others. Pray for their schooling, their health, and their unity. Pray they will love each other, obey their parents and most importantly fall in love with their Savior.
Please pray for my sister Sarah-Beth and her husband Eric. The Nolls are here with us in seminary and have two orphans in Ethiopia they are waiting to bring home. The government has ceased all adoptions from that region and it look like apart from a miracle they might lose these two precious boys they have fallen in love with and long to bring into their family. Visit their blog for more details
Please pray for our future after seminary. We know we want to Church plant, and feel a strong pull to plant back in Newark. pray that God will lead us to the right network, the right team, and the right place.
Please continue to pray for Safe Haven in Newark. God is working in mighty ways through the team he has there. It is encouraging to see them continue to impact that community and change kids lives. It has been a hard year for them financially but the comitted staff has stuc it out and we are praying for a good year end and a strong 2012. The Board has really united and is growing in wonderful ways. Please read their most recent newletter here and pray and support this important ministry.
Pray for provision for our family. We have made it half way through seminary debt free by God's grace and are looking to Him to provide and get us through. It is hard every month, and this is testing our faith each day. Pray we would trust our heavenly Father, be wise with the resources he gives us, and never stop being thankful.